Rosaire Bushey's Blog, page 2

The Virtual Fair – Nov. 8-14

(A note on the photo above – this is Daisy. That look, that’s the look I get when my typing interrupts her sleep…or when she’s near people. She’s a bit of a cow, truth be told. All claws and teeth. Don’t let the soft exterior fool you. If she was a chocolate, she’d be chocolate with a center of pure jalapeno and wasabi.)

So, Virtual craft fairs are a thing now. Of course they are. And I’m in one because, of course I am. You see 2020 has been tough on people who rely on large gatherings of people to get their art and work into the world. The internet only does so much, because the internet is really, really big. Your chances of being seen on it, therefore, are really, really small.

Enter the virtual craft fair – this particular one, the YMCA at VT Virtual Craft Fair hosted by ‘Eventeny‘.  When I received the application I was a little skeptical. I mean, how would it work anyway? But, not being one to over-think things, I paid my fee, happy that I wouldn’t have to carry heavy boxes and sit behind a table for a weekend. Tonight, just an hour or so ago, I set up my virtual table – my web site – for the fair. I’m very excited.

Why? Well, despite the fact that the fair doesn’t ‘open’ until Nov. 9, the site you are looking at right now, got more than 100 views within about an hour of me opening my virtual fair site. Does that mean all those views came from the site? No. No it does not. But really, yes it does. I track my views on this site with a regularity that hints at a lot of bran intake, and there is no other reason for it. Now, perhaps it was one person clicking their way through everything on this site – it’s entirely possible – but it gives me reason to hold out hope for this virtual event. I’m sure many other artists are going to do likewise.

For you, dear reader, for you this means you can go to shows without leaving your home. I think you still have to pay to ‘get in’ but you’ll find a lot of cool stuff all under one convenient web roof. You can crank out your holiday shopping over dinner or as you binge watch ‘Ted Lasso’ on Apple TV. (If you haven’t watched this show go do it as soon as you finish here – you will not be disappointed. Take my word for this one.)

Anyway, the final book in the 30 Stones Saga is about 1/6th of the way finished. And I’m getting excited for my next project – which was inspired by an hour-long random story from my Patreon page. I’m thinking it will be a trilogy – possibly YA with Fantasy elements but it will take place, at least to start, in the present-ish day. I really can’t wait to dive into it – but I have to finish the 30 Stones Saga first. I’m not one of those people who can work on several different projects at once.

Having said that, between Nov. 8 and 14th I’ll be at a craft fair, and at the same time sitting in my writing cave, so maybe this will work out well after all.

See you ‘there’ in November. Tell your friends to say hi and send me a message.

 

Contest time

So, in an effort to relieve myself of the terrible burden of coming up with a blog post this week, I’ve decided to make now through October 31 ‘contest time’.

I’ve come up with some criteria that will earn you a chance to win a prize (or prizes perhaps).  The prize will be a paperback copy of any of the six books that make up the 30 Stones Saga – so even if you’ve already read the first five, you can win a copy of the final book 6 (when it’s finished).  If there at least 25 people enter the contest, I will give an entire set of books away to the first winner, and a book of choice away to two others. Easy peasy. (read to the end for ‘rules’).

So, how do you earn a chance? Simple – do one (or more) of the following. Each thing you do earns you another chance.

Leave a review of any of the five books of mine you’ve read (not a ranking, a review. Thank you for ratings, but to count for the contest, it has to be a review) on Amazon/Bookbub/Goodreads
Subscribe to my podcast
Become a patron on Patreon
Sign up for my newsletter (which you can do from this website)

Doing any one of these things will get you a chance.  So, let’s say you’ve read three of my books and you leave a review for each book on Amazon – that’s three chances. If you put a review for each of the three books on Amazon/Goodreads/Bookbub, that’s 9 chances.

Subscribing to the podcast = 1 chance.

Becoming a patron on Patreon = 3 chances

Signing up for my newsletter = 1 chance

RULES

Now, because some people have different names on Amazon etc., if you leave a review, or subscribe to the podcast, or sign up for my newsletter, send me an email at: author@rosairebushey.com before you post the review, and let me know the name the review is under. I’ll tally them up on Halloween and announce the winner(s) the next week and ship you off your book … unless it’s book 6 which won’t be finished by then, but I’ll send you a copy when it’s done.

While you’re deciding what you want to say, please click the podcast link and give a listen to episode 7.

As always, thanks for stopping by!

 

 

Interviewing my character

A tool I really like and have used in this blog space with guests, and continue to use as a way to get to know guests on my Lunatics & Monsters Podcast, is the Marcel Proust character questionnaire.

For writing, it’s a very useful tool to get into the head of your characters; to find out what makes them tick and learn how they might react to a certain condition, and more importantly, why they might respond a certain way.

So, today I’m going to give the test to Mieragon, the Magician who entered the 30 Stones Saga in Red Priest Rising, and is one of the two main protagonists through books 5 and 6. Now, to be fair, Mieragon is based on a character I used to play in Dungeons and Dragons way back in the late 1980s. That version of Mieragon was a Ranger, and he had a whip. I couldn’t bring a whip into this in any way that was plausible but he was a bit of a goof back then and not nearly as magically proficient as this new, up-graded version of Mieragon is. For the sake of this questionnaire, the interview will take place just before you meet the character in Red Priest Rising.

Full disclosure, I’ve never done this with Mieragon before, so I’m not entirely sure what’s going to happen. Remember, he’s maybe 20 years old at this point and not wholly responsible. Also, remember, the Proust questions aren’t meant specifically for a fantasy character so some of the questions and answers aren’t wholly appropriate.

 

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Flying in my Dragon form, and watching everything happening below.


What is your greatest fear?

When I was younger I would have said getting stuck in my Dragon form, but I’m not sure that would be so bad. So, now I think my greatest fear is probably finally being given some responsibility and failing miserably.


What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

I wish I were a better shot with a bow.


What is the trait you most deplore in others?

Cruelty. Fortunately, I don’t see it much. But, there again, I don’t get out much.


Which living person do you most admire?

Between my parents and my sisters it’s a tough question. Probably Mara, because she has to work so hard for everything and she’s incredibly smart. But I’ll deny I ever said it if you tell her.


What is your greatest extravagance?

Ice carving. As a Dragon I can make a block of ice, and even though nobody knows, I’ve learned to make some rough carvings with a dagger and chisel. I would never show them to anyone, but I enjoy the stillness of it.


What is your current state of mind?

Restless


What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Honesty. The Eifen have a concept of The Grey and I think honesty is there too – you can’t ‘always’ be honest. People would hate you.


On what occasion do you lie?

Depends on the situation. I’ve lied to keep my sisters out of trouble before. And me.


What do you most dislike about your appearance?

That I can’t really see what I look like as a Dragon. It feels awesome and I have to assume, from looking at other Dragons, that it looks great too – but I can’t get a really clear look.


Which living person do you most despise?

Life in Eigrae, especially in Brookfield and in the summer with Krieger, is pretty good. There aren’t a lot of people worthy of being despised. Again, I don’t get out much. But in general, I don’t like people who are greedy.


What is the quality you most like in a man?

Humility. My parents are both very powerful Wielders, but you wouldn’t know it. The people of Brookfield don’t treat them with any special reverence, and they all get along and are respectful of each other.


What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Same as for men. Why would it be different?


Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

I don’t think there are any – but Gellah tells me I have a great line in vacant looks.


What or who is the greatest love of your life?

My family. Maybe one day there will be someone who will take their place. My father says when I have children. 


When and where were you happiest?

When I first was able to turn into a Dragon. The pain and discomfort of not being able to do it at first was difficult. I thought I might be sick or not have magic power like my sisters had. When it finally happened though, it was like the sun came out and shone down on me and no one else.


Which talent would you most like to have?

I’d like to be as smart as Krieger. He’s quiet and careful and he’s always thought about things in a dozen different ways. I’d like to be that kind of useful.


If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Maybe a little taller. And I wonder what it’s like to breathe fire … but there again, all the other Dragons wonder what it’s like to breathe ice, so who am I to say.


What do you consider your greatest achievement?

I haven’t done anything worthy of the word achievement yet. Maybe I never will. Wesolk is a pretty quiet place – except for the Dragons.


If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?

A Dragon. Most definitely.


Where would you most like to live?

I’ve really only ever known one home. We’ve traveled to Eigraenel before, and south to Dar’Ahlmon, but I like where I am.


What is your most treasured possession?

My sisters. I know they aren’t my possession, but I don’t know what I’d do without them.


What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Oh, I wouldn’t even want to contemplate that.


What is your favorite occupation?

Flying.


What is your most marked characteristic?

You mean other than turning into a small black Dragon that breathes ice? Nothing really. I don’t have a Wielder’s collar, and I’m not remarkably large or small.


What do you most value in your friends?

Loyalty. Not to me, but to the concept of friendship; the bond that we will be there for each other.


Who are your favorite writers?

The only person I’ve ever known to write anything would be my mother – scribbling in the Codex; but it’s not very interesting. Mara writes a fair bit, but that seems just as dull, and Pars has also been known to spend a lot of time hunched over a desk. Better them than me.


 What are your favorite names?

What? That’s an odd question – I don’t know, the names that belong to people I like I guess.


What is it that you most dislike?

Beer. I actually can’t stand it. But if offered I will always drink it and pretend I like it. It seems that almost everyone drinks it around here – even my sisters and they swear they like it. Of course, I swear to them I like it too…


What is your greatest regret?

Agreeing to answer these questions – I’ve never been anywhere, or done anything – what is there to regret?


How would you like to die?

Very old, thank you very much.


What is your motto?

You haven’t been paying attention have you? Very young. Very bored. No regrets. No motto.

Ok, well, what I’ve learned in that little exercise is that Mieragon doesn’t like beer. I have him drinking it several times in books five and six and now, I’m going to have to remember that he doesn’t actually like it. I’m sure it will come up somehow.

Thanks for hanging out here and if you’ve read any of the 30 Stones Saga books, please take a few minutes to leave a review – especially for books 2-5 which don’t have many or any. Reviews are very useful to independent authors.

 

 

A random hour-long dog story for you

I missed my Wednesday deadline for the blog – sorry. But it’s a self-imposed deadline so I’m not losing a lot of sleep over it. But because I’m late, I’m giving you a peak today at what I do on Patreon. Yes, I have a Patreon page – I may have mentioned it before. Patreon is a place where for a buck a month, you can get a story from me. I spend an hour (I know, right? That’s so far below minimum wage…) anyway, I write for an hour based on a random line. For a little more per month, you can set the terms of the story – you provide the random details. The story below is one of the latter – a Patron sent me a random scenario and this story is based on that input. All in an hour. I’d love to hear your opinion – please leave a note.

(The image above isn’t mine, btw – a house with five cats does not need a dog)

Stud Rex

by Rosaire Bushey

Rex was a stud. He knew it, Masterson knew it. Even that girl from down the street knew it. In fact, Rex felt the woman wanted more from Rex than he might be prepared to give her, and he felt bad that his roommate seemed to be oblivious she had her eyes on him.

Masterson had been working with Rex for a few years, it was probably only two or three, but it felt like twenty, and in that time he had always been treated with respect – even like family at times. But after a visit to the local doc, Masterson started getting moody and weird, like he was excited about something but at the same time checking his enthusiasm in case it didn’t pan out.

“Rex, what do you think of that red-haired Irish girl in the other apartment?”

It was difficult at times to know if Masterson was asking if he thought the redhead would be good for him, or for Rex. It didn’t matter really because all Masterson thought about these days was money, and it was cruel to think he’d be so callous as to bring the redhead into his web of ill-gotten gains. Rex was aware of the redhead. He’d seen her walking in the park. He knew instinctively where she would be at almost any time of day and he knew, without a shadow of a doubt that she would be attached to Marcia.

Marcia was perhaps the single most demanding roommate Rex had ever seen or heard of and she was always on to Masterson, trying to get him to visit, or find a reason to visit him.

In all the preambles that people used to begin a courtship, Marcia chose the weirdest possible one – she came onto Masterson heavy; batting eyelashes, pronounced cleavage, and shorts that were quite possibly painted on. But whenever she saw Rex, it was as if Masterson didn’t exist. The woman had no filter. She would unabashedly run her hands through Rex’s hair and on more than one occasion had even leaned forward to touch his nose with her own in a coarse imitation of an Eskimo kiss.

Rex didn’t know if it was an immorality show or if Marcia just had a thing for non-monogamous sex, but she hinted more than once that the four of us should get together, but I’d never heard Glory, the redhead, mention it before, and Marcia casually assured Masterson that she’d be fine with it – perhaps that it might even be fun.

Being his roommate, Rex had seen letters in magazines and videos that Masterson owned and watched but never admitted to and everything going on between Marcia and Masterson right now, Rex thought, was the beginning of one of those letters or movies.

With that thought in his mind, it was almost unnerving when the doorbell rang followed almost at once by three sharp, but light knocks. Rex knew it was Marcia. Even as he approached the door, he could smell the perfume wafting under, around and quite possibly through the door. She wore it thick, like it would reach out and grab the man she sought and hold him for her. It wasn’t pleasant either – some combination of aromatic flower mixed with what companionably be described as human piss. Either that or it had a shitload of pheromones in it. Either way Masterson didn’t seem to notice. But she was wearing a bikini top, so he wouldn’t. That was the problem with Masterson, all his thinking happened three feet below his brain.

Physically Rex couldn’t fault Masterson for losing his mind every time Marcia stopped by. But if he spent any time listening to her, he’d know she only visited to hit on him. In fact, it was happening now. She walked right into Masterson, pushing herself into him and kissing him on the cheek, all the while running her hand through Rex’s deep, dark curls, and teasing his ears with nimble fingers behind his roommates back.

It was shocking and distasteful, and wait a minute, Rex thought, Glory came with her.

Glory stood by the door, not quite leaning on the door frame, wondering when all the nonsense was going to end. She looked around the small, undecorated apartment with a sniff of European indifference. When her eyes locked with Rex, she remembered her manners and quietly entered, kicking the door closed behind her.

The two spent time getting to know each other while Masterson and Marcia kept themselves busy in the kitchen. The view from the apartment’s living room window was mostly unobstructed, offering a view just beyond the tree-tops of the city’s enormous and inviting park. Rex and Glory said hardly a word to each other as they looked toward the park. It was a rare and almost magical moment they both felt equally – as if something primal told them they were both exactly where they needed to be.

From the other room Rex noticed a lull in the discussion and he could feel the others staring toward him, their thoughts silently creeping into the quiet island he and Glory had built between them. It was intrusive and Rex held himself from turning his neck to give his roommate a withering look. In the small apartment the two males had little in the way of passion, but when the occasion arose, Rex would always give Masterson his space. He didn’t appreciate the imposition now, and he was sure he would not be up for anything involving the four of them.

As the talk in the kitchen increased, Rex relaxed and Glory did as well until the other suggested taking a walk in the park. It would have been nice, Rex realized, if the other two had taken their own walk and left he and Glory to themselves, but it was a nice day, and they had been staring at the park for what seemed like hours. Getting up from their place by the window, Rex and Glory were the first out the door.

Across the busy street and through a winding passage of sidewalk where the smell of street vendor sausage reached out like hands to pull Rex in, he wouldn’t be deterred. Glory and Marcia ran off ahead, to speak, as women like to do, by themselves for a few moments. Masterson asked if Rex wanted a hotdog – it was a nice touch by way of apology for butting in at the apartment. They waited silently and ate their food quickly by the cart before following the trail the others had taken minutes earlier.

Rex spotted Glory across the park, her hair radiant in the sun, wet from a sprinkler she must have inadvertently walked through – or possibly, he realized, purposefully walked through, because Marcia was wet as well.

Even at this distance, the spark they had shared in the apartment crossed the distance and Rex saw Glory lick her lips, a slow and methodical swipe of her tongue that expressed the heat in the air into motion. Rex looked at Masterson and blinked and the man nodded. “Have fun, buddy.”

Rex and Glory met under the shade of trees where they thought no one could see them and they fell on top of one another as only lust will allow one to do. They weren’t thinking of fines or jail time or the children who wandered past only a tree and bush distant. They thought only of the moment, and Rex knew that the lovely redhead he was with now would be the love of his life. This year.

On the other side of the trees, just in sight of the carnal activity, Marcia took Masterson’s hand in her own for a moment before pulling back. He looked at the envelope she had placed there and thanked her.

“It’s not often you find a Catahoula Leopard Dog in the city. Where did you find him?”

“He was a rescue, actually. The veterinarian spotted the breed and I did some research, found out where he came from and put the pieces together. Between Rex and your Irish Setter, I can’t wait to see the puppies, they’ll be gorgeous.”

Writing heroes can be a buzzkill

Writing a hero is the worst. Hero’s, not anti-heroes, are constrained by a raft of things – like laws, and morality, and ethics, and integrity. It’s difficult (not impossible) to write a really interesting hero. But it’s just so much more fun to write the villain who generally has a certain…moral flexibility.

So, when writing a hero, how do you make them interesting, but still keep them on the ‘right’ side of law and order? The easy answer is to give them a fault or two…or ten. Maybe they’re a drunk, or a habitual cocaine user, or maybe they don’t tip well at the pub, or maybe they hate kittens.

Now, keep in mind, plenty of heroes have been written who don’t have screaming faults and I’m not saying these characters are bad or boring, I’m saying they are probably boring to write. Let’s consider:

Gandalf. I love Gandalf. I named one of my cats after him once upon a time (my favorite cat I’ve ever had, and I’ve had a lot of cats). Gandalf is a great character. What are his faults? Ummmm, he’s ashamed of his cousin (Radagast) because you only ever hear about him once. He’s a dick to hobbits, I suppose; he takes advantage of people by taking the best horse in the country; he torments dwarves by waiting until sunrise to get rid of trolls rather than going in there and magicing the hell out of them. So, yeah, Gandalf has some faults but he’s not horrible.

Dumbledore. I like Dumbledore less and less the more I think about him. He’s an egotistical information hoarder who sends children into potentially fatal situations, and he’s a total bastard to Snape for years. He’s a bad parent, essentially, and a bad brother, actually. We never even knew he had a brother, or sister, until like, six books in. And, like Gandalf, could save everyone a lot of pain and trouble if he were to take out his wand every now and then and wreck some dudes. Who would have complained if he just slapped the hell out of Malfoy, or his father? No one. That would have given him enough street cred to do nothing the rest of the way through the books.

Luke Skywalker. If ever there was a human version of milquetoast, it’s the whiny little crab-ass that is Luke Skywalker. Maybe his ‘woe-is-me’ schtick is his weakness, but I think Star Wars would be fine without him. He’s replaceable. Star Wars is not a story where I think, wow, without Luke they’d be screwed. What I think is, find me another dude with a high midichlorian count and send him to Yoda to take his training like a man and actually learn to do the damned thing he can do. I have the same problem with Harry Potter to be fair. I’m not sure why this type of hero construct continues to exist or do as well as it does. Maybe it’s me.

The MCU’s version of Tony Stark (actually the Marvel comics version too). This is a great hero because the man has issues. Real, ‘he’s kind of a dick’ issues – drinking, womanizing, ego – all wrapped in a cool suit. Whereas Captain America…not so much. There are a lot of ‘would he do that?’ questions when writing a Captain America that you don’t have when writing a Tony Stark.

Then there are anti-heroes, like Deadpool. People love deadpool and it would be a hoot to write Deadpool because there is nothing he can’t do. I can hardly imagine a situation where a writer would say, ‘no, that’s not something Deadpool would do.’ And that’s why he is so much more entertaining than the other examples.

In the end it comes down to finding enough ‘realism’ in your character. If you are trying to write a lawful good character, he/she needs to have some baggage – probably egotistical baggage, maybe drinking baggage or anti-religious baggage – maybe all three. That might be fun. The character could then still always choose to do the thing that is ‘right’ but might make alternate choices if they were drunk, or slap the hell out of a priest or something.

Writing, when you think about it, is work. I never wanted to admit it, but along about book three, I realized it was work. It’s not ditch-digging work, mind you; but it’s taxing to have to consider all these different things, and create a character out of whole cloth. As people we are still evolving our own characters over decades, but as writers we’re supposed to make a realistic character in weeks and months – and make that character likable, and/or hateable, and give them enough agency so that they can redeem themselves if necessary. They have to make good choices, and probably some bad choices, and each of those choices has to further the plot. 

As people we are all flawed. Some of us are really very badly flawed, and for a character to be successful, we as readers need to be able to see within that character something of ourselves. A hero who is good; relentlessly pious or whatever doesn’t connect with us in the same way as someone with some pretty glaring character deficiencies. So the trick is to make a flawed character who can still make good choices to bring about a satisfactory ending – without the reader wanting to punch that character in the throat. 

Organization – It sounds like a wonderful theory

One thing I’ve often admired about really good writers – and I’m thinking of journalists here as opposed to novelists – is how organized they are. Or how organized they appear to be.  Peter King, who writes for NBCSports.com and who has also spent many years with Sports Illustrated and others, is a prime example of this. I don’t know him, but through his writing he drops nuggets of detail that make me think he’s properly organized. He keeps detailed notebooks and files full of detail of when he met people, and what they talked about and etc. Whereas I have a bunch of hastily scribbled notes littered on the table in front of my monitor.

As I continue to procrastinate on the final book of the 30 Stones Saga, I’ve had to adapt to my lack of organization on the fly. For instance, it’s important for me (and the reader) to know where each of the 30 Stones are, especially as we enter book six. Because some of the Stones have changed ownership over the first five books in the series, the task of creating a useful listing takes some back-tracking and re-reading.

I have managed, thankfully, to compile an accurate list of the Stones entering book six. It took some time and effort but it led to more questions. Where are all the Dragons? There are, at this point, two generations of Dragons. The ‘Pillar’ Dragons, those who were created from humans in book 1, and the ‘True’ Dragons, those borne of the Pillar Dragons. Knowing where each of these Dragons are, along with what color they are, and their lineage is important information for me. It may not be important for book six, but it might prove invaluable in the follow-on series I have gestating in my head. (Of course, it also might be useful for book six, but I’m not going to tell you that right now am I?)

An inherent danger of world-building for a fantasy novel or series is that there’s an awful lot of detail, and a lot of … well, everything that needs to be established. I have purposefully, in some cases, not lingered on some details like trade or religion or social or economic systems because they just haven’t been important to the story. And, to be fair, when creating a new world, I feel the reader can probably fill in some of those details herself.

If, however, I was asked to present a class on organizing your story, I would absolutely and without reservation suggest putting as much down on paper (or electrons) as possible before you even start writing. I find spreadsheets are useful for this kind of exercise because you can, in one sheet, list a dragons name, color, location, progeny etc. Additional sheets can contain other information and it’s all stored in a single, convenient location.

Scrivener is another option. (Scrivener is an option to word processing programs but one that offers a lot more tools for writers) To be fair, I’ve only started using Scrivener for book six and I’m not nearly conversant in what it can and cannot do. But it looks like it can do a lot and one of the things it can most certainly do, is let you write notes in the form of index cards. With a split screen showing the index card cork board, and the writing document, it’s much easier to keep track of dozens of different bits of information. When that information is used, you can color code the index cards and move them around on the cork board, driving unused information to the top. It’s a wonderful piece of writing kit I wish I would have tried several books ago.

So, my organization skills have gotten better as a result of writing five books, but there’s room to improve. Hopefully, that improvement will result in more writing time and less re-reading time as I look for information going forward. 

Will I ever reach the levels of professional journalists who have stacks of notebooks and recordings from a decade ago and who can almost instantly recall a source? No, almost definitely not. But that’s another beauty of writing fiction – sometimes in the act of forgetting something, you think of something better along the way.

Supporting Characters – Window Dressing or Critical Feature? (And my list of 10)

When you begin the process of writing a book you do a lot of study; either officially at a school, or unofficially by reading all you can get your hands on from people who have done it. Actually, if you do it the ‘official’ way, you also do it the unofficial way. Trust me, you do. In both types of study there are several topics that pop up repeatedly, and for good reason.

Plot – can’t have a good story without it
Conflict – every story needs a reason for being
World building – sometimes you can go too far, but the reader has to feel in tune to the place
Hero(ine) – Somebody has to win the day
Villain – Ain’t nothing finer than a well-written villain with some serious issues and just a sliver of room for a possible redemption arc.

But this blog post isn’t about any of that – it’s about the characters who do the heavy lifting, the expositionists, the sidekicks, and yes, the redshirts. Supporting characters lend life and perspective and necessary grey areas to counter the good hero vs. the evil villain. They also give your hero and/or villain a reason for being, or a reason for being who they are. 

Think about it. Growing up we all had a cast of friends and those friends had different traits. Some were jocks. Some got good grades and sucked at sports. Some shared their drink and/or weed. Some mooched said drink and/or weed. Some drank vodka Slurpees in first-period study hall (that last one is a real dude I went to school with back in the day, by the way). All of these people, regardless of their own story, played a role in either rounding you out, or screwing you up – or perhaps, if you’re really lucky, a bit of both.

The main character of a story is no different than you or I were in high school. They rely on the influences of other people to help shape who they are and what they care about. More importantly, those influences help determine who they are as people and that, in turn, has everything to do with what decisions they’ll make as the story progresses.

Sometimes, supporting characters get a little limelight of their own, and that’s ok too. When you get down to it, supporting characters have more range to be goofy or hedonistic, or morally ambiguous than the main character. There are rules for main characters. There are expectations of what (s)he will be, but supporting characters are not confined by those limitations. Indeed, the lack of limitations on supporting characters is super important because it allows the main character to be surrounded by a variety of different people, each of whom shows the world in a light the main character might not see. They also provide different opportunities and pathways the hero might not be able, or may not be willing, to take.

(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOOK 4) Even in a relatively small part, a supporting character can be a guiding light for the story or for the main character or other supporters. In my own series, there is a character called Lyle in Magic’s Genesis: The Grey. Lyle exists for the sole reason because I wanted to give a shout out to my best childhood friend. He was meant to have a couple lines in book one – just enough where I had to mention his name. That was it – pure window dressing for the sake of the author. 

Jump ahead to book 4, Red Priest Rising, and Lyle became a conveniently useful character – a key element of getting the main character out the door and doing something. As it happened, Lyle needed saving and when Mieragon (pronounced: meer-ih-gone) saved him, it seemed all was well. But then Lyle did something stupid, and quite honestly, it caught even me by surprise. My fingers moved across the keyboard and when they stopped moving he had done the stupid thing and I stopped and said out loud, “dammit, I didn’t mean for that to happen.”  

This kind of thing happens with supporting characters who are more than window dressing. You see, Lyle despite being a supporting character, had agency. When he and Mieragon met with the baddie-of-the-moment who was providing some much needed exposition before his imminent demise, Lyle, having just been saved from torture that probably sucked several years of his life away, accepted drink and food from the aforementioned baddie who was eating and drinking the same food. Minutes later, Lyle is frothing at the mouth and spasming his last on the floor. He never saw it coming. Neither did I. For what it’s worth, the bad guy followed suit minutes later. The main character was saved, not from any special intelligence or foresight, but rather just plain dumb luck.

In turn, the action of Lyle had an impact on a major supporting character – his mentor, Krieger (kree-ger) in book 5, Ascension. Lyle’s untimely and unfortunate (and, again, unplanned) death, led to Krieger doing something that was important, and necessary being done. And this thing could only be done by a supporting character.

All of these actions carried emotional weight for the main characters across multiple books – despite the characters having no more than supporting status.

So, supporting characters are not (always) window dressing. If done well, they can be the linchpins upon which success or failure rests. To find an example, you don’t have to look further than the Lord of the Rings (which is a useful example for damned near anything…) Sam Gamgee is not a main character. He’s an important supporting character without whom Frodo would be eating raw fish in a cave somewhere and Middle Earth would look like an Ansel Adams post-apocalypse photo. Likewise Merri and Pippin were integral to the story in rousing Treebeard and the Ents, thus destroying Saurman at Isengard, a second front the others would have been hard pressed to defend against.

I will leave you with this – a list of 10 Secondary Characters I think are, if not more important, almost definitely more interesting, than the main characters…in no particular order and for little comprehensible reason.

1 – Sam Gamgee (over Frodo). Frodo was the pack mule here, carrying the ring. All the intestinal fortitude and stick-to-it-tiveness, necessary to do the job – that was all Sam.

2 – Almost anyone (over Harry Potter). The more I look back on Harry Potter, the less I like Harry Potter the character, not the series. I love the HP series. Harry was nice and all and I don’t dislike him, but he kind of let things happen around him. Any sympathy he gets for living with the Dursley’s was used up by the end of book one. Hermione was pretty important in a number of key places, and even Ron had his moments. 

3 – The Rat. (See Marvel Cinematic Universe, Avengers: Endgame). Without that Rat running across just the right sequence of buttons Ant Man would have stayed in the Quantum Realm and Thanos would still be picking prickly pears. (And a big shout out to whatever brand of car battery was in that van for holding a charge for five years!) 

4 – Barney Fife (Andy Griffith Show). Showing my age a little here, but Deputy Fife was far more interesting than Sheriff Andy Taylor. Anyone law enforcement officer who is only allowed one bullet has a story to tell and that’s the guy I want to have a beer with.

5 – Baldric (Black Adder) – Going way back to the ‘80s for this one and if you’ve never seen Rowan Atkinson’s hilarious comedy series Black Adder, you need to finish this article, subscribe to my mailing list, and then go watch it. You have to watch the four 6-episode series in order though. It’s British comedy at its best. And Baldric’s role as Robin to Blackadder’s Batman makes the whole thing work.

6 – Humphrey (Yes, Minister) – Continuing with ’80s British comedy – if you’ve never seen Yes, Minister or the follow on series, Yes, Prime Minister do yourself a favor. If you are a fan of wickedly clever wordplay, the character of Humphrey, stunningly well played by the late Nigel Hawthorne, will have you rewinding and rewatching him wax loquacious in adroit displays of verbal acrobatics. 

7 – Hans Gruber (Die Hard). Oh, come on, it’s (the late) Alan Rickman! He was awesome. Admit it, the first time you saw Die Hard, you thought to yourself, ‘you know, I’m not bothered if Gruber wins.’

8 – Anyone near Superman. Superman is boring. His ‘disguise’ is a pair of glasses. His powers are so over the top as to make him invincible and he’s just … blah. He’s the guy knocking on your door selling encyclopedias…or religion. Now that I think of it, the only thing that makes him watchable is that everyone around him is equally vanilla.

9 – J. Jonah Jameson (Spider Man). He wasn’t evil and he wasn’t a hero, but JJJ was interesting. He had grit and determination no matter how ill-placed. As a supporting character he filled an interesting niche as an antagonist who wasn’t as much dangerous as he was disruptive or annoying. But he had swag, no doubt and J.K. Simmons was the perfect casting choice. The only other character who was as well or better cast for their role was Alan Rickman as Snape in Harry Potter. In fact when HP came out, my wife and I read the first book and agreed that should they ever make a Harry Potter movie, Rickman had to play Snape. When it happened, we were thrilled.

10 – Han Solo (Star Wars). No one wants to be Luke Skywalker for Halloween. Han Solo is awesome. He’s a smuggler, he’s a ladies man, he has a shaggy friend, he speaks multiple languages, he shoots first, and best of all, he’s not a whiny little beatch.

 

Thanks for hanging out – see you next week.

How did I become a writer? Pizza, beer, and impossible deadlines

Note: I will try to keep updating on Wednesdays going forward – please feel free to let me know what you think. Comments are always appreciated … except for the spam I get. That’s just annoying.

 

Like rain before first pitch, or mud-slinging during election season, one of the first questions people always seem to ask when they find out you’ve written a book is, “how did you become a writer?” The variations are, ‘how did you know, or when did you know, you wanted to become a writer’ but the answer is the same regardless of how you dress it up.

For me, like many people I think, there was never a grand strategy to become a writer. There was, for a brief shining moment when I was 18, a desire for pizza.

Despite the mother of one of my high school friends suggesting to me once that I should be a journalist, the thought never seriously entered my mind. But an Air Force recruiter called me one day and offered me pizza if I took a test. This was in the mid ’80s mind you so there was precious little else to do. I took his test and I ate his pizza and chuckled to myself all the way home.

Then, one day, as I was sitting at home staring at a blank television and wondering what I might possibly do with my life as all my friends went to college or joined the service themselves, the phone rang and it was Kermit. I swear to God, my recruiter’s name was Kermit – his first name, mind you. Kermit told me there were, at that time, something like 252 jobs available to enlisted people in the Air Force, my scores qualified me to take my pick.

For reasons known only to fate, I chose something called Public Affairs Specialist. I had no idea journalism was involved and to be fair, neither did Kermit. I thought I’d be giving tours and such (which I did) and that was fine because I enjoy speaking in front of people. No joke, I really do.

After basic I went to technical school and the Army person there welcomed me with the words, “Welcome to the Defense Information School and the Basic Journalism Course.” I stared at him, quite vapidly I’m sure, and said, “you mean the public affairs course?”

He chuckled. “Why do all the Air Force people say that?”

Why? Because our recruiters had no idea, that’s why! And so began my four year dalliance with journalism – or that was the plan. Four years, in and out and on to college. Yup, good plan. Solid plan.  

Journalism school, even in the military in the 1980s, consisted of a lot of typing, spelling, editing and, as it turns out, drinking. This was really the perfect occupation. Alas, I was only 18, but the guy who lived in the room next to me was comfortably in his 20s but, alas again, a Mormon. However, as the gods have seemed to smile upon me more often than I perhaps deserve, he was a decidedly bad Mormon and we spent much of the next couple of months, slurring our words while we banged out whatever stories we had to bang out on electric typewriters in the stairwells. In the morning the Army would gather under our windows and yell at us to wake up, and like good Airmen, we would tell them to shut up and go back to sleep. 

After school (and I realize I’m supposed to be telling you how I got into writing and I promise I’m almost there), I went to my first base and my supervisor asked me if I had ever read two specific books – Tom Wolfe’s Electric Kool Aid Acid Test and Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Understanding that I had not, my first official duty in the USAF was to go to the library and check out those two books and read them. They would teach me, he said, how to write. I did. And perhaps they did to a degree.[image error] [image error]

As luck would have it the other Airmen I worked with on our weekly newspaper was something of a disciple of Hunter S. Thompson (who was himself a graduate of the same Defense Information School I had attended and an Air Force public affairs Airmen … for a short time). I will call this Airman…Matt. In addition to a love of psychedelic literature, Matt also enjoyed a beer or ten and within a few weeks I found that while the duty day was often a good time to watch Matt stare out windows and smoke cigarettes, (which one could do back then) after duty hours when everyone else was gone, we could bring a 12 pack into the office and really do a lot of work on the base newspaper. Hell, we won awards.

Anyway, one week, on a Thursday morning, about five hours before our paper was to go the publisher to be printed, Matt looked at me and said these words, “Roe, I need you to do a two page feature on the F-16 tire shop. I need photos too.”

I said, ok and asked him when he wanted it. He looked at his watch. “Well, it’s for this week, so you better go now, do a quick interview, take some photos and get back here. I figure, you’ve got maybe two hours.”

THIS was the best training I ever had. Because of Matt’s inability to plan sober, I became a master of the one-question interview – “What do you do?” That was it. If they looked at me strangely, which they often did, I would expound: “tell me what you do from the moment you walk in here until you leave.” And they would and it was brilliant.

Working with the time constraints Matt often imposed made me think through how a story would flow together while I was writing – hell, while I was taking notes – so editing was minimal. The time crunch meant I wasn’t asking unnecessary questions that would only serve to clutter up the story. I was writing the story in my head before I ever started writing it on paper, and that has made all the difference.

Now, my four years in the Air Force turned into more than 25, and I never stopped writing. When I put the uniform in a closet for the last time, I got an MA in English/Creative Writing and that helped pull together the last pieces of my novel puzzle. So, while I’ve pretty much always been a writer, it’s only recently I’ve become an author – but I think I knew sitting there with Matt, in the middle of the night, drinking beer and putting together an Air Force base newspaper, I probably understood I was in the right place.

I don’t know whatever happened to Kermit, but I’m glad he didn’t know what public affairs was about. I’m glad he didn’t find out, and if he did know, I’m glad he didn’t tell me. Sometimes it’s better to let something find you than to go looking for it.

Top 10 Wizards

I’ve been thinking about Wizards a lot recently and I’m not entirely sure why – probably because as I’m writing the last book of the 30 Stones Saga, there are a lot of magicians and wielders running about the place.

So today I want to make a list. Why? Because lists piss people off and I’m a stirrer. Below you’ll find my list in reverse order of the ten best wizards of literature. The caveats: I have to have read the book or seen the movie, and only one wizard per franchise. Honorable mentions follow. Wizards are followed by the author or originator.

 

10 — Wynter, (Rosaire Bushey)  Yes, I’m starting with my own guy from Magic’s Genesis: The Grey. Honestly, I would have him higher but barely anyone has ever heard of him, so for the sake of not being a total homer, I put him here. Look, I get it, Wynter came to magic late – well, he was actually the very first in this world so he came to it as early as he could, but he was middle aged or better when he got going. Based on the limitations of magic in this world, he combined his assassin sensibilities, his understanding of how to make people follow like sheep and to top it off he is solely responsible for dragons in his world! That alone should get him on the list. But he removed all of his political opposition in the grandest, most ‘look at me’ way possible and barely used magic once. If it weren’t for the voice in his head he’d either rule everything or die early in the series.

9 — Rincewind, (Terry Pratchett) He’s a failed wizard, right? But he seems to do ok out of it. He’s got chutzpa and an every-man style that you absolutely have to root for. And it’s not like he has ‘no’ magic at all – perhaps his magic is like Domino (X-Force) and he’s just absurdly lucky – doesn’t matter. He does what he needs to do and he makes it exhilarating the entire time. It’s always more interesting when you know he’s not going to fireball the whole place and just walk out. Let’s face it, if you or I were wizards, we’d more likely be Rincewind than anyone else on this list or any other.

8 — Elsa (Hans Christian Andersen with a nod to Walt Disney Co.) She built a castle out of ice – (as did Wynter) but it was massive and sparkly and almost entirely unfurnished. (Wynter’s was…cozy…for a castle). She turned mother nature herself on her head and made it perpetual Winter – that’s bad-ass. She loses points for singing all the time and not impaling some fools with icicles though. Lacks the instinct to get gritty – and how much time must she have spent on that hair?!



7 — Merlin (via Geoffrey of Monmouth c. 1100) – Merlin is a character that has fascinated me since I was a boy, but while he showed every indication he could light the place up, he didn’t do it enough and accepted being lapdog to a king. No dis-respect to Merlin, I love him, but he was too reserved. I would love to see a take on a darker Merlin, one who used his power for himself.

6 — Maleficient (Via Walt Disney) – You can make a case for her being higher on this list – perhaps as high as 4. She has the power and ruthlessness that you know you would have if you could do magic stuff. Still, she gave an out to the little princess. Why? Why not just dust her and be done with it? Why go through all the trouble of the needle? And those fairy godmothers – why hadn’t she sorted them out? She has the goods but isn’t thinking strategically.

5 — Milamber (Pug) Raymond Feist) – One of my favorite books that I haven’t read in a while, but I always liked Pug. First off, he’s a wizard named Pug! I understand why he changed it, and he had power to spare. Wizards don’t have to be dark or peaceful, and I don’t remember him being entirely that all the time, and you could put him anywhere on this list and he’d hold his own.

4 — Any Genie – If a dude in a bottle can grant you wishes – actual wishes for anything you want… a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g… then they belong on this list. From the big blue of Aladdin to the silky Hammer Pants of Jeannie (as in, I Dream Of), genies got it going on and if you don’t agree, then I wish you … no, I’m not wasting a wish on you.

3 — Jadis (The White Witch) (c.s. lewis) – Another witch who digs winter. A hundred years of winter! That’s crazy, and she’s turning people into statuary like a rampaging Medusa! But why not end them? And if you know the Lion is coming, and the four kids are going to be there and you have one of them in your grasp, you can put an end to it right there with a little poison in the Turkish delight, a stiletto to the chest, or just beat him up side the head – because let’s face it, Edmund was a punk ass who deserved to get whooped. But she didn’t do any of that, and because of that, she’s number three on this list.

2 — Severus Snape (J.K. Rowling). Yup, Snape. He’s the real hero of Harry Potter. He’s the one who has a character arc full of change. He’s the only one in that entire school who actually tries to teach Harry anything that might save his life. If Harry weren’t such an all-consuming little prick, maybe he would have listened to Snape and not gotten Hogwarts damn near destroyed, and several of his friends killed. Dobby should be alive! But Snape is the character who is constantly in danger as he leads a double life. He’s the one who was bullied in school and picked on relentlessly (by the “hero’s” father no less) – and through it all – through all of that suck, he turns out to be a stand up guy. If you think Dumbledore belongs on this list, I understand that you were brainwashed as a child. But think about it – Dumbledore didn’t even try to train Harry despite knowing what was going to be asked of him. He threw Harry to Voldemort like chum in shark-infested waters. He gambled with this kid (and a bunch of other kids’) lives like they were dollar chips at a craps table. When Harry looked like he might get lucky with a waitress, who is there to c-block him? Dumbledore. And why? So he can help with HR staffing hires to bring in a wandering vagabond of a teacher (Slughorn) to work. Slughorn, whose great claim to fame is that he cozies up to kids who might be powerful and/or useful to him down the road. That’s a little shady regardless of how you look at it and Slughorn quite probably shouldn’t have been allowed within 300 feet of the school. In truth, Dumbledore was a user, manipulator, egotist, and he was just plain bad at adulting. Snape was a realist, a powerful wizard who was essentially James Bond without the snazzy car.

1 — Gandalf (J.R.R. Tolkien) I sense a pattern with the names of the top three authors on this list and am henceforth changing my literary name to r.v.bushey – and using lowercase letters just to be douchey. Gandalf is the business. He makes fireworks when he’s not beating the hell out of goblins … with a sword! He has no problem dropping a pint and smoking a big ole pipe of something called “Longbottom Leaf” so you know he’s down to party in Hobbitton for Bilbo’s hundred-eleventh. If Gandalf were modern, he’d rack out with Snoop Dogg. He slays Balrogs, he comes back from almost certain death more powerful than ever, he’s not afraid to tussle with the hack and slashers, and he’s got friends where he needs them. He can talk to animals (like butterflies) and he has a stoner cousin (Radagast). All the while he modestly possesses an Elven Ring and his humility doesn’t allow him to take the One Ring. Gandalf’s one flaw – he didn’t ask the Eagles to fly Frodo over Mt. Doom and just drop the damn ring in there. How many red-shirts died because of that lack of foresight?

 

Honorable mentions

Dr. Who (BBC) – Is it really magic though or just super-advanced technology?

Q (Star Trek TNG) – There is no other explanation for his ability to warp people and places to do his bidding. Perhaps more of an illusionist or psionics master. He also didn’t kill Wesley Crusher. That alone would have vaulted him into the top 5.

Palpatine (Star Wars) – has the power but doesn’t choose henchmen well. Also, monologues too much

Rasputin (Russia) – Maybe a wizard-wannabe, but he made it through on rep alone. Everyone knows him, and people credit him for drinking poison and living. Was he a magician? Meh. Does it matter? Not much – only enough where he didn’t make the actual list.

Drizzt Do’Urden (R.A. Salvatore) – Another initialed author and I love his books. Does it bother me that Drizzt isn’t technically a wizard, or that I once named a cat after him (and I also had a Gandalf, a Bilbo, and a Frodo) Not even a little. He was a Ranger in the D&D tradition which means he had some magic ability. Sometimes it’s more fun to shoot people with a bow, or chop them up like onions while dual wielding swords. 

 

Don’t like my list?  Well, too bad – unless you want to leave a comment and tell me who should have made the list and who you think has no place on this list. Go ahead, I won’t send a lightning bolt in your direction.

Episode 3 – Indie Author Rob Ward

Just a quick note to let you know that episode 3 of the Lunatics & Monsters Podcast is now available, and this time featuring Rob Ward, hiker, Veteran, and indie author of Terror on the Trail, The Emerald Stones, Charlotte’s Ring, and his latest, Buried Secrets: A Wrong Turn Off the Trail.  You can find all his books on Amazon. Rob also has some books in audio version.

 

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Episode 4 (Aug 2) will feature award winning writer of Steampunk fiction, Robroy McCandless.