Do Yourself A Writer's Disservice

By Peter Welmerink

Photo by Peter Welmerink

Do yourself a writer's disservice and...

DON'T WRITE.

Only for a little while, mind you. Because, like me, if I don't write after a while I tend to build up with all sorts of stories and ideas and insanity and threaten to explode.

Sometimes though, as a writer, you need to turn off, well okay, reduce the volume, put the writer's clock on SNOOZE, and get out there, get outside, and breathe the air, stick your toes in the sand, and revel in life.

I don't care what you do. You can hang out with some friends for the weekend. You can go for a long drive, with all the windows rolled down (keep the AC on if its just too hot), or simply take a step outside, drag a lawn chair along or whatever you have, and take a seat and just look at the blue sky and nature and everything around you. Even if it is a cloudy, crappy day, with rain, shut off the writer's chatterbox for a bit and go and...

RE-CHARGE.

Sometimes, like Facebook, you just need to shut things off, shut things down, and go native. You know, native, like before the writing bug bit ya and you were forever happily afflicted with having to write and weave stories in whichever you were blessed to weave them.

There is no harm and no foul if you get out, spend a little time with your family, your friends, even just some down time with yourself, and breathe the air. In fact, just as not writing will make your head explode, so will not going out and living and seeing what the real world is up to.

It doesn't count, checking into the real world, if you simply grab a newspaper or watch the television news or check the latest horror story on Yahoo. No, you need to disconnect and go outside, go to a favorite park, a lake, a high, OPEN AIR, vantage point over your city...and breathe and take it all in.

We get wrapped around the axle with writing. It's in our blood and we have to do it, MUST do it to survive. But you will grind yourself and your imagination, your creativity, down to a little frustrated nub if you ignore life and living and the natural world.

Do yourself a writer's SERVICE and get out there and breathe the air once in a while, take the world in, re-charge the literary batteries...

Then go back and abuse the keyboard, or blank pad of paper, and write write write!

###

Peter Welmerink has been writing since he found a stash of notebooks in a hallway cabinet drawer in grade school and began to scribe incredible tales of adventure and mayhem. He writes Epic Fantasy and Military Adventure fiction. He can be found at peterwelmerink.com, grandrapidsaltered.blogspot.com and darkheroicfantasy.blogspot.com.

TRANSPORT, his fictional Military Post-Post Apoc Zombie Thriller series, is available now. The events of the tale are set in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan. Childhood dream of massive adventure in his hometown brought back to life and published. Bazinga! Dream it. Do it. 

Elements of Storytelling: Developing Character

Character is everything. You can have the greatest plot on Earth, but if the characters are boring cardboard cutouts that talk like machines (especially if they’re not machines) then everything else about the story isn’t going to matter. Nobody’s going to care what happens to your protagonist—or even your antagonist. There are four primary elements that are vital to creating a good character: appearance, personality, motivation, and weakness. Every major character should have all four elements well developed, and even minor characters should have at least two if not three.

Appearance: Even in a screenplay for a film, it helps to give the film director some clue as to what to look for when he picks his actors. Describing a character’s appearance is also vital for the artist in your graphic novel to have an idea of what to draw. And those descriptions are all the novel and short story reader will have to visualize the character.

While technical specs are fine and dandy when creating a character, don’t put that crap into your manuscript. It’s boring (not to mention it violates that whole “show, don’t tell” rule). To show how boring, here’s a comparison (using my character, Yavar Thain):

Tech spec version: She stood 6’ tall with a slender build, had long black hair, and dark brown eyes. Her skin was a dark brown. She wore arm greaves over a silk shirt and leg greaves over black leggings and knee-high boots. Her armored cape was made of water dragon scales. On her belt were several weapons.

Show-Don’t-Tell Version: The woman with tightly braided coal-black hair walked with purposeful but quiet steps in soft leather knee-high boots, and her tall lean form moved with a deadly feline grace. Tight black leggings highlighted the movements of the supple muscles in her thighs and calves. The white of her silk shirt made her smooth mocha skin more noticeable where exposed. She could have been easily mistaken for a mere aristocrat were it not for her metal greaves on her shins and forearms, an armored cape fashioned from the silver-like scales of a water dragon, and her belt of throwing daggers and two curved knives. If that weren’t enough, the cold cruelty found within her dark eyes would chill even a battle-hardened warrior.

Not only does the second description sound more enticing to the reader, a bit of the character’s personality also gets revealed in the description of her appearance. And this leads to:

Personality: A well-developed personality is paramount to creating a great character. But just as with appearance the personality should be shown, not told. It isn’t enough just to tell your audience that so-and-so is a likeable outgoing person who happens to be a bit of an airhead. Show his outgoing nature with his body language (“He flashed a smile at anyone who took his fancy”). Prove his likeability with his dialogue and by showing how other characters react to him. And as for his airheadedness, well, that shouldn’t be too hard to show….

Body language, action, and dialogue are your friends when it comes to showing your character’s personality.

Motivation: Hero or villain, everybody has an agenda. Everybody.

Nobody does things “just because” (unless it’s Korgash, and even he only pretends it’s “just because”). And the more personal the motivation, the more depth your character will have. Ask yourself: why is your villain determined to rule the world? Is he addicted to the power? Does he think he can do a better job than the last ruler? Does he have a utopian dream that unfortunately requires a few eggs to be broken?

And why is your hero thwarting him? Is he idealistic (“no one should have that much power. Nothing good can come of it.”)? Does he think he can do a better job than the villain? Or was his family one of the “eggs” that got broken? Of those three motivations, which one makes him more sympathetic to the reader?

Or perhaps it’s the villain who is seeking revenge for his family?

What motivates the characters in your story will have a big effect on the choices your characters will make, and thus will effect the plot in many and unforeseen ways.

Weakness: Every great protagonist (and antagonist) usually has a weakness or character flaw. Superman might be able to juggle asteroids with his pinky fingers, but toss a little Kryptonite his way and suddenly he’s a whiny little wuss. Dr. Doom has a bad habit of gloating at the worst possible moment. And the Hulk reverts back to Bruce Banner when his anger gets spent.

Every Achilles has his heel to deal with, even if it’s just a personality quirk that gets in the way of him accomplishing his goal. What are your character’s weaknesses and flaws? Is he highly intelligent but too arrogant to know when he’s wrong? Is she terrified of trusting others because of past betrayals? Perhaps he’s a hopeless romantic with an ugly face and a hunched back.

Never make it too easy for your characters to accomplish their goals. And the best way to insure they have a hard time is to give them a weakness.

And now that you’ve got the basics, go make some awesome characters.

Michael Knost's Author's Guide to Marketing With Teeth Cover Reveal and Announcement!

Seventh Star Press is proud to unveil the cover and make an announcement for Author's Guide to Marketing With Teeth, by Bram Stoker Award-winner Michael Knost!  Covering the world of book marketing, this incredible new title features input on the subject from major bestselling and award-winning authors such as Charlaine Harris, Diana Gabaldon, Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, Lucy A. Snyder and Dan Poynter.

Author's Guide to Marketing With Teeth will be unveiled at Imaginarium 2015, a creative writing convention hosted in Louisville, Kentucky from September 11-13 where Michael Knost is a spotlighted guest as an Imaginator.

 A special pre-order window will go live this Friday, featuring an exclusive online writing class with Michael in October for all those who pre-order the new title.


Here's the full scoop on the new book!

Author’s Guide to Marketing with Teeth is a collection of essays and interviews on marketing and advertising for authors and books. Michael Knost has spent more than a quarter of a century in marketing, working in the radio, television, and newspaper industries, as well as serving as marketing director and chief marketing officer for several large companies, including those in the automotive industry.

Mr. Knost has taken the lessons he’s learned from his extensive experience and captured the best tips and advice for authors (or anyone in the publishing industry) who hopes to increase sales and/or name brand recognition. Each chapter covers a different subject with tips on theory and execution.

And let’s not forget the interviews. Michael is also including several with successful authors to learn about their personal marketing strategies—from when they began their careers to now. You’ll hear from superstars such as Charlaine Harris, Diana Gabaldon, Jonathan Maberry, Kevin J. Anderson, Lucy A. Snyder, and Dan Poynter.

About Michael Knost: Michael is an author, editor, and columnist of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and supernatural thrillers. He has written in various genres and helmed several anthologies. His Writers Workshop of Horror (Woodland Press) won the 2009 Bram Stoker Award® for superior achievement in nonfiction. His critically acclaimed Writers Workshop of Science Fiction & Fantasy (Seventh Star Press) came out in 2013. His debut novel, Return of the Mothman (Woodland Press), hit bookshelves earlier this year. He resides in Chapmanville, West Virginia with his wife, daughter, and a zombie goldfish. To find out more, visit www.MichaelKnost.com.