The Soul of Story cover reveal
My first non-fiction book is well underway. Check out the cover below!
Make your characters hurt
Most writers have a little difficulty building their characters into third dimensional creations. Eventually as the story progresses they fall in love with at least the majority of their characters. Without this creative transformation the story feels flat, but most writers struggle with the next essential phase of creative story development: making their characters hurt.
When I was writing my first novel, Swords of the Six, I received my first editorial critique. I remember feeling disappointed because the editor had been unable to make a strong emotional connection to the characters. But she adeptly noted that the connection could be made if my characters did not continue to come unscathed out of every battle.
This was a revelation to me as I proceeded with the story. I had a scene that I was working on and after a vicious battle with sea serpents my hero did emerged unscathed. So I went back and rewrote it, leaving the hero with scars for life. The result was eye-opening. As the character recovered from his wounds, I found myself creating interactions, with other characters for him, on a whole new level. Suddenly this was not a legend without reason, he had become a hero truly by blood sweat and tears.
Inflicting pain on the story’s hero made me fear for his safety in a way that I had not realized I could. Prior to this the story was fascinating, one could say it was enthralling, but it hadn’t felt real before. Not in the sense that it could be part of the real world that we live in. Now, I could imagine my own terror, my own dread of the consequences of the battles he was facing.
Hurting my characters became an essential element to every story that I wrote. In my primary series this has served me over and over again. In “The Sword of the Dragon: Offspring” I was afforded another opportunity when the heroine emerged out of a battle that completely disfigured her. I had written it out so that the dragon prophet healed her of her wounds, but when an author friend commented on it I realized there was a much better angle to take to that. When the dragon healed her of her wounds I changed it so that he received her scars on his own body. The result was sensational! Suddenly what he had done for her did not seem so light a gift. Suddenly the gift was a test and demonstration of his true love for her.
Make your fiction characters hurt and make the consequences permanent. Little speaks to their moral fiber as much as showing how they respond to tough circumstances or limitations. These are the fires in which the writing gold is refined.
Q: Do your characters hurt?
A foreign film showcases great storytelling
The best movies are backed by strong writing but some of the biggest productions have failed in this regard. Recently I discovered a little-known fantasy movie titled I am Dragon that surprised me with its straight-forward story, great acting, top-notch special effects, and satisfying conclusion. A good movie can instruct us on how to become better storytellers by reminding us to ask the right questions and deliver the right message. I am Dragon reminded me of what makes a great story.
Are you tired of movies that rely on action scenes to keep your interest? I am. Though I do appreciate action when it is applied properly, the heart of a story is never the battles, it is the soul of the characters and the arc of mystery, intrigue, or romance that they are following. You could say that the drama is the most important aspect of any good story. It grabs your attention and holds you through to the end because it gives you human elements that you can relate to. You may not understand what it is like to fight in a war, or touch a majestic beast, or be wounded in battle. But you probably do understand what its like to fall for a beautiful woman, or lose one you love, to struggle financially, or to battle physical illness or handicap.
When writing a fantasy story, ask yourself what is at the story’s heart. What elements can people relate to? What parts of the story will they aspire to live out? Everyone wants to be a hero or heroine. We all want to be loved, respected.
Much of the writing that I see in fantasy today is DARK. Dark in its mood, dark in its presentation of humanity’s flaws, dark in its outcome. What happened to HOPE? This is something essential to good storytelling. Imagine if God’s story through the gospel was to send Jesus Christ to Earth only to destroy everyone. Imagine if vanquishing Sauron’s evil in The Lord of the Rings did not return peace to Middle Earth. Picture Star Wars without a new hope, where Vader is never redeemed.
Every story that stands out in my mind has a beautiful end, an end that includes hope and, often, restoration.
I am Dragon is a Russian film production that seems to have received very little attention. The premise is, as some might say, deceivingly simple. Young brides were long offered in sacrifice to dragons until a dragon-slayer arose to free them from the beast’s reign of terror. But the slayer’s grandson uses the dragon-summoning song during his betrothal and the bride is taken by another dragon. What follows is a fantasy tale of legend and romance. This movie has the best dragon that I have ever seen on screen. Though I still love Peter Jackson’s version of Smaug, the dragon in I am Dragon is more relatable in its size and design. The facial expressions it achieves are stupendous!
What makes this movie special is its reliance on a simple story backed by minimal cast and gorgeous scenery. The story opens with dark themes, even dark cinematography. Then a shift takes place and brighter themes and scenery bring elation to the viewer.
As writers, we would do well to study the story in this film.
Q: Do you prefer dark stories, or stories of hope?
Flaming Pen Press‘s newest fantasy book release is also a story of hope. Check out Neverqueen 2.
The wizard wanted a male heir, but when he saw that the boy born to him was malformed he determined to kill him. Born into a life of cruelty, Valor could easily have fallen into his father’s darkness. Instead he set out to undo the wizard’s madness by covering those around him with the Creator’s compassion and light. The prophets are at work in the shadows, bringing forward the Neverqueen as the next prophetess whose reign will bring hope to the people of Paradon, and to her own people by the Eiderveis River. Her mysterious interactions and judgements will settle a caution and a terror in the hearts of the sorcerers and others who ignore her warnings. Unlikely alliances are formed in this story of hope that rises through adverse circumstances.
Are sidekick characters necessary?
Merry and Pippin fumbling across Middle Earth. Donkey jabbering his way out of trouble with Shrek. Sidekicks abound in fiction. With their success has come an unwritten expectation that great fantasy (and fiction in general) requires sidekicks. Modern culture prizes comedians above serious thinkers, adding to the problem.
While we can relate to the reasons a sidekick can sometimes empower a story, there are also drawbacks we must recognize. Sidekicks provide an easy release of tension in emotionally uncomfortable or charged situations. Their primary function is (often) to provide comic relief in situations that the protagonists are sweating over.
What is the drawback to this? We need to be fully absorbed in the story’s moments, especially with their most uncomfortable moments of tension. We need to sweat with the protagonist, not have some other character insert a distracting jab that attempts to lighten the mood. Surely there is a time and place for that, but often the humor is better left out.
Story is a powerful conductor of thoughts, ideas that motivate, and convictions that make the reader want to change or improve themselves. Humor distracts, makes light of, and de-emphasizes truths that build good character. I have spoken before about not modeling ourselves after the villain… but it is also imperative that we not look to comedians and sidekicks as our role models. Humor is a gift to be used sparingly. Deep thought and consideration of how humble and small we are beneath God should be our focus. Meditation and reflection are more beneficial to our souls than the funniest jokes.
Sidekick characters have trouble taking things seriously. They see humor in every moment. They get so caught up in jesting that they are either slow to mature or miss the opportunity to mature altogether. There is great wisdom in keeping silence. There is vast spiritual reward in learning to think, live, and act in sobriety. “Be sober, be vigilant, for your adversary the Devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” (quote from 1 Peter 5:8 The Bible).
It is easier to be foolish than it is to be sober. It is easy to jest especially when it has become the cultural norm. When I look back at some of the great fiction I loved I realize they did not use sidekick characters. Pilgrim’s Progress, Robinson Crusoe, etc.
I do believe sidekick characters serve necessary purposes in some stories, but I do think they are overused. The focus of story most often should be a sober consideration so that we can benefit from the tale we read. The trick when writing in sidekick characters is to not think of them as sidekicks. Let the story guide the character’s evolution so that you (the writer) begin to know their personality. As your understanding of the character deepens you may find opportunity to throw in a little humor, but the beauty of humor is in its spontaneity. Therefore let the sidekick characters be spontaneous and do not drown their story segments in predictable foolishness.
Humor is a gift from God, if used wisely. But used frequently it creates endless foolishness and leads to spiritual decay.
Q: How do you view sidekicks in fiction?
The importance of message in story
While it is important that a fiction piece not “preach” a message to its readers, it is of even greater importance that the story does communicate a message. A lot of stories written today seem to focus on action and romance, or something similar. But the real power in storytelling is to reinforce cultural values, or even to destroy them. We learn best by observing others in what they do and should not have done. We learn by those things… and stories have the ability to mold our thinking.
My first novel, Swords of the Six, delivered a few messages. The heroine in the story fell in love but her life blood was not human and thus in order to give birth to a living child she had to give up her own life. The heroine was left with an internal battle as she realized that giving birth would separate her from her new husband. The story was a message, a way of demonstrating the immorality of abortion and reinforcing the Biblical value for human life.
Without message the story has no real impact on the reader. It becomes generic. Action and romance are necessary elements in story, but in and of themselves they are not sufficient. Story needs soul. Story needs conviction.
Have you ever read The Pilgrim’s Progress or Hinds Feet on High Places? They are allegories of the Christian life and their value to the reader is powerful because it challenges your thinking. It causes you to evaluate who you are, what you want to be, who you want to be, and helps you recognize the flaws and pitfalls in modern thinking. Nowadays many writers are afraid of hurting the reader’s feelings or alienating people by writing messages that the reader disagrees with and that society may frown upon. But that is exactly the strength of literature.
You need to be challenged, motivated, and encouraged. I once used the line that my books were written to “enlighten, enliven, and enthrall people of all ages.” That is still where I stand. Stories have the ability to reach into hearts and change minds. As a Christian I recognize the power of message in story. We need to embrace it and share it with people around us. It will strengthen folks to stand for things wholesome, right, and good. And to live without fear because we know the message is greater than our comfort.
Q: What messages do you appreciate in stories you’ve read?
How nameless characters enhance story
Nameless characters. They may seem useless to the writer and to the reader but in many respects they are key to enhancing a great fiction story. Consider how many nameless characters populate the books you read and the movies you watch. Nameless characters play well into plot development and world building.
When I am writing a story I take into consideration the environment I am throwing my main characters into. What are the sights, the sounds, the smells. I want to engage the senses so that the reader experiences the story in a profound way. But a great part of creating the environment is the establishment of nameless characters.
Let’s use the example of John, a character who is feeling lost. If you want to convey that John is starting to feel panicky you could throw in a nameless character. Crowds are milling about, heading down the busy sidewalks. Someone bumps into John. He reaches down and finds his wallet is now missing. He franticly searches the sea of faces for the pickpocket but instead his gaze is arrested by a pretty face. She stands a short distance off, smiles, then disappears in the throng moving around him. Someone steps on his foot, mutters an apology, and several other people jostle him. A pistol presses against his back.
In this short example the only characters able to affect John are nameless ones. The advantage of this is that the reader now does not feel the need to know these other characters. Instead they want to know how John is going to react to these nameless characters and the situation in general. The nameless characters have revealed a deeper level to the story and left the mind imagining what could be the motives and purposes of these nameless characters. All the while, John remains the focus.
Nameless characters add mystery and, when written well, they will enhance the traits of the main characters by causing them to react to different circumstances. While it is true that you can effect much of the same with named characters, nameless characters provide less distraction to the reader, thus allowing more focus on moments of suspense and interior dilemma.
A story is incomplete without nameless characters. In my novels I greatly enjoy creating background characters who are not assigned names. Why? Because later I can return to those characters, perhaps fleshing out their own unique stories for later projects. For example, when writing a series of fantasy novels a nameless character might be the bartender or the stable hand. Later in the series I can revisit the character, assign them a name, give them a more significant part in the series’ plot, and reference back to that moment in the story when they were nameless. To the reader it seems as if the author knew all of these facts about the nameless character all along. But truly it is often not the case.
The author might make reference to how the story’s hero/heroine glimpsed something happening to a common soldier during a battle. Then at a later point you reference back to that and make a new and insignificant background character come to life by relationally tying them to the original nameless character. Their deed then matters to the reader on an emotional level.
As you see, there are many uses for nameless characters in fiction.
Q: What sorts of nameless characters to you find interesting in fiction?
Why passion drives better stories (as Star Wars: The Force Awakens)
There is a vast difference between a storyteller who is passionate for the story they are telling, and a writer who is simply creating something of interest to them. The case seems to be aptly demonstrated with J.J. Abrams who is famous for rebooting film franchises. Not long ago he recreated Star Trek and recently his Star Wars: The Force Awakens hit theaters with a thunderous response from critics and viewers. After watching the film myself I realized that the love of the story made a huge difference here.
Long-time Star Trek fans, almost as a whole, did not care for and some even despised Abrams’ remake. Vulcans lost their emotional control to a level not hereto seen, big bad villains ruled the screen, and action packed the screen time instead of relationships and good ol’ theoretical science. Transformers had met Star Trek. Many people speculated that the cause of this failure to catch the loyalty of long-time Trek fans was due to Abrams’ personal admittance that he was never a Trek fan himself. In addition to that it turned out that much of the cast had not even watched Star Trek, with the exception being Karl Urban who beautifully embodied the beloved Leonard McCoy also affectionately called “Bones.” Urban was himself a Trek fan and it showed in his part. The consequence was a movie that did not leave die hard Trek fans thrilled, instead it left them asking for a return to the old style of storytelling. The fans’ passion for the Star Trek universe has now successfully launched a rather impressive series called Renegades and other fan-funded projects are well on their way to success as well.
The point in all of this is that good storytelling requires a passion for the material.
As a long-time Star Wars fan Abrams’ approach to The Force Awakens has paid off. Rather than changing everything that we know and love about the Star Wars universe he has taken the look, feel, and the light and the dark again into familiar territory. While there was much good action throughout The Force Awakens, it never feels forced but rather melds with the drama each character is experiencing. Old characters are treated like old friends, with numerous hat-tipping to the original Star Wars trilogy. Quite unexpectedly (even though Disney officially declared the Expanded Universe of novels and video games irrelevant to this movie) there were several blatant steals from the EU… and they were good ones. They pulled a few choice elements that I was hoping to see carried into the new movies, though they did change it up a bit.
Writers need to be passionate for the stories they are creating, otherwise the effort leaves no lasting impact. Abrams demonstrated with this film that he truly is passionate for the Star Wars universe. What a difference it makes when a creative individual works at something because they love it!
Q: How do you see passion driving better storytelling?
How to preserve your story ideas
It seems like I’ve been coming up with story ideas since I was a little kid, and I feel that it is true. Digging into my childhood memory box will reveal a small treasure trove of hand-drawn picture books I created for my siblings, as well as creature sketches, and lists of the numerous books I was reading. The box of story ideas began back then.
I remember working on a story about a mouse family. My brother drew pictures to go along with the story because he loved it so much. The concept was a family of mice in an abandoned house who get caught between warring factions of living toy soldiers. I still remember that story… Yet the material has been completely lost. The idea is there. Even some of the details stick in my memory, yet much of it will be a struggle for me to regain.
I wish I had had an idea file in a computer back then.
Nowadays those ideas are most often thrown into computer files. I like the security this affords. I can store the idea, then refer back to it at my leisure. The files have grown over the past twelve years. The idea behind them is that they are ideas that I do not have time to write, at this time, yet I intend to get to someday. There are new fantasy novels, science-fiction, mysteries, historical fiction, even a romance or two.
But I would be remiss if I did not mention my notebooks. Writing on paper has always given me my greatest story ideas. Much of the core material behind The Sword of the Dragon books was hand written. There’s nothing akin to sitting outside enjoying nature, the fresh air, with pad and pen in hand. No rush, simply enjoying the process. My preference has bounced between ruled paper and sketchbooks. Each offers a different feel that fuels creativity. Ruled paper allows me to feel more structured, especially for outlining ideas. Whereas sketchbooks feel like a clean slate I can fill with my tiny handwriting.
The writer’s imagination is always gathering ideas. It would be career suicide to throw those ideas out. Even if the raw idea is not ready for publication, its premise or an element of it may stick to create something memorable. A few times I have found I end up incorporating them into existing storylines. The Sword of the Dragon series has benefitted greatly from the use of ideas from these files.
Q: Do you have a system to file your story ideas?
