Friday, July 26, 2013

On Writing Characters



This is a topic that I've had a lot of discussions about. And they all come down to a few things:

1. Are they believable?

2. Are they compelling?

3. Are they individuals you can identify with?

4. Do they work for the story?

Believable
This is probably the most subjective element in a character. Personally, most of the beta-male [weak and indecisive] characters are not believable to me. Most men I've known in my life are anything but this.
So, when I write a character I make them over-the-top, no holds barred alpha males that will do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals -- no matter how dark or twisted these goals are.
Some would argue most humans, regardless of sex, are weak and indecisive and it's interesting to read about how they manage or do not manage their lives in this respect. I'm just not one of those people. Normally I will put down a book like that, because I would not find this believable or worth the effort and/or time. 
This is not to suggest that the alpha male characters are right, or wrong [moral questions are worthless when dealing with people's goals and drives -- morality is what we think people should do...not what they do], but that they are more interesting as villains, heroes, or tragic figures than an Oblamov character is [see Ivan Goncharov's 'Oblamov' for more information].

Compelling
This should flow almost directly from 'Believable'. There are important elements here, however, which distinguish it from believability. As an adjective it literally means: tending to persuade by forcefulness of argument. This is the key, the character must have a point of view and be willing to pursue that perspective through to the, perhaps, bitter end. Actions in such a character need to be bold, shocking, controversial, and unwavering -- even if the character has doubts about their actions. Actually, it's a good idea to have your character confront their doubts, but still to forge ahead: Shakespeare and Homer have taught us that if naught else.
However, endless and nauseating self-reflection may make for beautiful prose but will not help the story or plot [the distinction between these two is not for this post] in the end.

Identifying with the Character
Here is a psychologically sketchy area. Some characters with all the appropriate virtues and mild vices are easy enough to identify with, but often this can be boring. Sometimes it is fun to take a ride in a character we might find repellent in our actually lives, but in our dark hearts [and everyone has one] they can be interesting, enlightening, and even entertaining.
My writing is concerned, almost exclusively, with the Anti-hero [An anti-hero is only good in comparison to those around them], and therefore identifying with them is a problematic enterprise and one that is possible only if you carry a seed of this darkness in yourself. Thankfully, most of us do.


Does the character work for the story?
An anti-hero in a bodice-ripper can work, but it isn't the norm. Now I am speaking of the genuine anti-hero and not the milksop Byronic wannabes of Twilight, Anne Rice, or countless other creations of the Chick Lit. World [my prejudices are here for the world to see].
An anti-hero can work best in a world of moral ambiguities or outright rejection of moral and legal systems which bind humanity one to the other in a social and legal construct of acceptable and unacceptable behaviours.
Ultimately, a character is a manifestation of a book's theme and aesthetic sensibility and must work and act within that zeitgeist. If the reader cannot accept the world view then their ability to be convinced by the character will come into question and the book, in the end, will be a failure for the reader. It is for this reason that we now have so many genres, sub-genres, and such a plurality of general fiction and literary fiction today. We are literally drowning in literary micro-niches [dig through Amazon some day if you doubt me].

As a final thought, let me suggest this list of elements for a successfully character is not complete -- how could it ever be? What defines a character is a nebulous area, as is what defines plot [a good one at least]. However, these are the elements, for this writer, which helps to define characters that are worth my time and, hopefully, yours.

Friday, May 10, 2013

Writing is an act of War

Writing is a bloody hard job and only professionals should engage in it...research, outlining, creativity, and plain backbreaking work are all necessary. And if you are not prepared to burn your life down to the ground, as well as those of everyone around you, don't even think of being a writer. Writing is an act of rampage killing; genocide; and a plain old act of war by conquest. Leave no survivors.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

The Dog Particle

The Dog Particle  [Volume 2 of The Burdened Air]

The 2nd volume & conclusion of The Burdened Air is now on Amazon. You will find it here -- The Dog Particle. At the moment the only edition available is the eBook. However, the paperback will be available in about 7 business days if not sooner.

Synopsis

Dinged in signs on the road to nirvanic buggery—life had never felt so much like this before.

Tricked through a Bridge into Sanat by Zephyr and a splinter group of the Eventyr, Alexandru ‘Sandu’ Barr is left no choice but to complete his search for the weapon and what is supposed to be a final confrontation with Loehr.

In a confused, surprising, phantastic, and bloody run across the heartland of the Nexus—then back on Earth—Sandu is forced to confront the fundamental nature of his rage; the intentions of the cabal known as the Rada; the confusing, duplicitous love of a transmogrifying woman; the existential nature of the weapon and his relationship to this; lastly, the fundamental nature and appearance of redemption—behind the drum and bugle.

In ‘The Dog Particle’, Book II and conclusion of ‘The Burdened Air’, Sandu’s skip across dimensional frontiers, and then back, takes its toll on man, planet, and metaverse in ways unexpected and troubling for all. Hope, of sorts, remains, because in this is the only way forward—even if ludicrous, debilitating, and—finally—another episode in the Eternal Return, unless Sandu can break the cycle of violation and violence.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Dog Particle, Bk. II of The Burdened Air - Now with the Book Designer

The second part of 'The Burdened Air' 'The Dog Particle' has entered the book design phase of it's publication. This book should be available some time in April.

Here's the synopsis:

Dinged in signs on the road to nirvanic buggery—life had never felt so much like this before.

Tricked through a Bridge into Sanat by Zephyr and a splinter group of the Eventyr, Alexandru ‘Sandu’ Barr is left no choice, but to complete his search for the weapon and what is supposed to be a final confrontation with Loehr.

In a confused, surprising, phantastic, and bloody run across the heartland of the Nexus—then back on Earth—Sandu is forced to confront the fundamental nature of his rage; the intentions of the cabal known as the Rada; the confusing, duplicitous love of a transmogrifying woman; the existential nature of the weapon and his relationship to this; lastly, the fundamental nature and appearance of redemption—behind the drum and bugle.

In ‘The Dog Particle’, Book II and conclusion of ‘The Burdened Air’, Sandu’s skip across dimensional frontiers, and then back, takes its toll on man, planet, and the metaverse in ways unexpected and troubling for all. Hope, of sorts, remains, because in this is the only way forward—even if ludicrous, debilitating, and—finally—another episode in the Eternal Return, unless Sandu can break the cycle of violation and violence.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

A New Project

I have, mostly, finished the editing for the 2nd volume of The Burdened Air and this will go to the book designer next month. 

Meanwhile, I am 29,000 words into the 1st volume of my new trilogy...still no title. The 1st book will be a projected 140,000 words and the 1st draft should be completed by early March. The book itself should be ready for publication in June of this year. 

Describing a work in progress is about as difficult as describing a finished book. But, basically, it is a delinquent coming of age story in a contemporary Canadian city as magic is returning to the world.

The essential theme is that Secular Humanism and Faith need to find a way to live together or they will kill each other.   

Elements to be found in the story are: Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance, Dark Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Psychology, Philosophy, Literary Fiction, and Magic [not so much Religion]

Note: The author takes neither the side of magic nor secularism. The functioning thesis is that both must learn to live with the other, or destroy each other.  

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Seurat Construct [Paperback] Available

The Seurat Construct paperback edition is available from CreateSpace now, but will not be on Amazon for another 5-7 days.  Here's a link if you would like to order it from CreateSpace:

https://www.createspace.com/4070870

Happy Reading

Synopsis
For Francis Bacon-'Revenge is a kind of wild justice'. For Sandu Barr, it was all which remained to him in the years since his wife's enigmatic death.

Drawn across cities, countries, and continents by ludic memories and quixotic chimaeras, Sandu is fired by the pursuit of what happened, why, and-above all-for those responsible. Still, he'd no real expectation of success until that evening in the industrial basin.

The cryptic encounter-hard on the docks-with the figure scuttling down the ruined, derelict streets offered the first genuine opportunity in years. From this a widening gyre of gesture, absurdity, battle ballet, metaphysical elusion, and political in-fighting emerged. Detail nearly drowning sense and purpose.

Helped by dream, a jade-eyed, black grimalkin of mixed purpose, a hesitant, self-righteous cabal, and his own rage he stalks a tableau of characters and elusive endgames which cross time, M-Theory, myth, folklore, eschatology, and the burdened air of revolutionary wrath and justice.

Cosseting these is an exegetical, if suspicious, promise of redemption.

The Seurat Construct is Book I of 'The Burdened Air'. This is followed by The Dog Particle, Book II and conclusion of 'The Burdened Air'.

Seurat Construct Live on Kindle Site

Finally, the book has gone live on Amazon Kindle. But the print book is still waiting for the final okay.

You can find it here:

The Seurat Construct: A Novel

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Publication Update

The Seurat Construct is one step closer to going live. I now have the finalized covers and am waiting on eBook Artisans to put the finishing touches on the interior design of the book [print and ebook].

Chapter 4 Scene 3 of the new book

Been writing the new book, no title yet, since January 16th. So far I've written just over 16,000 of 140,000 words using Scrivener.

Today, I am working on 4.3 [chapter/scene] and Matt will be picking up his mother after she blacked-out the night before and woke up in a Wood on the western frontier of the city...and they have a meeting with his Principal and VP later in the morning...oh, my!!!