Writing

Recently, someone gave me the challenge to write about the “information community” I belong to. I could be as creative as I wanted, so I wrote a short story about the “author information community.” Enjoy.

“Wow, that was a great movie, wasn’t it, Elizabeth?” My friend turned to me and smiled.

“Yeah, it was okay,” I said, shrugging. “The story was a bit predictable, but other than that, it was fine.”

My friend tilted her head in confusion. “Predictable? Elizabeth, there were so many twists and turns, how can you call it predictable? I was on the edge of my seat the entire time!”

“Well, the screenwriters definitely did their jobs right, if you liked it. It’s just… for me, I figured out who the murderer was in the first ten minutes.”

“How?”

“I’m an author,” I said simply.

“That’s not an answer and you know it!”

I sighed. “All right. Authors, especially good authors, are trained to recognize the core concepts of stories: plot, character, setting, and of course, conflict. To have an effective story, everything you write must serve the story. You don’t want scenes or characters to go nowhere.”

“But you’re a fantasy author,” my friend said. “You wrote Silver Rose and Silver Crescent. We were watching a mystery.”

“It doesn’t matter. An author’s an author. I can spot the core concepts of a story a mile away. Your plot has to be engaging enough to draw the audience in. Your characters need to be complex and interesting and there needs to be room for them to grow. I don’t focus on setting as much as I probably should, but if done right, it can take on a life of its own and can almost be a character itself.”

“What about conflict?” my friend said. “When people talk about stories, they usually only mention plot, character, and setting.”

I smiled. “Conflict, in my opinion, is what makes or breaks a story. You could have the best plot ever, characters who leap off the page, and a rich and detailed setting, but it’s all for nothing if there is no conflict. If there’s no conflict, why is there even a story in the first place?”

“You’ve lost me there, Elizabeth.”

“Let me give you my favorite example. Mary walked to the store, bought some milk, and walked back home. That’s the story. It had a plot, a character, and a setting. Now, was it in any way interesting?”

“Not really.”

“That’s right. It was boring. Now, let’s try this. Mary walked to the store, bought some milk, and started to walk back home, when she was abducted by aliens.”

My friend leaned forward, engrossed. “Really? What happened?”

“You see?” I said triumphantly. “That’s my point. You weren’t interested until I added some conflict. Let’s say that the aliens were going to take Mary back to their home planet, but she escaped when she discovered that their weakness was milk. She splashed it on them, distracting them long enough to get away.”

My friend shook her head. “I don’t know how you come up with this stuff, Elizabeth.”

“Story ideas are always running through my head.”

“What about the mystery we were watching? How did you figure out the murderer’s identity so quickly?”

“Well, the countess was murdered in her country mansion, right?”

My friend nodded. “Yes, but there were three suspects: the nephew, the cook, and the gardener.”

“If you look at the foreshadowing, you can figure it out.”

“Umm…”

“All three had motive. The nephew thought he would be disinherited. The cook wanted revenge because the countess swindled her father out of his fortune. Neither one did it.”

“That’s why the gardener doing it was such a good twist!” my friend argued. “It took so long to reveal his motive that I discounted him as the murderer.”

“Ah, but the foreshadowing led me straight to him.”

“How?”

“The gardener’s motive was that he was the countess’s long lost son. He wanted revenge for her abandoning him.”

“But we didn’t even know she had a son until the end.”

“Again, the foreshadowing. Weren’t you curious as to why everyone kept saying that the countess had no children? As far as the audience knew, she wasn’t even married. So, why keep bringing it up? Authors only do this when they want to highlight important plot points. If there wasn’t a long lost child somewhere in the story, then the detail of her having no children is pointless.”

“So,” my friend said slowly, “the author only mentions details when it’s important?”

“Exactly. The countess’s son killing her out of revenge is the conflict, but we want the details, the clues, to prove it. Good authors strive to do just that. Especially in a mystery, which are so reliant on clues, the author needs to sprinkle these details in. They hint at the bigger story going on in the background.”

“Do all authors think like this?”

“It’s hard not to, when you spend so much of your time writing. You become adapt at noticing story details.”

“What about if you’re not an author?”

“Anyone can do it. Authors have an advantage, but anyone who is good at observing minute, almost undetectable details can do it. Now, come on. I’ll choose the next movie. Let’s see if you can think like an author.”

I am a big fan of fantasy. I’ve loved it since I was a little kid. One thing that’s always confused me, though, is that when some people refer to fantasy, they seem to get it mixed up with Sci Fi. Recently, I heard two people describe “fantasy.” One person thought a story about aliens attacking a futuristic city was fantasy. Another person referenced a story of aliens attacking a western saloon. Those aren’t fantasy. Those are science fiction.

Fantasy is all about magic, swords, knights, princesses, and anything else medieval. Sci Fi is about space and futuristic technology. I’m sure you’re sitting there, wondering what the big deal is, since both fantasy and science fiction aren’t real, it’s fiction. To me, there is a difference. And that difference is that Sci Fi books rarely hold my attention. I tried to read one Sci Fi book, but the author dropped me off in the middle of the action, described everything in advanced technological terms I didn’t understand, and expected me to care that these two characters I knew nothing about just got engaged. I was completely lost. And unfortunately, it happens all the time when I pick up a Sci Fi book.

It’s much easier for me to understand fantasy. It doesn’t matter if it’s high fantasy, set solely in a fantasy world, or urban fantasy, where we see elements of the real world. They’re usually straight forward plots, where the hero gains magical powers and must save the day from the villain. It’s a cliche at this point, but I don’t care. I love getting to meet the main characters and finding out how their magic system works and seeing their journey to defeat the bad guy.

Fantasy and Science Fiction are always grouped together, but they are as different as night from day. It is possible to combine the two genres, but mostly it seems like authors stick to one over the other. I know which one I prefer.

Revenge is a common plot in stories. It usually takes the form of the villain wrongs the protagonist, which causes the protagonist to want revenge on the villain. Usually, the villain will take something or kill the protagonist’s loved one. Distraught, the hero will then hone their skills, before setting out to defeat the villain once and for all, thus getting their revenge.

I’ve always found this plot to be rather destructive. The hero isn’t saving the day because it’s the right thing to do, but simply because they want revenge. It’s common for these protagonists to be portrayed as single-minded and willing to ignore others’ plights, just to get want they want.

So, why would anyone write a protagonist like that? One word: conflict. Conflict is what makes a story. Without it, what’s the point? My favorite example is “Mary walked to the store, bought some milk, and walked home.” Not a very interesting story. But, if I changed it to, “Mary walked to the store, bought some milk, and was abducted by aliens on her way home,” then suddenly the reader will be interested. How did Mary wind up on the spaceship? What will the aliens do to her? Will she ever get home? Add in revenge and now it’s a tense story of Mary trying to get revenge on the aliens for kidnapping her, while also trying to escape back home.

Revenge is not my favorite way of adding conflict, especially for a main character, but I think it’s fine for a side character. Why? Because if you give it to a main character, they’ll be obsessed with it for the whole story. I’ve seen it happen in plenty of books. But for a side character, you don’t have to worry about revenge for the whole story. Sure it’s there, but it’s usually mentioned less frequently for a side character.

On a positive note for a revenge plot, it does give the author a built in character arc. If their goal is to help the protagonist learn that there are more important things then revenge, the author can have them help others. Let’s say Steve wants revenge on Bob for murdering his wife. During the story, Steve can encounter a widow, who’s at the mercy of some lesser bad guys, who are trying to mug her. Feeling compassion toward the widow because she reminds him of his late wife, Steve can step in and defend her, thus opening him up to character development that isn’t all about revenge. Sprinkle in moments like these, so Steve becomes a better person by the end, and you have the makings of a great revenge-style story.

Revenge is one of the most common plots. It’s in Eragon, Star Wars, and even Harry Potter. Eragon wants revenge against his uncle’s killers, Luke wants revenge against his aunt and uncle’s killers, and Sirius wants revenge against Peter Pettigrew for James and Lily’s murders. Eragon, Luke, and Sirius all want revenge against their loved ones’ murderers, but all three learn that there’s more to life than revenge. They all grew and changed into better characters and people by the end. Exactly what I love to see in my heroes by the end of their stories.

Being an author is always full of unique challenges. That’s one of the reasons why it’s the best job in the world. There’s so much juggling you have to do. You have to make sure your characters are complex, human, and consistent. You have to create an interesting setting. Your plot has to hook people in, so they’ll actually want to read your work. Then, you have to combine all those elements, plus the ones I didn’t mention. If it all goes well, it should make for an amazing story. But there’s no challenge quite like beginning a story.

I’ll admit that beginning a story is a weakness for me. It’s why Silver Crescent took so long to come out. I must have restarted it at least a dozen times. I’m struggling a bit with the opening of Silver Storm now, but I’m trying the same strategy as Silver Crescent. Just keep writing. Once I get to the editing process, I can work on improving the story, especially the opening.

I think the reason starting a story is so difficult is because the opening sets the tone for the entire book. If your beginning is lackluster, it might drive potential readers away. Don’t get me wrong, the whole book should be good, but the opening has more pressure on it, in my opinion. I once read a book with an incredible beginning, but once I was a few chapters in, I realized that wasn’t much in the way of plot. It felt like a chore to read. I got to the end, hoping it would get better. It didn’t. That author knew the power of a good beginning, at least.

A book is the sum of its parts. Everything has to work together in harmony for the story to be good. Plot, characters, setting, all need to be good to justify to the reader why they’re spending their time reading and not doing anything else. But the reader may never get to see the quality of your writing if your opening doesn’t draw them in. Don’t focus on the beginning at the expanse of the rest of the story, but don’t ignore the power of a good opening, either.

In celebration of Silver Crescent coming out this week (Tuesday, May 6th), I would like to announce the title of book three, Silver Storm. Penelope, Mag, and Artie must come together once again as they take on their toughest challenge yet: defeating the golden dragon.

Presenting the official cover of Silver Crescent. Sequel to Silver Rose.