Category: Support

Happy Friday, and May the 4th be with you! I apologize for my absence over the last week or so; I’ve been handling some projects which are taking a lot more time than I had originally estimated. Then today I was watching the Star Wars marathon on TBS. (I have officially fallen in love with John Boyega! Too bad they stopped with The Force Awakens; no spoilers for The Last Jedi, please.) Watching these movies have gotten me thinking about a part of writing which can be incredibly difficult, especially for genre writers: developing believable villains.

In the Star Wars movies I’ve watched, I’ve seen examples of believable villains, unbelievable villains, and some that are in between. Darth Vader: believable. Kylo Ren: in between. Jabba: eh. The Emperor: unbelievable. With plot-driven movies like Star Wars and their literary parallels, it’s easier to get away with characters like The Emperor; they’re over the top and relentlessly evil but at least they drive the plot forward.

Still, relying on such villains can grow tiresome. They have virtually no depth and are evil just to be evil. No emotional connection forms between the reader (or viewer in the case of movies) and this antagonist. They only cheer for their deaths or other forms of downfall because it means the hero/heroine is triumphant.

So, what does make a well-developed villain?

Well, they’re like any other character. They need a unique, complex personality and a strong backstory; there needs to be a reason they do what they do. Readers must be able to understand the rationale behind their actions while not necessarily agreeing with them. At the least, we should see some sort of emotional arc to their part of the story, something that shows they aren’t just a villainous caricature.

Let’s switch gears from a fanatic film franchise to a fanatic literary franchise: Harry Potter. The main villain in the Harry Potter books is, obviously, Lord Voldemort. For the first several books, Voldemort seems to be quite the unbelievable antagonist. Is he villainous and someone whom our hero should fight? Of course! In that way, he is believable. However, in the beginning we know little about him except for the fact that he’s done horrendous things and he’s out to kill Harry.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, though, Voldemort leaps from a flat character to well-rounded as we learn more about his background. His hatred of Muggles starts to make sense as does his heartlessness; we even find several parallels between Voldemort and Harry, a possible psychological reason for why Voldemort decided to go after Harry instead of Neville when they were babies. Readers certainly do not feel that his actions are justified, and thus he remains believable as an evil character. Still, we understand him better, which makes him more believable as a character overall.

We see similar development in the Star Wars prequels with the creation of Darth Vader from Anakin Skywalker. We see him go from an innocent little boy to a promising young Jedi and, finally, the broken, sad, and angry Darth Vader we know and hate in the original Star Wars trilogy. Even before the prequels in the original trilogy itself we see complex emotional development for Darth Vader, a glimmer of humanity which makes us want him to come back to the Light Side.

When push comes to shove, humans are complex emotional beings. We constantly fight with the dark side within us–and sometimes the light side if we’re already immersed in our darker tendencies. As readers and viewers, we want to see that struggle reflected in fiction. That’s why a believable villain can be a genre writer’s greatest secret weapon as well as their biggest challenge. Make readers feel emotional attachment to your villains while still rooting against them and you’re golden. Neglect to develop your villains and you can still have a successful story; you will just lose some potential depth and genius material.

What do you think? Do you prefer villains that are believable as people? Or do you prefer for them to just be a physical embodiment of the evil the heroes are fighting? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

I have a teachable moment I’d like to share with you. I slipped on the editing for the most recent critical response I turned in for my Master’s program. It wasn’t terribly bad, but there were still two mistakes and that’s bad for me. I had been working on it for hours before I submitted it, and that made me sloppy. I left a word I meant to remove and two words were flipped. This incident just reminded me that even editors need help sometimes, which brings me to the worst-kept secret in the writing/publishing world: everyone makes mistakes.

Whether you’re a writer or editor, you are just as capable of making a mistake as anyone else. Maybe you missed a comma or used “compliment” instead of “complement”. Maybe, in your haste to get the words out, you skip one or accidentally type them out of order. You could even be editing work for a client and forget some obscure grammatical rule, thus allowing an error to slip into the final copy. It happens to even the best writers and editors. That’s why we all need a second pair of eyes for editing and proofreading.

Before I go any further, I need to clear up a common murky area. As minor as it seems, there is a difference between editing and proofreading. Editing involves an in-depth examination of the writing for flow, word choice, style, and, yes, spelling and grammatical errors. This process usually goes hand-in-hand with rewriting, albeit after the beta reading stage. (Of course, it all depends on what your personal writing process is.)

Proofreading, on the other hand, happens much later in the writing cycle. It typically takes place just before the work hits the shelves, physical and electronic. Proofreaders check for grammar and spelling as well as other superficial elements of the work, including the work’s layout. (For example, they would let you know if there’s weird paragraph formatting in an e-book or an inconsistency in font size/style.)

No matter if you write short stories, novels, poems, or essays, editing and proofreading are essential. Otherwise, you will end up with egg on your face. If you work as an editor professionally, you still need to have a second set of eyes look over your writing, even for a school assignment. (Don’t let your pride get in the way like mine did. As my mother always says: if you can’t be a good example, at least be a horrible warning.)

Poorly-edited writing is one of the quickest ways to alienate potential readers. If your work is riddled with spelling and grammatical errors or it lacks flow, readers will not want to suffer that no matter how good the plot or message behind it is. Unfortunately, too many self-published writers make this mistake. They assume that they have looked through the writing enough to have caught all the errors and proceed to publish their books or collections without getting someone else to look at it. Why? One word: money.

Professional editing and proofreading cost a lot of money. Even Fiverr editors and proofreaders can charge a pretty penny, if they’re good and experienced. Mind you, some charge less and are still good, but they are typically either desperate for money or new to freelance editing, so don’t expect their rates to stay that cheap over time. (I’ve been that freelancer and I’ve learned quite a bit since I started a year ago.)

It’s preferable to get an unbiased editor or proofreader, but if you can’t afford it, friends and family are better than nothing. Some might be too kind to let you know about your errors but others aren’t, so if you rely on friends and family for editing, make sure to cast your net wide. That way, you’ll have a better chance of getting someone who will be honest and helpful.

One is better than none, but two or more editors and proofreaders will be your best bet. Like I said before, everyone in this industry makes mistakes. We’re only human, after all. Sometimes errors just run by us unnoticed. The English language is also very complicated. It’s hard to keep track of all the rules and exceptions. Very few, if any, people know all the rules and apply them properly. That’s not to mention the issue of American English vs. Queen’s English (U.K., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, etc.). For those reasons, multiple editors and proofreaders are preferable to one.

This process is long and tedious, and you need to take this into account while planning your book release timeline, if you’re self-publishing. There will be no instant gratification. However, editing and proofreading are essential. It’s bad enough to turn in a short assignment with one or two spelling/grammatical errors; publishing a full-length book unedited could ruin your career before it’s really begun. Even if you’re submitting your manuscript to a traditional agent or publisher, you’ll want it to be fairly polished. Otherwise, they won’t take you seriously.

Do you think editing and proofreading are necessary? What has been your experience in these areas? Have you had better luck with professional editors and proofreaders, or have friends and family worked just as well for you? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

We all know the saying, “you can’t see the forest for the trees.” Translation: you can’t see the “big picture” because you’re too focused on the details. It’s one of my favorite sayings. I also think writers and artists in general would do well to keep it in mind. How many times have you focused so much on minor details that you don’t realize until it’s too late that you have no plot? That you develop a world without a story? Characters without a motive? I have, and I’m sure I will again. That’s why writers need to learn to balance the details and the big picture.

Now, oftentimes stories grow from small details. I’ve found that that is especially true for science fiction and fantasy. Consider the origin story for Harry Potter: J.K. Rowling got the idea of a boy going to wizard school, and the rest of the details–including the big picture–followed. One moment, one seemingly insignificant detail, can be the building block for the entire story. However, that does not mean that we should focus on the details in the hopes that the big picture will just appear from these details.

As a fantasy writer, I’ve experienced this issue a lot. Details about some fantastic world swarm my mind, even details about individual characters and how they would interact. The problem? Sometimes I can’t come up with a viable plot. Sometimes I do–too many to work with, even–but just as often I don’t. I get so absorbed in those minor details, so excited about them, that I lose or forget about any “big picture.” In those cases, I either have to force myself to create a plot or shelve the project for another time.

Of course, the opposite can be true as well. Some writers become so focused on the big picture–namely the overarching plot–that they neglect crucial details. Characters become flat, settings aren’t vivid enough for the reader, and inconsistencies pick at the plot’s viability. The basic plot might be solid, but the lack of focus on details can make the story unravel.

Usually, these are the sorts of mistakes we find in first drafts. Why wouldn’t we? The first draft, after all, is where we tell ourselves the story. Then we go through rigorous sessions of rereading, rewriting, beta readers, editing, proofreading, etc., to fix these issues. The problem becomes when we don’t go through these cycles to improve our manuscripts. When we’re one-and-done, publishing the story with only minimal editing, we risk distributing a manuscript with a shallow “big picture.”

So, then, how do we balance the details and the big picture? Really, there’s not magic formula to this. There never is when it comes to writing, to art of any kind. Instead, we have to take it on a case-by-case basis. However, I think that there’s one thing we can do to at least catch these mistakes before they make it out into the world. Yes, we need to edit and proofread. Still, we can catch the imbalance even before beginning the editing/proofreading process. For a moment, I want to look to painters for this solution.

Painters, obviously, cannot work on the entire canvas at once. They have to work on one section at a time, maybe even one detail at a time, like Lela Stankovic discusses in her guide Painting Glorious Rose Flowers in Watercolor. However, there always comes a time when the painter stops what he/she is doing, takes a step back, and observes his/her WIP in its entirety. Then, even if they aren’t entirely sure why something is a problem, they’ll realize if something is off about the work and work on making it right.

Writers can use the same technique. Just stop what you’re doing and take a step back. Look at your WIP in its entirety. Sometimes, you’ll just notice if you made a spelling or grammatical error. Other times, you’ll catch continuity errors. Still other times you’ll feel that something is off but not quite know what, and that’s when the real work begins; that’s when you must try and approach your work with a fresh eye in order to figure out what’s wrong about this draft.

From what I’ve experienced, the only way to balance your attention to detail and your view of the big picture is to step back every now and then to review your whole work. Often, you’ll probably have to walk away from your WIP for a while before reviewing it to give you a new perspective on your writing. Besides, you’ve probably been working for hours, days, months–you deserve a break.

The best way to see the forest through the trees is to back away; put more than just a single tree in your line of sight and you’ll soon be looking at the entire forest. The same is true in writing, in any art, really. Narrow your focus too much, and you won’t notice bigger problems. Keep your focus too wide, and you’ll slip up on the details. As with everything, balance is the key–but it’s up to you to figure out how to achieve that balance.

What are your thoughts? Do you lose sight of the bigger picture when you focus too much on details? Forget the details when you’re too focused on the bigger picture? How do you balance the two? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

One of the trickiest parts of fiction writing is making the characters feel real to the readers. They have to seem like unique human beings without being too over-the-top. How do we do that? One subtle way is to give your characters idiosyncrasies.

Idiosyncrasies: mannerisms unique to a particular individual. We all have them. Occasionally, we even drive people crazy with them. For example, my father has a habit of twitching his foot or shaking his leg while he’s sitting. This drives me nuts, but I’m one to talk; I have the same habit but sometimes so quickly that it’s like I’m the Energizer Rabbit on Red Bull. Of course, that amuses my father and annoys my mother to no end, but I digress.

Our idiosyncrasies and how we respond to other people’s idiosyncrasies reveal a lot about us. For instance, my foot twitching/shaking shows my high level of anxiety. My mother’s reaction to that habit highlights her frustration at not being able to make me less anxious. (It could also suggest that she’s high-strung, but given everything else I know about her, that is definitely NOT the case.)

Giving characters subtle habits which no other character in the story has layers their character development. They are also fairly easy to slip in. Your protagonist is sitting in a coffee shop waiting for a friend who’s running late? Have him/her start ripping up the wrapper the straw came in. Your knight is stuck having a conversation with the royal wizard whom he is secretly annoyed by? Have him scrape dirt off the bottom of his boot with a dagger.

Idiosyncrasies are not only easy to slip in but can be used to convey a wide variety of moods and personality traits. Let’s take the coffee shop example. Tearing the wrapper could indicate concern for the friend who’s late. It could also show anger or annoyance at the friend’s tardiness. Better yet, it might have nothing to do with the friend running late; maybe your protagonist just got laid off and is worried about making rent, or maybe they’re trying to decide how to tell their friend that they caught his/her partner cheating on him/her. So much happens beneath the surface, but idiosyncrasies can give readers a hint at what’s brewing in the character’s subconscious.

Of course, you don’t want to go overboard. Sometimes you have to let a conversation just be dialogue. This is especially true when you need to speed up the pace and smooth out the reading for some high-impact drama. Still, you need to occasionally sneak in the idiosyncrasy so that the reader knows it’s an ongoing habit with some significance. If you only use it once or twice, it will seem superfluous. Besides, some drama requires slowing the pace down to increase the tension, and these little habits can achieve that masterfully, if used prudently.

Idiosyncrasies can be endearing, infuriating, or flat out annoying. The choice is up to you and how you want to use them. The important thing is to make sure that they are unique to that character; if you decide to have more than one character have the same idiosyncrasy, give that coincidence a purpose. After all, when you see that people have something in common, you’ll probably find that that’s not all they share.

What’s been your experience with giving characters idiosyncrasies? Have you found them to be useful in character development? Or do they just get in the way of the action? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Earlier this week, I received feedback from my supervisor for the beginning of a fantasy novel I’m working on. As always, there was both praise and room for improvement. One recommendation really stuck out at me: consider changing the point of view. Of course, this advice isn’t so easy to follow after you’re more than a couple pages into the narrative. Even if the change is necessary, rewriting everything written to that point can be a chore. Makes me wonder: how does a writer choose a POV? How does he/she know it’s right before they get in too deep?

The problem: sometimes they don’t know. At least, they don’t know until they’re several, maybe even a hundred, pages into their writing.

The kind of POV you use depends on the kind of story you’re trying to write. Some of them have an obvious choice. An autobiography or semi-autobiographical piece of fiction, for example, should both be told in first person.  Others, however, have too many options for there to be an easy decision.

The decision hangs on the effects which the POV has on the story. Does the reader need to feel close to the narrator, as with first person? Or would the distance caused by third person work better? Does the reader need to see more of the big picture than what a first-person narrator can provide? Does the story justify making the reader the narrator enough to use second person?

Sometimes we know immediately which POV would be best for our story. I’ve had many stories which I knew instinctively which POV I should use. Other times, you won’t know if you’re using the wrong POV until you’ve finished the first draft. That can be a pain, but it’s a matter of telling yourself the story first in order to understand the direction in which it must go.

There are also times when you won’t know until someone else reads it. Being so close to the work, you might not know when the POV is wrong. That’s where beta readers come in. They can tell you if something is off with draft; they might not always know that it’s the POV, but they can at least give you some guidance toward understanding the problem. Again, it’s a pain to have to conduct such a thorough rewrite, but it’s a labor of love (and frustration and exhaustion and caffeine).

You might even need more than one beta reader to figure out what to do. You might be attached to first person but your first reader thinks you should consider third person. Unless you are absolutely certain, deep in your bones, that your POV choice is the right one, you might want to get a third or even fourth opinion. If multiple people think you need to change the POV, you should give it some serious thought. (I might have to take this approach with figuring out what to do with this fantasy novel.)

The important thing to remember is that, when it comes down to it, the POV is your choice. Everything about your story is your choice. There have been many examples of writers being told that a writing choice is a bad idea but the author stuck to it. In the end, they were right. In other examples, they decide against the original choice and that turned out to be right. The entire process of writing, rewriting, editing, and proofreading is long and laborious. That’s why you don’t see books that are written in one night and then immediately put on the shelves. Writing is all about trial-and-error, and that’s one of the best, most rewarding parts of the craft.

What’s been your experience with choosing POV? Do you always know which POV you need to use when you start? Or do you often decide halfway through to start all over from another perspective? Leave your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!

Warning: The topic of this post, sex and literature, might contain discussion inappropriate for minors. If you are under 18 years of age, proceed with caution.

In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve been reviewing a lot of romance and erotica novels lately. Just to warn you, that’s not about to stop. However, I think it’s best that I take some time to discuss the elephant in the room which has been conjured by these reviews: sex and literature.

It’s no secret that romance and erotica are not viewed as very high-brow. In fact, in terms of modern literature, they’re seen as about as low-brow as you can get. I don’t think that this bias has been eased any by the rising popularity of Fifty Shades of Grey. However, not all romance and erotica should be considered low-brow, and those are not the only literary genres which involve sex scenes.

Fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, even literary fiction can all have sex scenes. In fact, I can’t think of very many books in fantasy and science fiction (outside of children’s literature, of course) which don’t. Anne McCaffrey and Anne Rice have certainly never shied away from the subject. Don’t even get me started on Shakespeare.

Why wouldn’t sex be prominent in literature? It’s perfectly natural, after all. The vast majority of adult humans do it. (Not all, but most.) And yet we’re not very comfortable talking–reading–about it. We hush up those who do as “vulgar” or brush the subject off with humor, and we hide away our favorite romances and erotica like a bag of weed.

If it’s so indecent, so low-brow that we can’t even talk about it, should sex play a part in literature at all? After all, children could get a hold of it! Never mind that we should keep half an eye on them and put away that which we don’t want them to see. They might still see it.

All sarcasm and bitterness aside, sex is one of many subject matters which people question having in literature because of its “indecency.” Regardless, it remains. As a natural part of human relations, it naturally seeps into products of our cultures.  To avoid it would be to leave a glaring hole in our characters’ lives.

The question, then, is how descriptive should sex scenes actually be? I’m one of many who blush when reading too many…anatomical details in these scenes. That does not make these details good or bad, it’s just how I personally react as a reader. Still, as a reader and writer, I also know that these depictions can be necessary. Therefore, I don’t want to restrict how descriptive sex scenes can be.

Does that mean that all detailed sex scenes are appropriate? No. In fact, I dare you to find ten such scenes which are well-handled and appropriate for the work. You probably won’t. Nevertheless, I would rather allow for such filth than to oppress possible beauty.

Sex in literature can be a metaphor for power struggles, battle of the genders, trust and submission, loss of innocence, good versus evil, etc. Sometimes that necessitates detailed depictions. Other times not. It’s up to the writer to decide what is appropriate.

Unfortunately, they don’t always do. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have sex in literature period. No, it has too much literary and socio-politico-cultural potential for that. Rather, we need to use it with discretion, even in romances and erotica. After all, a dessert can be too sweet, right? Then sex scenes can be too steamy, too.

What’s your opinion? Does sex serve a productive role in literature? Or it is just fluff to get the reader’s blood pumping? Should we consider romance and erotica to be low-brow, or can some of these books actually be literary? Should we write about sex in literature at all? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!