Young Writers Society

This blog post is copied from my for-serious blog at http://www.probloguewriter.blogspot.com. Go there to read more writing articles from me. ^^ All posts in the Character's Class Schedule series will also be posted in this thread, as I complete them, as well as on probloguewriter.blogspot.com. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoy. ^^


This past Tuesday, I went back to school.

*groan*

Math, science, and – horror of horrors! – gym class. Oddly enough, these aren’t the kind of things that fictional characters learn. Even in books that take place largely in a school setting, most of the information they’re ‘learning’ about is skimmed over quickly, if at all (except for maybe at schools like Hogwarts or the Gallagher Academy…).

That’s not to say characters don’t learn, though. They tend to have their own kind of classes. Specialized classes, much more interesting than anything I see from school day to school day.

And so, in the spirit of the season, this post is the introduction to a short series of posts following the theme of ‘Back to School’.



Considering my tendency to ramble, I’m thinking that dividing things up this way will help me to keep the posts shorter. So that this theme isn’t spread out across five weeks, I’ll be posting these smaller updates at somewhat shorter intervals, across a couple days (or maybe one each consecutive day) instead of a week. ^^ Chances are, I’ll go back to Saturday updates after this series is over (and I might end it with another longer post on character development).

For now, to tide you over, a mini-list of some Extracurricular Activities that fictional characters do tend to study:

Sword Fighting, Archery, Combat, etc. – Whether they’ve been training their whole lives or pick up a sword for the first time on Page 1, lots of characters need to learn how to fight. One of my pet peeves is when they master this in a day, and are inexplicably able to beat people who’ve been studying their whole lives. I don't care if they're the Chosen One. It's a bit unrealistic, and a bit cliche (It's different if they have some backstory to support their expertise, as explained earlier in this post on Staying in Character).

Magic – Similar to the above. How many times have we seen characters struggling to master their magical abilities? It’s one of those oft-used plots/subplots that sometimes falls flat, but when done well can feel as fresh as the morning breeze.

Student Council – Leadership and authority, taking charge of a diverse crowd, and let’s not forget the wonder of one of my favorite subjects: Diplomacy! Politics can be tricky, and any character - from a Crown Prince in line for the throne to a Peasant-Turned-Princess caught up in a Cinderella Story - could use some time learning about social graces.

And, inspired by another blog post I read a while back that I neglected to get the link to (DX Fail) here are some enjoyable books that take place in a school setting. ^^

Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling – Do I even need to give a summary?
Gallagher Girls, by Ally Carter – Private school for girls who are training to become spies?
Looking For Alaska, by the hilarious John Green – I have not read this yet. But after seeing John’s vlogbrothers videos, I plan to.
Um, lots of others. XD Most YA books at least touch on school, or learning. It’s part of being a teen, after all.

Any other ‘School’ books come to mind? Any other subjects that you see characters learning regularly throughout their novels? Any that you’d like me to add to the queue? What do you think of this series of blog posts, and the length/interval situation? I’m still kind of finding my blogging style, so any feedback is welcome.

Thanks! ^^

History: Background Information

Think of a book that takes place in a different kind of world. Far-off fantasy lands, or far-off futures. Chronicles of Narnia or Hunger Games. Pretty much any dystopian novel you’ve ever read. Any fictional world that’s very different from our own.

Now what made them turn into such a different world?

What brought two countries to the brink of war? What events turned the world into a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Where did the Creature of Ultimate Darkness come from?

Most novels at least touch on the answers to questions like these. Some devote a whole book to the subject. (Want to know how the world of Narnia came to be? Just read The Magician’s Nephew!)

There are stories that played out before Chapter 1, nestled someplace between the front cover and the first sentence. Stories that shaped the world into a perfect setting for the rest of the story. The author can’t always go into these histories, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t present.

A word here. A sentence there. A battered old memorial in the square of a city called War-torn. All of these things and more can allude to the stories that came before, and show the reader those reasons that rest below the surface.
Cliché Example Time: Elves and Dwarves hate each other.

Why?

Long ago, elves tired of the dwarves chopping down forests to get the lumber they needed for tunnel supports and tool handles. The elves stole all the dwarves’ equipment (along with a wealth of jewels and precious metals that the dwarves kinda want back) and began to guard the forests.

To get revenge, the dwarves stormed the forests and burned them down out of spite. Then the elves collapsed the dwarves’ tunnels. With that, the two races launched into generations of retaliation, hatred, and revenge.

But in our story, all the readers need to know is that they hate each other and believe they have legitimate reasons for hating each other (nothing should be pointless, kiddies).

We can get this across simply by using the following:

In an argument, a dwarf calls an elf a greedy, selfish, wood-hoarder.

In retaliation, the elf calls the dwarf a murderous forest-torcher.

The argument comes to a peak when the dwarf demands the return of the Ancient Stolen Jewels of Power.

With just three lines of dialogue, we already start to get the impression that there’s been an extensive, continuing conflict between these two races. We did it more or less without infodumping, and it gives the reader a better reason for these prejudices than “Uh, um… Because I said so” or “Because I need it for my plot to work.”

How does this relate to characters?

Sometimes they need to learn their history, too, just as much as the reader. Many fictional characters have rather unorthodox educations, if they have any at all. Some have led pretty sheltered lives, some may be familiar with certain aspects of history but not everything, and some perhaps just didn’t care enough to learn.

Does everyone in our world know of the events that led up to the American Revolution? Does everyone know how the American Revolution effected governments in countries around the world, like France? (Vlogbrothers provides a handy explanation of the French Revolution. )

Whether you’re discussing the real world or a fictional world, events in the past shape events in the present, which is why it’s so important to remember the past. Not to mention the whole idea of history repeating itself.

A layered history can add so much depth to a story, and to a world, and to a character. I mean, hello, Darth Vader and Gollum, anybody?

It can even add to a character’s motivations. Which character is more likely to fight for her people? An elf who hates dwarves ‘because she’s supposed to’? Or an elf who hates dwarves because she knows how much injustice and death and cruelty there’s been in the past?

And, just another little hint: If your main character’s motivations are strong, that might help your reader’s motivations to keep reading.

Homework Assignment: Think about the world (or character) of your novel and think about how it got the way it is at the time of your story. Then write a summary/short story/ballad/whatever about that history.

This concludes our first lesson in a Character’s Class Schedule. What did you think? Good, bad? Helpful or not? I welcome your feedback as I try to work out my blogging style. XD I’m also still looking for suggestions of other classes that characters seem to take often, or any other subjects you’d like me to cover during this series.

I also welcome your feedback on how I should schedule this kind of thing. I’m posting this a day after the announcement because the announcement wasn’t exactly a blog post, but what kind of interval should there be between the other three? Every other day? Two days in-between? Any suggestions you have there would be more than welcome.
Thanks for reading! ^^

Ever had one of those days where nothing goes right?
Well, fictional characters have those days a lot.
Which is good! Part of being a writer is raising the stakes. Upping the action. Making the reader hang on your every heart-stopping word. We look at a scene and ask ourselves, “How can we make our main character’s day/week/life even worse?”
We ruin our character’s lives on a regular basis, prying the things they love most from their fingers.
And if you don’t do this, dear readers, perhaps you should.
I repeat. This is a good thing. Not only does pushing characters into these situations force them into some serious character development, but it also grips the reader in ways that sunshine and birthday parties simply can’t.
When the character’s life – not to mention sanity – is hanging by a thread, those are the moments when a reader is on the edge of their chair, desperately turning pages, deep into the night no matter how early they have to get up the next morning.
These Scenes of Eternal Despair pop up everywhere. Your character is physically and mentally exhausted, deprived of food, sleep, and showers. He’s injured. Friends have died. Homes have burned. The whole world is against your main character, and even the few allies he started out with are starting to rethink their choice to stay with him (that is, if they even bothered to stick around this long).
A ‘happy ending’ seems out of the question.
Which is when you start to turn things around. But I’ll save that tangent for a future post on this topic that I have partially written already (it’ll no doubt be coming sometime after the Back to School series ends).
The focus of this lesson is on the happy moments within the despair. The tantalizing glimpses of hope that give your characters the will to go on living, and your readers the will to keep on reading.
You see, folks, while well-done Despair plots can be gripping, and exciting, and suspenseful to a reader, 200 pages of nothing but suck and injustice and tragedies would be enough to make anyone throw your book against the wall and seek out something cheerful and fluffy.
We like to feel sad or scared for a time (After all, there are whole genres for ‘The World is Ending’ scenarios).
But the bad needs to be broken up with good, happy moments that keep us smiling and waiting for the happy ending; it’s gotta show up sometime.
It could be something as simple as a butterfly at the sight of a battlefield, or it could be a reunion between old friends, or it could be a single triumph that reminds everyone that the character’s plan may not be so hopeless after all. It all depends on how dark you want your story to be.
Some common ways to Interrupt the Suck:
Humor – You could have the most depressing, bloody, murder-filled book in the world, but if you slip in just enough humor to make the reader smile from time to time, it should help keep the reader from getting so depressed that they give up on it entirely. However, you shouldn’t be too irreverent. Making light of the gruesome, traumatizing death of someone close to the MC or his acquaintances could very well make your reader angry or frustrated with the characters involved. Make sure your humor fits with your characters’ personalities. But for darker scenes, I recommend a somewhat darker humor. Allow me to recommend a healthy dose of sarcasm.
Beauty – Like I said. Butterflies on the scene of a battlefield. An ancient cathedral that somehow has remained untouched in the center of a warzone. Often dealing with a fair amount of symbolism, this method is less to make the reader smile, and more to stir the main character’s spirit. These are the flashes of hope that reassure everyone, things are going to get better. Eventually. Just not right away.
Characters – There are certain people – in this world, as well as fictional worlds - who can dispel even the darkest moods. Maybe it’s their overwhelming optimism, or their great sense of humor (see above), or the way they know exactly what kind of pep talk will make things seem not that bad after all. Whatever it is, just the sight of this character is enough to lift your MC’s spirits (Unfortunately, this type of character often serves as the Sacrificial Lamb, dying for the sake of – again – making your MC’s day even worse. This is rather cliché… But it happens). In some cases, it has nothing to do with the character’s personality. If it’s someone the MC hasn’t seen in ages, or someone who was last seen going into a dangerous situation, just seeing them alive and well will be enough to give your MC a sense of relief (and give your readers a short breather).
Triumph – A crucial victory. A petty victory. The sight of reinforcements on the horizon. A snappy comeback at exactly the right moment during an argument. Your MC finally gets a hint that his crush might return his affections. Even the little victories – like getting to ride shotgun, or managing to take a shotgun from the evil kidnappers – could be enough to make things seem a shade better than they did a few seconds ago.
So, what did we learn today, class? Scenes of Eternal Despair can be gripping. They can also be discouraging. To refresh the reader every so often, slip in a snippet of hope, or of humor.
Your (optional) homework: Write a Scene of Eternal Despair, where things just keep getting worse and worse (for one of your characters, or a scene for your novel, or a completely unrelated scene just for the practice). Incorporate a snippet of hope.
Have you written a Scene of Eternal Despair before? Can you think of any examples from books or movies?

Physical Education: Action & Movement
You wanna know something I’ve noticed about epic quests that involve traversing plains, mountains, and deserts to rescue an imprisoned princess or retrieve the Ultimate Magic Object?
They all involve a lot of walking.
Characters are constantly struggling to get from Point A to Point B, whether the gap between the two is made up of physical distance, or the more intangible divider of Time, or all the mundane things that need to happen before the story can move forward.
Example: The Main Character needs to descend into a seemingly bottomless canyon, rescue the love of her life, and then live happily ever after.
The Mundane Obstacles: First, she needs to climb a ladder. A really, really long ladder. Then she needs to find the tunnel where the love of her life is being held. And there are lots of tunnels down there that look exactly the same. And then of course there’s the matter of climbing back up the really, really long ladder.
Most obstacles like this only get a couple of lines at the start or finish, and then a time jump to skip over the Mundane, but there are certain things that you can’t always avoid. If your characters travel a lot, they’re going to be doing a lot of walking.
A lot of walking.
And this isn’t like the movies, where you can just play a musical montage to move things along lickety-split.
Speaking as someone who’s currently in the process of revising a ‘Quest’-ey type of novel, I am more than familiar with growing monotony (my sea-faring characters don’t do much walking, but they do a lot of riding in boats). A time jump or a montage to skip over it all would be lovely, but unfortunately there are things that I need to happen in that span of time where nothing really exciting is going on.
My main characters need to grow closer together as a group. They need to have important conversations. They need to sink deeper into dedication for the mission they’re on.
I can’t just make them set sail from their home country all disjointed and doubtful, then slip in a scene transition to three weeks later and automatically have them united, excited, and eager. I want to show that development, and for that I need to show the monotonous stuff.
And that’s the key, isn’t it? Making things happen, even when the only physical action taking place is walking, or sailing, or riding horseback through field after field. We can’t just poke our heads in at every monster attack or enemy war machine in their path.
So how to make the repetitive, boring, monotonous scenes more interesting?
I’ll let you know once I figure it out for myself. -_-
But here are a few tips that I’m going to try to apply to my own writing:
Conversations & Character Development: If you need your characters to talk, make them talk as they walk down the road. Show us growing changes in the characters, and let us listen in on a character’s thought process during the journey. Don’t your thoughts ever wander when you’re on the road, or mowing the lawn, or in the shower? Your characters’ thoughts will be wandering too, and hopefully they’ll be a little deeper than, “Left foot. Right foot. Step. Step. Watch out for that little rock.”
Background Entertainment: If you watch movies, chances are you’re familiar with this method. Characters are going about their business, walking or driving along the road on a long trip, everyone too tired to really say anything, when the character in the back does something hilarious. Their mount tries to devour their clothing or hair. They suffer continuous torture a la the local insects. They regale their traveling companions with every song they even kinda know. In the last post I talked about how little happy or humorous moments can break up Scenes of Eternal Despair? Well, they can also break up Scenes of Eternal Boredom.
Word Choice: It can even make a trip to the grocery store sound exciting (“I lunged for the solitary carton of orange juice, fending off the advances of an elderly woman bound and determined to get her daily serving of citrus.”) See, here’s the thing, folks. In our day to day lives, we don’t just ‘walk’ or ‘look’ or ‘go’ places. We laugh, we cry, we beg, we sing, we gamble, we yell – and we walk.
Even if your characters are ‘just’ walking, that’s not all that’s going on. Things are happening. Big things, little things, serious things and hilarious things. As the saying goes, “It’s not where you’re going. It’s how you get there.”
And finally, one last tip that I probably should’ve come up with before writing the rough draft of the novel I’m currently revising.
Don’t Let the Journey Get Monotonous in the First Place: Don’t give your characters more than a few seconds or a single evening to relax before the next obstacle has them on their feet and moving again. Let each obstacle bring them to the foot of the next obstacle, and let that carry them all the way to their goal.
My only problem at the moment is figuring out how to do that while covering a time period of weeks, if not months. >:|
Also, a tip for the bloggers among you. If you decide to do a series of blog posts following a certain theme, and you announce those themes beforehand, I recommend having the posts written first, or you may find yourself not as interested/helpful in the topic as you thought you’d be. And then you might go off on a tangent that you weren’t thinking of when you came up with a title for the thing. XD
So. The following questions aren’t just a conversation starter. They are honestly things that I’m trying to figure out in my own writing at the moment. Help? XD
Have your characters ever gotten bogged down in some mundane, but necessary activity? How do you avoid putting them in such situations, or how do you take them through one without making things boring? Any tips for me on this subject? XD
And, finally, the (optional) homework assignment: Write a scene describing a mundane activity (a long trip either walking or in the car, shopping for groceries, mowing the lawn) and make it interesting.
The next post will be better, I swear. XD