And this is when you realize you really missed writing

I just read this and this and realized how much I missed writing over the last few months. Really, all personal stress and life-changing issues set aside, I really missed that feeling of having some room there to have my characters talk to me, to have scenes unfold in my head and to just sit down and write for the heck of it.

Sure, I’d love to get this book published some day, but even so I write, because I love it. I write because I love my story and my characters and I love to have those sudden strikes of inspiration that keep me up late at night, glued to the laptop typing away. And now it’s been coming back for the last few days and it really makes me happy. Even though I’m sick as a puppy right now and am not doing a whole lot of writing, I’m sorting through things and get back on track again.

And yes the voices are back too and they are telling me things of literary awesome

Writing Characters of Opposite Genders

I’m pretty sure we’ve all had that experience: We read an author who attempts to write about characters of the opposite gender than theirs and they horribly and often ridiculously fail. Now as a female writer who usually writes from male PoV’s I’ve always been a little paranoid of said failure to convey an authentic male voice. Honestly between the first and the second draft of Light I feel like I’ve improved a lot in this aspect, but I’m sure there is the one or other section that doesn’t come across as entirely authentic (can I get some more male readers to take a look at let’s say the first three chapters, pretty please? Volunteers, just drop me an email and I’ll be more than happy to send you some sample chapters!)

Of course there’s the question of what exactly qualifies as an authentic portrait of a male/female voice.

Personally I’m not a believer in gender-stereotypes and don’t think that they are what define gender. When I’m looking at who some authors fail or accomplish to create a realistic picture of a character obviously not of their own gender I often find that those characteristics are much more subtle than general stereotypes. It definitely isn’t easy to do and as a writer I often find it hard to know if I succeed at giving a realistic image of my male protagonists. The fact that I’m writing about gay/bisexual male protagonists who are occasionally introspective only adds to me trying to write about them in a realistic fashion. Seriously, nothing bugs me more than the fact that many people automatically associate a certain degree of femininity with gay/bisexual men and the other way around with women. Needless to say that I’m pretty much expecting the sexuality of my protagonists to put off some readers, but that’s their karma I suppose

Anyway, I’m curious: What would you say is characteristic for a realistic male/female voice and what experiences did you make writing characters of the opposite gender? Comment away

Protagonist Preferences

I’m wondering if that’s just me, but I personally end up preferring books featuring male protagonists. I had that discussion with a good friend who also writes a while back and she says she just finds it hard to relate to male authors and male protagonists very often, while I don’t really have a problem with either. Honestly, I don’t really care if the author is male or female, but when I went through my bookshelves recently, I realized that most of my favorite books are mixed authors, but mainly feature male protagonists.

As a writer, I also find it much easier to write from a male PoV – both Damian and Ares are male protagonists and even back when I still role-played, I preferred to write male characters.

Not that I’d think it unusual, but I wonder why it’s that we’re biased like that at time. I mean it’s not that there aren’t a bunch of totally awesome female fantasy characters out there (and writers who convey them in an awesome way), it’s just something that happens unintentionally I guess. On the other hand I also read a bunch of male and female authors who utterly fail at giving you a realistic image of protagonists of the opposite sex. Really, reading about horribly whiny and emo characters like in Lackey’s Last Herald Mage or the absolutely perfect and utterly desirable heroine in the Sword of Truth books by Goodkind just make me want to throw the book across the room.

Then again there are books like Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga that make me wonder what the obviously female author was thinking when she writes about a totally naive and absolutely dependent female protagonist. Oh I can so totally identify with a character who lives for nothing but her vampire boyfriend and would give anything to be with him forever and ever. Yeah, that’s all the reason I need to believe….not.

Then again there are really cool female characters out there in fantasyland; Jacqueline Carey’s Phedre, Martin’s Cersei (gotta love the villains) etc.

I guess in the end it all depends on personal preference. I tend to write characters who I’d like to read about so I guess that goes hand in hand and gender is secondary and sort of comes along with it. I guess I just really lack any kind of rational explanation here

Should characters be robots?

I recently joined a critique group over on Dragonmount and someone there started a rather interesting discussion there today regarding a blog post by Robert J. Sawyer who points out on his blog:

Psst! Wanna hear a secret? The people in most stories aren’t really humans — they’re robots!
Real people are quite accidental, the result of a random jumbling of genes and a chaotic life. But story people are made to order to do a specific job. In other words, robots!

and

And, of course, that means that you shouldn’t start with a character and then go looking about for a story; it’s a lot easier to do it the other way around. First, come up with your premise (for instance, “I want to write about a telepathic alien who can read subconscious instead of conscious thoughts”). Then you ask yourself who could most clearly dramatize the issues arising from that premise (“There’s this guy, see, who’s been suppressing terrible memories of the suicide of his wife”).

After that, head for your keyboard and build the character to your specifications, for that one specific job. (In this case, the story has already been done brilliantly; it’s Solaris by Stanislaw Lem.) Of course, you have to add subtleties and quirks to give your character depth, but if you do it right, only you will ever know that underneath the real-looking skin, your hero is actually a made-to-measure robot . . .

I guess I partly agree. Of course your character has a certain function, a specific ‘job’ as you put it. After all that’s what prompts character action and interaction.
But then again I couldn’t imagine creating a character just for the sake of their function. When I’m creating a character – or when they spontaneously pop up in my head waving and screaming PICK ME! – I’m thinking of a couple of things:

- yes, what’s the characters’ function, what do they do in the plot and how do they influence the story as a whole?
- what is their background/personality/motivation? In my experience thinking about those three can either result in something that perfectly fit into your already existing plotline or it can create something new. It can result in a new subplot or even in the general plot taking a completely new direction. This is the point where I’m not thinking about shaping my character to fit into the pre-existing story, but where I’m pretty much doing the exact opposite of what Sawyer suggests.

So with that said, I only about halfway agree with that approach. Sure, you have to model some characters to fit into your plot, but there are just as many occasions when it happens exactly the other way ’round and a character and their action or motivation lead your plot into a completely different direction.

Then again it also depends on what kind of writer you are. I suppose Robert J. Sawyer’s suggestion works very well if you are already totally set on what you want to happen in your story. If you already know exactly what your protagonist(s) and your antagonist(s) etc are going to do, then you just need to fill in placeholders so to say.

Maybe it’s because I’m not that kind of writer and usually start out knowing jack-shit about where my story is going in the end, but I hold it more with Nathan Bransford who recently pointed out in his blog  that character and plot are pretty much inseparable. It’s a little simplified, but IMO you can’t really have a detailed plot without knowing who your characters are and the other way ’round, you can’t have intriguing characters without them having a background, a personality and a motivation that drive the plot that unfolds around them.

Villain – Dahlia Laras

Name: Dahlia Laras

Age: 33

Rank: Captain of the Watch

Background: No, since you ask, Laras really isn’t too fond of her first name. It’s ordinary and girly, just as she is nothing but the ordinary third daughter of an altogether ordinary middle-class family. Not that she really has a problem with being ordinary, but Dahlia Laras never really fit into her former life – not that she ever really tried either.

She always wanted to be a Soldier and worked her way up through the ranks of the Watch rather fast, though it never ceased to frustrate her how she was never more than one of the Commander’s countless flunkies. However she finds a way to make use of that as she finds an unlikely ally in Dawnelle Nymeron and they become as close to the definition ‘friends’ as Laras has ever known. She is loyal to her and plays her part with Arturiel Valyr. Nonetheless, Laras likes to be in control and dominance along with a sadistic streak are among her most prominent character flaws and she frequently uses especially the latter as an outlet of her frustration.

Dahlia Laras in a nutshell is ambitious, loyal and cruel and all too likely to act upon her own whims, which makes her unpredictable at times.

I’ll post a scene with her later, depending on my progress with rewriting One

Villain – Orion Novak: scene

NOTE: This is an excerpt of Fourteen, one of those chapters that I used to play around with multiple third person PoV’s. It’s one of those scenes that need to be rewritten, but it should serve to give you an impression of Orion, though I’m working on making him even more of a pain in the ass character

The bullet didn’t quite miss him, but in the end Ares was lucky to get away with nothing but a graze. His shoulder stung fiercely with every movement, but he managed to draw his own gun fast enough to surprise Orion.

He silently thanked the Gods for whoever invented inner-pants holsters. It was only a small caliber magnum, but a good shot at the kneecap usually makes for a good distraction.

“You bastard! Light. Fuck you!”, Orion howled with pain. Apparently Ares’ aim hadn’t been off by far.

“Sorry, but the Light won’t help you with that. Speaking of which, why did they sent you here?”, Ares countered, pressing the his magnum against Orion’s temples.

“They…”, Orion hissed between clenched teeth, still trying to keep himself on his feet. Ares would have laughed if he hadn’t seethed with fury.

“They want you dead. What do you think? They’d let you go at it just under their noses? Light, how naïve-”

“This is enough. If the Watch just wanted me dead they’d have sent somebody more capable of putting a bullet through my head than you. No.” Ares’ gun wandered down just below Orion’s chin. He could see him swallow. Orion had thought he was easy meat.

“Sorry to say that, but you’re the worst liar that I’ve ever seen, Orion Novak. Why. Are you here? I already know what happened. Why still playing games?”

Orion’s mouth twitched. Only then Ares noticed that his opponent was trying not to laugh. He failed miserably.

“Oh Light, Ares”, Orion laughed. The sound made Ares want to strangle him. “You really should see your own face. Do you finally get it? Is it finally dawning on you that there’s nothing that they don’t know?”

Orion raised his hands, slimy grin still on his face. Ares hand started to quiver with anger. Orion looked at him as if he could read his very thoughts.

“Oh go ahead and shoot me if you like. It won’t bring any of them back. Too bad I couldn’t be the one who emptied his gun into Damian. Well you can’t have everything, I-”

Ares let go of him; pushing Orion away. His finger pulled the trigger almost in reflex. The shot echoed in his ears was followed by another one. Both hit him into the chest. Even with the 22 magnum it was enough to kill for sure.

Villain – Orion Novak

Name: Orion Novak

Age: 26

Family and Background: A whore’s get, Orion doesn’t particularly talk about his past, except for the occasional snarky remark aimed at Naerya and Nurya (who are both courtesans) or Ares for that matter (no, he really doesn’t like him ). If Orion could have it his way, he’d altogether forget where he came from as he despises the life on the streets, even the life in the Shadows after Orpheus accepts him under his tutelage. He never makes it much of a secret that he wants to be something better than his fellow Shadows. Orion has no allegiances and will do whatever serves his purpose, which usually depends on the highest bidder. Most of the time he at least tries to remain in good standing with Orpheus and the rest of the Shadows, but his open enmity with Ares and Damian is no secret.

Orion is some sort of textbook turncoat. A recurring villain, he usually appears whenever you least expect him. In the end he’s nothing but another one of Valyr’s flunkies, though whether he’s one of his “boy toys” as Dahlia Laras refers to him remains open.

If I were to describe Orion in three words, it would probably come down to: treacherous, spiteful and arrogant.

He’s one of those characters that should be destined to die, but of course they don’t do my protagonists the favor. That would be a little too easy guys, wouldn’t it?

Another one of those “Damnit!”-moments

Maybe it’s just me and maybe I’m hopelessly easy to influence, but the more I’m reading Sarah Monette’s books, the more I’m thinking if maybe two alternate first person PoV’s might be the way to go to get myself out of my not-so-little PoV dilemma.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to write in first person, but somehow Ares’ PoV only doesn’t seem to encompass everything Light is about. I can’t help the feeling that I need Damian’s PoV in there, less in the beginning of Shadows, but more so in the end and for upcoming books. I need to tie his perspective, the street perspective, if you will, in there somehow whereas Ares has insight into the Palace, the Temple etc.

I definitely don’t want more than two PoVs in first-person, since that would be a) bad style and confusing and b) totally unnecessary and makes the story much too convoluted. And then there’s the problem that Damian’s working his way up more and more into the ‘protagonist’ section here and there’s a lot that I need to integrate about him, his life, motivation, the Shadows etc. Adding him would fill a lot of gaps and make it a little bit easier, but also more complex of a plot.

So why first person of course? Call it a hunch, but maybe it’s some kind of personal affinity or my thinking that two third person PoVs just aren’t all that great and that this leaves the possibility open to integrate even more characters such as the almost typical ‘villain perspective’. This again, is something I refrain from doing, because honestly, Ares and Damian have enough insight into the motivations and intrigues of t heir antagonists. No additional PoV necessary.

Meh, there we are again; at the experimental stage. Guess I can’t help that :p

Any thoughts?

EDIT: Yes, I’m very well aware of exactly how screwed I am

Villain – Dawnelle Nymeron : scene

“I can’t help, but wonder why you’ve been wanting to see me, your Highness,” I said tentatively. I had a vague idea and the way she looked at me only affirmed it, but that still didn’t explain why she’d called upon me of all people. Sure, I’d done everything to gain her attention and the daughter heir of Helos was known to pick her favorites among the Watch, but that wasn’t all of it. Her words all but encouraged me to speak openly and who was I to deny her?

For a moment, she was silent, studying my face intently.

“I think both of us know very well why you’re here,” she finally said and I knew we were done with the niceties, done pretending. Her voice was firm and serious, lacking anything that had let her appear girlish before. It seemed to fall off her like a mask when she reached out for me, carefully running her fingers over the bruise along my jaw line. Whatever Damian had put on it, had reduced the swelling, but it still stood out clearly against my fair skin, as the rain had washed off his efforts to conceal it.

“Take off your shirt,” she said curtly.

“What? Why?” This time I didn’t need to fake surprise. This was definitely going a tad fast for my taste.

“Just do it,” she commanded, making it clear that she wouldn’t be disobeyed.

I opened my mouth to say something, but then remembered where I was, alone with the heiress of the godsdamn Empire and Naerya was nowhere in sight. Even if she was, what would she have said?

Letting out a breath, I started to unbutton my shirt. Shrugging out of it still hurt and I knew better than to bend down and pick it up from where it had fallen to the ground.

It took me a lot not to back away as Dawnelle ran her delicate hands over my torso, examining the miasma of bruises that riddled my chest. She made a disapproving sound and my breath hissed sharply through my teeth when she exerted pressure on my ribcage.

“What’s he making you tell everybody? Training accident?” she asked abruptly, looking at me with eyes that suddenly sparkled with anger, before she sighed and her hazel eyes suddenly filled with something close to compassion.

“I’m sorry I drew attention on you and your friend this morning, but you seemed to have it coming with Valyr from the beginning. He hates you very much, doesn’t he?”

I merely looked at her, not comprehending.

“Dahlia tells me what he does and before you ask, yes I know that she works for him, but she’s loyal to me. Nothing about this night will leave either of our lips.”

“Uh…I’m sorry…your Highness?”

What I really wanted to say was: What the fuck is going on here, but given my position I decided to mind my manners, waiting for something to actually make sense to me tonight.

“Who are you trying to kid here, Raphael?” she said, rather exasperated. “Okay, let’s talk freely here. You look like a smart guy, so I’ll make this easy for you. Let’s just say we both have a common enemy and I want your help in acquiring some…information.”

Villain – Dawnelle Nymeron

~character sheet~

Name: Dawnelle “Dawn” Nymeron

Age: 22

Appearance: With her five feet and two inches Dawnelle can be rightfully considered ’short’, just like her father. The dark lilac eyes run in the family along with size, but unlike her father and her brother, Dawnelle’s hair isn’t silvery white, but a curly dark brown. In a way this sets her apart from her father’s line, even though it’s not a secret that neither her nor her older brother Raeyn have been born in wedlock since her father never married.  I try to avoid further descriptions like ’slender, but curvacious’ and similar blah-blah, because it’s just redundant. Let’s just say that yes, most people think of her as attractive, though ‘pretty’ probably wouldn’t be the word to describe her (unless she’s in one of her ‘girly’ moods)

Family and Background: Neither her nor her older brother Raeyn know their mother(s) as their father has been known to never have engaged in anything else but occasional affairs. None of them is really bothered by that fact as it has been part of their upbringing. Likewise, Sirius Nymeron tolerates Dawnelle’s affairs with a certain indifference. Nonetheless, Dawnelle is probably the only one (except Raeyn at times) who has every experienced the Eye as a loving and caring father as she grew up without wanting for anything whether materially or emotionally.

Unlike her brother though, Dawnelle always loved to learn about politics and state craft. From the beginning she has been a much more apt and active student than Raeyn had ever been and some might say that she had a hand in his disappearance, being declared heir after the search for her brother remained futile.

Even as a child, Dawnelle was known to be sly and liable to sneak out of the Palace with her brother. Even though she openly led a very sheltered life in the Palace she quickly learned the harsher facts of life on the streets and learned to use that knowledge to her advantage. If you were to describe her in three words, ruthless, calculating and vindictive come to mind, but then again she can be compassionate and caring as well (in some really irrational way she actually cares for Ares, in her own way…). Like her father, Dawnelle is one of those characters that wear different masks, depending on the situation. Also like him, she knows how to use certain situations to her advantage and openly manipulates not only those beneath her, but more than that, her equals.

Motivation: Dawnelle is one of those villains who rarely do anything without reason. Like her father, she’s dominant and a ‘born ruler’, albeit an often ruthless one. One day, she wants to step up to where her father is now and become the next Eye, ruler over the Empire of Light and to achieve that she does whatever necessary, from merely using her charms, to outright blackmail and manipulation. Until now, she hasn’t openly killed yet and openly she loves to play the innocent girl, but one never knows.