Narrative Expo—what?

I will show you a picture 

and tell you how soft and dark the pine forest looked from above

When I pick up a book, or listen to a book, I want to be sucked into the story. I want to experience what the characters are experiencing—see what they’re seeing and feel what they’re feeling. So, what does that have to do with narrative exposition?

This week we’re talking about telling versus showing and when is narrative exposition necessary. If you’re not one of those technical writers, like me, this kind of jargon may float over your head as superfluous. Anyway, here’s the definition:

Narrative Exposition: is when background information is dropped into the story to catch the reader up on necessary details

Every story needs to give the reader background information. If you’re reading a mystery/thriller you usually learn it as the character is searching for the truth. If you’re cracking open a sci-fi you’ll likely get a few paragraphs describing some aspect of the advanced world you find yourself in, just enough to ground you. And if you’re digging into a fantasy you might learn about the background from a helpful healer or a guard who likes to talk. 

As Charissa mentioned in her Sunday post, every story needs what it needs. Show enough detail to settle your reader into the story. And, as Jeffe’s agent says, sometimes you need to tell your reader in a line or two to get the info out so you can move on and wax poetic. 

If you’re not sure if you’re writing is too heavy on the telling, find a bookish friend to give it a read! I highly suggest finding someone that reads in the genre you write in, otherwise what is common and expected could be flagged as confusing. But after all is said and done, don’t be afraid. Just write. Don’t get hung up on writing-rules because it’s always easier to fix a bunch of showing or telling than it is to fix a blank page. 

Happy writing! 

Top 5 Worldbuilding Tips

 

Worldbuilding has the power to captivate a reader. To transport them from their everyday life to somewhere surprising and unique. It’s why I love reading and writing fantasy, because the worlds are rich, enticing, and dramatic, intriguing, brutal, and romantic. And for me, when it comes to worldbuilding, it’s both the big picture and the little details that count. 

Here are five worldbuilding tips I’ve picked up along the way:

1. Take inspiration from everywhere, everything, and everyone. Absolutely, read in your genre, that’s a given, but also watch and listen to media outside your usual sphere of influence. Podcasts, documentaries, history programs, mythology, fairy tales, the news … be a sponge, and seek out things that will force you to see the world from a different perspective. Check out science YouTube (or in my case, find someone else who has, and pick their brain!), watch people you do and don’t know, and notice what drives them and how they interact. Anything can spark an idea to enrich your world, from quantum computing, to crypto currencies, to the social hierarchies of indigenous tribes in the Amazon. Walk, watch films, look out the window on car journeys, listen to music, and don’t forget to write things down!
2. In Lean Management, there’s a concept call The Five Whys, and it works well for worldbuilding too. The basic method is to ask why five times, and within five whys, you’ve probably got to the root cause of why something is the way it is. Why does your world trade in the way it does? Why do they use certain materials? Why are the roads paved with gold? If you don't know why (at least roughly speaking), you might have holes in your world, or it might even be blocking you. You don't need to have EVERYTHING mapped out, but you do need to know the bones of how things work and play together: politics, infrastructure, magic, religion, education, employment, the economy, healthcare … you get the drift.
3. I had an amazing sociology teacher who told my class that the quest for power, wealth, and status drives a huge amount of human behavior (along with reproduction, of course). Think about how people get each of these things in your world. Is there something unique about how power, wealth, or status is derived? Who has these things now, and how do they pass from one person to another? Understanding that will help with character motivations too (especially for the bad guys).
4. Pay attention to the details, and remember consistency is key. Keep a wiki or spreadsheet to help you keep track (or a big piece of paper with all the important information. If low tech works best for you, it works best for you). Draw diagrams and maps, and experiment with what helps you most, along with what best sparks your creativity. To make sure the details work across your world, ask yourself questions from the perspective of all. You might be writing about the nobles, but does it make sense for a peasant, or a merchant, or a teacher, or a medic? Or better yet, have someone else ask you. Conversations often flush out holes.
5. Be playful, explore, be curious, and be open to “failure”. Worldbuilding should be fun, and nobody can limit your imagination. If you find yourself down a rabbit hole that doesn’t pan out, so what? You probably had a wild time exploring in your mind. Not every idea has to yield fruit, but push yourself to go further, think bigger, and be bolder, knowing that some ideas will “fail”. That’s fine. It’s part of the process. And a failure might spark an even better idea. But keep going, for a lush, alluring world will be your reward.

HR Moore writes escapist fantasy with dangerous politics and swoon-worthy romance. She’s known for pacy writing, plot twists, and heroines who take no prisoners. HR also started FaRoFeb (Fantasy Romance February), a community for readers and authors to elevate and celebrate the fantasy romance genre. 

You can connect with HR Moore (and get a free story) here: https://linktr.ee/hrmoore

Jeffe's Top Five Worldbuilding Tips

SHADOW WIZARD coming September 29, 2022! Preorder now!!

     

This week at the SFF Seven, we're sharing our top five worldbuilding tips. Since I just returned from WorldCon in Chicago, where I gave a workshop on worldbuilding from a character-driven perspective, I'm going to cheat ever so slightly and pull from that.

1. All stories require worldbuilding

Even a story set in our contemporary world, written as realistically as possible, still requires worldbuilding because it's impossible to to replicate the complexity of our world. You will always be picking and choosing relevant details. Choose wisely. (And see Tip #5.)

2. Don't allow worldbuilding to be displacement activity for writing the actual story

Worldbuilding is fun! Writing is hard. It's easy to spend tons of time on research and worldbuilding and kid yourself that it's writing. It's not. Don't become the person with megabytes of maps and details and no actual text.

3. The world is yours to shape however you like - build it to challenge your characters

Story is about characters facing conflict. The world they live in creates external conflict for them and informs their internal conflict. Since you get to play deity here, build the world with challenging your characters in mind.

4. RPGs - role-playing games can distort your worldbuilding sense.

Many creatives learn worldbuilding from gaming, which can be a great exercise, but - as dedicated gamers have pointed out (I am not one) - game worlds often don't make any internal sense. Use caution in emulating that model.

5. Use the iceberg model

While you should know - or discover - all about your world, most of that detail should be like the iceberg beneath the surface. Only the tip of all that knowledge should show up in the story. If you've done the work and your world is internally consistent, that tip of the iceberg will be representative of the rest.

What's In a Name?

 

Hi all! This week's topic at the SFF Seven is Naming Resources: Our top 3 sources for choosing names of characters, places, etc. I'll get right to it.

1. My brain: The old noodle is my #1 resource. Names are weird for me, because I almost always hear them in dialogue in my head, or a character will say the name of a place I didn't know going unto the drafting process. When I was building City of Ruin, I typed up to the point that I needed a temple name, and that chapter's POV character, the Prince of the East, provided what I needed: Min-Thuret. I needed a city name too, and as the Prince of the East was leaving Min-Thuret's Rite Hall, he called the city Quezira. And thus, that part of the world was born. It's as difficult and simple as that.
2. Fantasy Name Generator: Sometimes I get stuck, and FNG can help stir my brain. There are so many options on this site though that it can be overwhelming for me, so I don't usually stay long. Instead, I read through a few list generations and let sounds guide me. I keep a naming list for each book so that I don't begin too many names with the same letter or sound.
3. Old name registries: You can Google just about anything, including old church/parish registries, travel logs, and common surnames of any particular time and place. When I'm writing historical fantasy, I use these methods so that the names are historically accurate. 

Bonus: Behind the Name. This is a great website for historical naming and just to peruse to get your brain working on a name. It provides the etymology and history of first names.

I hope this helps!! Good luck and happy writing!

~ Charissa

What We Were Once Supposed to Be

what we were once supposed to be

was something we could never reach

and as our souls make their silent plea

we choose that which will make us free

In yesterday’s post on ‘what were you supposed to be—vocational advice writers get because writing isn’t a high-income career’, Jeffe mentioned she wrote poetry when she was young. She didn’t dream of being a writer and ended up in the sciences. 

And it’s nice to not be alone with this background! So often on the socials I see authors posting homemade books they crafted in elementary and how they knew they’d grow up to be a writer. I never had that dream. I grew up with  a lap full of books I adored reading, but I also loved blood and guts and figuring out how things worked. That’s how I ended up in the sciences—clinical laboratory science to be precise. 

My parents raised me to believe I could do anything. Because of that I wasn’t afraid to stretch myself. And I was successful, achieved acclaim, and was fulfilled helping people. Then when my health crashed and I walked away from my career I decided to take a chance on my new dream and embraced being an author. 

I believe it was a knowledgeable decision, even though the mental challenges have surprised me. Before I began writing I’d been interviewing authors for years at Reading Between the Wines book club and had realistic expectations on book profits, or the lack there of. And that’s where I gleaned the one piece of advice I’ll give to new writers: grow a backlist. 

The wise man built his house upon a rock. To translate that into an author’s career: build a solid backlist and your career will be stable. Writing is a long game, there’s no over-night success, so plan ahead, keep feeding your dream, and don’t give up! 

What were you supposed to be?

First Line Power

Hey all! This week's topic at the SFF Seven is The Importance of the First Line: Do We Buy It or Not?

Back in 2009, when I decided to start writing again, I wanted to learn everything I could about the craft. I can't begin to list all the writerly advice I absorbed that I've since realized doesn't work for every writer or every book. That said, one bit of advice seems to apply to most everyone in the publishing game: A catchy first line can hook your reader. But does it have to?

A hooky first line can act as a sales tool. If someone picks up your book or opens the sample online, that first line can make them curious enough to want to keep reading, thus hopefully purchasing your novel. A strong first line can deliver voice, theme, POV, and cause the formation of the first story question in the reader's mind.

Here's the first line from my novel, The Witch Collector:

It’s been eight long years since the Witch Collector took my sister.

Hopefully, that line entices the reader to want to know more about the above situation, who the Witch Collector is, why he took the POV character's sister, and why the POV character is stating this at the opening of the story.

Here are some of my favorite first lines. Note how each one creates a question for the reader--a desire to know more:

From The Golem and the Jinni:

The Golem's life began in the hold of a steamship.

From A Discovery of Witches:

The leather-bound volume was nothing remarkable.

From Circe:

When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist.

But here's the thing about writing advice: it isn't always true. Great novels don't always have great first lines, and yet can still go on to be blockbusters.

I was absolutely enthralled by the novel Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. It's fantastic. But the first line? I love Thursday nights.

Granted, the author relies on the question tool--Why does the character love Thursday nights? Yet that line in no way encapsulates the sci-fi/mind-bending novel that this book is. It does, however, create a question for the reader. Apparently enough of one to keep millions turning pages.

So do I buy into the advice of crafting a great first line? Most of the time. Is it wise for newer writers to craft strong first lines? I believe so. As a newly-published author, I try very hard to intrigue the reader with those first words because I can't risk the opposite. I don't have years of books under my belt or a massive fanbase that would overlook a weak first line. (Not that I'd do it anyway...it's not my style.)

But do I believe it's a must 100% of the time? No.

I'll leave you with the first line from my upcoming novel, City of Ruin, book two in the Witch Walker series:

Thamaos’s ancient temple is deathly quiet, save for the crackling flames of a hundred candles and the sizzle of my blood burning in the offering bowl.

What do you think? Would you read further?

~ Charissa

Top 5 Writing Resources

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. This week's topic at the SFF Seven is our Top 5 Writing Resources. I have so many websites, books, and software programs that I love, so it was hard to choose just 5, but I did and I'll tell you why each one made the cut.

1. KM Weiland's Helping Writers Become Authors website. I've linked to KM's story structure series which is one of the very best I've come across. I've read KM's books too, but I refer back to her story structure series any time I get stuck or feel like I need a refresher. Even for those writers who don't plot, understanding story structure can help build much stronger fundamental skills and aid in creating cleaner drafts. There's a ton of other info for writers on this site as well, and I recommend reading as much as possible. Helping Writers Become Authors is truly a one-stop-shop.
2. Jane Friedman's Writing Advice Archive. We won't talk about how long I've followed Jane, but I can tell you that her publishing industry and writing advice is always on point. If you aren't sure how to navigate the publishing world, I highly recommend perusing her Writing Advice Archive. She covers everything from getting started as a writer to rights and legal issues. Most importantly, she's been in this business for 20 years with a vast range of experience, so she knows what she's talking about.
3. Writer Beware. I've had several inquiries lately from new writers about publishing routes, and I was sad to learn that most every person who reached out to me had experienced bad dealings with vanity presses or scams. I was also surprised how many new writers don't realize that you do NOT pay for a literary agent. To make certain you're dealing with a reputable publisher, I advise researching agents, publishers, and editors thoroughly. Writer Beware can help with some of this.
4. Hiveword. Man, how I used Elizabeth Spann Craig's Knowledge Base when I was a newbie writer tiptoeing into this writing world. I can't begin to tell you how beneficial this website (now Hiveword) was for me when I was starting out. I'm pretty sure there isn't anything you won't find here in your writing quest, so if you have a question, hit up this amazing search engine and delve into thousands of writerly articles.
5. Writer Unboxed. This site is excellent for the technical parts of the writing journey, but it also has posts from veteran authors who make you feel far less alone on this journey. They share their insight and struggles, and the community is strong here. I see this site as 'nourishment' for the writer's soul, a very important and often overlooked part of a writer's life.

That's it!! Now go read, research, and write, write, write! 

XOXO,

An Author's Bane: Writing a Query & Synopsis

 

This week we’re talking about a common bane to all authors…writing queries and synopsis. 

The topic actually asks if these are a bane, benefit, or both—but if you’re a writer, and if you’re honest with yourself, they’re both stressful and challenging. Writing a query or synopsis does not use the same mind-tools as writing a novel, you need to switch gears and view your book from a marketing standpoint and how best to leverage its saleability. Thus, bane! 

If you’re scratching your head right now, I’ll give you some background:

Query: a query is roughly one page in length and its purpose is to entice an agent or editor to want to read your work. 

If a writer desires to work with an agent there’s a high chance they will contact them with a query letter. And if an author has an agent or wants to sell their book to a smaller press they will need to present a query—which equates to a proposal if your agent is sending it—and synopsis. 

the Guts of a Query:

• a hook, one sentence that summarizes your book
• title in all caps
• genre and word count
• comp titles (list a few books that are comparable to yours)
• one to two paragraphs describing your plot/characters
• writing credentials, if you don’t have these, don’t make any up
• thank you, the most important thing to remember is be respectful
• complete within 300-400 words

Please do not blanket copy your query letter. You are sending it to different people, right? Does everyone like the same kind of pizza? Nope, and they’re definitely not going to be hooked by the exact same query. Personalize, at the very least address it with the correct name, and stick to their listed requirements. If you do not have any stated requirements, go with your gut, but be respectful. 

Are your palms sweaty and your stomach cramping? It happens because: stressful writing here! If you’re struggling with writing a hook check out Publishers Marketplace, they list book deals with their one sentence hook, or peruse Goodreads, sometimes the blurb starts out with a one sentence hook. 

I honestly can’t recall anyone ever saying they enjoy writing a query, but I’m sure there is someone out there that loves it! Though I have heard a few authors say they like writing the synopsis. 

What’s a synopsis?

Synopsis: an overview of a book from beginning to end that reveals the entire plot. 

Include in a Synopsis:

• present tense third person narrative
• capitalize your characters’ names the first time you introduce them
• only use Main Characters’ names
• emotions!
• simple writing—don’t get wordy, you don’t have enough room
• pages: 1 (short) to 2 (2-4 is considered long)

Yes, you must include your entire plot and the ending. Twists and all. Agents and editors read the synopsis to ensure your story has structure and is free of plot holes. And they need to know how everything comes together at the end. Why? Well, you don’t want to be pitching a romance that ends in one of the characters dying or a sci-fi that wraps up with an out-of-the-blue, magical miracle.

#WritingTip: write a short and long synopsis because, like pizza, 

different people will require different lengths and you don’t want to be unprepared.

The thing is, love them or hate them, suck at it or excel, there’s pressure when you write a query or synopsis. Work at it and perfect it. It’s worth the time because you get one shot to hook someone. So, writers. Embrace the bane and go sharpen those hooks.

When Having Thick Skin Isn't Enough

 The Mars Strain available now on Libby

What’s on my mind this week changed as I listened to Jeffe’s First Cup Of Coffee podcast this morning. She talked about the old adage writers need to have thick skin in order to survive in the book business, but how that isn’t exactly the best advice/most accurate.

And it really struck a chord. When I started out writing I was managing a cancer center—I ate confrontation for breakfast and I had confidence in spades. I knew my writing was capable of moving people to tears and could earn a few laughs, and even though I acknowledged that I had room to grow and improve, I knew it was worth pursuing. 

For those that don’t know, first you have to write the thing AND THEN you have to get the book out there. It’s in the getting it out there that you need a thick skin because as soon as your work leaves your hands people will subject it to their own notions and ideals and you have zero control over how it will make them feel or how they will react to it. As an author you have to have confidence in your work or you will never reach the goal of producing a book, no matter what publishing track you choose. 

I only queried about twenty agents and received a few helpful passes, meaning they weren’t copy-paste formatted rejections. I pitched my novel to a few agents at a conference and received even more helpful passes. I had thick skin and the negative comments glanced off my shoulder as I clutched onto the praise. Yada, yada, yada—sorry, I can’t say I had a lobster bisque—but, I ended up with a wonderful agent. 

With that wonderful agent I went out on submission with the second book I’d ever written. It was exciting! It was nerve wracking. It took forever. But as with the queries, the negative stuff that came from the personalized passes glanced off and I clung to the parts they loved. 

And then something happened. Well, a few things happened and a decline in health was one of them. I’ve talked about depression before, you can check it out here if you’re curious, and it’s not something I’d wish on anyone. It’s also not conducive to having a thick skin. 

Suddenly, I found myself flinching at every pass, every turned up nose, and every negative response…including from my agent. It happened so many times that I got to a point I couldn’t bring myself to send them anything. I was mentally blocked. My thick skin had failed me utterly. 

This is why Jeffe’s ruminating resonated so deeply with me today. It took me back to that place of vulnerability and it made me realize that I’m still kinda there. I’ve paused my next steps because of it and I don’t know that I’ll ever get my thick skin back. 

But maybe I don’t have to…is having thick skin the wrong idea? 

As creatives we need to feel, we can’t stop the emotions. So how do we deflect, or as Jeffe put it, find a laser big enough to shoot down the space junk on a crash-course trajectory? 

*Jeffe, you were onto something with that analogy! I like it!*

I guess I’m going to try build a strong enough support system around me so when an asteroid hits, I’m able to lean to one side or the other and avoid getting blasted. It's bound to happen, unless I quit this crazy business, and I'll receive more passes and negative criticism on what I've written. And yes, I'll always react and have feelings, but if I can gain enough confidence from my support it'll strengthen my own shields so I don't have to laser as many.  

Having support, a community, friends that understand what you’re going through…that’s far better than having tough skin. I’m going to test out a new adage. Let’s say: to make it in the publishing business and get your words out in the word, you need to have a support system.

And thanks to my support system, The Mars Strain is officially available on Libby! Libby is the app my library uses for audiobooks and if your library uses it too, you can check it out! I think that's how it works anyway. 

What do you think?

Don't let Rules of Thumb give you Writer's Block

The Mars Strain - getting technical

 If you’re bored writing, the reader will be bored reading - 

true or false?

Hmm, false? 

Truth time: this often mentioned rule-of-thumb paralyzed me while I was writing The Mars Strain. I was deep in the cinematic climax with Jules racing the clock to find the right phage, but I kept fizzling out because I needed to keep the science grounded and I felt like I was doing a lot of technical writing—which translated to me being bored!!

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love science, it’s part of me and always will be. But trying to bring enough technical aspects to keep it real for the reader without overwhelming them is soooo difficult. It’s a balancing act and my mind kept fast forwarding to the emotional arc which was the only thing I wanted to write at that time! That, and the phrase “if you’re bored writing, the reader will be bored reading” kept looping through my mind…putting up writers block after writers block.

Torture.

If I knew then what I know now… Well, then I’d have written that section a lot faster! Yes, I was bored and wanting to move onto more exciting parts, but I’ve had readers tell me they loved the amount of technical aspects that brought Juliet’s lab work to life. So for this instance, FALSE!

To my future writing self, I now know not to let myself be derailed by nailing down details. I also know that if I pick a story that doesn’t excite me and is just blah, I can expect that anyone I have to pitch the book to will pick up my vibe and be less inclined to get excited about it. So I’ll stick to my rule of thumb to only write the stories that I can’t get out of my head for months on end, which rings TRUE to our question of the week! Don't pick a premise that bores you.

How about you, dear readers? When you get bored reading and either skip ahead or DNF the book, do you ever wonder if the author was born writing it? 

No Such Thing as Perfect

 

Raina Bloodgood ~ from The Witch Collector by Charissa Weaks

This week here at the SFF Seven, our topic is Characters Who Aren't Perfect Specimens: Do you make the conscious effort to include characters with physical limitations?

I do. Could I do better?? Absolutely. Always.

In The Witch Collector, Raina Bloodgood, my heroine, is a voiceless witch in a land where magick is created by song. And yet this doesn't stop her from creating magick. From the moment the book begins, she's dealt with this her entire life, so she's learned to translate the ancient language that others sing into a hand language that allows her to create magickal constructions. I also offer a novella on my website that includes a heroine who is blind. And yet again, I think it's important to show how people with disabilities adapt or have already adapted, and so blindness doesn't define her. I also do not make disability something to be cured via magick. 

There have been people with disabilities in my life since I was a very young child, especially girls and women. My mother also taught special education for 25 years--I still have one of her sign language books. Disability, in many forms, has always been a part of my life. It obviously impacted me, more than I think I realized until I found myself writing my second heroine with a physical disability.

HOWEVER, all that said, it's important to remember that being a person with a disability does not render someone imperfect because there's no such thing as perfect in the first place. Also, we should strive to reflect our world--even in fantasy--meaning that our character list should contain diversity of all forms. If you hold up a mirror to the world, the reflection you get is not all white and it is not all non-disabled people. I know people who have physical disabilities, mental disabilities, and intellectual disabilities--they deserve to be represented in fiction, too. 

We writers have to do our best to be inclusive while doing no harm, being willing to listen, and striving to do better. 

XOXO,

Weathering the Storm

This week's topic is Temperature Control: How often does weather, climate, or environmental temperature factor into your stories?

I am an atmospheric writer. I like description that makes me feel something. As a reader, I like to be completely submerged in a world, and that means that all the senses need to be engaged. I also love scene setting. There's nothing worse than trying to read a book that doesn't orient me or suck me into the scene. Setting can also create suspense or nostalgia or evoke fear or happiness, or any other gazillion emotional responses. It's a handy tool when used correctly. So in answer to this week's prompt: Yes, weather absolutely factors into my stories. Sometimes A LOT.

The trilogy I'm working on now is an example. The elements are a character in themselves. Book one, The Witch Collector, finds the hero and heroine trapped in an enchanted, frozen wood. In book two, the weather element will be different, as the characters move south, and book three will change again. This trilogy was designed around weather. There's a Frost King and a Fire Queen, and gods who reflect much of the area of the world they represent. My characters are forced to weather storms. Literally.

But even if I hadn't designed these books around elemental reasons, you will always get a strong sense of atmosphere via the weather in my writing. Weather can build so much tension, provide conflict, and even mirror characterization. I thought I'd share a few snippets to give you an idea: 

Cutting through the village green, I memorize every detail. Frost glistens on the thatch of each cottage and hut, and the last thin breaths of nighttime fires curl out of chimneys. Gardens are dying back, and the wildflowers lining the path to the fields have turned to colorless husks. Soon, snow will pile on the eaves and creep knee-deep over every door, and life here in the vale will grow bitter and difficult.

My attention draws back to the path. As we ride, the autumn cover changes, the dirt and rotting foliage becoming marred by branching veins of crystallized frost. The awaiting cold reaches for us, clawing at the ground to drag us closer.

Ahead, light snow swirls in a coming breeze, depositing a white dusting over everything. With flurries dancing, I almost miss the second flicker of movement along the path’s edge.

Turning a glance over my shoulder, I look more closely as we pass. Snow clings to a thick patch of curled briar vines that have been hacked away, leaving a barbed hole big enough for a person to crawl into if they become desperate enough. Beyond, I think I see the whites of eyes. An animal, perhaps, but I can’t be sure.

The old oil lamp Alexus found at Littledenn hangs from his hand, its wavering flame giving off enough illumination through the amber glass that we travel inside an orb of golden light. Worry for Eastlanders spotting us has long passed, our need of light the larger worry. The rest of the world outside our little bubble is dark but white with cold, the snow and ice that glazes every limb and needle and leaf emitting the faintest eerie glow—a forest made of silver and shadows.

Two Types of Character Deaths

 This week we’re talking about killing off characters and asking is it necessary. It’s not a new debate among authors or even readers, as Jeffe mentioned, and so far this week my fellow SFF Seveners have given opinions from both sides. 

KAK made a good argument that we, as consumers of entertainment that’s filled with death and dying, are numb to it. Vivien made the point that to make a character death, MC or secondary, worth it you’ve got to make the character earn it by showing growth. 

And that’s my answer to the question: Both! How can I choose both? Because for me, there’s two types of character death. 

The first type of character death: mass casualties. The kind that pile up as you’re slicing your way through a game like Heavenly Sword or reading a Gridmark. I believe we, people in general, are inured to this type of death. It isn’t personal. We’re capable of separating ourselves from it—be it in the media or in real-time death toll numbers that flash across our screens—because it isn’t personal. 

Depending on the type of book this kind of death is part of the story. When I wrote The Mars Strain back in 2015 the Ebola outbreak was maintaining a death toll. It wasn’t even close to our current pandemic’s tracking, but it was reality. So I knew I needed that piece of reality in my fiction and I wrote in a high casualty rate. Devin Madson wrote a great post about trad and indie publishing and near the bottom is an excellent, little section about The Pitfalls of Gridmark (it’s a great read, check it out!). Devin talks about the difference between character development and suffering, and that there is a difference, even in a genre stuffed with death. I translate Devin’s point about Gridmark to: don’t kill a bunch of people just for the sake of killing. Have a reason, be intentional.

Which brings me to the second type of character death: the immediate death. Not as in fast, but close proximity—usually a beloved secondary character. This is the one that hits you in the heart, the one that makes you cry, and the one that changes the main character’s trajectory. I have a couple close proximity deaths in The Mars Strain and I spent a lot of time debating if those secondary characters really needed to die. In the end I came to the conclusion that yes, they did because only with their deaths could my main characters make the decisions that they do that result bring about the climax of the story. Intentional, very intentional.

Nope, I’m not going to give away any spoilers here and name names.

And there you have it, my take on killing off characters and how I believe the two kinds of character deaths—mass casualties and close proximity—are needed for some tales. But I will stand firm with Vivien on the furry friends. Don’t touch a single fluff on the four legged characters (I’m looking at you I AM LEGEND by Richard Matheson who made me bawl). 

How about you? How do you handle writing character deaths or reading character deaths? And please, don’t ever tell me Kevin Hearne killed off Oberon.

No conflict, No story

 No conflict, no story.

Which translates to: no antagonist = no conflict = no story. And that’s what we’re talking about this week, the antagonist’s arc! 

My daughter DNFd (did not finish) a book last night. It had been a book she’d excitedly picked up having been sold on the back blurb. When I asked her why the DNF she said ‘because nothing’s happening’. 

As authors, we want to avoid that kiss of death at all costs. So, how do we do it? I don’t know about you, but I can share my process! 

Interestingly, to me anyway, I realized I go about crafting my antagonists two different ways depending on the genre. 

Fantasy

When I write fantasy I start out with my hero and I see them at the climax of the story, the moment they are most fearful and also the moment they rip through whatever’s been holding them back. Now, I don’t always see what exactly they’re up against, but I observe the character’s emotions and what’s going on around them. 

Since I have a pretty good sense of who the hero is and what's at stake for them I know that the villain has to either want the same thing, with their own twist of course, or want an antithesis to the hero's desires. With all that information I can put together the big evil that must be stopped and then figure out how my hero got to that climax point.

Science Fiction

When I write sci-fi I start out with the antagonist, the big evil that must be stopped. Once I know who, or what, my villain is I can craft the type of hero the world needs to stop it. Whoa, that kinda sounds like superhero stuff. But in a way, sci-fi—the kind that threatens the entire world—needs someone larger than life. And I love making taking a person who sees themselves as only successful in their small corner of the world and challenging them so they grow into a superhero. 

It doesn’t matter what genre, we want strong antagonists. And here’s one tip I’ve picked up over the years:

Keep it Simple. 

Your villain doesn’t need a master plan that requires blueprints and a powerpoint. You only need a conflict that smacks your hero in the face. 

When I started writing The Mars Strain it was during the 2015 Ebola outbreak. I was running a laboratory and participating on a multi-healthcare system Emergency Preparedness Board. Every day I was thinking ahead to what we’d need and what we’d do if there was a deadly outbreak that reached across the world to us. From that real life experience I imagined a new organism, and because I write to entertain, not mimic real life, my organism came from Mars. Boom. There was my antagonist with its one goal: proliferate.

How do you create the perfect antagonist? 

Maybe your hero and villain are the same, only one choice veered the antagonist off to another path. Maybe your antagonist has very little page time but you Al Pacino the Devil’s Advocate and nearly convince your hero to make the wrong climatic choice. I’d love to know! 

THE MARS STRAIN Cover Reveal and the topic of the week: Writing with Your Personality Type

 

A brief pause on the blog topic to officially share with you the audiobook cover for THE MARS STRAIN which will 

release next Tuesday, April 27th!!! 

Back to the topic at hand. It appears most writers fall into the INTJ category in the Myers-Briggs personality typing system, including our own Jeffe. Introverts prefer spending time in their own heads, which can lead to writing. 

In the 1920’s Jung separated people into introverts and extraverts and he also split the cognitive process into two types, perception (sensation and intuition) and judgment (thinking and feeling), making eight different categories. The key here is no one will be fully in one category all the time, but you will default to your primary type. 

I’m very curious—what type are you? And are you a writer?

 

No matter the phase of life or how many times I take the personality quiz I end up as ISFJ-Assertive. The assertive part comes as no surprise, especially to those who know me, because I am confident in my abilities and decisions. I loved managing a laboratory and cancer clinic.  And that career path makes so much sense because my personality type is Defender in the Sentinel category.

Sentinels view productivity as a superpower and plan for everything. We seek order, stability, and security and are comfortable with who we are. Sentinels prefer to work on one project until completion, no hopping from thing to thing for us. And we find inspiration from the past rather than the future. 

If you’re curious about the four types of personalities, or want to take a Myers-Briggs quiz for yourself, 

16Personalities is a fun website to check out. 

Why are we talking about this on our blog this week? Well, understanding yourself and how your brain works is a fantastic tool. I won’t tack on for writing because knowing how you work best will benefit you in everything. But alright, I’ll narrow this down to crafting books and how perception and judging impact the act. 

For me, my perception is Introverted Sensing (Si) and when I’m drafting a new book I’m looking back to what I’ve experienced before and drawing on those reactions and feelings for my characters. I work on gathering information—the time suck known as researching. 

If you’re like most writers, Introverted iNtuiting (Ni), you’re more likely to find your thrill in the conceptualization—dreaming up your characters and world building—and have a hard time moving on from that stage. 

If you know where your strengths are, then you know where your weaknesses are. Don’t get trapped in your own mind! Example, if you’re stuck in the researching/conceptualization phase how do you move onto the Extraverted Thinking phase where your story becomes organized (yes, necessary even if you’re not a plotter) and forms a beginning, middle, and end. 

For all of us introverts trying to write, what can we do? Don’t get trapped in your own mind. Yes, easy to type out, difficult to actually do and so here are some suggestions that I’m working on:

How to work those Extroverted Thinking muscles

1: Allow yourself time in your strength. My favorite part of the writing process is outlining and researching and I have my best writing days when I start my time reviewing my detailed outline or deep chapter outlines before diving into the actually act of pulling words from the air. 

DANGER: I can’t let myself spend all day there, or my word count will be a big fat zero. 

Go ahead and let yourself swim in your comfortable waters to warm up for the day, then dive into whatever deeper pool you’re aiming for. 

2: Swallow that fear. I expect you’ve had days like me where you can’t believe you’re trying to write and everything is garbage. The reality, and I can’t thank my CPs (critique partners—particularly Charissa Weaks who has been a god send) enough, is that my writing works, but I’m afraid to put it out there. Even when I’m not close to sending something out or having a book release my mind knows that the end game of all that typing is people reading my words. 

You can let the fear rule the day, or you can face it and tell yourself it’s worth the risk. Of course nothing’s ever obsolete, and there are times fear is really your gut telling you something’s wrong with the story.

3: Set Goals. Hopefully this is an easy one, but here’s a twist to it—make one accessible goal for each day. Finish the book is an excellent goal, but daunting when that’s what’s staring you in the face each morning and you’re on chapter 2. 

Break it down. Yes this is structure, but even abstract thinkers need some structure in order to put together a story, otherwise people won’t understand it. 

4: Trust your gut to guide you. I’ve got that F in my personality type and I know I rely on feeling, but I’m also a laboratorian and trained myself to view with an analytical eye. So I have experienced conflicts trusting my gut when I’m stuck wearing my lab coat. Some instances scream for me to take off the jacket and let the wind guide me. 

When writing THE MARS STRAIN I knew the timeline of both my story and the infection process, it was science. But I was stuck in the middle of the book, I knew it wasn’t working, but I forced myself to keep writing to the timeline. Once I let go and followed my gut I backed up and rewrote a few chapters with more of a character focus. Le voilà!

5: After your gut has you on the right track, time for Extroverted Thinking (Te). Break down the problem. Don’t try to tackle everything at once or you’ll overload your brain. The Te phase is the big red button, the ignitor. Once you hit it everything’s a go and you leave behind the feeling, sensing, and intuiting. I wasn’t able to look at my entire manuscript and see all the twists and tweaks that needed to be done. I started with my main character and worked from there. 

If you’re a storyteller you like living in your own head and no matter what cognitive functions you excel at, I hope some of this helps you defeat procrastination.