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.

There’s no writing without images

I just read a great post on writing and images on Joshua Palmatier’s blog over at livejournal and it made me think of different writing approaches.

I hate synopses. I’m not that kind of writer. I’m sorry. I like to let the novel shape itself as I write. But we’ve had this discussion before, so I’ll leave it and get back to the point.

As I begin to contemplate writing these plot synopses, I realized exactly what it is I know about the book ahead of time . . . which is jack shit. Or rather, it’s exactly two or three IMAGES from the book, which people tend to call scenes, but in fact they aren’t. I work on images, and the scenes and the rest of the book grow from those images. That’s how I operate, which is why writing the synopses is so hard. The growing into scenes and then into a book happens WHILE I WRITE. It doesn’t happen ahead of time.

I’m quoting this section, because this sums up pretty much how I’m doing my own writing. I’d call myself a character-based writer, but then again there’s no character without plot. Plot surrounds characters, shows their background, motivation, antagonists. To say it bluntly, your character doesn’t exist by their looks alone. It’s not just some middle-aged, average-sized, blond and blue-eyed person, but that person coming from a certain background, having undergone certain influences, motivated to achieve a certain goal.

Now regarding Joshua’s post: How would you be able to write about all that without actually seeing your character, without actually seeing the scenes that signify your main plot events? It just wouldn’t work. All that would come out would be some hollow scenes without any depth.

I often find myself musing over a certain image that is so vivid that it connects with other images and plotlines and so makes for a great scene. Then I’m not only seeing the setting and the characters, I’m seeing their movements and body language, emotions reflected in their facial expressions, I hear background noises etc.

That with the characters’ stories, motivations and personalities makes the plot. Sometimes scenes like that don’t fit in with the main storyline, then I either alter them or they are vivid and meaningful enough to be converted into subplots. I recently made that experience with an image that popped into my head about Damian: I see him in the bathroom. His clothes are stained with blood, he looks tired and his hands are clenching as he scrubs the blood off his fingers. It’s not a very unusual image considering Damian’s line of work, but this time it’s different. I see him staring at his hands. There’s dried blood under his fingernails and he curses under his breath about the fact that no matter what you do, you never get rid of bloodstains.

Now the questions that arise are of course: What happened? But there are many more, somewhat closer related to what kind of character Damian is. Those questions and their resolutions make the scene – more than that actually, because a scene like that may have consequences for the main plot and other characters.

My personal conclusion is that if plot and character are inseparable, so are the two of them and images. After all, how would you be able to write a good scene if you can’t imagine it?

Which leads me to the question: What is first in your writing? Character? Plot? Images?

Is your character a Mary Sue?

Just got this test from Saint-Know-All’s blog and it rather amused me (not just the fact that the test has appalling grammar at times ) I just did that test with most of my main characters and they scare anything between 7 and 9 points, which definitely disqualifies them, being Anti-Mary-Sues so to say; hey, mission accomplished.

But let’s face it; I’m really trying to make my character different, to avoid some of the most common (poor farmboy becomes most powerful wizard of a strange land (called “the strange land”) and kills evil king after finding Mysterious Magical Sword of Super Powerz (or: the Sword of Truth? ) Nah…

Of course there’s the one or other cliche every (fantasy) author has to deal with, so it’s basically impossible to avoid writing something that hasn’t ‘been there’ yet in one form or another. Yes, Light is very dystopian and the Shadows are basically thieves and oh did I mention that my characters live in an abandoned space ship, while this is in no way a science fiction novel? – Okay, end of cliches here…

As long as it’s just something general and something that MAKES SENSE (please don’t give me that omniscient super-hero with absolute super-powers and not even a fart of a moral flaw…) then the use of cliches is okay. At least in a certain dosage. Then they enable you to twist those cliches around and make something entirely new of it, to break certain rules and conventions. In this case, cliches and the occasional Mary Sue-aspects of your character can be helpful. Again CAN not WILL BE. In the end it just really depends on what you as an author make of it.

One of my (numerous) rookie mistakes as a writer has been ignoring the borderline of original writing and fanfiction. Light started out rather flat, borrowing a lot in terms of general motives etc. from other fantasy series that I really liked. No need to say that this is not the way to go and I suppose a lot of this happens on a rather subconscious level. In the end however, it’s your own ideas, your own twists and your characters quirks and ambiguity that obliterate cliches. What can I say? Since I’ve started to write how and what I wanted to write instead of focusing on how other authors ‘did it’ my writing has changed – and improved – a lot, but that’s part of the learning process.

And yes, I should be editing One right now, but I’ll probably spend the weekend trying out different approaches and see which one works best

Using Spreadsheets

Tonight, I’ve actually started to use the spreadsheet-method I’ve read about a while ago. The basic idea is to outline your scene numbers, setting, its position and function within the overall plot etc.

For the first 20 chapters of Deviant, I used the following structure:

Scene Number: (numbering the scenes helps you in your overall structure as well as in your notes. For example, I’d just note: edit scene 28 in my notes, saving myself an explanation of what happens in the scene)

Time: (I have several scenes that aren’t set in the present, this helps me to keep track)

Place: (self explanatory

Plot Category: (I basically define this, writing down to which subplot this scene belongs to, for example ‘Ares’ past’, ‘The Shadows’, ‘The Gift’ etc.)

Scene Description: (write down what happens in this scene in 1-2 sentences)

Purpose: (what does the scene accomplish? Does it introduce a new plotline/new characters? Does it create foreshadowing or suspense?)

Plot Step: (Unlike the original post I’ve read about this method, I like to stick to the old Aristotelian Drama Pyramid here: Exposition->raising tension->climax->falling tension->disaster/chaos)

So far this method has been great as an overview of my plot as an entity. It helps to isolate individual scenes and I already marked some scenes that I want or need to edit to fit into the new setting or add some character background to. It takes a little time to write all this down and sometimes scenes aren’t easily categorized, but in the end the work pays off and lets you keep track of your plot development.

For example: Is there enough exposition? Is there a scene that doesn’t have any other purpose than serving as filling material? Is there enough raising tension leading to the climax, etc?

I wanted to use excel for this first, but after running into some problems with the 2007 version trying to sort my booklist that I also made today alphabetically (how the heck do you tell the title and author column that they are very much dependent on each other? blah!) I decided to abstain from excel for a while and use word instead. Later on I’ll probably put a copy into my notebook, for coherence’s sake

All in all this weekend’s word count is at 3.4 k and counting and I also got some structuring work done. Yay me defying the distraction of relatives with kids coming over as well as my mother in law buying a Wii and brother playing Zelda all day. Did I mention that I want to play this game really badly? Damn. Must…resist…

Apart from that, did I mention that I started “Heroes Die” by Matthew Woodring Stover just yesterday and that it already rocks? Definitely a recommendation

Anyway, I’m drifting off into rants. Must be the energy drink I just had. May I just add that those things are NASTY?

And today’s conclusions are:

1.) Make Prologue part of Chapter One, thus

2.) break up One into two chapters to avoid becoming too long-winded

3.) new prologue will show events that happen in the midsection of the book hence providing suspense and foreshadowing while also featuring one of MC’s most treasured nemesis’ ^_^

But seriously, I think I got the beginning and opening hook straightened out in a manner that doesn’t create too much confusion. I’ll also divide the book into two parts plus prologue and epilogue as far as structure is concerned.

Concluding from this, I’ll probably write a new prologue after finishing Eighteen. Still pondering if the prologue scene will actually show up again later in the book at its original place as far as the timeline is concerned…. We’ll see about that one.

Productiveness!

Today has been one of those days again. Frankly, I didn’t even do that much writing, but another 916 words finished Fifteen at a total of 3,577 words and I’m happy with it so far. But what is more is that today in general was a great day for inspiration to come. Maybe that’s because I’ve been hanging out in bookstores a lot today (in my favorite used book store and Barnes&Noble) and I’ve been talking books and writing a lot with several people including my friend Jen today.

Talking about what I’m writing always helps me to focus, even though it sometimes brings up new questions too. Today’s was mainly related to this post.

I just couldn’t help wondering if a structure based on multiple character PoVs really is the right thing. I’m really trying to be more brief in my writing, so adding more characters to Ares very strong arc might just unnecessarily complicate things, but then again separating Damian’s and Raeyn’s PoV as well as Dawn’s later on is really important for the overall story. It just doesn’t work if it’s only based on Ares’ perception.

And that’s that. Even though I’ve only written three chapters with in the “new way” if you want to call it that, it’ll most likely stick. Let’s hope I’m still thinking that way once I’m done with the first draft and throw myself into editing

On top of that I’ve been having some great ideas in regards to the plot structure over the last couple of days. I’ll change the beginning a little, setting the first chapter in the middle of the plot so to say and then going back, narrating what had the characters end up where they are right now. I’ll structure it in a way of present vs. flashback scenes since I generally don’t really like linear storylines. But it’ll be organized, unlike parts of my nanowrimo part that often was unclear and flat out got readers lost. Don’t want that to happen again.

Also got some neat ideas for the second book, but those are only vague. I’m really concentrating on finishing the first book, then revising and editing it before I go on.

Other than that, I’m currently at 62,190 words, which I’m hoping means that I’m halfway done with the first draft (despite the 150,000 that I marked on my wordcount widget I’m really trying to get this tied off at 120k. Honest). Well here’s hope this is actually going to happen, but we’ll see how it turns out in the end.

Fundamental questions

On changing my setting there are two questions that have been spinning their merry little circles in my mind.

One: What is my writing style like?

Ok, I know I can’t write light “und am Ende lebten sie gluecklich und zusammen bis ans Ende ihrer Tage” (and they lived happily ever after) – fantasy. I just love my dystopian themes and in the end nothing is just black or white, shades of gray rule the world

On the other hand though I know that I can’t just write about badass characters pursuing badass goals in a badass way.  That would just be too much of the black again. Instead I prefer a healthy balance. My characters are neither black or white (metaphorically spoken), they act to achieve their own goals, are often ruthless, but still have a conscience and a certain set of values that they’ll uphold.

 As for the story itself: Light is a post-apocalyptical story set in a world that still has so many open possibilities that are mostly facing scepticism or outward refusal. Politics are thrown back into what basically is a fascist system. Immigration is an issue as well as segregation and general decay of the “uncivilized” countries that are blocked from the opportunities that the Empire of Light (I’ll call it that for now) offers so freely to the obedient masses But then again there is no absolutely bad, as well as there isn’t anyone who’s absolutely good. This isn’t a story of the Hero’s quest and neither is it about the Antihero’s failure. Nobody is going to save the world unless the world is goign to save itself.

It’s all in the mix. In the end I’m not even sure what genre it would belong in. Urban Fantasy is probably the most likely. There are scifi elements, that make a specification even harder though. I guess we’ll see what the end-product looks like, right?

Question number two is actually related to an interview that Joss Whedon gave after the cancellation of Firefly. He spoke about the individual functions of his characters. I think it’s important to remember that your characters always contribute in some way to the story. None of them are alike and they affect the outcome and actions of the plot in their own individual way.

 So what do my characters represent? How do they contribute to the story? (I’m trying to keep this short knowing that this is totally rudimentary and incomplete. This just mentions some of their main character traits)

 1.) Ares: the mystery

2.) Damian: the “hard guy” of many faces

3.) Jay: straight-forwardness

4.) Naerya: passion

5.) Raeyn: the mercenary, always on the run

6.) Orpheus: the failing mentor

7.) Veleine: the conscience

8.) Arturiel: madness

9.) Sirius: control, purpose

10.) Dawnelle: the spy, ambition

This is actually an interesting questions and I find that, even though each of them have their certain main characteristics, they aren’t limited to just one side. All of them are ambiguous in their actions and purposes. They aren’t 100% good or 100% bad. In the end there are no stable allegiances, no entirely separate sides.

back to work

1,110 words Not a whole lot, but it’s flowing again and even though there are some things about the general outline still need to be figured out, I think it’s going well.

There are a couple of things that I posted in the rundown outline the other day, but I’m not sure if or to which extend I’ll include it in the story. Even though it’ll be a political story in a way, I don’t want it to be too expressive. I’ll see how to handle the balance between a big political conflict and characters who so totally aren’t interested in saving the world. They know they can’t change the overall situation, but they just want to try and get by without being bothered

I also might rather unconsciously have changed the title, but for now Light will stick as a working title.

Another thing that’s been spinning merry little circles in my head has been the issue of the Empire of Light coming over too much as a religion while it’s much more like a System with religious trappings. After all the Eye and the Watch are basically making the  rules in the “enlightened states” if you want to call it that and religion is suppressed, but after all still there. We’re still having the multiple Gods vs. One God conflict similar to the nano-draft of Light, but without all the creating a myth part….

Lots of things to figure out…

Progress – Attn.: Spoilers

Today has been a good day in terms of restructuring Light. The ideas have just kept coming and I think I’m rather well set to start out writing again. As a matter of fact I will start writing right after finishing this entry (oh yes, we’re getting to work again) and on the same, really painfully slow laptop. I don’t know why, but in some way I like the little thing. It’ll do until I’ll get my new one in a couple of months though.

So anyway, here it goes. The world and general setting are created, I got rid of the rather superfuous religious system and most of the things that just reminded me too much of other books or series that I’ve read before. A good part of characters have been undergoing some major changes, but in my opinion those new characteristics and general attributes will fit them all the better.

Oh and something else has changed too and that is something I was tinkering with from the beginning when I really wanted to write this as a first person narrative from Ares’ point of view. Well the initial doubts being confirmed, I scrapped that part. The overall plot is just too complex for one single character to survey. Ares simply wouldn’t have enough insight to always know what is going on and there will be other point of views that have to be included in order to make the story itself work. After all the last thing I want for Ares is him sounding like some kind of omniscient lecturer, for he’s quite the opposite of that and  sometimes just has no fucking clue what is going on and so…well you’ll see. 

Anyway, here are some of the general things I’ve been working on (I won’t give too much away though )

The World: 

It’s the year 2191: The world is dominated by the United World Nations, an institution that took over after the Civil Wars that had broken loose almost a hundred years prior. The Wars had been a result of the World’s population generally running out of ressources like oil and the United Nations’ failure to reconcilliate the diverging economical interests of the USA and the rest of what once had been called the G8 states. Environmental collapse and the dramatically fast melt down of the Poles only added to the general unrest, turning nations against each other trying to protect their individual interests. 

To deescalate the situation and out of fear of a nuclear war, the UWN was formed after ten years of civil chaos and general chaos. The international attempt to reunite the world wasn’t accepted without resistance of course. The foremost nations among the Resistance, France, England and Germany had to succumb to the overwhelming forces coming from the United States and Russia, who had formed a rather unexpected, yet stable alliance. Apparently old quarrels and conflicts like the Cold War and its resentments had been forgotten. Once more the world seemed united and the winning powers experienced a flood of loyalty united in the urge to stop the Wars. Some remembered tales how it had been two hundred years earlier after what had been called the Second World War, other, more doubtful voices only saw the deserted wasteland that had once been three of the most powerful nations of what had been called the European Union. 

Some may say the Unification has brought the end to all qualms and conflicts, while some -mostly those who lived on the other side of the Fence or in one of thousands of fugitive camps built after the Wars- would probably say that Unification has been the end of personal freedom and any attempts to unite the world in democracy. 

If you lived in the “right” areas of the world, the Capital City, or the Central States you would never have to face the conflict that once more seperates the World into a class system not much different from the classes before Civilization. Whereas the rich wouldn’t want for neither rights, freedom nor ressources and technology, it were those who lived in the Outer Rim States, those who according to the Council had refused to assimilate to society and accept the chances the UWN would offer them, who suffered major throwbacks. In countries that had no official authority, countries ravaged by war and want for the very basics to maintain civilized life, it were self-declared warlords, whose word was law ruling the land with repression, exploiting all natural as well as human ressources left to them while the UWN Council onveniently looks away as long as their interests remain untouched. 

Religion: 

As I mentioned before, I scrapped the pantheon of different Gods that I created for the Nano-draft. In a world where Science has become humankind’s largest religion, there are only few followers of the anchient religions left. While some Christians, Muslims, Jews and others still cling to their out-dated beliefs, Unification also progressed on a religious level. Attempting to truly unite humankind and realizing that God, Allah, Jahwe and all those names meant one and the same in the end, the Empire of Light was created as a synonym for the fact that all religions essentially weren’t different at all. Those who used to believe in one God, had been taught to believe in the Light that shone upon all of them in the same way. Those whose beliefs required a Prophet to guide them were taught to trust in the guidance of the Eye, the Lord Chancellor himself, elected by the Council who reconcilliated worldly as well as heavenly reign in one and the same institution, while the Watch makes sure to enforce law and order on the streets and in every other aspect of life, if possible without letting anybody know about the exact extend of their influence.

Of course there were those who refused to believe, those who insisted in their personal religious freedom. However, those who remained defiant to the world’s new movement of Enlightenment would soon find their churches, Moschees and Synagoges torn down and used to build new Houses of Light while those foolish enough to hang on to their old beliefs would soon find themselves deported to the Outer Rim States where they might be lucky and be able to continue their religious pursuit or not. Everything the UWN wanted was keeping their citizens out of trouble and extinguish riots from their roots. The last thing they needed was another war over matters that had been solved so efficiently. 

Magic: 

If you have the Gift, an ability similar to psionics in the way of Sensing people’s minds and influencing them on a mental basis, but also more complex in the way of Touching people directly with your ability to attack, bind or even heal people, you’re in deep trouble. 

You may be lucky and the Empire (or the UWN to use a friendlier word and one that doesn’t get you into jail) will find you when you’re born at one of their hospitals (Scanning is mandatory, no way to avoid it). You’re lucky then, because they will Fix you, even though that will require some more or less extreme fiddling with your brain. But in the end you’ll be Blocked from either Touching or Sensing. There have been rumours of cases that lead to a child’s premature death either during the surgery itself or after suffering from seizures, stroke or even brain tumors, but those rumours have been silenced to mere myths. 

Of course you might have been born in the Outer Rim States and emigrated later, willing to receive what the UWN offers you, but even then you won’t be able to avoid Scanning and if they find out that you’re one of those unfortunate creatures in need of Cleansing, you’ll be off for a little trip to one of those neat labs that will take care of your problem and you can be sure that after you’re Cleansed you won’t have any problems at all anymore. In fact, you won’t feel anymore because there won’t be anything left of you capable of human emotion. But here we’re entering the realm of myth and rumors again for never has anyone seen the inside of the UWN’s Cleansing facilities and that better stays that way too. 

Characters: 

“The Shadows”:

Ares Maevere – our German/American, unfortunately Gifted, orphaned and sometimes more than halfway insane leader of the band of merry criminals with a rather dark past

Damian Cain – Ares’ ,originally French, second in command and significant other (what was that about major buttsex warning? *scratches head*), apart from Ares, he likes to shoot holes in other people, oh and to patch up his own crew, after all he’s a born paradox of a man  

Naerya and Nurya Artume – the Colombian twins and well-known first class Courtesans, always handy to get some helpful information out of male as well as female clients 

Jay - the American tech, whether it’s hacking, fixing up a car or even an airship, she’ll do the job

Orion - the American mercenary: lockpick and weapons specialist 

Orpheus – the Mentor, almost old enough to have witnessed the Wars, the original founder, or should we call him Collector of the Shadows, it is said he has some rather interesting connections to the Watch and the Intelligence of the Empire

“The Temple” aka “House Gioa” (the place where officially nobody has a last name )

Amaelia – Highpriestress/owner of the etablissement

Veleine – future Priestress of the Temple with rather interesting beliefs 

Eliaf – more often mocked as “the Prophet”, a strange guy with a strange name and even stranger ideas

Declyn  - someone who doesn’t like to talk about himself, but who is wanted for nothing less but arson and murder

The Eye: Sirius Nymeron – Lord Chancellor and only true “Prophet” of the Light

The Watch: 

Arturiel Valyr – Lieutenant of the Watch, best friend of Ged Maevere, husband to Eva Valyr

Ged Maevere (deceased) - Captain of the Watch, Ares’ father, a convicted traitor

Dahlia Laras – Captain of the Watch, Intelligence and contact to the Shadows

Others: 

Faele Maevere – Ares’ mother

Eva (deceased) – Arturiel’s wife

Raeyn Nymeron – Sirius’ son

Dawnelle Nymeron – Sirius’ daughter 

Coras – dealing in drugs and genetical enhancements 

There would be other things to mention but I think it would drag it too long and I’m trying not to give away any spoilers, this has become a much longer post than it was planned to be. I’m ready to write though and hope there are enough dystopian themes in this to convince anyone that no, nobody’s going to save the world here. After all, there’s no place for Heroes in this world. Heroes die, kid.

Changes

Alright. So yesterday that little bug that’s been telling me to screw my medieval fantasy setting and go for an urban one instead finally won over. I’m happy with this actually. Even though I was feeling all chaotic and “throw it all over again” like yesterday, I think this has been an important step for me to realize that I’ll have to make some radical changes to get rid of some of the flaws in my story like:

- similarities to other fantasy series that I’ve read
- the feeling that this world is but a fake medieval concept while much of the values and the general conflicts of the story are modern ones
- that whole creating a myth part that overall doesn’t make much sense and maybe the story might even be better served by reducing the role of religion in contrast to the power of science

All in all I’m pretty optimistic. Even though I’m looking at a lot of work and rewriting here, I think it’ll make a better plot in the end. So here goes to massive changes and outlining till another writing intensive phase will come in March (for MarNoWriMo on westeros or before)

Cheers