I haven't done a post about art in a little while so here we go. I'll keep this short and sweet because the art speaks for itself here, people.
Of the many talented artists I follow on deviatART, another one of my favorites is the digital artist Jon-Lock. Not his real name of course (I'm assuming it's a guy, I really hope I'm right and don't offend), just what he goes by on that site. His original works of art are amazing! No, really, very inspiring stuff.
He did a short series of works that were a different take on fairy tale stories. Instead of the usual damsel in distress, he switched it up and had males playing the lead roles. For example, this piece, which was one of my favorites of the bunch: Sleeping Beauty.
I really enjoy his particular style, bold lines and subtle lighting but the themes in his art is what really draws me in. Small details in facial expressions and color schemes make all the difference when it comes to tugging on my heartstrings. I fall in love with these characters. He just makes it so easy to.
Serious, thoughtful, silly, heart wrenching; each drawing has it's own emotional setting and unique story to tell. Go check out his deviantART account to see more samples of his work. Here's his tumblr account too. He's also creating a comic that I believe he'll be posting later this month. Looking forward to that!
Yes, it's a pretty long title for a blog post, I know.
There are plenty of problems we can easily see in another author's writing as we read them. It's catching these things in our own works that we may have a problem with. I am just as guilty as the next guy so don't be offended; I'm not pointing fingers at anyone in particular. I'm pointing fingers at EVERYONE. (he he)
When a story has more than six main characters, it's so easy for a reader to confuse them all. Especially if they have similar speech patterns, sense of humor, etc. Let's say you introduce Bob and Ron as good friends first thing in a story. You describe their physical differences at the beginning and go from there. Two chapters and a lot of dialogue or action or whatever from now, will I really remember which one is a redhead and which is a blonde? Which is tall and lanky and which is slightly shorter? Most likely not.
Now imagine that we have to try and remember this for multiple characters. I tend to introduce new characters smack dab in the middle of my stories so, yeah, now you have someone new to try to keep up with. So let's make this easy on the reader, shall we?
Remind us of what they look like. Remind us of their quirks. Is everyone in the room a blonde? Which one is the jokester? Which one cracks his knuckles constantly? This may seem like "well, duh" advice but like I said, it's easier to catch such things when reading someone else' story. When we read our own, we already have a mental picture of that particular character that immediately jumps to mind. We made them. We know them best. We can see every detail clearly. Our reader, however, may not.
An easy way to do this is to stop using a character's name so often. Referring to a character by name only becomes old fast. I see this a lot when I beta read and it kind of drives me nuts. Here is a little paragraph as an example of what I suggest not to do:
Ron knocked on the door with vigor. When Bob answered, they said their greetings quickly and moved to the kitchen. Bob made tea for them both and neither spoke as they stood leaning against the counter, blowing in their cups. Finally, Bob looked up.
"Should we get to it, then?"
Ron sipped slowly and said nothing. Bob continued to stare at Ron in earnest. After another moment of sipping, Ron met his gaze.
"Alright then, where's ya tax forms?" Ron asked.
Not bad, but it could be better. This is what I would do differently.
Ron knocked on the door with vigor, swatting the dark locks from his eyes as he did so. He cursed his long, curly hair and swore to himself that he'd see the barber before the day was out.
When Bob answered, they said their greetings quickly and moved to the kitchen. Bob made tea for them both and neither spoke as they stood leaning against the counter, blowing in their cups. Finally, the farmer looked up.
"Should we get to it, then?"
Ron sipped slowly and said
nothing. His old school friend continued to stare at him in earnest. After another moment
of sipping, the guest met the shorter man's gaze.
"Alright then, where's ya tax forms?" Ron asked.
Most of what I write has only a few main characters. One or two have about a dozen who pop in and out of the story. Either way, I like to reiterate certain things every once in a while not only for memory's sake but to keep the story more interesting. And though I use their names, I may not always need to for the reader to know who I'm talking about. Referring to someone as "the redhead" or "the vampire" for a few paragraphs is perfectly fine if they're the only redhead or vampire in that scene.
Again, pretty basic and obvious stuff but keep these things in mind when you're going over your first, second and third draft. Ron said, Bob said, Ron said, Bob said is not going to keep a reader interested for long. And which one was Ron again?
I'm a fan of Stephen King. I'm not a die-hard fan who's read everything he's ever written but I do have a bookcase of his works that I reread once in a while. I've always loved horror and fantasy but his stories involve much more complicated concepts than just things going bump in the night.
So I started thinking about what I've really taken away from his novels and why I have always enjoyed them so much. WARNING! There may be spoilers for those who haven't read some Stephen King novels.
1. Some of the scariest monsters are human.
Vampires and sorcerers and all manner of scary creatures reside in the pages of Uncle Stevie's works but often the most horrifying events occur between members of our species. A good example is James "Big Jim" Rennie from Under The Dome. Here is a character who has no problem manipulating and even murdering people for his own gain. King does a phenomenal job creating these believable characters that we can relate to but also these believable characters that we loathe. Isn't this true in real life as well?
In The Mist, we see what fear can do to normal, rational people: turn them into spineless sheep who will rally behind anyone who may have a solution, however immoral or insane it may be. This theme is used in many of his works including one of my favorite Castle Rock stories, Needful Things.
They may be just stories but I think they reflect how society reacts to stress and panic quite well.
2. Anyone can die.
I remember reading Cujo in high school and when I asked an adult I knew if they had read it, she made a disgusted face and said, "When I read the part about the boy dying, I threw it in the trash." I'm sure the horrified expression on my face was something to see. Throw a book in the TRASH! Because you didn't like the fact that the little boy died?
Let's face it, our favorite characters can't live forever. As much as I cheered for Peter at the end of The Eyes of The Dragon, I was upset but not put off by the death of Jake in The Dark Tower VII. And this poor kid died twice! It may be upsetting when one of your favorite characters dies but come on people, is it really a reason to discontinue reading a book or series that you were enjoying so much before the death?
I like that Stephen King isn't afraid to kill off a main character, even someone he's made you get quite attached to. People you love really die. Children get cancer everyday. Tomorrow I could be hit by a car. Death is a part of life. A painful part to be sure but a real one.
And sunshine and rainbows everywhere all the time isn't what I consider a great, entertaining read.
3. Happy wrap-it-up endings are nice but that's not always the case.
Continuing with the theme that doom and gloom are more believable, our protagonist doesn't always get to ride off into the sunset at the end of a book. I like it when they do (hell doesn't everyone?) but it just can't happen every time. At the end of 'Salem's Lot, Ben and Mark survive the vampires and escape but both are mentally exhausted and nearly broken. They still have to go back and kill every person in the town and that is certainly nothing to look forward to.
If you continue on and read the real ending of The Dark Tower VII, you find that Roland has traveled all this way to find the dark tower and once he enters the last room, he is transported back to the very beginning of the first book only to begin the quest anew, with no memory of having done it before. Man, that sucks.
Things can't always end well and sometimes it doesn't really end at all. And I'm okay with that.
4. I want to be a fantasy writer.
One of the biggest influences for my interest in writing fantasy and science fiction is Stephen King and the magical worlds he has created. I'm drawn into these places and fall in love with these characters every time I read one of his books. And I buy them so I can visit these stories again and again.
I want to be able to do that with my own stories. I want my readers to be unable to put it down, to thirst for the next chapter, to hunger for a sequel. I know I'll never be quite as talented as Mr. King, but I want my worlds to be known, if only for my own enjoyment.
I'm been a writer for some time now. I've had a couple works published but I still struggle to get a fantasy story in print. It can be daunting sometimes but I will continue to write and edit and rewrite because when you have a story inside you, it's something you can't contain. You have to let it out and you can only hope that others will love it the way you do. The way I love Uncle Stevie's works.
