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Of Sins, Virtues and Humors

Whenever I start a new piece of fiction and start experimenting with the characters, I tend to try to think of a few different defining factors. Obviously these get modified as I go deeper into the characterization process, but I don’t always want my characters to be carbon copies of each other. So when I start to think about who they are I try to decide three things: their humor, their virtue and their sin.

Whether it’s the Ninja Turtles, The A-Team or the gals of Sex in the City, the four humors are cornerstones of any ensemble. They’re different enough that they sometimes get at each others throats, but at the end of the day they all need each other to be balanced. The Four Humors as a medical practice is outdated and inaccurate, but the idea of using the temperaments represented by these humors is a practical method to make sure that your ensemble is well balanced. While having a group comprised of “No-Rules Anti-Heroes” sounds fun, it gets a little stale when there isn’t a more rational, moral brain to try and balance their habits out. Facing off against the Big Bad is good conflict, but fighting within the group is a good chance for character growth.

Is your character charitable? Are they kind? The less popular cousin of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Seven Principle Virtues are a good starting point for defining your character. These often coincide (to an extent) with the humors above, but it’s nice to figure out what your character tries for. Even villains believe they’re doing things for the right reasons, so why shouldn’t your hero have a defining trait that drives them?

And, on the other side of the coin, each character I make tries to incorporate a sin. No one is perfect, nor should your characters have to be. Maybe your Anti-Hero has a problem with Wrath. Your great hunter takes their reputation a little too seriously and suffers from pride. Figuring out the fault that your character has creates conflict not only within the group, but within the character. It gives them something to overcome or something to hinder them on their journey.

With these building blocks in place, you can start to flush out your character by asking ‘Why?’ rather than ‘What?’. These help you to ask more questions and ultimately find the characters in an organic way.

What do you look for in a character? Where do you start?

Spoilers (A Subject, Not Content)

If you’ve been near the Internet in the last few months, you’ve probably seen posts along the lines of “No Spoilers about XYZ” or similar. People do their very best to avoid ruining the big plot twist of a book, movie or TV Show. We’re all guilty of walking into the office and covering our ears to keep people from blabbing the big reveal. Reasonably, how long can we demand this as the standard?

Firstly, as soon as something comes out, you have to give at least as long as the media itself takes to absorb. A movie? Give it a couple days. TV show? At least a day. A book? Better be prepared to wait awhile. Even after these time durations, you’re only allowed to ask if someone has seen something. The most I tolerate after this period is “Oh, let me know when you’ve seen/read it!” I encourage excitement, but would much rather experience why I’m excited about it myself. This is the usually the first week. 

The second week gets a little fuzzier. By now, more people have viewed whatever media you’ve worked so hard to avoid. By this point, people still have to ask if anyone has seen it in the room before talking about it. At this point, it’s up to you to inform others of your intent and the responsibility they have in preventing spoiling your view experience. Don’t expect conversations to come to a screeching halt, but feel free take a walk about so people can share their excitement. Brace yourself, here comes the doozy…

Week three. Somehow, you’ve done it. The minefield that is the speed of Internet has not taken you out with a misplaced article title or untagged blog post. You’ve bobbed and weaved through conversations with friends and family and managed to stay spoiler free. Still, you better hurry. If you haven’t made time to see that movie/episode or made the time to read that book? You’re deep in the trenches of Spoiler Mountain. 

That, for me, is a good guideline for when you talk about new media. For books, I give it a little bit longer, but if you’re complaining about me spoiling Star Wars or Dark Knight Rises? You knew the risk going into this game. 

Please Stand By…

Due to a couple of things happening this week, there won’t be a short fiction piece until next week. In the meantime, I recommend going here to check out some of the fiction that’s been here in the past! I’ll have something before the end of the month, I promise!

If you’re interested in knowing what I’m up to these days, follow me on Twitter and Facebook! I post random thoughts, books and short stories I’m reading and I’m going to start doing more exclusives (like my very short reaction piece from a whale watch I went on yesterday).

Video Games for Writing Tools

It’s no secret that I like video games. But one thing I love as much? Video game trailers.

One of the video games that constantly impresses me is Overwatch. In addition to big trailers for the game, they also have movies that highlight some of the characters and their backstory. I like watching these, both for the quality of the animation and the fun ways that they quickly show storytelling tools that writers should be aware of.

Take a look at this particular short about one of my favorite characters, Reinhardt.

What can we learn from this? This is a good example of a character arc. It’s short, sweet, and could use some more fleshing out. However, for the time that they used, it is a satisfying sequence towards character development. We start off with the young, cocky hero who’s a showboat and clearly a bit arrogant. But then, there’s an inciting action that eventually leads to Reinhardt having a realization on what his role is in the unit thanks to the help of an elder mentor. Again, short and concise, but a really lovely example of a satisfying character arc.

Here’s another one, featuring the loveable robot, The Last Bastion.

For me, this is a good example of two things: Storytelling Through Action and Effective Use of Flashbacks. Nothing is said in the entire video, but there’s a very clear story of what is happening. Some of it we fill in ourselves, knowing some of the lore of the Overwatch Universe, but it’s still a clear story told through action. They foreshadow the climax before jumping into a flashback to explain exactly what is going on for the rest of us. It’s a very short flashback, but its timing and use are very powerful and helpful to the story.

There are numerous other examples in the video game universe: betrayal, foreshadowing, worldbuilding, and many more elements that writers can learn from. What are some of your favorite video game trailers? What did you learn from them as a writer/storyteller?

Nanowrimo Advice!

It’s November and that means that many writers are looking at a Word Count Workout!

Yes, National Novel Writing Month (or Nanowrimo) is here again! Nanowrimo is a writing challenge that encourages writers to write 50,000 words over the course of a month. An incredible task for anyone in school or with a day job. Apart from that? Very few rules. Most people have a daily word count or try and push themselves over the course of a weekend (maybe scribbling along the side of their notebooks in class, I don’t know). Some places have meetups where people gather in a coffee shop or library, doing word battle with one another to try to get to their end goal! However you write, the point is that you’re writing!

I have done Nanowrimo 3 times in my life. My first attempt was in college. I honestly forget what it was about, but I failed. Miserably. It was a rough first go, but boy was it fun. So when I attempted the next year, I managed to pull it off! It was rough (to say the least) and it wasn’t pretty, but I had a draft! I still have and sometimes look back on it, trying to find that hunk of gold in the dirt. I rarely luck out. But think I had a noticeable improvement over the first and second attempt around attempt three. I think, honestly, this is the point of Nanowrimo. To just do something!

Lots of writers do Nanowrimo and I encourage others to do it as well! It’s fun, builds a community and motivates better than any other deadline. I know of a few books that have come from Nanowrimo (The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern, for one). This isn’t to say that every Nanowrimo novel will be a success, but it shows the potential. Every fifty thousand words of crap you write are better than the five hundred words of pure gold you never write.

So, here’s my number one piece of advice for the first-time (or veteran) Nanowrimo Participant! You have permission to suck. Fail, but do it gloriously. You will learn so much more from a failure than from a success. It’s not called “Nation Novel Writing and Editing Month” for a reason. Try, fail, revise, start over. If your first draft is perfect, you’ve overlooked something.

So, without further ado, get out there and writer, Word Warrior! Your story won’t write itself, no matter how hard we try. Good luck and Godspeed.

Drafts, Editing, and Rewriting

“Picking up your first copy of a book you wrote, if there’s one typo, it will be on the page that your new book falls open to the first time you pick it up.” – Neil Gaiman

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about how we each write/draft/edit. There were a few things tossed around, but one thing we really disagreed on was editing. My friend needs to have a formal, well-thought-out outline before she starts with any word. I, on the other hand, have a looser outline. We jokingly said that my first draft was my outline, though I think that’s true.

I like taking my first draft and using that as a template. I get to think about my overall idea. What works? What doesn’t? Why are these characters doing things that are not in character normally? Do they even need to do these things? I consider a lot while reading through the first draft. It’s freeing, knowing that I may trash 90% of what I’m working with, but still getting the opportunity to say “That doesn’t work for John, what can I do to fix it?”

After research and worldbuilding (depending on the story), my writing probably breaks down to 15% writing, 35% editing, and 50% rewriting.
(Frantically checks the math on a calculator.) Yeah, that’s about right. Or at least some similar breakdown.

Recently, I had the privilege of working with my friend Melanie Venhaus (@libraryofmars on twitter) and have a whole new set of edits to work with! I can’t recommend Melanie enough for anyone looking for a freelance editor. I’m very excited to break into these new edits and hopefully rekindle some of the love I’ve lost in the last few months.

At the end of the day, your first draft should never be your final draft. Whether you have an 18-page outline that transitions from scene to scene or a loose story arc sketch on a bar napkin, you should always check your book for things that need changing. Your brain will only let you see so much and there are better ways to find typos before picking up that first copy.

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