J.B. Garner's Blog, page 62

Weekend Update: My sick dog and a new cover sneak peek

Time for the Weekend Update!

 

On the personal front, today has been pretty much a day of anxious gut-wrench.  My nine-year companion, Shelley the border collie, had breathing problems and wouldn’t eat.  I saw something nasty stuck in her throat so it was off to the vet.  There was a golf-ball size mass of tissue in the back to of Shelley’s mouth, so it was time to immediately operate.  After a few hours of going crazy, I got the good news that she came through with no problems.  The only lingering issue is the source of the mass:  Was it a piece of that chicken bone she ate and that cut her mouth a couple of weeks ago grown over?  Or was it cancer?  All we can really do now is watch and wait to see if there is any regrowth, but for now, crisis averted.

 

On the professional front:

Here’s the first cover sketch from my good friend Felipe de Barros for the second edition of The Opening Bell!  Pulling inspiration from the old regional wrestling posters in the U.S., it’s looking to be another fantastic piece of art.  Expect the finished cover and the release of the second edition sometime this week!

Good news, everybody! I’m getting reviewed.

Well, to be more precise, the second edition of Indomitable is getting reviewed.

 

As with all indie reviews, these may take some time to come to the light of day, as these people often are doing reviews simply out of the goodness of their heart while juggling professional responsibilities.  For that reason, I’ll give a quick shout-out to these sites now, and once again once the reviews come out.

 

Rick Chapman, author of Rule-Set, the always consuming Hungry Monster Book Review blog, and Mark Lein at BorderLein Publishing, thank you for your consideration!  May many more follow!

Getting Political: What the hell, ‘gamebros’?

Reading the news is always something of a roller-coaster.  There are high points and low points.  Maybe I should say, though, that the news is more like riding a rickety roller-coaster, because at the end, I usually wind up feeling off-balance, confused, and a tad sick to the stomach, with little of the rush riding a good coaster gives me.  Today is sadly no different in that regard.

 

Maybe, if you’re a past reader, you will notice that I am something of a feminist.  I feel strongly about women’s issues and am not afraid to have my voice counted among others who share my beliefs.  Naturally, for whatever reason, I am a life-long fan of some things that do not normally fit into the feminist toolbox: comic books, video games, and pro wrestling.  All of those things have had more than a few problems in the realm of women’s issues, especially in the realm of sexist depictions and attitudes towards women in the industry.

 

So suffice it to say I’m pretty damn appalled at the actions of those who think that ‘Social Justice Warriors’ (which as a name is really quite awesome … please call me a Social Justice Warrior!) are ‘ruining’ video games and that they have to ‘fight back’ against their ‘oppressors’, which amounts of petty death threats, ruining reputations with false information, theft and distribution of personal information, and a host of other disgusting acts, quite a few of which are actual, you know, CRIMES.  ‘Gamebros’, grow up.  Seriously.

 

Whether you realize it or not, you are doing a fine job not at saving video games, but ruining them.  Gaming has the potential to be an incredible new media, at least as highly regarded as film and theatre, and the interactive elements present an unparallelled chance to bridge cultures and give people a glimpse into the life of others.  It should be PROMOTING equality and unity, not causing greater division.  If you knuckle-dragging fools would wake up and realize that, you wouldn’t be doing these horrible acts.  Instead, you’d be doing everything in your power to welcome the people that make up over 50% of the audience of the media you purport to love.

 

Instead … well … we get what we currently have going on.

 

So, in essence, what the hell, ‘gamebros’?  What will make you wake up and join the 21st century?

Looking at Character: The Invincible Hero

As an author who writes superhero books, I have a long-held love of the comic book medium.  I’ve been reading them since I was a little kid and still keep up with them in various formats.  The other day, I came across a discussion of what people thought were the rights and wrongs of the latest Superman movie and what it boiled down to, in essence, was a talk about the difficulties of writing an interesting story for so powerful of a character.  I came away from that forum mulling it over myself and decided to take the musings here to my blog.  It’s time for another round of Looking at Character with today’s guest, the Invincible Hero.

At first blush, the Invincible Hero looks a lot like our other friend, the Ace, but there are some vital differences.  Like the Ace, the Invincible Hero is the best of the best, a seemingly unstoppable force.  Nothing seems to slow him down and even the rare setback is fleeting and temporary.  However, unlike the Ace, who is a supporting character and used in various ways to interact with the protagonists, the Invincible Hero *is* the protagonist.  Hercules, Achilles, Superman, Hulk Hogan … all of those characters in their prime certainly fit the bill.  So the question remains: How do you write an effective plot about a protagonist that, by definition, easily overcomes any direct conflict?

There are a few ways to go about it.  The first one is to go about deconstructing the myth of the Invincible Hero.  In a deconstruction-based story, the conflict is generally not the obvious external one, but conflicts generated by the flaws and foibles that are hidden behind the shining facade of the Hero.  Concepts such as alienation from the rest of humanity, hubris from his/her invincibility, loosing touch with one’s humanity, the burden of the expectations of the masses (realistic or not), and so on can be explored to shine light on the realistic problems of being put above the rest of the Hero’s peers and relations.  In such a way, the Invincible Hero becomes relatable; though his problems may still be on a different scale, they are simply larger versions of issues everyone faces, allowing the reader to connect to him/her.

Another way to spark conflict and plot is the approach of ‘the bigger fish’.  Yes, the Invincible Hero is unstoppable compared to his usual opposition, but that doesn’t preclude an even more awesome threat from existing, thus creating a new conflict where the normally triumphant Hero is faced with the prospect of being the underdog.  As with straight deconstruction, this makes the Invincible Hero relatable by injecting all-too human feelings such as fear and a sense of inadequacy into the equation.  The potential stumbling block, though, is the possible temptation to inject these feelings then quickly have them ‘overcome’.  This is usually meant by the author as a show of the Hero’s true courage or what-not but it usually comes off as just another problem the Invincible Hero can shrug off, unlike the reader, causing an even larger rift in relatability.

The last way that came to mind to give an Invincible Hero a good story is to approach the primary conflict in a way that is outside of the Hero’s element.  However unstoppable the Hero may be, there are undoubtedly areas and problems where his/her particular set of abilities and skills are not useful.  Making the conflict revolve around some problem that cannot simply be directly confronted once more brings the Hero down to the human level, allowing the writer to showcase and develop the Hero’s character as he/she struggles with a problem instead of running it over as per the norm.  Another facet of this that could be fascinating to explore is the Hero’s social and familial life.  Again, it’s a source of conflicts, vital ones, that build character but cannot simply be approached by kicking down doors and beating up bad guys.

It’s not hard to see that all of these approaches revolve around finding ways to interject a strong dose of relatability into the Invincible Hero.  As characterization is usually the heart of a good story, that ability to relate to the protagonist is vital.  If we have no way to connect, we usually cease to care about the character in a short period of time and no amount of finely crafted action or well-rendered description will fix that.

What do you think?  Have you ever had to write an Invincible Hero?  If so, how did you tackle their relatability?  Comment below!

A Writing Lab Experiment: The Second Person Set-Up

As I sat down this morning to eat my Cheerios and map out my work for the day, I had a strange notion.  Now, for those who have read some of my previous musings, like this one on perspectives, you know that I’m not a big fan of present tense writing and I didn’t even bother to take a look at the second person perspective before.  My strange notion was that, perhaps, I was being a bit quick to judge both the use of that tense and that perspective.

 

That’s not to say that I still don’t think they are inherently clunky and difficulty to use, but what I did realize is that the present tense combined with a second person perspective had a certain undeniable draw.  If you set up the story correctly, it could make for a very fascinating piece, combining elements of the first and third person viewpoints in a fairly novel way.  The problem, of course, is that it may wind up just a bit too strange to write well.

 

The thing is that I am now willing to give it a try.  Nothing novel-length yet … I have already established a writing style for each of my two trilogies and I don’t have the time to go off on a tangent that large.  A short story, though, could make for a fun diversion, especially if it ties in to the other narratives.

 

So, what do you fine folks think?  Do you think I should experiment with this while I have the time?  Let me know!

Disregard the shifting themes!

While Rusty Grunge looked nice, it didn’t make great use of the screen, so expect shifting themes over the next few days until I find one that I think works better.

Plot and Motivation: The tired trope of Distress

With the second edition of my first books in the process of getting out the door and the editing wrapping up on the second round, I’ve been spending a fair chunk of time setting up the finale to my two trilogies.  That’s led me to spend time thinking about plotting, motivations, and the associated tropes with them.  I want there to be some hard choices made by the protagonists in both series on the course to the finale, to up the tension both for the characters and the readers, so my mind turned to death and danger in regards to the cast as a means of increasing that tension.  I’ve talked about the idea of death as motivation before, so I decided to write about my thoughts on the classic trope of the Damsel (or Dude) in Distress.

 

Now, you may be saying, ‘Now, wait, shouldn’t this be a Looking at Character article?  The Damsel in Distress is a stock character, not a trope.’ and to that I respond, ‘HA!  Most Damsels (or Dudes) in Distress aren’t characters, they are plot devices!”.  In fact, that is the main problem with their use in media: Male or female, the D-in-D trope turns a potentially compelling character into an object.  A prize to be fought over, a piece of property to be reclaimed, however you want to look at it, the character is clearly objectified.  Why dignify the D-in-D by calling it a character when all it is is a plot device?

 

If you are willing to make that concession and identify the problem of the trope being in the objectification, you’re still left with an important problem.  The fact is that the plot action defined by the trope (putting a loved one of the protagonist in jeopardy) might make logical sense in line with the motivations and abilities of the antagonist at work.  Why not use the most logical course of action in regards to the antagonists when to do otherwise could risk breaking the suspension of disbelief?

 

I think one way to help elevate the D-in-D trope out of the objectification gutter (someplace neither men or women need to be tossed into) is to present the incident and it’s after-effects without destroying the agency of the character put into harm’s way.  Even a simple passage as the protagonist finding the signs of an extended struggle from a kidnapping and evidence of escape attempts later can add some dignity and agency back to the D-in-D.  Another important point is to emphasize and flesh out not only the D-in-D-to-be before hand, but to emphasize the motivations of the protagonist outside of the obvious ones caused by this trope.  The distress caused to the Dude or Damsel should NOT be the sole motivation of the protagonist or else it further enhances the objectification caused by this trope.

 

Those are just a few ideas as to ways to make the D-in-D trope a bit more palatable.  Of course, the best way to avoid that pitfall is simply to find better and more complex ways to provide motivation for the protagonist and tension to the conflicts, but if you can’t, your duty as a writer is to find as many ways as possible to reduce the objectification caused by the trope and try to raise it beyond mere rote recitation of the story device as we so often see.  Fill out those motivations and characterizations and make sure never to fully deprive your characters of their agency.  Once the illusion of free will is shattered for the reader and they can see the rails on which the story runs, you can be sure they are a thousand times more likely to simply put the book down for some other kind of media.

 

Do you have any more ideas about how to use distress to characters as part of the plot without reducing them to objects?  Do you disagree with any of my ideas?  All debate is good, so feel free to speak up in the comments below!

Indomitable 2nd edition is done!

You can get it now on Smashwords for FREE!  It will also be live on Amazon.com within a day or two and then spread out from there through the Smashwords Premium distribution to a vast array of e-book vendors.

 

Felipe de Barros is now at work on the cover to the second edition of The Opening Bell, so that should be published near week’s end.  Stay tuned!

Weekend Update: The cover to Indomitable 2nd edition!

Here it is!  From the talented hand of Felipe de Barros, here’s the cover for the second edition of Indomitable, releasing late this week on Smashwords, Amazon, and a ton of other e-book sites.  Next up will be the second edition of The Opening Bell, followed by the next book in both series.  All titles should be out by the end of September, then it’s on to the finales for both series!

Looking At Character: The Ace

For this week’s Looking At Character article, let’s do the exact opposite of our previous topic, which, if you recall, was the Load, a helpless but essential character.  That opposite is the Ace: the flawless, best of the best character that everyone looks up to and pales in comparison.  Most often the Ace is used as a mentor figure or something with which to compare other character’s relative ineffectiveness or lack of moral character to.  Surprisingly, or perhaps not, Aces often don’t make it through the stories they are featured in, often killed, eliminated, or otherwise marginalized or humbled before the major climax.  With those bare-bone basics laid out, what is the story and characterization value of the Ace?

 

As mentioned above, often the Ace is position as a mentor figure for the protagonists, someone so amazingly good at what they do that they offer a logical path to let the other characters reach those same lofty heights.  Similarly, they may not be so much a direct mentor but a role model, someone other characters in the piece look up to and model themselves on.  Either way, this version of the Ace is used mostly as a characterization device as opposed to a plot motivator: his/her direct instruction or the ideal he/she represents shapes the development of the protagonists and how those characters progress down that road can reveal truths about their character.

 

Juxtapose the ‘Ace-as-mentor/role model’ concept against this idea: using the Ace as a foil for the protagonists.  The Ace often is shown to be almost unrealistically good at what he does or to be a sterling tower of morality, whether this is actually true or simply a public image.  Such an impossible standard may just not be something the protagonists can achieve and thus they (or other characters) may compare themselves to the Ace and find themselves wanting.  Perhaps, in cases where the Ace’s legend doesn’t match the truth, this comparison and the eventual discovery of the truth can lead to some very humanizing moments for both the protagonists and the formerly untarnished Ace as one realizes they, in fact, are good enough and the other gets brought back down to humanity.

 

Used as a plot device, the Ace’s main purpose to actuate a plot point is, most often, to die or to otherwise be taken out of the action.  Most often, this is, story-wise, done to allow the protagonists to step forward and take the Ace’s place.  Also, the Ace can be used to provide breathing room in a story, if there is some threat or conflict that the Ace’s presence keeps at bay but begs to be fleshed out before the climax.  The protagonists and the reader can be exposed to this conflict in a controlled manner, enough to be well-informed but always safe with the Ace’s presence.  At the appropriate dramatic time, the Ace is removed from the equation in some fashion and the full tension of the conflict can be realized, leading to an appropriate climax for the story.

 

One may wonder why the Ace, being depicted as nearly-flawless, isn’t often used as the main character.  In many ways, the Ace is what many protagonists end up as at the conclusion of their story arcs, especially in heroic fantasy and superhero tales, so why not use the Ace is a more direct fashion?  The reason is made clear by the mention of story arcs.  The Ace has no arc or, to be honest, had her/his arc already.  There is no heroic journey; the Ace is already at the pinnacle.  With no arc to explore and few flaws to provide drama, the Ace has no personal story that is worth telling on her/his own merits.  In that way, the Ace often represents the hero’s goal, that ultimate pinnacle to rise to, but are almost never the actual hero of the story.

 

Is there some character archetype or some particular brand of characterization you want me to ramble about?  Anything to add to the musings above?  Drop a line in the comments!