L. Jagi Lamplighter's Blog, page 46
November 25, 2013
Caption This Winner!
A LOT of good entries this week:
A tie this week between:
I never otter gone swimming today.
and
Now, men, for our next manoeuvre…
With special honorable mention to:
OMG they ate all of him except his HEAD!!!!!!
Because I thought that, too.
November 21, 2013
New Thursday Feature: Mab’s Handy Guide To Surviving the Supernatural
Hey Folks,
Mab Boreal here. You know me—the Northeast Wind who works for Prospero Inc. as a company gumshoe.
It has come to my attention that you humans are woefully uninformed about the dangers of the supernatural world. You walk around all day, taking absolutely no precautions. Some of you are so crazy, you even go looking for trouble.
Well, I’m here to tell you: Don’t do that!
In the hopes of saving even one of you from an elf-related death—or worse—I am going to post a page of my journal every week.
Read. Pay attention. And maybe you’ll live.
This just in: Mustardseed, V.P. of Prospero, Inc. Priority Contracts, asked for some info on Tsukumogami. Apparently, these supernatural perps have been causing some trouble for Prospero Inc. employees in our Kyoto branch. So, I’m gonna start with them.
Name: Tsukumogami
Description: When Japanese household objects—such as mirrors, umbrellas, etc.—make it to their 100th birthday, they wake up and become animate.
Where To Find It: Japan
Frequency: As common as one hundred year old items.
Danger Level: Various. If you want to stay alive, don’t get near ‘em.
Mab’s Eye View: The people of Japan have known about this phenomenon since the 10th Century, and yet they do not destroy all their old objects. Are they crazy? Are they begging for trouble?
Let me tell you. In the next few weeks, I'll tell ya about various tsukumogami, and I'll share some hair-raising tales that will make you shy away from antiques ever after!
November 20, 2013
Wright’s Writing Corner: The Trick!
Somehow, last week, I skipped over The Trick–my favorite writing tip of them all!
The Trick: Raising expectations in one direction but having the story first go in the opposite direction.
The Trick is the secret to writing, the thing that makes a story work: expectation followed by something other than the expected outcome – but something that is thematically consistent with the original events.
In art, artists use shading to emphasize the lighter portion of their work. The shading provides contrast that draws the eye back to the non-shaded part. In a story, writer’s need to do the same thing. One way of providing that contrast is with The Trick.
Of all writing techniques, The Trick is the easiest to do. You just decide where you want the story to go, and then you indicate—through dialogue, character thought, or narration—that the opposite is coming. If you want to have a happy incident, you make your character glum. If you want something bad to happen, you make him unexpectedly happy. It is that simple, and it is tremendously effective.
You just have to remember to use it. That is all.
How best to use it, of course, gets more difficult. If you are too blatant about your reversals, the audience will not be taken in. I’ve read books or watched shows where every time someone was happy, I winced because I knew something bad was coming. That actually undercuts the effect. The reader is alerted rather than lulled into a false sense of security.
So, the more subtly you can apply it, the more effective your scene. But you would be amazed at how blatant you can be and still have it work. Some of the bestselling authors today are quite obvious in their use of the Trick, and yet people read their books with great eagerness.
Where the Trick gets tricky is when there is more than one expected outcome, either one of which will not surprise anyone. The author is then called upon to do some clever thinking and find a third option that will surprise and delight. Sometimes, this takes time and creativity, but it is usually worth the effort.
I ran into this problem in my Prospero books. The plot starts out with Miranda believing that everything is fine. Then, aspersions are cast upon her father. Now, suddenly, either outcome “Prospero is innocent of the charges against him” or “Prospero is guilty” no longer seems that interesting.
Either way, there is no Trick.
(The innocent option leaves the reader thinking: “Well, why did I go through all that just to get back where I started.” The guilty option seems too pat: “Prospero was accused of X and Y in Book One and by Book Three, we find out X and Y are true. So? You told us that two books ago.”)
Solving this problem, coming up with an ending that did not disappoint, took quite some effort (and an idea I borrowed from Tolkien. Not a plot idea, mind you, something from his philosophy on storytelling.) But ultimately, it was a matter of the Trick again. I had to find an option that followed from what had been established, but was not what was easily anticipated.
The best primer for understanding the Trick I have ever seen is the book Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. In this book, everything reverses. If the main character thinks something good is coming, something bad happens. If she expects the worst, it turns out well. The whole book is the young woman’s fantasies and then the contrasting reality that ensues.
Other good examples? Harry Potter: which is more surprising, more interesting: a rich, popular boy saves the world? Or an unwanted boy who lives under the stairs saves the world?
The Hobbit, etc.: which is more surprising: a great hero defeats the Dark Lord? Or, an ordinary short hobbit defeats the Dark Lord?
Strider is a really great example. He looks all dark and sinister. No one expected the guy sitting in the dark in a cloak in an inn—the epitome of a robber or bad character—to be the hidden king! (He’s such a good example, there’s even a poem about it.)
How exactly does one use The Trick? Let me use an example from real life. This happened last spring.
I have a friend whose house was foreclosed by Bank of America. It was a condo, really, but it was his home. It was a very sad thing because he had been up on his payments. However, there was a misunderstanding. Some years earlier, my friend had lost his job. During his jobless period, he had arranged payment plan with B of A, where he was paying a portion of the monthly amount.
My friend is a hard worker. When he got a new job, he approached B of A and offered to return to the full payment. The person on the phone told him to stick to the current payment plan.
Fast forward a few years. My friend gets a sudden call from B of A. They say: Pay up the many thousand dollars you are now behind. Obviously, my friend did not have this on hand.
He lost his home. Time went by. There was a class-action suit against B of A. My friend participated and was part of a winning settlement.
A few days ago, the check arrived. When he called me to share the story, he said that he sat with it in his hand for almost half an hour, praying and terrified, before he opened it. You see, he knew that while some people had gotten as much as $3000 from the settlement, many had only received $300. He did not know if he could bear it if his check contained only $300.
Finally, he ripped open the envelope. It contained a check for $6000!
Pause a moment. Think of how that makes you feel. Okay. Ready? Let’s go on.
Now, there’s another part of this story I left out. My friend works in an office, but he has always wanted to do more. When he graduated from college, he wanted to serve in the army or as a police officer. He wanted to do a job that mattered. He applied many places. Each time, he was turned down due to ill health.
That was nearly twenty years ago. His health has improved. Recently, he discovered that he might qualify to become a firefighter. This is the kind of work he could excel at—active work helping people with truly important things.
To make this change work, it would help a great deal if he could take some paramedic classes. This will be difficult for him, of course, because taking classes while working is always a strain.
When word first came about the B of A settlement, he looked online to find out how much he might be getting. The top payment for someone in his category was: $125,000!
Even though he knew this was probably an exaggeration, my friend spend an evening daydreaming of what he might do if he received the entire $125,000. He could quit his job, pay off his debts, and take the classes! He could be free of his current life entirely! He could be the man he wished to be.
Eventually, however, he discovered that this was not the amount people in his position would receive—and the fears of receiving only $300 began.
Now, think of how different the story I told above would have felt if I had told you: He held the envelope, expecting, hoping, that it would contain $125,000. All his hopes for the future, all his dreams, lay in this one check. He ripped the envelop open. It contained a check for $6000.
Instead of a miraculous triumph, that same $6000 now feels like a crushing defeat.
That’s The Trick.
So next time you sit down to write a story, just take a few minutes to think how best to lead the reader up before he goes down. Pick where you want to go, then put the something that is directly contrary to that idea in before you get there.
It is amazing how quickly and easily this brightens up a story. Almost like adding garlic or chocolate to dish of food (though hopefully not both at the same time. )
November 19, 2013
New Feature: Signal Boost Tuesday!
From now on, on Tuesda...
New Feature: Signal Boost Tuesday!
From now on, on Tuesdays, I’m going to post a link and a bit of info for a fellow writer. My hope is to give other writers a bit of exposure so that if they are someone you all might enjoy, you have the chance to learn about them.
Steven G. Johnson is a high school teacher who teaches nearly every subject known to man, while directing a school play version of The Trouble With Tribbles. He is the kind of teacher his students will never forget…the kind of sets his hand on fire, among other things.
A graduate of Clarion and a contributor to Analog Magazine, Steve has written several books and a collection of short stories:
Caer Glass
Despite prohibitions against lady knights, a young woman embarks on knightly errantry in the court of King Arthur.
http://www.amazon.com/Caer-Glass-Steven-G-Johnson/dp/1479259284/ref=pd_rhf_sc_p_t_4_M9N6
Gene Pirates of the Red Star Empire
Surely this is the pulpiest title ever!
General's Green
Aliens and Mindreading!
Starwatchers and Other Stories (Anthology of short stories.)
Star-crossing commandoes versus telepathic insects. A vampire who needs help understanding the Internet. The Alien Legion, knee-deep in mud and blood for the glory of an Earth they will never be allowed to see. Shadowy, half-sensed forms that haunt a sleepy New England town, until the Law rides into town. All this and an invasion of Mars in 1976!
New Features!
This meager blog will be getting two new features. One on Tuesdays, and one on Thursdays.
On Tuesdays, we will have Signal Boost Tuesday – When I will post a link and a bit of info for a fellow writer. My hope is to give other writers a bit of exposure so that if they are someone you all might enjoy, you have the chance to learn about them.
On Thursdays, we will have Mab's Handy Guide to Surviving the Supernatural – which will have short excerpts from the journal of Prospero, Inc. company gumshoe, the Aerie One incarnated in the body of a detective, known as Mab Boreal.
November 18, 2013
Caption This!
Best caption wins!:
Caption This Winner for last week:
Many good captions…very witty. But the winner was:
Let the fish fret
November 13, 2013
Wright’s Writing Corner: The Foil!
Nausicca, having removed off her breather-mask
The Foil: Use other characters to showcase the strengths of your main characters and to show how they are extraordinary.
The best example of the idea of a “foil”—in fact the place that the term comes from—is Hal from Shakespeare’s King Henry IV Part One. In what is probably my single favorite speech from Shakespeare, Hal says:
Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That, when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wonder'd at,
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapours that did seem to strangle him.
If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wish'd for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So, when this loose behavior I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men's hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I'll so offend, to make offence a skill;
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
For those of you who are not Shakespeare literate, this basically says: I’ll pretend to be bad, so that when I turn out to be good, I’ll be all the more wondered at. Everyone will be much more amazed and impressed than if I had been good all along.
Bad Hal of the Past is what makes Good Hal of the Future look so impressive. He is performing The Trick—the technique of making something more surprising by raising expectations of the opposite. In this case, he first inspires dread in his future subjects and then proves to be a very good king, which they notice and appreciate more than if he had been a good lad the whole time.
Or at least that is his hope.
In this case, Hal was his own foil over time. Normally, however, a foil is one character bringing to the fore the strengths or weaknesses of another character. This technique can be done two ways.
The first way is to have the “foil” characters act one way so that the character being showcased stands out. If everyone is dumb, then the one smart guy stands out. If everyone is corrupt, the one man with virtue stands out. It can be done subtly, too. If everyone is intelligent but not a genius, the genius character who has all the wonderful breakthroughs can still stand out.
The degree of emphasis depends upon the result the author wishes to achieve. A smart character often looks smarter against the background of fairly intelligent sidekicks and an intelligent villain than against a group of goofy yokels.
The second way is to have the “foil” characters comment on the main character directly. The observations of the secondary characters can tell us a great deal about the main character.
A good example of this is the movie Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind (which is one of my top three favorite movies.) Nausicaa takes place in an alternate world with gigantic insects and poisonous jungles. Princess Nausicaa is a brave and spunky young woman who wants the neighboring kingdoms to live in peace. She is devoted to peace but is not afraid to fight whenever it is needed.
Naussicaa’s spirit and courage is emphasized by the reactions of the down-to-earth working men of her kingdom (which is a small valley kept fresh and away from the poison of the jungle by a constant wind.) For example, in one scene, Princess Nausicaa is in an air vehicle trying to help folks in a second damaged plane. The two planes are over the Toxic Jungle. The men driving the second plane cannot hear her. In order to save them, Nausicaa takes off the breather mask and shouts out instructions. Her people exclaim in awe, amazed that she would take off her mask.
The reaction of these secondary characters communicates to the viewer very quickly both that the air in this place is poisonous and that Nausicaa is extraordinarily brave to be willing to endure it in order to help them. These men are used throughout the film, helping the viewer see what a courageous and wonderful person Nausicaa is.
The technique is used almost in reverse in the story/movie Cold Comfort Farm (another of my top three favorite movies). In this story, an ordinary young woman, Flora Post, goes to stay with relatives on their cursed farm. Someone else, arriving at this gloomy place, might be daunted, but Miss Post merely asks cheerily, “Why doesn't Cousin Amos just sell this and buy a farm that doesn't have a curse on it?”
Because Flora is so normal, the eccentric qualities of her relatives on the farm are doubly emphasized. Her calm modern outlook acts as the foil, making the many quirky and bizarre characters vastly more entertaining.
The technique can be used through work. It can also be used in short doses. Any character can offer an opinion about any other character, in order to bring out qualities that might otherwise not be emphasized. As human beings, we are often interested in seeing one person through another person’s eyes. The Foil provides a way to clarify differences between characters, as well as an easy way to emphasize qualities about a character that the reader might not have noticed.
This is particularly true the juicy tidbit being shared introduces qualities about the character being discussed that might be new to the reader. Having someone have a different opinion of a given character than the reader has been shown so far can be quite refreshing.
Is Guido big and strong? An older relative who remembers him as a baby and still thinks of him as young and vulnerable reveals a whole new aspect. Is Sarah mean to all? A character who knows her backstory can explain about how she was such a cheerful child, before she lost her family in that flood.
Or, going the other way, is Tara kind to everyone? Maybe another character doubts her good intentions, accusing her of sinister motives. (This would reveal new aspects of both characters involved, even if the claims were not true.)
People love gossip (whether or not they should.) Getting Joe the Fry Cook’s opinion of Jessica, who comes to his diner every day, is like hearing the latest gossip. It is a chance to let the readers feel as if they are being let in on secrets not everyone knows—what Joe thinks of Jessica, what Jessica thinks of Thom down in accounting, etc..
To sum up, characters react to each other the way real people do. Taking advantage of these reactions can bring additional depth and clarity to any story. They can be used to emphasize unusual characteristics, to make a character stand out from the crowd, or to showcase aspects of the character that the reader has not yet seen.
If you take advantage of The Foil and showcase your characters in this fashion—using the reactions of other character to help them stand out “like bright metal on a sullen ground,”—your final story, like Prince Hall, will be all the “more wonder'd at.”
November 12, 2013
Signal Boosting: Theresa Briscoe
Posting a clip from a fellow writer, Theresa Briscoe.
Here's something she's working on:
Excerpt from Vessels:
Ari bolts straight up in bed, gasping for air. His muscular chest, naked and soaked with sweat, confines his pounding heart. Piercing screams echo inside his mind. Darkness escapes from within, consuming the shadows. The nightmare is the same horror from his childhood. He wonders if he will ever find peace.
Something is wrong. Another presence looms near.
Lightning slashes silver through the starless night as the storm’s minions attack the glass. He grasps the quilt his mother made him long ago and pulls it to his chin. Secluded in the shadow of a granite cliff, with lodge-pole pines as the only sentries for the night, Colorado storms are daunting.
Memory whispers of this evening's Harvest moon, now shrouded in darkness. He tries to find comfort in this thought. Crisp air and golden aspens symbolize his time for change. Tomorrow, he will be moving on.
Ari wonders why he is naked, searching the corners of his mind for a glimmer. There was a woman. Relieved, he reaches for her. Sadness stings his heart as he realizes she is gone.
He wonders why they never stay. They admire his golden hair, brilliant blue eyes, and ability to make them laugh. The sex is pleasing, and he caresses their soft bodies afterward. Their pillow talk carries them off to sleep. Yet he always wakes alone.
Holly was different. Her name brings a smile to his lips. Ari met her six months ago. Her chestnut hair and eyes of jade transfixed him immediately. She possessed a gentle magnetic strength. Their daily conversations grew from casual to comfortable. They shared secrets.
Breathe.
Thunder hammers lightning bolts into his heart. Instead of counting measures between breaths, he finds himself counting seconds between flashes and concussions. The storm is moving closer.
It is coming.
And here is a link to Midnight Abyss, a book containing her work among others:
http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Abyss-A-Collection-Darklings/dp/1492966231
November 11, 2013
Caption This!
Best Caption Wins!
