Kernel of Insight: Just Another Block In the Wall

So, I'm working a good deal more now and my week has been very crowded, so less time for writing.  However, as this kernel of insight should explain, I still try, even when time is limited or I am hindered.  This one I think is good for any writer or aspiring writer, either as a reminder or a lesson.  We all get stuck.  We all hit the wall.  We all suffer writer's block.  This is just my perspective on how it happens, why it happens, and the best ways through it.

Hope you enjoy.  And I hope to have my chapter done either by next week or before the 23rd.  Just in time for Convention.

Kernel of Insight: Just Another Block In the Wall

             I'm making progress on my current chapter, but I hit about a week solid of writer's block, where I ran headfirst into a wall and just did not know what to write...did not know what to put to paper...so I just sat and stared as my pages went from 4-5, then back to 3, then to 4, then to 3 and you get the idea.  This isn't the first time it's happened, but I don't talk much about writer's block and neither do my other friends who write.  It's...an odd phenomenon to say the least, but most people just like to blow it off, writers included, as "I can't seem to write" or "the words aren't coming out right."  These are sometimes what happens, but it's more detailed than that.

            For me, at least, not knowing what to write is pretty much NEVER the issue.  A lot of people think that writer's block means we don't know where the story will go or how it will progress.  I know how my story wants to go.  So do many of my friends who write.  They have chapters written well in advance of where they are because they know where they want to go.  Getting there is the problem.  I don't mean that in a broad sense, such as putting three chapters in between to properly transition, but more we don't know how to word these transitions.  Or even if we do know, we feel uncomfortable with the results.  These can be as simple as a going to sleep transition leading into the next day or a full chapter or two to cool off the characters and let plot details sink in.  Sometimes, doing these transitions can be daunting because they aren't always fun.  They're the characters reflecting on what's already happened, sometimes in an unspoken way, sometimes verbally, and you have to take the pace slower.  You have to include character building small talk.  You have to make the scenery and body language tell how they are feeling.

            Okay, you don't...but I think your story will be poorer for it.  I've done a full throttle draft of what I'm writing.  It was called Rise of the Lich King back then...and we just jumped from plot point to plot point...and while fun to write, it didn't give my characters much time to grow.  While I tried, they seemed forced, and having to accept the gravity of things in minutes rather than days or weeks.  It just wasn't as effective as taking time to cool down and reflect.  A friend of mine is writing historical fiction and, despite letting the audience know that the main character, a female sword smith, is apprehensive about her ability to forge a sword, we go back to it several times, usually during transitions.  When she is hired to join a specific group, we take time to see her doubt, her worry, and to understand that she is conflicted, but still moving forward.  This shows tremendous growth for the character and lets us grow more and more attached to them.  And even greater than action sequences or drama, I think these scenes are important.  I use dialogue and people discussing things to get this growth across while my friend uses introspection and body language.  However, these sections can be painfully hard to write.

            A lot of a writer's block can come from you trying to force words into a character that...really doesn't want to say what you are saying.  Even if it's just experimenting with words, you get the feeling of an uncanny valley effect, where they may look like your characters, but they act strangely off.  And this leaves you confused and wondering where to go or how to improve it.  Listening to a character isn't always easy after all.

            Minor spoilers for the next chapter, we have some minor drama relating to Mina and Celine's decision to leave Acacia.  People upset by it.  Now, originally I toyed with those upset being more angry and selfish than anything, but ultimately accepting...then we shifted into the smiling walking away sequence where it basically says "Friends forever, no matter what..." this was my self imposed idea of how things should go and...it didn't work.  The shift was too sudden and emotionally, the characters were all over the place.  There was a place for some selfishness and some stoicism and some understanding, but it was all jumbled and didn't match characters.  I think I've fixed that as of this writing, but for a full three or four days, I just sat at my screen, unsure of what to say or how to fix the dialogue and body language.  It may still not be right, but we're getting there.

            Writer's block in a broader sense can happen for other reasons too.  Stress is a big one, where you need relief, a game, time with friends, being able to sleep, whatever, but are pushing yourself to write.  While it is good to be driven, if you aren't able to properly focus on what you want to say or get done...it'll just make your words suffer that you'll have to fix later.  I hate having to skip a writing session for any reason, but sometimes life comes first...priorities are important for a writer because you do need to have some feeling of serenity while writing.  Not total serenity, but if you're flat out miserable, then your writing will reflect that, you know?  And that can be good for some types of stories, but you may be more irrational, more prone to unusual character turns or plot developments that may not make as much sense...gives you all that more work to do in revisions and edits.

            A good deal of writer's block, for me at least, comes from phrasing...the wrong phrase can set the mood in a bad way and you don't always have the knowledge or the experience, or hell, even the mindset to phrase it better.  A good example is, how do you describe a gun, without saying, "it's a gun!"  I agonized for this with Canak's chapters, because I want to get the point across but I'm trying to handle it from the perspective of an outsider.  Or the speeches...how do you make them subtle but still get the point across?  It happens more than you think.

            This is just my perspective when it comes to writer's block.  It's hitting a wall for whatever reason, usually because you simply don't know how to put things.  You know what you want to write and where you want to go, usually, though sometimes you can be unsure of where you want to go in a first draft but anyway...you know what you want to do, but not how to put it down on paper.  This can be phrasing, dialogue, pacing, it really is what I think affects writers the most because either due to external stressors, like work or critique or what have you, we cannot think about the best way to put something or ANY way to put something, or it can be to internal stressors, where doubt or tensions or a desire to change the situation will lead us down the wrong path, deviating from character consistency that we will either have to correct later in the story, explaining it away, or correct in editing, which wastes time as we go back to square one and have to figure out how to put something, AGAIN.

            Best way around writer's block?  Well...there isn't one, I think.  We all get stuck sometimes, because of stress or because we just lack the eloquence at that particular moment to put something.  However, while I might say sometimes you shouldn't write if you're in a bad state of mind, you should still SIT DOWN TO WRITE.  This may sound a bit weird, but just sitting down, trying to get into the mindset, and either reading or putting your brain on your work will, in the long run, help you figure it out.  And really, you will have to figure it out.  Some others may offer perspective, however you are the writer and ultimately, what you come up with goes.  So, I say make time to write and even if you don't put a single word on the page, at least put your mind to the task.  Think.  And experiment.  Just because we don't know what to say or how to put things sometimes doesn't mean we shouldn't vomit our thoughts on the page because even if we have to delete it all, at least we're getting bad ideas out of the system to make room for good ideas.  Hell, sometimes good ideas are formed into seeds and nested in bad ideas.

            What you should not do is stop writing entirely.  We sometimes need a break, sure, but remember that the longer you are away from writing, the harder it is to go back.  That's one reason I do these weekly updates.  Even if I don't talk about my story, sharing my experiences gets me thinking about them...and that helps get me sitting down to write when it really counts.

            I'm over my writing block, just FYI.  I expect to have my chapter finished soon, but, like I said before, priorities...I have more work now and less time to write, so I have to make compromises sometimes.  But, I always still sit down to do it on the weekends and on whatever weekdays I can muster.  To me, that's the best way to fight the block.

Kernel of Insight: Twists and Turns

Once again, no new chapter...rest assured, I'm working on it.  I should have it done in a week or two.  I know, I know, I missed my deadline but April has been a hellish month for me.  Regardless, I HAVE kept writing, alongside work, looking for work, preparing for work, and relaxing from work(I'm so not clever XD) and I do have something for you this week.  So, let's take a look at plot twists...and how to hopefully not mess them up.

Kernel of Insight: Twists and Turns

            I want to talk for a moment about plot twists, in particular, surprise twists.  Why?  Well, we've had a drastic tonal shift since the last chapter and the next one isn't due out yet, which has some other twists of sorts, so...now seems like the perfect time.

            A plot twist, by definition, is just the changing of a plot's direction.  Usually a radical change for the purpose of revealing new information, altering the perception of a character, or furthering the plot in a way that the audience might not yet understand.  However, in recent memory the term "Twist" has become something of a dirty word in literature, video games, and film.  Why?  Because many people try to play the plot twist card to try and seem clever, raise the stakes, or alter the narrative in a way that people didn't expect in hopes of shocking them and thus becoming more memorable.  And most people are sick of it.  In truth, a twist ending or some plot twist that changes the way the audience views their chosen method of storytelling is not inherently bad...people may not like it but still...however, it can be incompetently handled or unnecessary.

            In my mind, you need to have two things for a plot twist to work in most situations.  The first is that it must be plausible within the world of the story.  For example, a contemporary fiction story that suddenly has a magician come in, wielding arcane spells to change things around, is a bit of a stretch.  This can be waved away by the second requirement, namely the planting of seeds.  You need to plant seeds that the possibility is actually possible or plant seeds to try and set future events into play that will build upon the twist.  A magician appearing for five minutes to give a character his romantic ending in a story with no magic is out of place.  A magician appearing in a story to change the perspective and let the audience know that YES, magic DOES exist is not necessarily bad.  If you foreshadow it properly, it will go down well.  However even if you don't, if your story can pick up the slack and you give some manner of explanation later, harvested from seeds you've planted, then that isn't so bad either.

            A plot twist is something we see in every reading, sometimes without realizing it because of how well it fits into the plot and flows.  Using my own story as an example, look at the section where Deminos accidentally teleports the girls to Draconia.  This IS a plot twist, because we go from the slice of life style story of Mina and the others learning about and understanding Aeon and his companions to a story of survival in an unknown and dangerous environment.  It takes the story in a different direction.  However, many people might not have even paid it much mind.  Why?  Well, teleportation magic is a thing in the world of Serano.  We've seen it in action with Aeon and Mina, it's been explained by other characters, and the device that Aeon uses for teleportation has been seen and used before.  We have a precedent.  This is physically possible within the context of the story.

            Now, look at some of the other things that led up to this moment.  We've had constant foreshadowing that Deminos was hiding something from the girls and anxious about it.  His rubbing of his arm, bravado, the fact that he wore bandages with it even during his exercises, all of those were signs that something about his arm was different and that he had a secret.  Thus, it is not entirely surprising when he does something unexpected, like attacking Yuka and using the teleportation relay, since there is some doubt about him.  From the girl's perspective, we've seen that they like Yuka, that Celine and Mina are both physically fit and capable of fighting, and that they have a low opinion of Deminos due to his personality.  The seeds are in place for them to fight after Deminos has attacked Yuka and meddled with the teleportation relay.  Couple that with the precedence itself, which plants seeds that the teleportation relay will be used again and this plot twist is viable.  Even expected for those paying attention.

            That's an interesting thing about a plot twist.  It is still a twist, even if the audience calls it before it happens.  It's meant to shift the plot in a different direction.  In the case of my previous example, for the sake of characterizing the girls and Deminos, explaining conjuration, introducing concepts to the plot such as Dragons, Aeon's human form, Deminos's arm, and Aeon's unusual power.  It plants more seeds while growing the characters and the plot.  The ultimate resolution of this plotline is that Mina wants to learn magic so that she won't be a burden, like when she was grabbed by a Dragon.  In a way, she has shown the audience that physically and emotionally, she can do a great deal, as she is able to conquer her fear and help Aeon out of the rubble he has been buried in.  However, she also is lacking in power, I.E. magic.  This creates a reason for her continued presence with Aeon, to learn magic, which also feeds into her own character growth and furthers the plot by leading to more interactions with the other characters. 

            The small seeds planted with each twist grow into trees that bear fruit, which the audience eats, spits out new seeds(their understanding of the character growth and excitement/speculation on what is to come,) which will grow into trees that bear fruit, etc. etc.

            However, for a twist to make sense, it needs to be possible and it needs to have seeds planted in some way or another.  Seeds do not have to be blatantly planted either.  Sometimes the audience learns more from what is NOT seen rather than what is.  Take note that Aeon is revealed to have a great deal of power during his battle with Denad and Belial.  But what don't we see a lot?  We don't see power on the scale of him fighting Belial much after that and we don't see that special power he used when fighting Rudra.  The seeds are planted that there is something about his ability and his full power that prevents him from using it freely, for one reason or another.  Could be simple apathy...could be that there's more here than meets the eye.  Perhaps a touch I like in particular is that Aeon shows no sign of real mercy to many of his enemies.  He could have saved Denad, but does not, showed no mercy towards Baran, only concern for Nerise, and no mercy towards any of the creatures that attacked Gesthal.  However, in Draconia, we know that Aeon can cut down the Dragons.  He's said he will cut them down if they attack...and yet he doesn't.  The act of not killing them, coupled with a few hints that Dragon killing is a MAJOR no no, kind of sets limits to what he will do based purely on his own wants/desires.  No matter how selfish or pitiless, Aeon won't cross that kind of line.  That plants more seeds as to how the character will act or change or be perceived later.

            When writing a plot twist, you kind of need to have some version of it in mind, because if you don't start preparing early, then your audience will call bullshit on you from the start.  You need to keep in mind what is and what isn't said.  What is and what isn't shown.  And if that, for you, would be enough to let the possibility of the twist exist.  If you pull something out of your ass...if a character or if an event happens that is completely unforeshadowed, the reader will roll their eyes and your flow, your characters, and your credibility as a narrator will be hurt.  If, for example, Rudra starts to attack but right before he kills everyone he stops because just then the, "Festival of Dragons" started and he had to go attend...the audience would be flabbergasted.  Horrified even at how stupid that kind of twist is.  They'd pick it apart in an instant.  Now, plot twists don't have to be perfect.  An audience member might still point out how that doesn't make sense, but if you prepare, you can at least say that it was planned...that you worked towards it...that you EARNED it.  That you didn't pull it out of thin air.

            Deus ex Machina is almost never a good idea.  In satire, you might be able to get away with it, but in a serious narrative, it can be the kiss of death for the plot, because the reader just wonders what the finger of god will come down on next.  No matter how strange a twist, how powerful a character, or how implausible an event, if you properly prepare and foreshadow, it will be more believable and the audience will roll with it, because they like the story and this is keeping it moving.

            The upcoming chapter has some minor twists, I think, because it upsets the norm in small ways.  Not unbelievable ways, but in subtle ones.  In ways the audience might be surprised by, might not, but still accept as possible, and probable.  It has seeds for future chapters laid out, if you're able to actually see them, and it will pay off on some seeds already planted.  Each chapter should build and the twists should help with that.  A twist should build, rather than tear down.  It layers the plot and makes it more stable, again if done right, rather than making it shakier and less believable.

            Anyway, all that being said, I hope you all like the next chapter.  I wonder what people will pick up, what they might speculate on, and what you will be right about.  Let's see, shall we?

Kernel of Insight: Dialects and Experimentation with Dialogue

 Okay...been longer than I wanted.  I know I try to keep a weekly update schedule, though sometimes I stretch the definition of "weekly" but I've...just been wiped out since posting my last chapter.  Road trips in attempts to find a new job, working hard at my current job, stress, drama, and of course sickness...I've been prevented from doing much writing.  Only had time to support my gaming blog.  However, I want to try and get back into the swing of things...so, I'm starting on the next chapter now.  I hope to have it ready by the end of March.  Until then, we'll have more character spotlights and possibly one or two more Kernel's of Insight, like this one.

I have to apologize for all the delays...I'm not as young/motivated/with as much free time as I once was...and I hate the delays as much as anyone who has stuck with me.  But, I am dedicated to this.  If you stick with me, I'll get to the end of this book eventually.  That's my promise

Anyway, enough being a downer.  Let's get into this week's Kernel of Insight.

 Kernel of Insight: Dialects and Experimentation with Dialogue

            With my most recent chapter being posted, I felt it important to speak a little bit about a curious little thing called literary dialects.  See, more often than not, any variation of speech we see incorporated into a character, whether stiff, proper, and robotic, like Aeon who refuses to use contractions when in his skeletal form, or a bit more rustic, where slang and shortened words are more common for the sake of convenience, like Yuka and the neeg seen in last chapter, comes from real life.  We use our own experiences, be they first hand or not, to fill in the gaps.  We write to what we know.  Sometimes, this can lead to interesting leaps.  Brian Jacques created a new type of dialect for an entire race in his Redwall books, where the moles speak in a sometimes hard to understand, somewhat rustic and often slow paced manner of speech.  Things like "Oi ill ake thee a deep'r than earth poi as big as oi" (forgive me, but I'm typing from memory.  No offense meant, mister Jacques.  You were an amazing writer.)

            Anyway, in an interview with mister Jacques I saw, he talked about how he adapted molespeak from a very rustic breed of retired British men, whom he'd sometimes hang out with.  He wrote from his own experience and fit it into the slots in his stories that most needed it.  Now, this can be both a good and a bad thing, in my opinion.  For those of us who have limited experiences, it could just be a reinforcement of stereotypes, good or ill, and lack any originality.  Worse, it can be quite offensive.  So, care needs to be given when you're creating a dialect for a group.  Sometimes even something made with the best of intentions can be taken as offensive, if only because they sound similar.  My thought on this is the neeg might sound uneducated and either inner city or country bumpkin, depending on your perspective.  Part of that is intentional.  In the land of Serano, of the five great races, the neeg are considered the lowliest.  They have fewer opportunities for education or for being around people who will speak to them slowly and deliberately.  From birth to death, most of them are forced to work at a rapid pace in a foundry before moving on once business dies down or their supply of resources runs dry.  They don't get time to read or play or talk leisurely.  That's why they sound a bit undereducated...because in some classical schools of education, they are.  However, mechanically, they are miles ahead of the other races.

            Now, I bring this up because I have found that there are two overriding rules when creating a dialect.  These aren't necessarily set in stone, but from what I have read and what I have written, they seem to hold pretty firm towards making a dialect work.  The first is, consistency.  The neeg often remove the H from the beginning of any word that has it, creating 'as for has, 'ey for hey, and so on.  Now, if you only do it for some words, that can also be fine, though phonetically it might not make all that much sense.  HOWEVER!  You need to have consistency with which words you use it with.  Otherwise, you'll just seem like an amateur who is grasping at straws.  More than just letter or word choice, if you have a style of editing to show off the difference in speech, that too much also be consistent.  Whenever a letter is omitted, for me and the neeg, I put an apostrophe in front of it to indicate the loss.  Proper grammar?  Almost certainly not...however, for the sake of a unique type of speech with a unique race in a unique world, a lot can be forgiven.

            That brings me to the second overriding rule.  Experiment.  Okay, so I lied...it's not so much a rule as a suggestion.  You want to put dialogue in italics to indicate a difference in tone?  Do it.  Brackets?  Go nuts.  You want to add Japanese honorifics to them?  Why not?  The thing about dialogue is that, while there are some proper rules for writing them, in your world, people can, in theory, speak any way you want.  Classic rules of English are less important than keeping consistent and making sure the audience understands the meaning.  And making the audience understand the meanings of your literary editing choices is important, perhaps not through exposition, but through context.  Going back to Japanese honorifics, it doesn't make much sense in a western composition...but if your characters are in feudal Japan...maybe.  If you're doing inner thoughts, then brackets or italics make more sense, especially if you end the dialogue with a tag that says "he thought, she thought, ____ thought."

            This is more evident in graphic novels/ comic books, due to the ability to edit and warp dialogue without having to change the editing.  Neil Gaiman's fantastic Sandman series, for example, features the title character who speaks in white text and black dialogue boxes, whereas other characters use the reverse.  This gives our titular Sandman a unique trait about him and it changes how we perceive his speech.  More deliberate, more dark, more whatever the audience alludes to the change in dialogue boxes.  Deadpool the mercenary has multi-colored dialogue boxes to represent voices in his head.  These are all valid ways of showing different ways of speaking, dialects, thoughts, experimentation.  If it weren't a comic book, I'd say Deadpool could get the same effect by having one voice speak in brackets [ ] and another speak in italics.

            The thing about dialects, and dialogue in general, is that if you're going to experiment, have a reason for it and don't second guess yourself.  This isn't like the works of Law or Philosophy, where you want to have a precedent set.  Writing is something that is personal to you...so you can set the precedent.  Terry Pratchet was, in my opinion, a trailblazer in satirical writing because his limited narrator, as well as his characters, were self aware that they were in a parody.  I'd never seen this before and I don't know if he pioneered it or copied it or whatever.  But, doesn't matter.  It worked for him because he ran with it.

            So, I'm running with the dialects for the neeg and for other characters.  Those who've been paying attention have noticed a few people who speak differently in Chronicles of the Frozen Shade.  You have to.  Aeon's stiff speech, Nerise's child-like demeanor, or Deminos's bravado all lead to different manners of speech.  For me, I don't see a need, yet, to include a more radical form of dialogue editing, like brackets or what have you, though I might bold or italics something to give emphasis.  But that's me.  That's my choice.  And any would be writers should not be discouraged from at least trying something new.  Will it make it into the final draft?  Maybe, maybe not...but experiment, see how things go for you after running with it for a bit, and learn.  In my opinion, a writer learns even without an editor, because their style changes as they experiment and try different things...until they find what they like and run with it.  So don't be afraid to experiment.  Just remember to keep it consistent where it counts and to make it match the tone/setting/whatever of the piece.

Kernel of Insight: Mispronunciation

We're back on our regular update schedule, barring any major disasters.  This will be the last Kernel of Insight for a bit, but more on that at the end.  For now, enjoy this look into mispronunciation.

Kernel of Insight: Mispronunciation

            This Kernel of Insight is where we talk about something that all writers, entrepreneurs, and indeed anyone with a creative flair needs to actually understand.  A name is worth a great deal of power...however, that name loses something when it is mispronounced or when it is misunderstood.  The best example given to me was during a game design course where there was a horror story of someone who made a company as an entrepreneur that was named in a rather complex manner.  Ninajeering.  A pun on ninja and engineering.  It was difficult to pronounce and checks as well as publicity was very skewed against them due to miscommunication of the name.

            Now, let's fast forward to the present.  I'm writing my story and anyone with half a brain, except me of course, has noticed that Daryl, who is a girl, sounds like a boys name.  I did this because of a character in Final Fantasy 6 named Darril, who was a woman, however my memory must have skewed the spelling.  Right there, that is going to need to be either changed or corrected because if no one knows how to say the name, something is lost.  Look at the other names of characters.  Mina, Celine, Kano, Aeon, Vincent, these names are either short and very easy to pronounce phonetically or familiar enough in the popular culture that the pronunciation is a given.  Something like Demino, Goetia, or Weiss risks a slight amount of alienation due to the name being a bit more complex or difficult to pronounce due to cultural differences, but it is sometimes worth the risk to make an impression or to make a reference to real world objects that will give the story some added depth.

            However, it is important not to create a name that will turn people off unless that is the specific intention.  Duke Nukem is a name that is a massive pun, but the game and character were originally conceived as a parody/deconstruction/tribute of first person shooters so it was meant to be ironic.  The name naturally turned off some people, but kept the audience the game was looking for.  By that same merit, naming a girl a Mary Sue name, like Atlantiana, which is both difficult to pronounce and smacks of "this character is meant to be important" foreshadowing will likely turn off people because rather than being ironic or what have you, you are trying to make your character a special fucking snowflake, pardon my French.  The only way to counter this is to have characters with similarly outlandish names, which also risks mispronunciation and lack of impact.

            Naming conventions are a difficult thing at the best of times, so this is kind of a big deal for writers.  Characters are meant to be reflections of their experiences, desires, dreams, etc. given a life of their own, so if they cannot even have a name of their own, then...we have a bit of a problem.  Putting all that aside, however, this is also why writers need someone to read their work cold, to get the barest impressions of it, and to hear back from them.  Because if a writer tells you how a name is pronounced, even if your brain says otherwise, you'll likely go to what you've heard is accurate.  However, if you haven't heard anything from the writer, then your brain will go to the next most accurate scenario, which will give more helpful feedback on naming conventions, as well as a general feel for the piece.

            I had no one really to read my work and help me with this, so it was only later that I realized the mispronunciation with Daryl's name.  This is why I either try and give character relatively short names or names that are phonetically quite easy to pronounce.  Going back to Deminos, it isn't a common name, however it rolls off the tongue phonetically.  De-mi-nos.  It's pretty easy to say.  This is something that some writers don't think about, but really need to.  If a character's name isn't something they wanna say or think about because of how byzantine is it, then they will just remember them as "that guy" or "That girl."

            I'm still trying to get out of bad habits as I write, however the more you write, the more experience you get in life, the more you do anything, the clearer your picture of the whole story and its flaws will be.  I've only recently come to understand mispronunciation and how damaging to a reputation it can be, but it follows the same principal.


            I'd like to take a moment to step back and also add that I am going to be taking a short break from Kernel of Insight for a while, due to the fact that I need to stock up on topics to discuss.  So, I'll also introduce a new weekly update system.  I'm going to try and keep having one update a week on the blog, however if it cannot be a chapter, then it should be something related.

            As such, next week, unless the chapter is finished, we will be starting Character Spotlights, where we discuss the inspirations for characters, their evolutions over time, and what I may have learned from them.

Kernel of Insight: Duality

I'm hopeful this will be my last Kernel of Insight until 2014.  I've finished the re-writing of my latest chapter and revisions are going well, but the holiday rush is threatening to overwhelm me, so...we'll have to see how things go, I suppose.  I said I'd get it out in December and I damn well plan to.

In the meantime, enjoy this look at duality and the conflicting sides of characters I tend to write.

Kernel of Insight: Duality

            One common theme within every piece of literature I write is duality.  I love characters with a dual nature.  Often times, this is represented physically, with a deformity or a character who is in some physical way torn between two worlds.  A half breed.  An undead who still clings to life.  A scarred character.  These create a dual nature between human, or civilized, and something other.  Something dangerous or sinister.  And, that's no exception in Chronicles of the Frozen Shade.

            Mina's duality will become more apparent later on, but just on her own, she has a dual nature where she is torn between nationalities.  Aeon is torn between his memories of life and his time as a lich, Deminos is part demon, etc.  All the characters, major ones at least, have a separate nature that makes them different or dangerous.  I enjoy this aspect because it creates a lot of internal conflict and tension.  Not necessarily all the time, but if someone brings up neeg around Celine, the fur starts to fly because of her time between being a slave and a free woman.  The dual nature of it.  It is an integral part of their character and helps them to grow, in my opinion, because they need to either overcome or reconcile with the dual nature they have been saddled with.

            For me, this is just a personal touch I add to many of my stories.  I grew up in a fine home and had a relatively decent upbringing, save for a few glaring exceptions, but there was always a pull between what was socially acceptable and what I, as an individual, wanted for myself.  I think this internal tension is why so many of my characters deal with this struggle and ultimately work towards overcoming or reconciling with it.  I had a terrible time emotionally because I had a lot of beliefs and values that may not have been the norm.  A video gamer, liked anime, fond of esoteric novels, dragon fan, etc.  Nothing too out there, but high school in particular is a crucible and if you're different, you're fodder.  That experience created a rift in my mind between how I perceived myself, as some kind of demon and outsider, and how I thought I wanted to be perceived or how I should have been perceived, in a normal, less discriminatory light.  For the longest time, this struggle was a part of my very being, but as I grew older, characters stopped being defined by their duality and started to be defined more by who they are at their core, very much like how I reconciled with myself about my own differences.  I like me.  Insane fandoms, weird preferences, and esoteric likes all around.  This, I think, has helped my writing because as we grow, our characters can grow with us.

            I don't think a good character should ever be completely defined by one trait.  Duality included.  Duality can make for an interesting bit of reading and character development, however it should not be the end all be all.  There are many facets to a character, not just too.  So, while I do include duality for the sake of a general theme, it doesn't define my characters.

            Some people might be scratching their heads about some of the duality with characters who don't seem dual natured.  For those who haven't figured out Vincent's little secret, he probably seems like your average, dapper gentleman undead.  Yeah, I just said that...anyway, he does have a secret that is explored later.  Same for Gadius.  Yuka's duality, I think, is probably the least stated of the whole group, largely because it's so subtle.  Yuka is a Neeg, raised by a hodgepodge collection of other races, so her duality is not truly overt, but comes down to upbringing.  She might know some slang from living with Merkel, but she also is a bit more civilized, intelligent, and reliable than your standard neeg.  That sounds racist, huh?  Well, that too will be explored later, so stay tuned.

            I like to think that moving on from both physical dualities and dualities as a defining trait has made my characters stronger.  There are multiple different types of duality to be explored within a character, including mental, emotional, national, racial, etc.  It doesn't have to come down to looks, but I do tend to find the physically unusual or asymmetrical to be more interesting just from an aesthetic standpoint.  It's why I tend to root for them.

            Anyway, I just wanted to throw that out there.  A short Kernel of Insight this week.  Bleh.  Now I'm just padding.  Well, this whole section is just my rambling anyway, so...take of that what you will.

           

Kernel of Insight: The Cut Prologue

Once again, sorry for the lateness of my posting of this.  I'm still working out issues with my time schedule and my revisions as a whole, so this week I have no chapter for you.  Instead, enjoy this look at prologues and the proper use for them.  Rest assured, what was cut does make it into the book, so you're not missing too much.

Kernel of Insight: The Cut Prologue

            So, a while back I toyed with the idea of including a prologue with this series.  Typically, a prologue focuses on either A) things that you don't need to enjoy the series but which can add some good depth to characters or some interesting tidbits, as is often the case with issue 0 of a comic book or B) to set up a framing device that will guide a series or a story throughout.  I toyed with the idea of the second, but created one for the first.

            The first story was going to be a look back at Mina's childhood before we got to know her.  When she was still around 6 years old, fresh faced, living with her parents, before they died, it was meant to set up certain plot points, such as her hatred of liches, her trepidation towards fire, and a general painting of Agni as the bad guy.  However, after I got to a certain point in my draft, I realized...it wasn't really needed.  Mina had enough character through her introduction that we didn't need to get to know her to be attached and there were enough good dialogue cues that we could get across the horror, the sadness, and the lingering doubts and regrets within her without devoting a full 20 pages or what have you.  However, I did like what I had done with the atmosphere, characters, and what have you in the prologue.  So, it was ultimately reintegrated into a later chapter which acted as a pseudo exposition dump and a flash back series.

            Now, will the chapter all these tidbits were included in actually be a part of this series or will it too be cut because it doesn't flow properly?  Honestly, I couldn't tell you right now.  Either way though, there won't be a prologue.  I don't think the story needs it and if your story doesn't need something, it's usually better to cut it than force it where it doesn't belong.

            Along that same note, I've also debated the idea of including epilogues.  Like far too many video game designers and writers, I do love teasing because I want to continue the story.  I've got 4-5 books worth of material that I'd love to put out and sometimes an epilogue is appropriate for a tease if you've gotten a contract or what have you.  But ultimately, it is still a tease and nothing substantial.  What I want...what I hope to do is to create a story that, if I only get the one published, that's enough.  A story that will have enough detail and character that people will want to revisit it, but won't feel like they have to or else their head will explode.  And that's hard to do.  It's hard to balance a one and done story with the idea of a continuous plot line.  Eventually, some things are going to have to remain unresolved or else there will be little to continue the plot along.  Granted, there are ways around those rules, but still...

            Ultimately, I've become a little down on prologues and epilogues, mostly because they're a fancy way of adding in another chapter without calling it a chapter and possibly cheating with the narrative design.  Sometimes people will just excuse an epilogue that focuses on a totally different character from our main one because it sets up the next part of the story or what have you.  While this can be useful, I tend to want to shy away from it these days.

            That being said, I do approve of the logues in a certain situation.  Namely, the idea of making something that is not necessary to the story, but which acts as either a good hook or introduction and is interesting.  I'm not really certain leaving things where I left them in my prologue would have worked as a good hook, especially since it would have involved a time skip.  However, a friend of mine basically put a prologue in a work of hers which focused on sword making and a tragedy that goes unseen.  This gives us a nice introduction to the time period, as it is a fictitious historical drama, it introduces a few important characters, and doesn't really end on a downer or a large skip.  Yes, there is tragedy, however it's subtle.  It's not overt.  It plays to the imagination.  These I tend to be okay with.

            I could probably whip up a decent prologue or epilogue if I wanted, but...I really don't want to.  I've created a few excerpts from a fictitious book that exists in my story which give a few insights into how the universe was made and also about the history of the world which isn't elaborated on too much.  These I might include because they're a bit more subtle and fun, but aren't necessary to enjoy the story as it is now.

            That's the big thing with a story...if a prologue is absolutely necessary, why not simply make it chapter 1?  There are reasons these things are divided.  Framing, certainly, but otherwise, why not start it off as chapter 1?  If you're not going to do something interesting or make it unnecessary but still a fun read, why even bother calling it a prologue or an epilogue?  Honestly, I couldn't tell you.  Writers sometimes get a wild hare up their butt and want to try and be dramatic or frame the story in a specific way when it really doesn't need it.

            Some of the best prologues I have seen are totally unnecessary, but make for fun satire.  Terry Pratchett is king at this, as each prologue introduces the concept of the discworld in any of his discworld books, but doesn't dwell on it.  It doesn't necessarily have that grand an impact on the plot, but it's a nice nod to continuity, it's a nice bit of world building, and it's funny, above all else.  That's how you do a prologue.  Make it unnecessary, but dammit, you wanna read it anyway!

            So, prologues...I don't know as much about them as I may say.  Or epilogues for that matter.  When they got started, what their purpose was for, etc.  I'm not claiming to be an expert here.  These are just my thoughts on the issues as a writer and a person.  If you're gonna include it, do something fun/interesting.

Kernel of Insight: Wrath of...er...RISE of the Lich King

Just a quick update.  This week kicked my ass, so very little writing got done.  I was working almost perpetually through Thanksgiving on one thing or another and when not working, I was snatching what little sleep I could.  So, I'm trying to get back on the writing horse, so to speak, both for this and my video game blog.  We'll see how well that goes.  Regardless, I'm sticking with it.  Got almost ten pages revised for the next chapter, so I should still be able to deliver it sometime in December.  Fingers crossed.  Now, let's talk about some rather...unusual coincidences in regards to my work and certain other pieces of fiction.

Kernel of Insight: Wrath of...er...RISE of the Lich King

            True story:  For the longest time I was writing an anime esque mecha series, but I eventually stopped because when I took a step back I realized it had failed at a few fundamental levels, such as creating a grounded universe with rules, creating a mary sue-esque race of aliens to both fight and befriend, and generally just pulling things out of the ass for plot and dramatic convenience.  I really do like it and may one day revisit it, however it certainly had problems.  One of the more ironic problems was the alien race was strong, lanky, blue skinned aliens with black sclera and golden eyes.  Now, I started making this series years before the release of James Cameron's Avatar and I paid no attention to the media hype for it, so one of the first thoughts when I saw it in theaters was "Wow...if I ever release this story, people will totally think I ripped this off, even though I was making it well before."  I did keep up with the series for a while just because I loved it, but it was a weird coincidence.

            Know what wasn't a coincidence?  The first title of my series.  Before it became Chronicles of the Frozen Shade, it was Rise of the Lich king.  Ironically, at the time of naming this series at its inception I had indeed been playing Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.  Just goes to show you...I had always intended for that name to be merely placeholder, but didn't get around to changing it until well into my 6th or 7th draft period.  There was meant to be this large subplot throughout the series where Aeon was the reincarnation, second coming, what have you, of a powerful figure who was both hated and admired known as the lich king.  There are still some fragments of this idea in my story, however I hate that idea of predestined heroes/villains.  So, alot of that was scrapped.  The lich king I was talking about does make some appearances, but it's less to do with Warcraft and more to do with just how people might view a powerful figure...Blizzard Entertainment just happened upon the title before a lot of us, though I imagine DnD have used it before too.  How do you make a lich more intimidating?  An elder lich, a greater lich, a lich...king?

            However, that being said, there really wasn't much I took from Blizzard or Warcraft when constructing this story.  Aeon's icy disposition actually comes a fair bit from me and my own experiences with emotional numbness and subduing foes alive, while still having the power and ethos to kill them if necessary.  But it was another ironic twist on how any one of us can have a decent idea for a story title or a story concept, which is ultimately just a re-use/reimagining of stories that have already been told.  I forget who said the line, but I believe a scholar/philosopher once said that we are all just retelling stories we've heard before, in a slightly different way.  And there's nothing really wrong with that.

            So, why the ultimate name change, aside from me not wanting to get my butt sued off?  Well...it was kinda misrepresentation.  No truth in advertising.  There is a rise of a lich king at some point, but it's not Aeon and it's not the general draw of the series or even really a main focal point.  So, after I decided upon Aeon's epithet, Frozen Shade, I changed the title to Chronicles of the Frozen Shade.  Still trying to figure out a decent subtitle for each individual book.

            Why the Chronicles?  Well, for a lot of reasons, actually.  I enjoy the idea that the one people would remember is Aeon for his infamy, but the one who sort of made the most change, who had a real influence, was Mina.  The idea of the unseen, the unknown hero.  I even toyed with the idea of framing it as a storybook, which I might one day revisit, but ultimately, I find those a tad spoilerific.  If you can make a good enough story, like Brian Jacques Martin the Warrior, then you can get away with that type of framing device, but...for what I'm writing, I don't want spoilers.

            Alongside the idea of a person in the shadow of another who truly influences the story, and Mina does and will, I enjoyed the idea that the series was an ongoing story.  A chronicle of the journey that doesn't have a simple one and done formula, but which persists.  Also fun to note is that for there to be chronicles, there needs to be a chronicler.  Make of that what you will.

            I ultimately created an uninspired title for this series because I wanted to get writing and didn't want to dwell on things like titles or subtitles.  Hence Rise of the Lich King.  In the process of my writing, I eventually changed the title because a good title or one that you like isn't one you can often just create on the spot.  It'll hit you when you least expect it and will stick with you because it has a nice ring to it.  Hence Chronicles of the Frozen Shade.  Even the etymology of it has a bit more interest and hook than Rise of the Lich King.  It is a chronicle, a story/record, of a creature called the Frozen Shade.  Frozen can mean icy, it can be dead, it can mean cruel, it can mean so many things.  Shade tends to mean an undead, but it can also refer to shadow creatures, wretches who are shells of their former self, etc.  It offers more interest in the title itself.

            And so, if you wanna make a fun, decent title, don't copy.  Think about what you want from the story and what others might take away from it...but above all else, don't force it.  Let it hit you, like I let mine hit me...with a mallet...over the head...which put me out for a week.

            Yeah, can you see why I stopped trying to be funny with this series?

Kernel of Insight: Naming Conventions

Welp, this has been a hellish week/month/semester.  I am still writing, but my revisions hit a major snag this week, with a writer's block, a poor section that needed a lot of work, and other issues that only now just got resolved.  Still expect my next chapter no earlier than December.  But, at least progress is being made.  That's better than nothing.  Anyway, enjoy this look into some of the naming conventions I use when deciding character and location names and the like.

Let's talk about naming.  I always try and have some relatively interesting names for different characters and many of them are original, like Minava, Kano, or what have you.  However, when naming places or certain people, usually based entirely on personal preference, I will take certain naming conventions or even whole names from other properties and adapt them.  One that you might not have seen coming is Alnor, our old aquillan friend.  His name is a take off on the Marvel hero Namor.  Granted, there's not many similarities, however I liked the sound the syllables of Namor's name created.  It had a powerful, regal tone to them.  So, I created a similar tone.  Basic naming conventions break down into four different types.  Adaptations from other sources, like what we say before with Alnor and Namor, straight copies of other sources but in different uses, religious symbolism, and basic etymology adaptations.  These do not, of course, take into account any names I create myself.

            When copying a name from another source, I tend to favor the weird or the unique, but I don't like using them in the same manner that others have.  For example, fans of Final Fantasy might notice that Mina's town, Gesthal, is the same as an unsavory emperor in one of their games.  There's almost no connection, but I felt the pronunciation and sound was such an interesting bit that I decided to use it.  This has happened in other works that I have created, such as naming a robot after Dragons from myth and fiction or adapting a full name out of two or three names, like Gilbert Albelo, a combination of two names from different characters in Ogre Battle.  I tend to keep these at a minimum, mostly because I can usually find decent names of my own to make, but it's a nice little tribute/ easter egg.

            Religious symbolism in naming is a bit more common, but only just.  It's usually reserved for Dragons, Metronians, and Goetians, as they have direct religious parallels.  And even if they don't they may have parallels to me.  For example, Agni, the primary villain of my book at the moment, is actually a force of good in Hindu lore.  However, I selected the name because he is a force of fire, divine fire even, which adds a layer of interesting religious discomfort with Agni's eventual appearance and presence.  Likewise, Rudra is, I believe, a wind spirit of sorts, but because I saw the name used for a dragon long long ago, I adapted it for use with one of my dragons.  Such is how it goes.

            Basic etymology adaptations are always fun.  Even if the etymology of Serano is different from earth, it can lead to some interesting names.  Nihilons are directly taken from the laten term Nihilo, or nothingness.  It is meant to be a connection to the Void.  aquillans also have a connection with the etymology aqua, because they are aquatic beings.  Nal-vey, Jela-Vey, and Sel-vey have some basic etymology in them, but are more adaptations of syllabic sounds.  Nal sounds like nothing, Sel is silver, Jela has a more golden feel to them.  Bear in mind, these are just how my mind might perceive these sounds.

            I like to think that these kinds of conventions are how most writers come up with certain things.  We either have easter eggs we want to include in our stories, themes, or what have you that allow us to create naming conventions that fall in line with a specific idea we have.  Very little comes from a vacuum, as they say.  And the adaptations and conventions can be as toned down or as insane as the writer.  I especially like in One Piece how all the main character's attacks are named after fire arms and they get more insane and high caliber the deadlier the attacks.

            No one pulls a name out of thin air, there is always something.  Sometimes its simply a sound that we enjoy hearing, sometimes it's a name we heard before, sometimes it's a combination of unlike terms to create something wholly new.

            Originally I didn't include last names in my stories, especially this one.  However, I think it adds a level of identity, familiarity, and memorability to certain characters.  Minava Gren, Celine Gren, Nivtenc van Arios, it adds something else to remember.  Of course, one of my greatest fears is that if I bring the name up again, people will just have forgotten it existed to begin with, because when talking with people you are familiar with, you seldom ever have to use last names.  It's important for introductions, but after those are out of the way, they are less important and fade into the background.  Also, last names offer another layer of intrigue and possible hints at a character's true nature.  I am especially fond of Deminos Savant.  While he is a failure in many areas as a conjurer and a mage, a savant is someone who is considered wise, a genius, or otherwise is knowledgeable in something they shouldn't be.  I think this plays nicely into the idea that Deminos has potential.

            Now, whether or not people pick up on these little naming conventions or tricks is kind of a crap shoot, so being all clever and smug about naming...isn't really recommended.  From my perspective, these are sorta like in jokes that I write into the story for no one but myself.  However, if other people can discover them, I think that'd be really cool, as there are several I didn't mention here.

            In the age of Wiki, there is plenty of user compiled data on anything from video games to books, so it's not hard to disseminate this kind of information once it's been acquired.  I suppose somewhere, deep down, I would like people to care enough to do that over my book, just the same as others have for anime or video games that I've loved.  Sometimes it's fun just to see how powerful or crazy someone is by visiting a wiki.  Wasted many an hour myself on Naruto, One Piece, and Toriko wikis, just sort of bathing in the crazy and the community.

            I suppose that's one reason for naming conventions, and easter eggs in general.  We want to expand our sort of internal community, but we don't want to solicit that kind of gathering.  We want people to find what we have hidden and to understand its meaning and in that way, draw us wayward people, writers and readers, closer together.