Category: Uncategorized

Top 10 Favorite Tropes

Everyone knows what a trope is, right? A person, place, or thing included in a story–book, movie, or video game—used so frequently that anyone who has read more than one book can pick out.

Writers are warned to avoid tropes; told they make their writing worse or predictable. I say that with thousands of years of storytelling and human experience to draw from, tropes are recognizable for a reason and, as long as a writer puts in effort to freshen up the idea, tropes are a fun part of the writing process that can connect your work to the history of the craft. And if there is one thing I love, it’s near pretentious sentimentality like that.

In the spirit of praising tropes for their impact on literature, I decided to make this top ten list.

1) Treasure Hunts

I’ll attribute this to my favorite moves growing up. Muppet Treasure Island, The Goonies, Indiana Jones: I loved anything with a good treasure hunt. Bonus points for the wild and crazy traps that the main characters had to overcome along the way. I feel that either with the technological advances or our rapidly decreasing attention spans that show are moving away from this type of story and sticking with races and explosions. Which is a shame: bring back my bone pianos and riddles about invisible bridges!

2) Off Gender Hobbies

This one is something that I noticed more in 90s and early 00s media. Like the episode of Fairly Odd Parents where Timmy becomes a girl for a day to choose a good present for Trixie. This leads him to find out she likes video games and comic books. Their day together helps him feel better about getting a scalp massage and manicure while watching soap operas at the end of the episode. This was huge to me as a child who liked knights and knives more than jewelry and tea parties. It made me feel normal and helped me to realize that I didn’t have to restrict myself to choosing between ‘girl stuff’ and ‘guy stuff.’ I wish more people would bring this back, especially without any added subtext.

3) Redemption Arcs

Who doesn’t love a well-thought out redemption arc that isn’t contrived and that centers around a villain actually making character growth? See what I did there? This trope has the unfortunate symptom of too many authors wanting a redemption arc but not wanting to take the time to properly write them. This often centers around handwaving, or completely ignoring, any sort of character development in the ‘redeemed’ character. If a character is going to be believably redeemed, they need to hit their lowest point, whether physically, mentally, or emotionally, and realize that they just can’t continue what they are doing. After all, they chose their side with conviction. They should have a reason for overcoming that decision or it will never feel genuine.

4) The sassy talking weapon or mascot trying their best

You know this character. The talking sword, the computer with an attitude problem, the cute cat who thinks it’s a lion: they are fun to watch and read about because they offer levity and personality to any situation.

5) Rival friendships

The rival or arch nemesis doesn’t have to be an evil person. They usually just don’t like the protagonist. That doesn’t mean they don’t like anyone, and that’s very rare; even for a lone wolf personality. This is why I love when they are given real friendships. Someone to help them through their struggles and often helps them realize when it is time to give up.

6) Rivals or villains with a moral code that the hero can sometimes get along with

Just because I’m trying to take over the world doesn’t mean I don’t have standards. Rivals and villains normally confront the protagonist on sight. Occasionally, by the time they hit the scene someone else has already put the hero on their back. A rival or villain who are not really evil as much as just antagonists will sometimes help them to the hospital with a note saying they will be back to totally defeat them later. Other times, they will put in the effort to help themselves with only mild suspicion and a few over-exaggerated threats strewn into the mix. I live for those interactions which show the humanity of everyone on different sides of a conflict.

7) Fights that are more like a game

Give me the wild eyed, grinning fights with powers between friends or rivals. Ones with banter and over the top moves that they can only use because of their respect for one another, even if they don’t always see eye to eye. It’s especially fun when they wind up laughing and exhausted in a draw and are toted away to recover over food and conversation.

8) Rivals joining forces with the heroes

If you haven’t guessed it, I like rivals and heroes who come around to being friends in the end. This is normally one of the things that pushes them to that point, or at least to the point where they care and trust each other enough to not just throw hands the second they see each other from that point forward. When someone so loathsome comes along that the hero and normal rival or villain team up together; it makes them all relatable and leads to emotional growth and I love it.

9) Grizzled adult changed by the love of a child

Naruto killed me so many times with this. The traumatized men who recognized the suffering they went through in someone else and strove to change things for that child. Before that, my favorite example was in the Redwall series. In one book, an otter (who was experiencing PTSD and possibly psychosis of some sort from being tortured by toads for an extended period of time) is dragged along on an adventure because his brother needs to go and no one trusts the otter, who is still running on feral survival instincts, to not murder them all in their sleep. Through a distracted moment, a happy-go-lucky squirrel boy, who takes no nonsense for grumpy breakfast skippers, makes a connection with him through not showing fear and talking to him like he is still a person. By the end of the journey, though he still has his issues, the otter is leagues better thanks to his new best friend.

10) Emotional release

I didn’t really know what to title this, so let me explain. When a character has gone through hell and has put up that angry front to cope, and they find a friend/someone else they can trust, and suddenly, they KNOW they don’t have to deal with their pain like that anymore. The abuser is gone, they can trust and love again, when the burden of the world falls away in a cool breath of air. That’s one of my favorite moments in a story. I love when a character who has been through so much finds that safety and happiness.

I think I found something of a theme in there. What are your favorite tropes? I’d love to read your comments and find out! Thanks for reading.

Seven-Point Story Structure

I think I’ve said something similar before, but I feel like I was cheated out of a great deal of lessons when I took classes on writing in high school and college. There are so many unique and interesting ways to order a story and to think about progression that I honestly don’t understand how the basic three act structure managed to monopolize all of our lessons. Perhaps, it has something to do with the fact that our teachers had to squish stories, poetry, creative non-fiction, and more into a single semester. It is a shame how some of the most enjoyable parts of life and education are cut down to the point of being hardly covered.

The seven-point story structure is one that has caught my attention with its heavy focus on cause and effect. It is simple and helps to keep the story moving forward if applied correctly. It is also a great template to add to and subtract from to create a more flexible work. I’ll talk about each of the seven points, and illustrate this flexibility.

Hook

The hook is, as always, the initial bit that latches onto the reader and drives them to pick up your story beyond that first chapter. It should be the introduction of the main character and, in most cases, the main objective and stakes as well. These are especially important in a shorter story where you don’t have a great deal of time for expositing. Longer stories can usually get by with focusing on the main character and the setting as long as something interesting (and plot relevant) takes place.

First Plot Point

The hook captured the audience and flung the protagonist into their journey. As a result of them taking off, they are going to encounter something new and central to the objectives of the story. Whether that is a guide, a contest, a quest, a match on their dating profile, something that carries them to the goal and forces them to make a decision is going to pop up.

First Pinch

Your character made the decision to engage with the first plot point. They signed on with a mentor, accepted the quest, or entered the death mash gala. Actions have consequences, and their decision is the action that is going to propel your character straight into the gaping maw of their first real problem. Does their new teacher have a stuck-up favorite student who trashes your character on the first day? Does the quest prove to be 10x more dire than they have the training for? Did they think the death gala was about metal music and not having an ax shoved in their face sharp side first? These are all things that your character is going to have to deal with very quickly.

Midpoint

Your character survived their encounter with the first pinch. Maybe they were able to pull a trick out of their back pocket and get away, or maybe someone had to bail them out, but they emerged all the same and are now at a cross roads. Are they going to keep acting in a way that will allow the first pinch to cycle back into their life? Or, the much better option, are they going to change something about themselves and how they act to enable them to deal with any future issues? Hiding behind the teacher is only going to get you pummeled again. Training your butt off and learning to defend yourself is an active way to prepare for the next attempt so you don’t wind up flat out on the train grounds again.

Second pinch

The midpoint has passed and your character decided to be a doer and not wait to get in trouble again. This, however, does not stop trouble from arriving. In fact, their decision to not run away and hide is the precise reason trouble decided it was within its rights to waltz up to your character and strike once more. Depending on your story, and the specific choice your character made that propelled them from the midpoint to the second pinch, the second pinch will take shape. A larger group of bullies, a secret organization that wants the hero dead, your character’s crazy abusive ex with a baseball bat at three in the morning in a dark alleyway; these are all potential second pinches as long as they stem from that midpoint choice and bring your character to the brink of disaster. We’re only two points away from the end, after all, so if it’s really the main second pinch of the story, it’s going to be a big deal.

Second Plot Point

Your character started a journey. The faced a trial and decided to change themselves to reach the goal they set out to accomplish. This did nothing to stop another problem from knocking them down to a level of pain and despair that they didn’t realize could exist. What decision did they make to get out of that darkness? They resolved to be stronger before, what is there to decide now? There is a climax looming in the distance and one more decision that needs to be made.

Resolution

Did they make the right decision? Did they get back on their feet from the pit of despair and continue on? If so, you’re going to reach the climax and resolution of your story. Everything else should have been building to this moment, all the character’s training and suffering have led to what is happening here and now. They’ve made their choices and dealt with the consequences. This is their final consequence to face and the glory they receive afterwards.

Flexibility

It’s not much of a surprise to think that as long as you have a set of probably cause and effects, you can carry a story like this on for more than just the initial seven points. You can also increase the length and strengthen the pacing by overlapping several characters’ decision arcs to create an ample supply of sub-plots to fuel your story. The seven-point structure is also good for a wide variety of genres due to the fact that decisions are made in romance, fantasy, sci-fi, and more. If you’re looking for a plotting structure with options and simplicity, I would definitely recommend giving this a try.

When Things Don’t Go Your Way…

When things don’t go your way,
The first instinct is to give up,
Give in to failure,
Avoid the mistake,
Withdraw from any reminder
That flaws pervade the self.

When things don’t go your way,
Temptations can grow
Multiply
Spiral
Out of Control.
Did you ever have control?

When things don’t go your way,
Doubts fill the mind,
Pain the heart,
Darkness the soul,
As perfection proves itself a paper sheet
Covering the weak and vulnerable.

When things don’t go your way,
When imperfection is exposed to the light of day,
Relax,
Unwind,
Remember,
That every failure,
That every mistake,
Is not an end
But instead
A turning page.

When things don’t go your way,
Start a new chapter,
Don’t put down the pen.
Get back on the horse,
Don’t throw away the saddle.
Try again,
And again.

Because every time
Things don’t go your way,
It’s an opportunity to show,
What lies beneath that imperfection;
Weakness
Or Strength.

Rough middle of the week. I’m going to spend the weekend trying to get some posts pre-written to give myself more consistency. Thank you for understanding and I’ll be back to normal on Monday!

Fichtean Curve

Hello and welcome back! During my post about forming a plot skeleton for a novel, I focused on the classical Hero’s Journey and the parts of it that I find particularly crucial to a good story. I mentioned some other outline ideas as well and wanted to take time to go over what each entails.

While struggling how best to manage the various parts of my different WIPs, I came across the Fichtean Curve as a model for plotting a novel. I had never come across this one before, even in my college creative writing class, and I wondered why. I love it as a concept and it virtually eliminates one of the biggest problems with one of my potential novels. For this reason, I wanted to talk about it first as I don’t think it has quite enough attention.

What It Is

If you’ve ever made a story outline graph in elementary/middle/high school then you’re likely familiar with the six points of introduction, exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. I remember having to fill in the blanks on paper for books and short stories in class and on at least one occasion create a very primitive work using that model. It is an important thing to learn as it is the form most stories take, even if they ditch or rearrange a few pieces.

The Fichtean Curve is one such model that tends to keep the elements, though they are rearranged. Beginning with the rising action, stories plotted in this style will be thrown right into the exciting bits, ramping into a crisis within the first few pages in many cases. From there, the story will dip down into the valleys of the consequences of their handling of that crisis and some sprinkles of background information to help catch the reader up on why they should care as the consequence revs its way up into a brand-new crisis.

This series of peaks and valleys will result in the climax, the ultimate crisis, then taper off into the falling action that will help to establish a new normal for the characters of the book.

What It Isn’t

Hearing that the story starts with the rising action sounds like another style of outlining that is much more frequently spoken of: in media res. This style is known for dropping the reader in the middle of the important actions and then meandering towards the climax and what comes next. They easiest way to think of the difference is by looking at the pacing. The Fichtean Curve is a quick ride of ups and downs, whereas anyone who has read the Iliad or the Odyssey is aware that in media res does not require speed by any stretch of the imagination.

What It’s Good For

There are plenty of uses for the Fichtean Curve in storytelling, which is why I was surprised that it is not more widely taught. It particularly helps with one of the issues that I was facing with a particular story idea of mine: consistent pacing.

When I sat down for this particular outline, I quickly realized there was a problem with how my story was unfolding. I had mountains of background that were all important and helped to set up the coming plot, however they were spaced so far apart and so numerous that I was actually thinking of ways to put flashbacks in my exposition. Never a good sign; especially when the action portion happens in a shorter time frame and a much faster clip. In media res sounded like a good idea, but the Fichtean Curve was even more appealing.

The curve did something similar to in media res, dropping you off at the start of the action as opposed to the middle of it, with the added bonus of helping you to keep your story progressing at a fast pace. This meant that I could start with my characters marching on the leaders to begin their revolution, cut to why that should matter without having to bother with taking the long and extremely mundane road to get from A to B, then swing back to describe how that all mixed to create the military joining my heroes and not their rulers.

To put it quickly, it helps to trim a great deal of the fat, without making it seem like there should be filler content or *two months later* after every incident. It is especially good for action novels, and perhaps a fast-paced mystery that needs a good hopping back and forth between setup and payoff.

Has anyone ever read a story they think fits this model? Do you think it should be taught in more classes on writing?

Source: https://blog.reedsy.com/story-structure/

What Was It? Fitz-James O’Brian

I wanted to do a book review this month, but I haven’t been as much in the mood to read as I normally am. For this reason, I reached for the horror anthology on my shelf that I had never managed to get through and thumbed through it to find something new and interesting to talk about. I chose What Was It? by Fitz-James O’Brian written in 1907. It is, unfortunately, merely and extract of the whole work (something I did not know about this book when I first bought it) but I think the main idea was retained even if something was removed.

The story begins with the main character, Harry, conversing with his friend, Dr. Hammond, on a July evening at a lodging house. Despite many attempts to turn their thoughts to pleasant musing about travel and spectacular marvels, their minds are repeatedly turned back towards the occult, as if it was a force that was enchanting and ensnaring them. Eventually, they abandon their attempts at redirection and the question of what the greatest terror in the world must be.

Harry thinks about some past events in his life that might qualify, such as watching the death struggle of a person play out before him: though he can think of ways that such a scenario could be made worse and quickly decides that he does not care to delve further into thought about it. Hammond agrees that it is a difficult subject to muse on, mostly because he, after listing several fictional horror accounts, concedes that there is likely something so horrific that their mind cannot hope to imagine it. Growing weary of the subject matter, Harry blames Hammond for being the source of bad thought and leaves him to go to bed. Humorously, the book that Harry has been reading at night turns out to be a book entitled History of Monsters which he proceeds to hurl across the room upon realization and decides to instead try for sleep.

I will admit, I have a nasty habit of attempting to decide as I’m reading where a story will turn. Perhaps it is due to the twists that are so common in contemporary pieces and my desire as a writer, or as a know-it-all big sister, to prove myself capable of predicting where the mind of the particular author went during his or her writing progress. Taking on a piece more than 100 years old seem to be a good solution for confounding me, because when the story got to the point of describing Harry grappling in the darkness with a naked and unseen opponent, I fully expected to have it revealed to be a bewitched Hammond when the lights were turned back on. This was not the case: instead, Harry had been assaulted by an invisible gremlin who he and Hammond tie up and proceed to attempt to classify and figure out what to do with.

And for the speculation part of the program. My first instinct was to attribute this to simply a period piece where horror was young and the thought of a material but transparent being was just going to be seen as scary. After all, I doubt there were extensive books written about cute invisible anime girls who walked around in uniforms or family comedies with a floating pair of glasses that can’t seem to decide if he can see himself or not. However, I didn’t have to look too far to find what I think the author was trying to say is the scariest thing in the world and it is not fear of the unknown.

Helplessness. That is truly the most horrific thing that a man can experience. Being completely and utterly unable to do anything about a situation as you watch it unfold before you. Perhaps it is even worse when you should have control, when you do have control, of what is happening but you are utterly unable to produce a favorable outcome. There are several examples of helplessness that Harry experiences to drive home the message.

While thinking over the question of what the most terrifying thing is, Harry, unlike Hammond who is focused on beasts and disembodied voices in fiction, thinks on a dark day in reality when he and a group of others were in a building sixty feet high overlooking a river and watched an unfortunate woman drown without the ability to do anything about it. His take on abject horror is the prospect of death and the ramifications of ways to amplify that terror he saw in her last moments, glossing over the terror of the experience itself. This instance can be said to be something Harry had no control over due to his distance, which in this idea would make it far less frightening than what was to come.

The next instance of helplessness encountered by the lead happens moments before the arrival of the titular creature. When trying to sleep after his disturbing talk with Hammond, Harry is assaulted by the dark and wandering thoughts brought on by his conversation in the garden. This is a situation that Harry feels he should have control over, making it much more exasperating when his intellect is unable to build a sufficient barrier around what dread he has to allow him to sleep. The assumed control makes it a worse scenario, but still not the absolute worst.

Receiving a break from the helplessness, Harry is assaulted by the invisible beast, that seems to fit Hammond’s thought of what true horror might be, and is successful at overpowering and subduing it. This establishes his control as well as he two men of science proceeding to take on the enigma, as they label it, in a variety of ways to determine what it is. Hammond suggests that like glass or the air, there must be a logical way for a physical form to achieve transparency. He uses reports of spirit circle rituals to prove that the phenomenon is not unheard of: however, he stops short of claiming it is a spirit. It is a wise decision, for after having a cast made using chloroform and clay, the final true horror unfolds. They have here a living being with a heartbeat and breath, invisible but with the capability for movement and a need for nutrition to support life. They even have its face, uncanny as it is yet still they call it a man, from their casting of the one in their control.

That control winds up losing its meaning to helplessness once again. The beast will not eat anything they set before it. They listen as its heart rate slowly fails and nothing they try will get it to eat. It is dying and the only other option they have to prolong its life, releasing a beast who was first caught attempting murder and possibly cannibalism, is unthinkable as a real solution. This means that despite having control over the situation, Harry is placed back in the condition of his worst experience where he is completely helpless.

The best part, in my opinion, is that despite of calling the beast an enigma, despite seeing that its form is hideous, despite knowing that it had murder and possible consumption of Harry as its motives for revealing itself; Harry at no point dehumanizes the creature. He consistently calls its form human, he never once denies that the creature is alive and that he holds that life in his hand. He feels for the enigma, he is compassionate towards its plight even as he knows to release it would be to give a likely death sentence to another innocent person. He had pity on the creature’s slow starvation as he stood by helpless to provide it with something palatable and unable to kill it as his understanding of its possible personhood made the thought like murder in his mind.

Three terrible decisions to make, in control but helpless to create a positive outcome. What it was and the unknown may be terrifying, but the reality of the weakness and vulnerability of the person is so much more so.

Kelpies

Today was a most difficult one. I was moments away from failing to save a young boy hardly old enough to leave his mother’s arms. Though it was, in the end, a happy occasion; I cannot help but think what may have happened if I had been a few moments longer on my way. Nor can I rid my mind of every venture ended when none were around to intervene. Thus my writing today highlights the dangers of the Kelpie, a creature responsible for many deaths.

Born of water and malcontent, these beings are the incarnation of loathing. This I do not say lightly, as I know many across the worlds are quick to cast many of our elemental friends and neighbors into a demonic classification. As much as I withhold from speaking such words normally, I shout them most seriously at the Kelpie.

None have seen this beasts true form and lived to tell the tale. It possesses the abilities of a morph and will only show itself to humans in the form of a dark horse at the water’s end. Rarely, it will also take the form of a human woman; unclothed and voluptuous. This form is where the questioning sprang from in the pursuit of determining the personhood of the creature. It was quite quickly determined that there was no such thing to find in these monstrous beings as they quickly slew all who would draw near; dragging them into the water that they call home.

Though distasteful in my sights, the scholar in me cannot rightly fault them their ways. Determining that there is no person in the mass of agitated water in the form of a beast removes the possibility of true malice behind its actions. Indeed, like any creature it is only hunting for its next meal. My bias, perhaps, comes from the way its methods taste like trickery and frequency humans find their way into its clutches. There is also the void of mystery which envelops the beast as once it has disappeared into the murk of its lock there is no sign of how it looks or acts.

Kelpies are, in my own opinion, quite easily spotted. They will take the form of a horse on the edge of a body of water as their lure. The horse is always dark grey to black in coloring, with murky blues in its main and tail. There is a distinct wildness, an unkemptness verging on sickliness, to the look of them. Their tails are exceedingly long, and always touch the surface of the water. It may be that the tail is one with the water as the creature is known to be unable to leave whatever area of water it inhabits. If, by brush or other obstruction, you cannot see the tail, there are still more oddities to spy due to its morphing nature.

Morphs of all kinds always have a tell. With the Kelpie, that tell is twofold. Its feet are in every instance backwards. Whether hooves or feet on a human-like form, they will face the improper direction. The other tell is their glowing red eyes. Some, perhaps through limited trial and error, have discovered that humans do not take well to the sight of such ocular oddities and do their utmost to cover the glowing orbs. However, they are not free thinking and are quite easy to trick into revealing that trait as they know not the reason behind the apprehension.

This trial learning is most likely too why Kelpies are far less likely to appear in the guise of a woman. Less a tell and more an inability to grasp the niceties of human expression and thought, the face on a Kelpie woman has been explained as fleeting in beauty. Indeed, it could be there was no beauty to be had above the bust line and that fleeting was more of the guidance of grace guiding their eyes up and away from the temptation of base objectification. Whatever the case, fewer and fewer travelers fell victim to their human form and the Kelpie has in many cases abandoned such a form.

Kelpies thrive upon children and the elderly: children due to their innocence and love of all creatures, the elderly due to their lack of vision. Even these will likely determine the truth of the creature’s identity upon inspection. However, by that time it is normally too late. This is due to the sticky substance that is present on the skin and mane of the creature. Once a hand has been placed on the neck to stroke the mane, the trap has been sprung. Nothing save white hot iron is able to cleave the hold of the beast and it takes the entirety of a community to hold the victim in place while the fire is stoked.

The simple solution is to avoid a horse by the waterside at all costs. Call it to yourself inland should you wish to approach it. This is a task the Kelpie could not achieve even if it had the sense of a man. And, in all things, practice caution and prudence so you may reach home from your journey alive.

Character In-Depth

Hello and welcome back! Last week I talked about a method for outlining the pertinent information on the primary characters of your story. The PCs include the main character, the main antagonist, and anyone else who has a major impact on the main story points in the outline. The very basics of information about them included their name and personality traits, what drives them, their goal, and the overall role they play in the story. With this information, it will be easier to map out paragraphs or lists containing ideas for not only what they will do when confronted with whatever issues you throw their way, but also how they will consistently interact with other characters. This step is very important for the writing process, even if you are not writing an outline for your entire story. I know characters don’t always start out their best, in fact it’s better in most cases if they don’t, so if you want to keep track of where they will end up at the end of the story that is a good thing to do.

Physical Description

Most stories, contain a physical description for their primary characters. Putting a name with a face can help the readers to become more invested in your character by making them seem more tangible. This information can also help to pinpoint how they will act or be treated in certain situations. If a war breaks out, a six-year-old girl and a sixteen-year-old boy will be treated very differently by everyone around them so it is important to have each of these in mind even if they are ultimately never in the work.

Here’s a list of things to consider for your description:

  • Age
  • Race
  • Ethnicity
  • Religion
  • Physical or Mental Handicaps
  • Skin, hair, and eye color
  • Height and weight

Once you have those important things listed, I suggest taking a moment to think about how your character feels about these parts of him or herself. Does he hate his hair color? Is she only still a member of her religion due to her parents? Does he obsess about his image? Does she feel there is a disadvantage to how she was born? This will all effect how they interact with others and how they treat themselves.

As an example, one of my female characters grew up in a home where old and new ideas about gender have clashed in an unhealthy way. She’s had to listen to her father complain that the women need to maintain jobs while in the same breath stating that housework is women’s work. She has spent many hours wondering if her family would have been better off if she, the eldest, was born male. This means she has a tendency to push herself to do what she feels a man would be able to do without any regard for if that makes any sense. Did she get stabbed? That’s not so bad! Her dad worked on his job all day with stitches in his hand once!

Personality Description

This step takes the primary trait from the last step and expands upon it do to the information in the personal description. If your character is a jokester, and has a background of depression stemming from losing his parents at a young age and being passed around foster homes, it’s possible that he’s sarcastic and uses dark humor to cover up how he actually feels. Or, maybe he’s more optimistic in spite of his past woes and has a bubbly sense of humor that lights up the whole room, though he might not have the best sense of timing in what others would consider serious situations. You will have to decide which option best fits the character you’re going for and stick with it.

When you’re talking about the main character or one of the “good guys” some writers are tempted to shy away from anything other than messy hair and makeup for personality flaws with these individuals. This makes for a flat and boring character without any room to grow. It’s fine for your character to be somewhat unpleasant at the beginning of the story, even your protagonist. The only thing you need to worry about is making sure they are not completely unlikable. The vast majority of people are not going to feel sorry for a serial rapist no matter how sympathetic the rest of their character arc is.

Your villain, on the other hand, is a trap for the exact opposite problem. I love a well-written villain with the potential to be saved: however, I don’t care for a wimp who shouldn’t really be a villain in the first place. So, don’t be afraid to let your villain kick puppies every once in a while to drive home that this is a vile piece of creation that your reader should be worried about. If you decide to redeem them, they can log some community service hours at the local shelter to learn their lesson but again, that’s after their character growth.

Voice Description

Some of the information for this was discussed in the personal description part. Where they are from and who they are make up the bulk of their voice. There are still a few nuanced things to think about when it comes to their interactions with others. For this section think things that are more personal than their demographics. Think of hobbies they have, the type of friend they normally spend time with, their job, things that excite or scare them. These are all things that will be carried out in their interactions with the plot and other characters. If your main character usually hangs out around the boys and is most comfortable in a classical “teen guy” type environment, he would most likely not be cool when his new stepsister needs him to make an emergency run for some tampons and Midol.

I hope you find these different steps helpful. Even if you don’t get as deep as say, the last example, knowing where your character is comfortable will help remind you when they shouldn’t be. These kinds of character outlines I, and others like me, have found to be helpful in keeping on character when writing a character so you don’t have one chapter where your character seems off script. Thank you so much for reading! Comment any questions you have and have a great day!

Plot Points

Welcome back! If you have been following along from the beginning, you’ll know that today I’m going to be talking about the second step of how to figure out the main plot for an outline of a story. Or, at least how I’ve found it easiest to do so. I split this part in half because of how long of a process it can be, at least if you’re trying to write out an explanation for it.

After figuring out the who and what of the story, I found a reliable way to make a premise and a synopsis. From there, I strongly encouraged you to write furiously for five or more minutes and put any ideas you could think of for the story on paper. Each of these steps should have built on top of each other to help expand the ideas out to give you a good idea of the story. For the next part, you’ll need a highlighter, red pen, highlight tool, or whatever you can use to help single out ideas that you find in your flurry pages.

What to Highlight

Before you turn your lovely ideas into a colored masterpiece, let’s take a moment to talk about story structure. There are so many ways to organize a story that choosing one is almost as intense as choosing what genera, age group, or subject to tackle in your work. There is the hero’s journey, in media res, and the Fichtean curve just to name a few. What kind of story you are writing will determine what kind of framework you’ll wind up going with in the end.

If, for example, you want a tight and fast story that takes the reader on a while ride from start to finish, I would consider the Fichtean curve. This structure is basically just a series of rising problems and solutions that lead to more problems until you reach the climax and resolution. Think of an action novel without a lot of down time. The story is kicked off with the MC needing to make a decision which causes a problem, and solving that problem leads to another until you reach the point where you take out the main source of the issue.

Let’s say that instead you have a great story revolving around a war or some other major event and all the build up to that event is slow, boring, or could be handled in only a few scenes. Instead of cutting that out all together (which risks readers becoming confused) you could consider an in media res story. This is a story where you start in the middle of the rising action and on the way to the climax, you sprinkle in flash backs about what happened before to get the story to that point. Instead of having ten tedious chapters about every way democracy fell apart in the lead up to preventing a civil war, consider starting on the battle field and flashing back to important moments of betrayal, alliance, and training that happened to get to that point.

The classic outline is the hero’s journey which is a set of bullet points that happen so often in literature that they were able to be extracted by studying centuries of story telling. This is one of my favorites and is what I’m using for my current novel. I also honestly believe that the plot points covered are so universally true to all stories that going over them is helpful to each type of structure. This is why I’m going to explain them in detail and encourage you to look for and fill them in for your story no matter how the final structure winds up.

What to Highlight

Introduction
This isn’t necessarily, or exclusively, about telling the reader who your MC is. That i a very important part because everyone wants to know who it is they’re rooting for. This part of the story is also about setting up what normal is like for that character and the world around him. It’s equally important to know that your character is a poor boy in New York and that his job is terrible, his roof leaks, and that he and his mother live alone. It’s maybe even more important if the MC likes or is comfortable in their normal. Everything is sunshine and rainbows which means that rain cloud in the distance is going to especially difficult to deal with.

Call
This is also often referred to as the inciting incident. Something happens that tells your MC that they need to go outside of their normal and deal with the problem. This can be anything from the castle guard telling the hero that the princess has been kidnapped to the MC realizing that if she doesn’t find a husband soon her dream of being a mother might not happen in the way she wants it to or the MC’s mom getting a devastating cancer diagnosis in the Great Depression where health insurance isn’t a thing.

Push Back or Refusal of the Call
I like to refer to this part of the story as the push back as opposed to the refusal simply because it is possible that the action does not necessarily stem from the main character. While it is possible that the main character might not want to be drafted into a war when their life at home is going perfectly because it sounds like death being delivered on a silver platter, it is equally likely that the main character could be willing to take out a life threatening loan but his mother would rather he just take out a life insurance policy and let her answer the call of death.

This was something I realized while working on my current WIP. My MC is powered and pumped to rush out there and find a way to save the day. I, however, did something extremely controversial in my story and did not make her family dead or estranged (shocking, isn’t it?) meaning her parents and siblings were a bit worried about eldest sister going out to the front line and possibly dying or not being able to take care of herself. This meant there was a push back even when there was enthusiastic excitement.

Crossing the Threshold
For whatever reason, you get your character past that push back and decide to do the thing your story demands of them. That means now you have to cross from the ordinary life you set up in the introduction and into the world of wherever the actual story takes place. In many books and movies, especially fantasy, this is a huge leap. Think: “We’re not in Kansas anymore Toto, there’s color and weird people.” However, it doesn’t always have to be so dramatic. Sometimes the threshold is a state of mind change: the MC has decided to ramp up their dating life now every eligible person in their desired SO pool becomes a series of checklists while any event becomes an occasion to dress to impress.

Roadblock
This is the first in a series of major issues that your character is going to face due to the unfortunate decision to take on the task at hand. I like to think of it as the climax to act one of the story, the final trial in an act dedicated to getting the ball rolling. This can be anything from realizing that there is a skill required to complete the task that the MC didn’t know was needed going into this to needing to prove themselves to the other members of a gang or army so that they have access to the rest of the quest. Depending on what it is in your story will determine how long it takes to overcome this obstacle and in many cases the character won’t have a chance of getting past this issue without…

Mentor
No one knows everything from the start, even if your character is a Nobel Peace Prize winner with three PhD’s. There is always going to be room for improvement or help when facing a task and the roadblock is usually one of the first real indicators of the issue. If MC HAS to be able to cast a certain spell to defeat the evil wizard and they know exactly zero (0) magic, they had better find a teacher/go bug that guy in the creepy tower that his grandma knows to teach her how to do it. No matter if it is someone the MC knew the mentor before or if they are brand new, most of the time the mentor is someone who has done some similar thing or someone who trained to do your task before giving up due to an injury, old age, or family issue.

First Obstacle
If taking on the big bad was a walk in the park everyone would have done it. If getting a good SO was as easy as making one in a game, your MC would have been married a long time ago. Now that they have a mentor and are working on their struggles, they are going to hit another issue. After all, conflict is the essence of story writing. If there isn’t anything to cause trouble, there isn’t really any reason to care. It’s why video games sometimes throw in a timed even, it builds tension. It also is why most games put a locked door in front of the final boss: if you rush the big bad in your underwear you’re either going to die prematurely or end the game far too quickly.

Second Obstacle
Yep, we’re back at this once again. Feels like we just overcame an issue, doesn’t it? Sometimes, we might not have even done that yet. We’re on our way to get the boss key and now we heard one of the boss’s lackeys is in the process of trying to blow up Mars for some nefarious reason. Or we just got the police off our tail and are making progress towards paying off our loan with our moonshine business but now the loan shark says that if the MC can’t pay half of his loan by tomorrow, he’s going to kill the dog. Now MC needs one thousand more dollars than he has saved to prevent that.

Temptation
In many traditional listings of this step it’s called the somewhat dated “Woman as Temptress” instead. A super pretty lady tempts the hero with loads of bed sharing if he will abandon his goal of going home to his wife. It has been discovered that it is possible for something other than procreative concerns to make the hero want to quit. It could be that the MC can just murder and rob the little old lady who lives by herself and get all the money he needs. It could be that your cousin is screaming, “Come to the dark side! We have cookies! And no morals!”

In my story, the MC has taken several beatings, done things with her powers that scare her and make her feel guilty, feels completely abandoned by her friends (even though she knows that part of the problem is her pushing them away), and with the negative media spin by the enemy against her she feels like it would just be better to go back home and wait out the end of the world.

Third Obstacle
From the grace and fortitude of a gift from the heavens or determination, your character decides that they are not going to go down the wrong road. The cookies were oatmeal raisin anyway. Things were probably seeming pretty high for a minute. Then, just because life is hard, we have another problem on our hands. In many cases, this is the best obstacle to make happen due directly to one of the actions taken by the main character or someone on their team. You know that cyclops you pestered waaaaay back then? Now your crew destroyed your Deus ex Machina device because of a curse. Remember how during your temptation you cussed out the friends you made who were helping you make money with your business? Now you decided to keep at it and have no help as the deadline approaches. Even if the antagonist causes the obstacle, it normally leads straight into…

Disaster
You didn’t join the dark side and you also didn’t destroy the super weapon you’ve been fighting against so now just after your party splits some emo kid with too much power blew up a planet with another planet. That was not in the plan.

You were able to get your operation back up and running even without your hurt friends, but it turns out the shark snuck in a double agent and now your distillery is on fire.

This is the worst possible thing that has happened all book. The MC is kicked while their down. Salt is rubbed in the wounds and your reader can experience the MC’s pain in ways they didn’t realize was possible.

Crisis
That disaster creates a crisis. Things have never been worse and it is clear that it has never been more important to finish this task, preferably yesterday. Before we leave, we have to get our ducks in a row. Do we have our pants? Our key? The spell we needed? We put out the still fire but now there is no way to use that to make money. How are we going to get what we need in the week we have?

The crisis is an important part of the story. While the MC gets up from the disaster and is plowing forward to the end, there should still be a reason for the reader to wonder if they are going to make it. After all, there might be a teammate off sulking and the team doesn’t expect them to help. Or the disaster created such a huge problem that it seems impossible to complete the task at all without going back on some of the moral character growth made back around the temptation. You don’t want to have it feel like your MC is level 99 and the big bad maxed out at level 20.

Climax
This is it. The entire book has been building towards this moment. The big bad is an evil puppy kicking lunatic, there’s blood and tears everywhere, no one knows if we can do this, and yet we are fighting anyway. Your MC threw down the needed money while the shark tries to assassinate him. Despite the ups and downs of the relationship, the SO is proposing to the MC. The evil wizard is definitely getting the upper hand without that last member.

Then the last guy shows up and talks about friendship and the wizard laughs so hard he drops dead of a heart attack. Or the letter the MC wrote to his jilted friends explaining everything got through and they sniped the mob hit man from the next building over.

Return Obstacle
Your MC won! Now it’s all sunshine and rainbows, right? Sometimes, especially in young adult fiction or something where the issues are more directly contained, this is where the horrible things ends and the party starts. Other times, the characters are reminded that a snake’s head can still bite a few hours after death. (Look it up, it’s creepy stuff.) This means that just because you won, doesn’t mean that the antagonists are done throwing a fit about it.

Did the SO’s mom not like the MC? Well, that might not change just because they’re engaged and might come back to haunt them on the way to the alter. Did you win against the loan shark? Well, that doesn’t do much for your reputation with the police or help the fact that your mom is still upset that you did this in the first place. There is something that is standing between victory and that return to normal that has to be overcome in order to realistically enjoy it.

Resolution
This is the part where the happily ever after lives. It is not ever a return to the beginning of the story, even if they are in the same home they started in. There will always be a few things that stick with the MC from their journey: PTSD, a new spouse, new responsibility. However, in many cases, things are better than they were before even if there are struggles that are built into life as a part of the actions needed to get to that point.

Wrap Up

That took so much longer than I thought it would. There are, after all, many different parts to a story and many different ideas needed to craft one. While these are the ones that I find the most helpful, I’ll admit that on some lists there are even more items to check off.

Were you able to find everything on your list in your notes? If not, you may have to repeat the flurry writing with this list in mind to help come up with those missing elements if you can’t think of them while ordering your points. Don’t be too hasty to discard the things you didn’t highlight or whatever came to mind fresh during this part of the exercise either. There might be a place for them in the story still, we’ll talk about that in another part.

Thank you for reading my long and crazy post! Sorry it’s a bit late. Like I said, I did not expect it to take three hours.

The Main Five

            Hello! In an internet full of writers and writing advise, thank you for stopping by my blog. I’m just getting started with blogging and writing so I thought the best way to get the ball rolling was to start by explaining my writing process as I work my way through it. If I’m lucky, I’ll inspire a few others along the way!

            I’ve wanted to be a writer since at least high school, maybe a bit before, but I’ve been writing down ideas and dreams for far longer than that. From writing sequels to movies like Monsters Inc or Treasure Island to trying to create original works inspired by my favorite novels like The Chronicles of Narnia and the Redwall series, I dabbled in many different projects when I first started out. Back then I could just cascade words onto a page without worry, following each new idea as it came to my head, following the story along. Going back and rereading those works, I cringe at all the dropped plot threads and magically appearing plot devices. For this reason, when I sat down to be serious about my writing, I decided that I was going to go against every fiber of my being and write… an outline. *Cue dramatic music*

            Yes, despite my younger self’s insistence that outlines were overly complicated and super boring, I found many different people who encouraged an outline to not only fix my old problem of inconsistency but also my more recent problem of knowing where I am and where I want to be, but having no clue how to get there. This is called sagging middle syndrome and it’s one of the most frustrating walls I’ve come across. To make things even more complicated, I started loathing the plot of the book I had been sitting on for so long that I had to yank out important characters and ideas and start basically from scratch.

            There I was, a huge pile of scrapped notes and a browser full of pages of advice from different bloggers and writers. I wanted to throw up and throw all my dreams of writing away as I struggled to piece together where I should even get started. Taking a step back, I started to think about every book I had read and every movie I had seen and picked up on some major points that needed to show up every time. Clicking through the web pages I had saved, I noticed they were mentioned there as well.

            It dawned on me that part of my problem was that I only had half an idea where my story was going. I was missing key elements that are so vital to a story that it was no wonder I was struggling.

The Main Character

            Who will the story be following mostly? I knew this from the beginning because I had yanked her from the smoldering heap so full of edge and angsty teen regret that I had to scrap it. It’s impossible to have a story without someone to follow, and at least one of those people should stand out above the rest as the reader’s window to the world of your novel. This character, the protagonist, will have the most page time in the book so make sure they aren’t completely unbearable.

            So, who is your protagonist? Are they a hero? A princess? An anti-hero? A villain? Yes, I did just say villain. It is entirely possible to make your protagonist a gnarly villain, bent on destruction and world domination. The preface “pro-” means “for”, not necessarily good. If the story is written for the villain and you follow the villain and their musings more than anyone else, then the chances are that your villain is your main character. That can be pretty cool if done correctly, so good luck.

The Main Setting

            Where will this story be primarily happening? Is it a modern-day high school slice of life? Are you writing a romance in the Victorian Era? Or are you fighting invaders on the moon 500 years from now? For now, you want to decide what planet, where on the planet, what year, and if there is anything unexpected about your setting.

            My WIP is set here on earth during the current time. As I am a fantasy writer, you can be sure there are a few unexpected things in the mix. Most notable for the start of the book is that people are gaining elemental powers. This is very different from my old piece and is being a bit difficult to manage, mostly because when you’re in this setting everything sounds like its political in one way or another no matter how hard you try to avoid it. It’s an interesting challenge though, trying to keep things fun while still acknowledging some of the inescapable parts of our reality.

The Main Objective

            Where will this story be primarily happening? Is it a modern-day high school slice of life? Are you writing a romance in the Victorian Era? Or are you fighting invaders on the moon 500 years from now? For now, you want to decide what planet, where on the planet, what year, and if there is anything unexpected about your setting.

            My WIP is set here on earth during the current time. As I am a fantasy writer, you can be sure there are a few unexpected things in the mix. Most notable for the start of the book is that people are gaining elemental powers. This is very different from my old piece and is being a bit difficult to manage, mostly because when you’re in this setting everything sounds like its political in one way or another no matter how hard you try to avoid it. It’s an interesting challenge though, trying to keep things fun while still acknowledging some of the inescapable parts of our reality.

The Main Opponent

Otherwise know as the antagonist. Who doesn’t want your protagonist to succeed? This is usually a villain of some sort; the big bad, the terrible rival, the deadly warlord. However, if your protagonist is a villain, your antagonist is most likely going to be a hero or king or whoever is trying to stop their plans of villainy. Does the list end there? Not in the slightest!

            There are three main types of conflict that can arise in stories: Man vs Man, Man vs Nature, and Man vs Self. Any would work as the main conflict and, by extension, the source of the main villain. For this I decided to stick with the simplest to write, in my opinion, Man vs Man. My newly created antagonist is a crusty old man who has a goal to wipe out large swaths of the population by leading them astray and playing a good guy.

The Main Stakes

            The last of the main five is the main stakes of the story. In other words, what will happen if the main character doesn’t achieve his or her objective? Will the world end? Will little Suzy get trampled by wildebeests? Will the character lose everything they have to the needle in their arm? Why should the reader care about what happens during this book? What is on the line that the main character is fighting for? In my book it’s global annihilation on an unprecedented scale, of man, beast, and plants alike. No one is safe!

            Once I had all five of these elements laced together, the plot started to unfold itself before me. Next time, we’ll talk about how I managed to find a plot thread from all of these. Thanks for reading!

Getting Started

Hello and welcome to my writing blog. I’m excited to start this project, putting myself and my ideas out for the world to see! My goal is to post at least three articles a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll be doing a monthly book review, starting with some classics from my childhood before branching out into newer works hopefully by other small authors like myself. I also plan to have discussions about topics in books and writing, as well as snippets from my own works. My own works will mostly be a bestiary of the different mythical creatures and fantasy races in my stories.

Hope you all enjoy!