Seussian Logic

I totally forgot to mention this, but my blog moved!

2011-03-01T17:50:00.002-06:00

Roleplaying Your Way Into a Story Idea

2010-12-03T11:12:00.000-06:00

I consider myself a celebrated geek. I adore both Star Trek and Star Wars¹. I enjoy watching anime², and I read more fantasy than what's good for my own mental health. I also absolutely, positively, completely adore roleplay. Whether it's play-by-post or tabletop, I am a RP-aholic.

What I find surprising is that I don't read about more writers being roleplayers as well. I know very well that some of them must be. Dungeons & Dragons has been around longer than I've been alive. I know it's rather cliche to say that I've always known I wanted to be a writer (but it's true!), and ravenously reading all those medieval fantasy books since I was about eight definitely didn't help in this firm belief. However, roleplaying made me truly grow into that desire.

When used correctly roleplaying can be a form of exploration. It allows you to enter the mindset of a character, and determine exactly how they think, act, and even speak. You know everything about that character, because you become that character. Roleplaying can eventually give you the practice of entering into an entirely different mindset of your own.

For those that have never really given it a chance I would fully suggest doing so. Go out and find a PbP forum to join. Rally up a group of friends and play a session of D&D. I have two people which I regularly do tabletop RP with, and I am amazed at the character and story ideas that are continually born from these game sessions. We've moved well beyond using an already defined system like D&D, and instead now create our own entire worlds and rules to go with it.

It's... freeing. While writing a novel could be argued to hold many of the same elements, you still have that pressure to conform to certain standards, and worry over the level of quality and marketability. Consider doing a session of roleplay to be that pre-novel step. You have the chance to fully explore a story, without the stress and pressure to pen it to paper and make it just so.

Do any of you use roleplay to discover new character or story ideas? What type of roleplay do you engage in?

¹ I just know I'll one day be smited for liking both genre's.
² Inuyasha was my guilty pleasure, but Cowboy Bebop and Hellsing were there to provide a few cool points.

Story Checklist

2010-11-29T16:41:00.000-06:00

I have devised a checklist that is diabolical indeed¹, or one simply inspired from extensive reading and writing. Take your pick. Please do remember that there will always be exceptions to this checklist, and just as Captain Barbossa² said to Elizabeth Swan³, these are more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.

The Hook. The story should open with a short prologue that forebodes of the event that will propel the story forward. It should tantalize the reader, and fully draw them in and keep them turning the page in anticipation.
Cast & Setting. Before the story has progressed too far all main characters should already be introduced and fleshed out. The story should be isolated in a specific locale before events begin to spiral out of control.
Picking Up the Pace. The middle portion of the story should either reference or directly show events which directly threaten the protagonist, or force said protagonist to take some form of action. Ideally, the events force the protagonists to investigate and confront the antagonist.
Final Jeopardy. The climax scene should not be predictable, and should in fact offer a last whammy for the reader.
Conclusion. The epilogue should show the characters resuming their lives, but are perhaps forever changed by the events that occurred in the story. This is also where the writer could possibly hint at the victory being short-lived, and the antagonist possibly returning at a later date to trouble the protagonists once more if we're talking about a trilogy for example.

As already mentioned, exceptions will be made. However, this is a relatively bare-bones checklist of elements that should be typically found in a novel. Are these elements which you utilize, or generally find in a novel when reading? What shape does your "hook" typically take?

¹ Born of fire and brimstone itself.
² Best character ever.
³ Worst character ever.

Writing With Passion

2010-11-28T17:58:00.000-06:00

Fiery passion is fiery.

I don't think it is an exaggeration to state that most, if not all, writers are very passionate people. We may display our passion to varying degrees or in a myriad of fashions, but we all hold a deep sense of personal self with a strong connection to emotions. We have powerful reactions to the things we see or read¹, and in turn our artistic release - writing - displays this.

It would of course stand to reason that one of the first steps to creating a written piece with quality would be to ensure that passion is included in the work. There should be elements within the story that the writer personally feels very strongly about, and wishes to expand upon in the confines of the story itself. If the writer feels blasé about their subject matter, it will in turn be reflected in the quality of their writing. The storyline may fall flat, the characters might come across as distant and one-dimensional, a conflict might feel less than conflicting, or a myriad of other negatively impacting effects.

I feel that many novels I have read where the main protagonist felt boring and strained was directly linked to the writer themselves not feeling particularly passionate about the character. Maybe they couldn't ever really get into the personality, or maybe they didn't allow themselves to fully explore the potential personality the character could have developed. I have read books where there were hints at very intriguing social or political dilemmas, but then by the end of the novel I came to realize that these very interesting elements were never fully explored. Things were hinted, but never shown. Yes, is is very important to show-not-tell in a story, but it's quite difficult to simply choose to do neither and expect your reader to develop telekinesis² so that they might read the writer's mind and fully appreciate the hidden aspects of the story.

The best example of utilizing passion in your work would be a roleplay setting I created over a year ago. I wanted to fully explore racism, cultural imperialism, cultural appropriation, slavery, and hate-crimes. These are topics which I feel very strongly about, and which I wanted to further explore via creative writing. So I created a dystopic setting where all of these elements play a strong presence in all storylines. Characters are constantly struggling against these setbacks, while others actually benefit from these injustices. By utilizing my passion for these topics I was able to create a rich, believable setting that has been thoroughly enjoyable to continue to expand upon and venture through.

Passion is the key to transforming subject matter into intriguing content; to turning a reader's apathy into genuine curiosity and interest. What is your passion? Name anything, be it an era, genre, personality trait, or conventional issue.

¹ Sometimes to the detriment of our own sanity.
² Refer to ¹.

Web Presence + Professionalism ÷ Personality

2010-11-24T15:36:00.000-06:00

"Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas."

~ Albert Einstein

There are many good reasons for a writer to maintain a blog. A fact which I have attempted to demonstrate in this finely crafted mathematical equation¹. Whether a person has decided to blog for their own personal expression, to share ideas and/or knowledge, or to advertise a thing or themselves², this equation is generally followed to some extent.

Occasionally it can be hard to find your own voice in a blog, especially if you are not intending to strictly utilize it as your own personal diary. Jody Hedlund does a wonderful job on talking about Maintaining a Professional Blog, which in part inspired this post. My own lackadaisical attempt at a previous blog also led to this very post³. It can be easy to get too focused on trying to appear professional, which can easily lead to the misrepresentation of yourself.

Web presence is a very good reason to start a blog. Writers stand a chance to benefit more from a blog now that a large majority of the population has access to the internet in some form or another. Writers can now more easily connect with their base of readers, as well as personally promote present or future works.

It can be said that a certain element of professionalism is vital for those who are attempting to garner a positive web presence. As mentioned by Mrs. Hedlund herself, it's been known to happen⁴ where an interested agent scoped out the writer's blog. Now how would you feel if you found out an agent passed you over because you had yaoi⁵ posted all over the place?

In the end, though, this all must be tempered with a dollop⁶ of your own personality. Readers only have so much attention to spare, which is why some of the most successful blogs have managed to balance their posts with both presence, professionalism, and personality. They deliver interesting pieces on the subject they focus on, while at the same time remaining human to the reader.

As always, much of this depends on the type of audience the blogger is attempting to attract, as well as how much time they have to devote to posting articles on their blog. However, the equation does still stand, and can at least serve as a "base" to build from.

¹ Actually I'm horrible at mathematics, so it may not be all that "fine".
² No, I'm not talking about prostitutes looking for clients, though sometimes you may feel like one with all the jockeying for attention you have to do.
³ By the way, if you used to follow this blog: yeah, I deleted all the old political posts and renovated its appearance.
⁴ However once in a blue moon that occurrence may be.
⁵ I personally prefer bishōnen. Mmm.
⁶ I hope I don't get sued. I'm pretty sure Daisy has the word "dollop" trademarked by now.