Writing Tips: Things I do include
In my previous Blog post, I listed eight things I avoid when writing my medieval Valguard adventures. This time, let's talk more positively about the things I do include:
1. BAD GUYS MUST DO VERY BAD THINGS -- Villains who are properly evil have to do horrific things. This is something that has bugged me since 1989's Bond movie, Licence To Kill. For Dalton's 2nd outing he was trying to get away from Rog's earlier flippancy and be darker and truer to the source material. The studio wasn't so keen and cut the more brutal actions of Sanchez wanting to make a PG Die Hard-lite. The problem is when you soften the villain you begin to weaken your empathy for the protagonist who ultimately beats him. Fantasy books conventionally demand that the villain is killed (as opposed to convicted in police/legal genres) so if the baddie isn't that bad, the reader won't differentiate between the hero and the villain. Bad guys must do bad things to make the good guys good, or at least preferable. You can't just label them bad and give them a black hat, their actions must be loathsome and the reader must demand punishment and his wrongs put right. Remember this is a brutal world for grown-ups.
Additionally, if your hero is just about to vanquish the baddie, don't have something stop him just so you can replay the conflict again in the sequel. Finish the story arc and then you can invent a new, more evil villain for the next book. This point leads into...
2. KILL PEOPLE -- If characters all survive the story there is no jeopardy, there is no risk or dangers to be overcome. Like a game of chess, even your favourite three-dimensional characters sometimes have to be sacrificed, not just the faceless 'redshirt' non-player characters. No one has embraced this as much as George R. R. Martin, with his 'all bets are off' philosophy you really have to enjoy the characters while you can as there is no guarantee they will survive to the next page. But unexpected deaths should not just be there for the sake of it, make them count: Give a major character a fitting send-off that will shock or bring a tear to the eye as if it was a close friend. In the Strontium Dog story 'The Final Solution' published way back in the 1980s by the UK comic 2000AD, mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha was blinded and killed on an alien world in a story that shocked its readership, but he sacrificed himself to save everyone else. It was, without doubt, the best 5 pages I have read in any comic. EVER. I even have the pages printed out and framed on my office wall. This was heartbreaking to read as a teenager but was more emotional than JJ Abrams throwing away Han Solo off a gantry in the belated, disappointing remix that was The Force Awakens. Never has such a beloved character been so badly served or mourned less, even by poor Chewie. Back in 1992, When they were editing one of the many reshot endings of Alien 3, they famously said Ripley must voluntarily fall into the furnace before the xenomorph appears out of her chest otherwise it is not a sacrifice -- it's just 'garbage disposal'.
Even an unexpected accidental death can have gravitas and a sense of tragedy to it. Don't have supporting characters outstay their welcome and always leave them wanting more. That said, don't go overboard and kill everyone either, it's a delicate balancing act. Like swearing, the most impact is to be had by occasional and perfectly timed use, otherwise, you lose their power. In 'Spares' by Michael Marshall Smith, the lead character pretty much gets everyone he meets killed in his wake, a bit like 24's Jack Bauer whose address book is so full of crossed out names, it is tragic by even Shakespearean proportions.
Maybe at this point, I should point out that I have already written Valguard's death scene. As he suffers from visions when he sleeps and the worst recurring nightmare he has is seeing his own death. This foretelling can be both the liberating in some ways offering a sense of invulnerability and a curse to live with as we can explore the repercussions of fate and destiny and the reliability of portents and their interpretation. All that remains is the question of which book it will appear in I will not say for now. No one is safe!
3. DESCRIPTIONS -- I know many writers never even specify as much as hair colour of the protagonists and rely on the dialogue and plot to propel the narrative. I understand this speeds up the pacing of the book with fast tennis ball exchanges of dialogue filling a page (mentioning no names, but it rhymes with Lee Child) but I see the scenes vividly in my head and then have to describe them as best I can. I like to think of it as adding colour to a sketch. Each person should be different visually as well as in attitude or personality. It is all too easy to have another angry fighter no different from the last, and I don't just mean 'oh, I dunno... I'll give him a limp' kind of trait. Always remember, if I had the time and money this would be a graphic novel or better still a movie or HBO TV series.
4. FRUITY LANGUAGE -- It was no picnic in the dark ages and, then as now, swear words are often used especially in life or death situations. So far in my Valguard books, the first words he says in every book is a swear word; 'fuck' in Knight, 'piss' in Chariot and 'shit' in Vampire Night. He's a classy guy. The exception is the very short story Sanctuary which when originally wrote it had so little bad language in it, I have since gone back and swapped it all out. As this story was designed to be a permanently free taster it probably would be alright to clean it a little. Like I said, it wouldn't alter the story much and finally, my 11 year old son would be able to read one of my stories. Generally though, the more a character swears the more unlikeable or uneducated he probably will be. I love a well-timed swear word for effect but when every other word is effing this and effing that, I roll my eyes, even if the character IS that retarded. I haven't watched all of The Wire or Deadwood because I was a put off by the constant swears and these are milestone TV programmes that were buried away on the UK when they were originally made but I'm sure I will have another go at some point. I'm no village vicar but there's a time and a place for profanity, never in front of the kids and you should always play to your audience. In print, I have yet to drop the C-bomb but have written a scene in which Barwick, the foul-mouthed landlord of Valguard's local inn, The Gravedigger, really goes to town insulting a stunned drunk troublemaker for a whole page and a half. It is by far the most offensive thing I have ever written and although quite funny, I'm unsure if it will stay in the proposed book. Yes, it's that bad.
5. HUMOUR -- the text should be laced with dark humour to offset the grim reality of medieval life and death. I find a lot of humour in dire situations. I don't know if it's a British thing or just gallows humour, but sometimes when the excrement is piling high you sometimes can only laugh at the mess you are in. No matter how dark the story gets there is always time for some infantile banter. Even when you have a tavern full of serious cutthroats they will take the piss out of each other's haircuts, drinks, armour whatever. Worryingly, in this age of social media and people confusing offence with not liking something, it is becoming more of a concern. I wonder if some of the dialogue that feels acceptable today will not be in ten years time and should that be something to address in my writing? What used to pass for fairly innocent mocking of a person's sexuality can now be labelled gender shaming. Ultimately your barometer of taste can only be what is acceptable at the time of publication and just as glaring errors like Agatha Christie's Ten Little N******, these things will be revisited at a later time with more enlightened eyes. But blokes back then would always be just as shallow as the men in your local today, nothing has changed. Tarantino proved this with his trademark scenes in Reservoir Dogs when the jewel heist gang bicker like kids over their codenames during the briefing. It all comes from well-written, great dialogue. As long as the humour comes from the situations they find themselves and not just slapstick clowning around. Mind you, once people are full of ale anything could happen.
6. DIRT -- almost everything is old and covered in mud, sweat and blood. To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 'How do you know he was a King?' 'He's not got shit all over him.' Many in the population will be defined by malnutrition and scarred by disease. Life is hard. Food is often scarce and meals are missed for days. Life expectancy is short, children die young and newborn babies don't always survive. In fact, Valguard is considered a veteran in his mid-thirties and he knows himself he will soon be on borrowed time. Where you have riches, the world becomes new and clean and shiny and only serves to counterpoint a feudal world of privilege and power over the rest of the struggling population and the widening gap between these worlds. Much like today really.
7. A TOUCH OF MAGIC -- All the great wizards have gone now and magic is a rare a forgotten craft. There are sorcerers but these are occasional and peppered through the books. Valguard's powers of telekinesis aren't magic, he didn't learn spells through scrolls and books, it was an unexpected ability he developed in his youth and learned to control. Like an X-man's mutant powers or a Jedi's use of The Force. Even so, in any situation, it is only one of many responses he could deploy and more often than not he would still prefer to use use a sword or hand-to-hand in combat.
8. RESPECT YOUR READER -- Any book in a series should be self-contained and give at least a passing nod to relevant character milestones or plot points in previous books. It could be thought of as arrogant to think your reader will have read all your previous entries and neither is it right you should demand they must read your books in sequence. Especially as an author, I am guilty of writing them 'sort of' out of sequence in the first place (it's complicated). You have to expect a reader could very well stumble across your book by accident or be lent it from an impassioned friend who insists you'd like it. I myself started reading Sycamore Gap by L.J. Ross before realising it was actually Holy Island that was the first book in the series, I don't know if it mattered but I started at book #1 anyway. A textbook example of that is James Cameron's screenplay for Aliens. You could watch that movie having never seen Ridley Scott's original as all its plot points are effortlessly dropped into the first act explaining the alien's physiology and the events onboard the Nostromo.
9. ACTION -- These stories should be thrilling adventures, an in your face yarn of old-school daring and lucky escapes. Never be complacent and when the reader thinks they know where the story is going, pull the rug out from under them. Use plot twists, left turns and surprises to keep the reader on his toes and unsure what will happen in the next bit -- not simply at the end, Mr M. Night Shyalaman, which ironically, becomes the oxymoron that is the expected twist. Always leave a chapter on a cliffhanger or a hook of a question and stop the reader closing your book / switching off the Kindle and turning off the light. 'Just one more chapter' is what you have to aim for and then when the book is finished, they should be downloading the next one.
These points may be nothing new, but they are key touchstones in my writing process. My stories take place in the sweet spot where Historical Fiction and Fantasy meet and come with its own rules. If you missed the more controversial list of things I avoid putting in my books it is available on my Goodreads writing blog here http://bit.ly/2O1GsJn
Cheers, Dave
1. BAD GUYS MUST DO VERY BAD THINGS -- Villains who are properly evil have to do horrific things. This is something that has bugged me since 1989's Bond movie, Licence To Kill. For Dalton's 2nd outing he was trying to get away from Rog's earlier flippancy and be darker and truer to the source material. The studio wasn't so keen and cut the more brutal actions of Sanchez wanting to make a PG Die Hard-lite. The problem is when you soften the villain you begin to weaken your empathy for the protagonist who ultimately beats him. Fantasy books conventionally demand that the villain is killed (as opposed to convicted in police/legal genres) so if the baddie isn't that bad, the reader won't differentiate between the hero and the villain. Bad guys must do bad things to make the good guys good, or at least preferable. You can't just label them bad and give them a black hat, their actions must be loathsome and the reader must demand punishment and his wrongs put right. Remember this is a brutal world for grown-ups.
Additionally, if your hero is just about to vanquish the baddie, don't have something stop him just so you can replay the conflict again in the sequel. Finish the story arc and then you can invent a new, more evil villain for the next book. This point leads into...
2. KILL PEOPLE -- If characters all survive the story there is no jeopardy, there is no risk or dangers to be overcome. Like a game of chess, even your favourite three-dimensional characters sometimes have to be sacrificed, not just the faceless 'redshirt' non-player characters. No one has embraced this as much as George R. R. Martin, with his 'all bets are off' philosophy you really have to enjoy the characters while you can as there is no guarantee they will survive to the next page. But unexpected deaths should not just be there for the sake of it, make them count: Give a major character a fitting send-off that will shock or bring a tear to the eye as if it was a close friend. In the Strontium Dog story 'The Final Solution' published way back in the 1980s by the UK comic 2000AD, mutant bounty hunter Johnny Alpha was blinded and killed on an alien world in a story that shocked its readership, but he sacrificed himself to save everyone else. It was, without doubt, the best 5 pages I have read in any comic. EVER. I even have the pages printed out and framed on my office wall. This was heartbreaking to read as a teenager but was more emotional than JJ Abrams throwing away Han Solo off a gantry in the belated, disappointing remix that was The Force Awakens. Never has such a beloved character been so badly served or mourned less, even by poor Chewie. Back in 1992, When they were editing one of the many reshot endings of Alien 3, they famously said Ripley must voluntarily fall into the furnace before the xenomorph appears out of her chest otherwise it is not a sacrifice -- it's just 'garbage disposal'.
Even an unexpected accidental death can have gravitas and a sense of tragedy to it. Don't have supporting characters outstay their welcome and always leave them wanting more. That said, don't go overboard and kill everyone either, it's a delicate balancing act. Like swearing, the most impact is to be had by occasional and perfectly timed use, otherwise, you lose their power. In 'Spares' by Michael Marshall Smith, the lead character pretty much gets everyone he meets killed in his wake, a bit like 24's Jack Bauer whose address book is so full of crossed out names, it is tragic by even Shakespearean proportions.
Maybe at this point, I should point out that I have already written Valguard's death scene. As he suffers from visions when he sleeps and the worst recurring nightmare he has is seeing his own death. This foretelling can be both the liberating in some ways offering a sense of invulnerability and a curse to live with as we can explore the repercussions of fate and destiny and the reliability of portents and their interpretation. All that remains is the question of which book it will appear in I will not say for now. No one is safe!
3. DESCRIPTIONS -- I know many writers never even specify as much as hair colour of the protagonists and rely on the dialogue and plot to propel the narrative. I understand this speeds up the pacing of the book with fast tennis ball exchanges of dialogue filling a page (mentioning no names, but it rhymes with Lee Child) but I see the scenes vividly in my head and then have to describe them as best I can. I like to think of it as adding colour to a sketch. Each person should be different visually as well as in attitude or personality. It is all too easy to have another angry fighter no different from the last, and I don't just mean 'oh, I dunno... I'll give him a limp' kind of trait. Always remember, if I had the time and money this would be a graphic novel or better still a movie or HBO TV series.
4. FRUITY LANGUAGE -- It was no picnic in the dark ages and, then as now, swear words are often used especially in life or death situations. So far in my Valguard books, the first words he says in every book is a swear word; 'fuck' in Knight, 'piss' in Chariot and 'shit' in Vampire Night. He's a classy guy. The exception is the very short story Sanctuary which when originally wrote it had so little bad language in it, I have since gone back and swapped it all out. As this story was designed to be a permanently free taster it probably would be alright to clean it a little. Like I said, it wouldn't alter the story much and finally, my 11 year old son would be able to read one of my stories. Generally though, the more a character swears the more unlikeable or uneducated he probably will be. I love a well-timed swear word for effect but when every other word is effing this and effing that, I roll my eyes, even if the character IS that retarded. I haven't watched all of The Wire or Deadwood because I was a put off by the constant swears and these are milestone TV programmes that were buried away on the UK when they were originally made but I'm sure I will have another go at some point. I'm no village vicar but there's a time and a place for profanity, never in front of the kids and you should always play to your audience. In print, I have yet to drop the C-bomb but have written a scene in which Barwick, the foul-mouthed landlord of Valguard's local inn, The Gravedigger, really goes to town insulting a stunned drunk troublemaker for a whole page and a half. It is by far the most offensive thing I have ever written and although quite funny, I'm unsure if it will stay in the proposed book. Yes, it's that bad.
5. HUMOUR -- the text should be laced with dark humour to offset the grim reality of medieval life and death. I find a lot of humour in dire situations. I don't know if it's a British thing or just gallows humour, but sometimes when the excrement is piling high you sometimes can only laugh at the mess you are in. No matter how dark the story gets there is always time for some infantile banter. Even when you have a tavern full of serious cutthroats they will take the piss out of each other's haircuts, drinks, armour whatever. Worryingly, in this age of social media and people confusing offence with not liking something, it is becoming more of a concern. I wonder if some of the dialogue that feels acceptable today will not be in ten years time and should that be something to address in my writing? What used to pass for fairly innocent mocking of a person's sexuality can now be labelled gender shaming. Ultimately your barometer of taste can only be what is acceptable at the time of publication and just as glaring errors like Agatha Christie's Ten Little N******, these things will be revisited at a later time with more enlightened eyes. But blokes back then would always be just as shallow as the men in your local today, nothing has changed. Tarantino proved this with his trademark scenes in Reservoir Dogs when the jewel heist gang bicker like kids over their codenames during the briefing. It all comes from well-written, great dialogue. As long as the humour comes from the situations they find themselves and not just slapstick clowning around. Mind you, once people are full of ale anything could happen.
6. DIRT -- almost everything is old and covered in mud, sweat and blood. To quote Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 'How do you know he was a King?' 'He's not got shit all over him.' Many in the population will be defined by malnutrition and scarred by disease. Life is hard. Food is often scarce and meals are missed for days. Life expectancy is short, children die young and newborn babies don't always survive. In fact, Valguard is considered a veteran in his mid-thirties and he knows himself he will soon be on borrowed time. Where you have riches, the world becomes new and clean and shiny and only serves to counterpoint a feudal world of privilege and power over the rest of the struggling population and the widening gap between these worlds. Much like today really.
7. A TOUCH OF MAGIC -- All the great wizards have gone now and magic is a rare a forgotten craft. There are sorcerers but these are occasional and peppered through the books. Valguard's powers of telekinesis aren't magic, he didn't learn spells through scrolls and books, it was an unexpected ability he developed in his youth and learned to control. Like an X-man's mutant powers or a Jedi's use of The Force. Even so, in any situation, it is only one of many responses he could deploy and more often than not he would still prefer to use use a sword or hand-to-hand in combat.
8. RESPECT YOUR READER -- Any book in a series should be self-contained and give at least a passing nod to relevant character milestones or plot points in previous books. It could be thought of as arrogant to think your reader will have read all your previous entries and neither is it right you should demand they must read your books in sequence. Especially as an author, I am guilty of writing them 'sort of' out of sequence in the first place (it's complicated). You have to expect a reader could very well stumble across your book by accident or be lent it from an impassioned friend who insists you'd like it. I myself started reading Sycamore Gap by L.J. Ross before realising it was actually Holy Island that was the first book in the series, I don't know if it mattered but I started at book #1 anyway. A textbook example of that is James Cameron's screenplay for Aliens. You could watch that movie having never seen Ridley Scott's original as all its plot points are effortlessly dropped into the first act explaining the alien's physiology and the events onboard the Nostromo.
9. ACTION -- These stories should be thrilling adventures, an in your face yarn of old-school daring and lucky escapes. Never be complacent and when the reader thinks they know where the story is going, pull the rug out from under them. Use plot twists, left turns and surprises to keep the reader on his toes and unsure what will happen in the next bit -- not simply at the end, Mr M. Night Shyalaman, which ironically, becomes the oxymoron that is the expected twist. Always leave a chapter on a cliffhanger or a hook of a question and stop the reader closing your book / switching off the Kindle and turning off the light. 'Just one more chapter' is what you have to aim for and then when the book is finished, they should be downloading the next one.
These points may be nothing new, but they are key touchstones in my writing process. My stories take place in the sweet spot where Historical Fiction and Fantasy meet and come with its own rules. If you missed the more controversial list of things I avoid putting in my books it is available on my Goodreads writing blog here http://bit.ly/2O1GsJn
Cheers, Dave
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