Creating An Antagonist

Hey everyone,

So this week I decided to look at creating an antagonist.

In lots of fantasy books, the antagonist is a villain (though this isn’t mandatory). Villains can be ordinary people. They can’t be evil just for the sake of being evil. Your antagonist, be they a single character or a group, they must be relatable in some way, or believe what they’re doing is right. In Into The Wild, the first book in the ‘Warriors’ original arc, ShadowClan is lead into tyranny by an ambitious, and psychotic leader, Brokenstar. However, ShadowClan is shown to care about their friends and family, and are even willing to disobey their leader to do what is best for them and their clan. 

ThunderClan gives us a parallel. In ShadowClan, we have the purely bad Brokenstar, and in ThunderClan, we have the ambitious, charismatic, and, as we can start to see, just as evil, Tigerclaw. Tigerclaw’s rise to power is used to show how Brokenstar may have gotten his own clan onside.

Although it is powerful, showing this parallel between the ‘evil’ clan, and the ‘good’ clan (or group), it’s not paramount. You can have an evil, yet relatable antagonist without showing someone else like him who is not yet in a position of power.

Antagonists can come about by seeing an imperfect world, and believing they alone know how to fix it. If they only wish for power then you may get a heartless, authoritarian leader instead. Interesting characterisation will make your antagonist memorable to the reader.

Your antagonist should also resonate with the focal point, or themes of your story. It should connect to other things the protagonist struggles with thorough. In ‘Warriors’, Fireheart defeats Brokenstar. We see the same thing happening in Thunderclan, adding wieght to the main arc, and Fireheart then exposes Tigerstar. Both these acts protect his own clan, just as the original anagonist, ShadowClan, wished to protect theirs.

Hopefully this will help you create interesting, and memorable villains (antagonists).

A video by LZRD WZRD explains in greater detail how the villains in ‘Warriors’ are used.

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Happy writing,

     Teen Fantasy Author

Creating a Protagonist

Hey everyone,

One of the most important things in very story we write is our protagonist. A lot of time can be put into creating an interesting, and well-rounded character, and in all stories the main characters must be interesting and well-rounded. 

Any protagonist you create must be relatable for your readers. Even in fantasy books, where the protagonist may not be human, they must still be relatable. Characters that are completely different to you are very hard to sympathise with o grab your interest. Your readers won’t be invested in your story, and are likely to put it down quickly.

But what makes our characters relatable? Readers relate with characters through their motivations and character traits. It is important to establish character motivations, and defining traits early on in a story. The fist ‘Warriors’ book ‘Into The Wild’, shows its protagonist, Rusty’s, primary desires in chapter 1. Through his dreams see a cat who longs for freedom, and to be out in the forest.

The book establishes character traits though showing not telling. This is the number 1 rule in writing: Show, don’t tell! By reading between the lines w can decree some of Rusty’s character traits, his independence, and sense of adventure. Rusty is shown to be totally at home in the forest in his dream. His qualities are subtly woven into the story. You may nitpick them up straight away, but subconsciously, you take note of them, making later developments seem smooth and natural.

When describing your character and their surroundings, think about the adjectives you use, and their connotations. Are they positive or negative? When Rust awakes from the dream where he seem to be so at home, the kitchen and house where he lives is described very differently. We see the world through his eyes, helping us to feel the same as him, and be behind him when he leaves his gadded fence to explore the forest beyond.

In this scene, the author has created an emotional connection with their reader. In oder to keep your audience engaged, showing the world through your characters eyes to create an emotional connection is paramount.

Allude to as any traits as you can early on without listing them. Filter in other information about future relationships, and foreshadowing the same. If you choose traits alluring to readers, they will instantly like the character. However, your story can also be interesting if you choose characteristics that oppose the ending result. This allows for a lot of obvious growth. Rust only has to hone his skills and tries he already has to grow in his eventual role at the end of the series, but both tory lines are interesting and engaging if well written.

Remember, whatever route you choose with your protagonists traits, there will always be challenges and obstacles for them to overcome, and use to grow throughout the story.

There is a great Youtube video made by LZRD WZRD which goes into wore detail about how the first ‘Warriors’ book draws the reader in with Rusty.

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Happy writing always,

    Teen Fantasy Author

Copyright and Sharing Your Work

Hey,

So I know sharing your work can be scary. In creative works, you’ve tended over the characters, and know them sometimes better than you know yourself. They’re your children. And the work that you have painstakingly edited and rewritten so much, is like your baby. Now you need to send it out into the world. A fresh set of eyes is needed to further rework and polish it.

If you have done enough work that you’re ready to send it to an editor or publisher, well great! And don’t worry about losing it. Editors and publishers do not steal ideas.

But it’s unlikely you’ll get it to this point by yourself. You should send copies of your work to others to read over first. Actual readers are great for input. They can tell you what other people will see and think when they read your work, but an author is even better. They are going through the same process as you, and have wired themselves to catch mistakes, clunky sentences, and not-quite-right-words. 

I said editors and publishers don’t steal ideas. Does that mean authors do? Well, yes. They steal ‘ideas’. You’re stories and work, however, is safe. 

If another author uses your idea, it’s actually a good thing. Many stories are created this way. Have you ever read a book and come up with your own idea based on it? It’s the same sort of thing. Remember, no matter how many people use your idea, they can never write the story the way you will. Ideas are just that. Ideas. Everyone’s interpretation will be different.

If your work is already written, don’t worry about sharing it with an author either. It is protected by law.

In Australia, all literary works (and musical, artistic, and dramatic works) are automatically under copyright owned by the original author. Everything that is written in this country, including this blog, can’t be reproduced, published, performed, adapted, or communicated to others without the author's permission. A copyright notice is not required. This lasts up until 70 years after the author's death unless the copyright is transferred and taken out on the piece by another party. After the 70 years are up, or the copyright is not renewed by the new owner, it becomes part of the public domain.

There are a few exceptions under fair dealings and similar, but an author cannot pass off an Australian author's work as their own. If you are concerned about sharing your work with another author, sending a copy to yourself as an attachment in an unopened email can serve as proof of you having the document first if you need it.

This is also mostly true of the United States. All literary (musical, dramatic, pantomimes, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, Audio-visual, sound recordings, derivative, compilations, and architectural) works created there are also under copyright automatically. However, if the author is contracted to write a piece, the copyright belongs to the person who hired them.

Copyright in the USA covers derivative works, distributing copies, publicly performing, displaying the work (although visual art is not covered for this part), and transmitting sound recordings. And again, this covers your work until 70 years after your death, the only exception being the transfer of copyright to another person or company.

In the USA however, some things, such as filing a lawsuit, cannot be done without registering the copyright. As the piece is automatically under copyright, if you register it after the copyright is broken, you can still take back your wok.

Fair use laws do mention some exceptions. These are the equivalent of fair dealing laws in Australia. Again, you can make copies with dates on them if you are concerned.

I am aware that there may be some people reading from other countries as well. I’m sorry that I can’t cover everywhere. Please check your own copyright laws if you are concerned, and check your fair use or fair dealing laws as well.

Although authors do steal ideas, they do not steal work. The writing community, both online and face-to-face is very welcoming and helpful. Reach out to them. New authors are always welcome!

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Cultural and Environmental Issues

Hey everyone.

Recently I’ve been thinking, I write a lot of stuff with a white, straight, female lead. I also read a lot of similar stuff. Sometimes I want to put something else into my stories, but I don’t want to force it.

Most people are likely to write about something they’re familiar with. This doesn’t mean you have to stick solely with that. Nor does it mean you absolutely have to try and put more diversity in. The absolute last thing you want to do is try and write what everyone else is writing. Cultural views are always changing, and no matter what you write you can’t please everyone.

Even if you yourself aren’t the norm, it doesn’t mean your characters have to be. You should write what feels natural for your characters. Of course, if you are writing with LGBTI+ or dark characters as one of the main themes of your book, then you’re likely to have many of characters like this, but you’re also likely to find this will fit naturally with your story.

LGBTI+ relationships come under a lot of controversies, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t write about them. Media is often the first step to opinions changing. In Tallstar’s Revenge by Erin Hunter, the gay relationship between Tallstar and Jake gets some of the most love in the fandom. It also gets some of the most hate. Like I said though, ‘you can’t please everyone’. The reason this relationship woks though, is it feels natural and organic. It’s not forced or layered on really thick. Emotional scenes are emotional. Friendly scenes are friendly. You could make one of the charters friendly and it would feel the same.

In romance, not everyone writes the classic ‘boy meets girl and ends up with girl’. There are plenty of ‘girl meets girl and ends up with girl’ stories out there too. The important thing is to write what is natural. Have characters the same or different to you, and don’t force them to be something they’re not.

As an author, I sometimes feel guilty about the strain I could put on the environment with my work. I write my blogs on a computer, which uses power. I write a lot of my ideas and drafts I notebooks, which mean trees mulched to use paper. Research is done partly online, and somewhere else that means huge amounts of power are being used for the internet. Unfortunately, to an extent at least, these issues can’t be helped, but they can be reduced.

For most of my drafts, I use my old school books. I’ve removed all the pages I used during my schooling, and have a whole draw full of them. Many of them have several pages yet. It’s also cheaper as I won’t have to buy new notebooks for writing in for a while.

I’m still living with my parents and will probably be renting later, so it will be a while before I can have much of a say in where my power comes from. However, a lot of people are investing in solar panels on their roof now. My house has some that feedback into the grid. As well as providing clean energy, it also lowers the cost of our power bill.

Finally, in terms of the internet, there are a number of browsers and programs to choose from. Many offer environmentally conscious options. I use Ecosia, which plants trees for each internet search made. It has app options for smartphones and tablets and has plugin options for web browsers on computers. There are there options available, so you can find one that works for you if you want to be environmentally conscious in your writing.

Also, this blog is funded entirely by my Patreon account. Patrons will be able to see their name in the sidebar and get early updates to see blog posts. If you can’t become a patron though, that’s okay. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy this blog.

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Do what works for you,

    Teen Fantasy Author

Reason For My Long Hiatus

Hey everyone.

It's been a long time since I last posted, and some of you, especially those who don't follow me on social media (links on right) are probably wondering what happened.

The main reason I stopped was lack of income. Actually, that's really the only reason. I wasn't making any money from making these blogs, or any other writing I was doing, and it meant I had less time to put towards other activities that might create a more immediate source of income i.e. job searches.

So what have I been doing since I stopped blogging. Well, jobs searches, obviously. Lots of job searches. Unfortunately I'm in a low employment area and haven't had much luck.

I also went into the 'work for the dole' phase with Centrelink and started woking at Salvation Army Family Store four days a week. I finished that thank goodness. I liked working there, but trying to do twenty job searches a month when 9am-4pm four days of the week you can't, and making most of your free days the weekend when most businesses are closed it's not easy.

I also did a course online. I now have my Certificate III in Business.

I also stared a domestic cleaning business, Sapphire House Cleaning. I found I quite enjoy it, but it didn't feel right just settling. I wanted to write again. I'm still running this business too though.

I started helping with the family business as an oyster farmer. Not my dream job. I'm one of those people who manage to stay clean almost always, no matter what I'm doing. Oyster farming is a job where it's impossible to stay clean. Mud streaks are on your shirt even wearing an apron; you wear gloves covered in dead cunjevoi, oysters, and mud; gumboots, or better yet waders, are a must. It felt awful for me.

Finally, after telling my job provider I intended to restart this blog, and also start a blog on the 'Warriors' series by Erin Hunter, and connect them to Patreon I joined the NEIS program.

NEIS is basically a program for people with business ideas. You do a Certificate III in Micro Business Operations, write a job plan, a financial projection, and get a mentors support running your business for the first year. This means I'll be putting this blog posts out for at least a year. And, hopefully, if I start making money off Patreon, longer.

I know this blog was meant to out on the 13th. It took me a week to reorganise my schedule, but now the writing blog will be out every Sunday. I’ll also be able to get a ‘Warriors’ blog out every Saturday. On Monday every week I’ll start working on my blogs, and move to other writing activities when both are finished. This is of course with my domestic cleaning work allowing. That is usually only a coupe of hours one or two days a week though. Other writing activities will include things such as working on my current works in progress e.g. Karcess: Wolves In Turmoil.

Both this and my ‘Warriors’ blog, along with my other writing will be funded by Patreon. I’ve added tiers to give patrons rewards like being named in the sidebars of the blogs, and being able to read blog posts early, before they are free to view for everyone. It would be a great help even if you can only give $1 a month. And anyone who can’t become a patron, thank you for reading. I’d love to hear form you!

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Happy to be back,

     Teen Fantasy Author

Inspiration

Ah, the magic word for any of us who work in literature (or almost anything for that matter), inspiration. We just know when it hits us, we've come up with a million dollar masterpiece...And then a while later we can evaluate it rationally and maybe it's not quite so great, but we can make it so, regardless of what it really is.
The problem is when we can't find any inspiration. I'm not talking writers block, when we might look at anther project for a while, or take a quick break. I mean when try as we might, we have nothing. We can't add to a current story, or edit it, and we can't come up with something new.
What do we do at times like this? You can't just sit at your desk (or wherever else you write) and wait for inspiration to come to you. It just doesn't work. All you've got to write about is your book, your desk, and the wall in front of you.
The best answer is plan ahead. Whatever you do, or whoever you are, it's best to have a notebook of ideas stashed away somewhere.Whenever inspiration hits, grab it out, and jot down whatever came to mind. It doesn't matter if it's part of a story your working on, or a new idea. Get it down somewhere where you can always find it again. Don't just rely on your brain to remember. We're writers. We put down our stories on paper so we don't forget them. Why should our inspiration be any different. The most important thing is to have your notebook on hand when that inspiration hits.

You've probably heard before that most of our story ideas, our biggest pieces of inspiration for new projects, comes from before we've finished school. Early on high school, about mid year 8, my family went on a holiday to Dubbo zoo. Afterwards at the gift shop I picked up a notepad, pencil, and rubber at the gift shop. Yes, I like my living megafauna, the giraffes. After we got home, these items found a home in a special pocket of my school bag, seperate to my pencil case. Every time I got a new idea, I'd pull out the notebook and pencil, and jot down a few words to remind me on a spare page. After school, waiting for the bus, or at lunch time, I'd fill up the two sides of that one page with everything I could think of for that story. A full two pages, with no crossed out stuff (that was rubbed out and replaced with something relevant) would give me a detailed enough outline to start working on that story. Some ideas have been abandoned or put on the back burner since then, but every time I'm at a loss, and open it up, I find another idea I had long since forgotten about, but can still make a great story. If you're still in school, keep your inspiration book with you at all times.
For those of us who have left school, all is not lost. If your school years were the only time you could find inspiration many great writers would have had to find a new job just a few years in. "everybody was past a thousand story ideas every day. The goos writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any." - Orson Scott Card. Of those thousand story ideas, the five or six you notice is different for everyone. The trick is learning where the ones you see come from.
Lots of people get their idea from dreams. It doesn't happen that often for me, but from time to time, I do get a really good, solid idea; one that I want to turn into a story. The Warriors fan fiction I'm writing actually came from a dream. All the dream gave me was the last part of the final chapter. I decided I wanted to further explore this world with the rest of the story. I just had to decide how to introduce it for myself. Other times all I've been given is a character, or a chance meeting, but, as you instinctively just know some things in dreams, that's been enough to give me an entire chapter, and story outline. If this works for you keep your inspiration book next to your bed, and start a first thing in the morning routine of writing in it.
Another great place to get ideas for new stories is from the books you read. I'm not talking about changing the setting and spitting out a cheap copy, though. We want an original idea. Stories show events happening in a certain order. To get the same story, all those events have to happen exactly the same. Some great fan fictions come from giving others an alternative universe where things happened differently. However, creating new characters, in a new story, in the same starting situation, and then switching it, gives us a great new novel. And don't worry if someone else has the same idea. Only you can write the story the way you want to. This is why we are always told to read widely. If reading helps you come up with great ideas, keep your inspiration book in a cosy corner, or wherever you most like curl up with a good book. (And don't forget to borrow those amazing lines!)
Finally, if you need to come up with a new idea fast, and nothing fits in past ideas, or you don't have time to read, go for a walk. A walk around your house, down the street, or in the bush opens you up to some great ideas. If you regularly go for walks, either with your pet or by yourself, if you think about it I bet some great ideas have come to you while your out. If this is your gold mine of writing ideas keep your inspiration book near the front door, and even consider brining it with you on your walks.

Remember, inspiration strikes all of us every day. Be prepared, and have a book at the ready to jot down ideas as they come.

Be inspired,

       Teen Fantasy Author

Getting Discovered

Hey guys.
For a lot of first time writers the idea of talking to an agent, or a publisher, is pretty daunting. Getting the right one is extremely important. It's like entering an art show: who wins will depend a lot on what the person who's judging it likes. Perhaps they like abstract art done with oil paints. Someone might have drawn an amazing still life with granite, but if it's not what the judge likes, it isn't likely to win unfortunately. The same goes for your writing; if it's not what the publisher likes in terms of genre or audience, it's probably going to get you a rejection letter.
This means a lot of research, query writing, and stress after you've already spent ages writing what could be a bestseller. What choice do we have though? Wouldn't it be easier if the publisher for you found you themselves? The answer: get discovered. Being found or 'discovered' by someone in the literary world who likes your ideas, writing style, and voice isn't certain to land you a publishing deal, but it can certainly give you a big leg up on the way.
But how do we do that? Sure we know our writing can make it. Sure our friends and family know it's great. But how are we meant to show a big time agent, publisher, author, or journalist that our work is worthy of publication, and big sales?
Now this is the easy bit.
Everyone browses online sometimes. They see hundreds upon thousands of different web pages by different people. Some they like, and some they don't. Some of those web pages are stories. I've read lots of fan fics and original works online. Some I liked, and some I didn't. The point is making some of these works yours. Just because the first few people can't get you your huge break and 'discover' you, or some of them don't like it. It doesn't mean that person who loves it, and has the standing to give you that leg up isn't out there.
It's just a matter of what to use and where. Who here is in school or just finished? Are you thinking of throwing out those old books and assignments? No! Don't! Stop! These old books are exactly what you want to keep and show others. I don't just mean you English books either. I mean all of them!
Let's start with the obvious. Throughout the years in English we've probably written plenty of short stories and some first drafts (or half the first draft) of a few novels and novellas too. There are plenty of sites which are fret join on which you can upload your novels. As for your short stories and novels, they might be able to get you a whole range of things more than a view.
There are hundreds of short story contests all over the place. All you have to do is find one you qualify for in terms of age, demographics, etc. and find a story of yours that fits the word limit and any other criteria. The prizes range greatly. Some will offer you money, which you can use to help fund your time spent on your other writing projects. Some will actually get your story published. Often even the runners up will get publishing offers for these, as the judges are part of a publishing house, and when you think of how many entries might go into competitions, there's bound to be more than three great entries. Others might only give you a shirt or something, but if you can say you won such and such short story competition it still shows the worth of your work, and of course, most short story competition entries are seen by, not only the judges, but runners up and winners are often made public for the world to see.
Oh, and if there's a voice telling you you possibly can't afford to enter a writing competition, tell that voice to buzz off because it has no idea what it's talking about. There are plenty of free competitions out there either looking for people who will support a cause through their writing, or will give them something great to publish for sales. Australian Writers Resource gives a large range of competitions for Australian authors, and there are a ton which have an entry price of Nil, so don't try and wriggle out of this saying you can't afford to enter competitions. If you have a story that fits into one, you can't afford not to.
As well as publishing a novel or part of a novel like my sneak peek at Chapter One of Karcess: Wolves in Turmoil, there are plenty of places to put up anything else you've written. And I do mean anything. Reports, letters to book characters, even essays. G.J. Stroud author of Measuring Up herself was discovered with an essay.
So put yourself out there, get noticed, and get 'discovered'!

Keep on Writing,
 
   Teen Fantasy Author