January 2, 2006
WATCH JOSS

Here's your New Year's resolution: watch Joss Whedon's movie Serenity. It's out on DVD now. If you haven't seen the series Firefly that it was based on, then rent that too. There is nothing in the theaters now that comes close to the level of something done so well. The man gets it right, and it both humbles and inspires.

Happy 2006.

December 26, 2005
DREAM, DREAM, DREAM

Your brain is a wonderful machine for sifting information about the world into narratives. You do it all the time. You may not remember them, but the insights your dreams can give you are certainly worth trying to.

Keep a pad of paper and pen by your bed. As soon as you wake up, write down everything you can remember, starting at the beginning. Write it all down, no matter how small the detail. Don't worry about grammer or structure, just dump the facts on the paper. Then put it away. Don't re-read it. Keep it there by your bed until you have at least five dreams documented. Then you can look at them.

Why? So you can see the actual patterns emerge before you start to have preconceived notions of what they are. So you can have a little distance from actually having the memory of the dream, and be more able to read it like a stranger would. So you can feel the benefit of what you're doing and continue.

Trust me. Do this. You'll learn a lot about yourself — both as a writer and a person.

December 12, 2005
ALL VILLAINS ARE NOT CREATED EVIL

The second thing a hero needs to make him great is a great villain. But before you create yet another rich tycoon trying to take over the world with nuclear-powered laser beams, remember that the reader wants to identify with the whole story, and that includes the villain.

Alan Moore says that villains have plans, and heroes are forced to react to them. In other words, villains are proactive, heroes are reactive. In The Watchmen, his villain was a hero who did a very proactive thing in order to bring about world peace. Did this make him an evil person? Perhaps not, and that's what made him so interesting.

The best villians do not believe that they are villains. Achillies arrived at the gates of Troy to murder Hector. So... villain, right? But wait. Achillies did not want to be a part of that war. He had already ordered his men not to fight, and instead to go home. His cousin took his armor and, pretending to be Achilles, ralled the army into battle anyway. Hector, as the leader of his army, thought he was doing honorable battle with the leader of the opposing army, and killed "Achillies", only to discover too late that it was just a young boy. So... who is the victim here? Achillies had a right to call Hector out and kill him. So... how can someone who is right be a villain?

Answer: it doesn't matter. Conflicts do not have to be good vs. evil. They just have to be interesting. One character who is interesting is being opposed by something or someone who is interesting. Let the physical and moral battles begin!

December 5, 2005
SAVE THE WORLD, LOSE THE GIRL

What makes a hero? There are 2 things. The first is sacrifice. The second is the villian. So first, let's talk about selfless acts.

In my mind, the greatest hero in literature is Hector from The Iliad. You may know him from the movie Troy. If you get a chance, read the original text. In it, there is a pitch-perfect bit of dialogue between him and his wife where she begs him not to face Achilles. Not because she thinks he might lose, but because she is certain he will. Achilles is an unkillable demi-god who has already taken the lives of her father and seven brothers. Hector is all she has left, and he is about to, in a sense, commit meaninless suicide by going out to do one-on-one battle with an enraged god. "Have mercy upon me," she cries, "stay here upon this wall; make not your child fatherless, and your wife a widow!"

Hector is deeply moved. It would of course be his heart's desire to do as she wishes and stay with his family. But Achilles will not just go away. The enemy is literally at the gate, calling Hector's name. He says to her, "Wife, I too have thought upon all this, but with what face should I look upon the Trojans, men or women, if I shirked battle like a coward?...Well do I know that the day will surely come when mighty Ilius shall be destroyed...but I grieve for none...as for yourself when the day shall come on which some one of the Achaeans shall rob you forever of your freedom...It may be that you will [be] treated brutally by some cruel task-master; then will one say who sees you weeping, 'She was wife to Hector, the bravest warrior among the Trojans during the war before Ilius.' On this your tears will break forth anew for him who would have put away the day of captivity from you."

Hector hits on many points in his answer, but the greatest is this: that to know that someone you love needs protecting and not try to do it — is unthinkable.

He has everything to lose: his life, his future with his family... everything. Why does he face certain death? Because he has to try. It tears at his heart, but as a husband and father, he has to try. They need someone to try to save them. He loves them the most. It falls to him. That's why he risks it all.

Selfless acts define a hero. A good hero defends others when he has nothing to lose. A great hero does it even when he has everything to lose. And what causes a man to have to rise to the level of a great hero? You guessed it.

A great villian.

See you next week.

November 21, 2005
SHAKING THINGS UP

Beginning, middle, end. Intro, conflict, resolution. Birth, life death. 1, 2, 3. A, B, C.

Bored yet?

Here's a short tip: write down the major plot points of your story on 3x5 cards. One point per card. Put them in order, just like your story requires. Boy meets girl. Boy loses girl. Boy sees girl with new guy. Boy learns lesson. Boy wins girl again. Then take those cards...

And throw them on the floor. Shuffle them. Whatever. Get them out of order, then read what that does to your story. Watch as some things become flashbacks, some become foreshadowing, other things take on new meaning as 2 subplots are told in parallel... you get the idea.

If predictability is your enemy, this is your ultimate weapon. Use it well.

November 14, 2005
I LAUGHED, I CRIED

A great story is like peanut butter, jelly and milk. Each are worthy of existence, but ask yourself — how are they the best? If you said "together" —

You're wrong.

Nothing in drama should be equal. Creating tension is the primary goal. Releasing the tension is secondary. In other words — you want to have the audience eat PB&J until they are dying for a glass of milk, then give them a nice big swig.

9 parts sandwich, 1 part milk. Serve. Repeat.

The reason the milk tastes so good is because you really need the release. That's also why a good laugh in a tense situation feels so good. It's a rescue for your imagination. And it works the other way, too.

A comedy is going along nicely...when all of a sudden the child of the main character is kidnapped. You can almost feel your emotions come to a screeching shift in gears. It's not funny anymore. But now you're immersed in what happens.

Put extreme contrasting emotions back to back. Literally right next to each other, to the point that they are interrupting each other, and you'll get maximum impact. It's what happens in life.

Hot baths after being drenched in a cold rain. Loving arms after a hard day. You're in the middle of being fired and your boss rips his pants.

Heh. Made ya laugh. Pass the milk.

October 31, 2005
WHAT'S IN A NAME?

Well, everything. The name you pick for your story will often determine if anyone reads it or not.

Years ago, there was a movie with major stars, big budget, action, adventure, etc... it was called "Dead Bang". I can't tell you what it was about. Because I never saw it. I just sounded so stupid I didn't even want to put in the effort to care how stupid it was. That's pretty bad. Okay — enough of the bad example.

Your name should do 2 things:

1) Intrigue the reader to want to know "what's that about?"
2) Have a second layer of meaning that adds depth to the story, even after it's over.

Example: The House of Sand and Fog.

1) The name conveyed mystery, half-truths, instability — things that are not at first seen but later revealed. Very intriguing. Could have almost been an Edgar Allen Poe story.

2) It let you realize that it meant many things at once. A house on sand is desirable but not permanent, no matter how much you desperately want it to be. Fog is sometimes welcome as a place to hide, but can be equally dangerous if it hides things from you that you need to know, or worse — prevents you from seeing the danger right in front of you. If you've seen the movie, you know exactly what I'm talking about.

In tone, that movie was meant to be quiet but suspenseful. The title was also. It fit. And it made perfect sense when it was over.

Think about your story. Find the emotional thing about it that you really want people to be hit by. Or one line in the story that seemed to ring just right. That is the gold mine of names.

Dig away.

October 24, 2005
EXPLORING THE CRACKS

I have a nasty little habit: I rewrite parts of movies that I don't like. Just in my head, usually, but I do it all the time. Now watch as I turn that around as a good thing :-)

There are always things that make you go, "Whoa. Wait. What?" in every story. Example: an old Star Trek episode I saw has Dr. Beverly Crusher using modified transporter technology to recreate part of a spine for an injured Worf. Well, if that's true, then that means the data to reassemble the atoms can be stored in the computer, not just "passed through" during beam-down. If your atomic structure can be stored, it can be manipulated. It could be used to create unauthorized duplicates of a person. That duplicate would be identical in every way to the original, even down to believing it was the original. (STTNG touched on this with "The Two Rikers", although in that scenario it was an accident) But here's the thought:

Foreign leaders, both friendly and not, beam onto the ship all the time. The transporter operator, then, could possibly be corrupted to "accidentally" beam a president into a prison while claiming there was an energy flux, then say "Wait. I've got him now..." and assemble a duplicate. What would the ransom be in a situation like that? Would the more practical politicians argue against paying, since there is no difference between the fake and the original, even in the mind of the fake? Is the fake a real person, since it was not really born? If you killed it, would it be murder? If the guy created it soley so he could kill it, become famous, then during the trial the original president was released, what would the charges be?

Or make a love story: The transporter operator beams his true love down to the planet where she is killed by a local creature. He is crippled by grief, creates another version of her, and beams them both to a place where they can live out his private lie in peace. Or, if you actually need the raw human "substance" (can't make something from nothing), he instead turns her data into a holodeck character, but it's not enough. His existence is bitter-sweet and painful. Still, it's a compelling story about a guy who no one ever gives two thoughts about. He's just the grunt that slides the slidey-things up and down, right?

Take the things you see and ask: "Well, if that's true, then..." Push it as far as you can. Ask questions for which there are no easy answers. Those will be great stories.

October 10, 2005
KEEPING IT "REAL"

There are no stories like real stories. Even if your dream is to write the greatest fantasy or science-fiction story ever, the roots of that greatness will lie in the "real world" that we all know - interaction among people and what drives them to do things.

Even on a mining colony in outer space, a love story needs the love to be real. So try this: ask any couple who has been married over 30 years how they fell in love. Let them tell you in their own words the thrill of when he first saw her, their first kiss, how they got past their big fight, what happened when her ex came back from the war, the sacrifices they made, the disappointments they suffered — all of it. Change the setting and characters as you like, but the story's power will come from the original reality.

Want an adventure story? Talk to a veteran. Or a fireman. Or a missionary. Ask them what the bravest thing they ever saw was. Or scariest. Let them tell you how the last thing they felt like at that moment was a flawless James Bond hero.

Keep a tape recorder running. Capture their voice inflections, choice of words, pauses in speaking, etc. Listen to it over and over. When you reach the point where you can, without any doubt, know what they would say in any situation — then you've got it. You've got them in your head. They've become real. And you can now make them real to us.

October 3, 2005
"HOW DO I BECOME A WRITER?"

Um... you write something. Seriously. That's what you do. Make it a short story. Then send it out by email to all your friends and family. Follow that with another one. And another. And another. Before you know it, they'll introduce you to others this way: "This is my daughter. She's a writer."

When you have enough stories done, put them together and make a small anthology book. Give it as a Christmas gift and sign the inside cover for each person, thanking them for reading your stories since the beginning, and promising them many more to come.

Advanced tip: Ask your local library if they will let you have a time slot to read your stories to an audience. Spread the news with Xeroxed flyers. Now you are an author promoting your book on a reading circuit. You'll probably even sell some. Which makes you the best kind of author... the kind with money :-)

September 26, 2005
"SO... WHAT IS YOUR STORY ABOUT?"

When someone asks you that most obvious of questions, it's a very important moment. You can captivate or lose someone with your answer. Before you speak, you should know that there is a big difference between what happens in your story and what it is about.

Don't try to tell a condensed version of every bit of action and cool dialogue you have worked out so far. That's not "it." Take The Lord of the Rings, for example. How could you ever summerize such a massive epic? You can't. But – here is what it is about in one sentence: Even the smallest of us can do the greatest of things.

The entire kajillion-word trilogy you know and love is the evidence of why that idea was true. In short: What a story is about is proven by what happens in it. How do you make this work for you? First, become enthralled with an "about" idea. Here are a few examples:

1) guilt over what you did to someone can drive you mad
2) saviors are not always who you would expect
3) cleverness and bravery are greater than brute strength
4) with great power comes great responsibility
5) a son's love can redeem even the most horrible of fathers

Then be the one who write the story that proves it, like:

1) Edgar Allen Poe - The Telltale Heart
2) Joss Whedon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer
3) Homer - The Oddessy
4) Stan Lee - The Amazing Spider-Man
5) George Lucas - Star Wars

With this approach, you'll find that your story will have a power you never expected, will practically write itself, and will resonate with your readers. And that's what it's all about.

September 19, 2005
"IS MY IDEA ANY GOOD?"

One way to know for sure: Ask yourself if it's the kind of thing you would pick up the phone and just HAVE to tell someone about. If the plot of your story is something that you would be bored hearing from a friend ("we went here, and then there was this guy, and he said this, and then this happened..."), it may not make the cut. A good story is one you can't possibly keep to yourself. ("Do you remember my dog that ran away a year ago? He came BACK!") The louder you would be yelling into the phone about something, the better your story idea probably is.

(ps - If the dog came back and spoke SPANISH... now THAT would be a good story :-)