(A poem about poetry and the fighting over norms. Kind of makes me glad I don’t get into those arguments any more. It’s also why I didn’t try to make any type of pattern for this one.)
I hear it
I see it
The question
What is a poem?
It is an opening
A call
To shred
And maim
A defenseless expression
Born of heart
And soul
Does it truly matter
If we fail
To rhyme the words
When the emotions
Are so strong
Many
Say yes
These are the ones
That wait
In a stationary circle
Drooling
In anticipation
To tear
Into a work of soul
With no remorse
And a hint
Of smarmy pride
I tired of this
Long ago
Trying to put
Reason
To my madness
Always
The say ending
I would present
Reading loud
And clear
Only to find
That my words
Were empty
Rotted by my logic
And dependence
On the rules
No more
I play by rules
No more
Take your rhymes
Your meters
And choke on them
I let my fingers
Fly without true purpose
Following images
That dance
Behind closed eyes
Dictating
For unknown voices
I am at the whim
Of my imagination
And I feel peace
So, I never watched the show above. The ‘elevator death’ episode came out in March 1991 and I was 10. I did hear shows having surprise deaths as I grew up and people usually referenced this event. Not to mention it made a lot of people terrified of stepping onto an elevator too early even if they hadn’t seen the episode. Guess this is the 1990’s version of ‘Final Destination’ where you get nervous behind a truck hauling logs or really any long pieces of wood.
Anyway, the concept of a shock death of a popular character isn’t new. Some series even made a bulk of their reputation off suddenly killing off characters, who tended to be the heroes. Makes sense since eliminating villains at a fast rate could bring the story to a fairly quick finale. Heroes tend to have a stronger connection to the readers too, so their deaths will hit harder. That’s the point of this, right? To create an emotional impact that has the audience thinking and speaking about it long after they walk away.
In more recent years, I think authors have overused this shock death. They’re very quick to pull the trigger, which results in characters with flimsy connections to the readers being eliminated. Think of it like picking a fruit off a tree just before it fully ripens. It might not taste horrible or even truly bad, but you will have missed the best time to eat it. The reader won’t care as much about what’s happened and may even walk away from the story for a while. Not so much physically as mentally where they just keep reading along with a weakened sense of attachment.
Another mistake that I’ve seen made is that newer characters are eliminated in shocking ways instead of older ones. This comes from wanting to maintain a high body count reputation, but not being able to kill off central characters. Reaping heroes shouldn’t come at the cost of the story, so this makes sense. Yet, you run into a situation where readers don’t bother getting attached to new characters because they fully expect them to die. Now, you’re back to the unripe fruit situation, but it’s worse because the fruit will never ripen. (Note: I’m not hungry or eating fruit while writing this. It’s just what popped into my head.)
So, timing and emotion can be everything, especially if the goal is to revitalize the series after a while. The death of a beloved character is a double-edged sword, but it can erase staleness. Yes, people who loved the character might send death threats because we live in a time of unhinged anonymity. Others will be more sensible and consider walking away, but that can be prevented if the character is mourned and their demise means something more than shock value.
This would add a third factor: Aftermath. If you have a character die and then everyone moves on without a care, you’ve wasted an opportunity. The death of someone they know can help the other heroes change either for good or bad. Some may focus on vengeance while others consider giving up out of grief. The aftermath can last for the rest of the story too if you make sure it doesn’t interfere with the overall story. For example, the shock death can drive the survivors to push forward or even alter their plan to avoid another disaster.
Personally, I’m very cautious about killing off major characters. Secondary ones become fair game, but I try not to do real shock deaths. There’s always a purpose within the story for them to die instead of ‘the world is a dangerous place’. My reason for this is because I feel that Windemere can be shown as dangerous without a high body count. People die there, but I’d rather show the danger and how it can be survived even if one doesn’t get out in one piece. A death also means I have to take time on mourning and grief because I don’t like having people witness such a thing and move on. Seems callous and cruel, which doesn’t fit any of the stories I’ve written so far. If it makes sense down the road, I’ll do it, but that hasn’t happened yet.
What do other people think of ‘elevator shaft’ deaths?
(These were some minor characters who eventually hung around Baron Kernaghan in Legends of Windemere. They were never part of the real plan, but they popped up by accident. I figured I would put them together and they became a way to hint that the main villain possessed some level of humanity. At least he did at one point in his life. I don’t even think I had either of these characters speak, but they were oddly fun to put into a scene as noticeable background flavor.)
Cheshire Cat from American McGee’s Alice
I guess I’ll scream SPOILERS here even though these characters are so minor that Sari’s skirts and Nyx’s eyes are more essential to the story. People might know Raksha from Book 5 and Melanie debuts in Book 6. That’s all I’m saying before I make the ‘Read More’ break. Again, these two are extreme background:
This is a very common ending that I’m sure all of us have encountered. After all of the events, the main character wakes up and it’s revealed to have been a dream. I believe this was the ending for ‘Newhart’ and it also makes me think of ‘Wizard of Oz’. From what I can tell, there are two uses for this trope:
Having everything be a dream comes as a shock ending. The audience is surprised, but not upset. At least, that’s how it used to be. I think this usage doesn’t hit as well due to previous overuse and readers being hunters of foreshadowing. If you don’t show any signs of it being a dream, they’ll say you made a bad ending. To be fair, if you have signs and they figure it out, they’ll say you’re predictable. This is why I want to steer clear of it in my own stories.
A more accepted and useful method is to have it happen in the middle of a series. This can reset characters and plots back to before the dreaming. It can help if an author has written themselves into a corner and have a previous event that could explain a coma or any form of unconsciousness. If it’s planned, an author can experiment with characters to see if anything is worth establishing in the real world. Either way, you now have a hero remembering a dreamworld and that gives you a subplot for them reacclimating.
‘Just a dream’ is still a risky endeavor in this day and age. I can see how it was shocking and popular long ago. Similar to ‘I am your father’ being said by the villain, this trope was used to the point where it lost its power. It only works on those who haven’t read or watched many stories that utilize the twist. So, they are shocked since it’s new to them, but everyone else might just shrug. This limits your audience to a very narrow population, which can shrink more once they realize you aren’t the first to do it. So, why would anyone use it again?
The truth is that sometimes the ‘just a dream’ twist simply works for the story. This can go for any trope since they became that way due to effectiveness. Even if you remove the shock effect, a character being in a coma and going through a fake adventure can open the door to many things. I already mentioned them having to acclimate to reality, which can be disorienting. Another option is the character hating the real world and setting off to see if they can return to the fake one. This does remove the trope from being a true ending, but more of a catalyst for more. It can extend the life of a series in this way since you can’t use it at the start.
When you use it is another good point I should touch on. Having a character start off waking from a vivid dream can be done, but the audience won’t have any interest in any effects. They won’t understand why the real world is better or worse than the fake one because they don’t know what was ‘lost’. You lose that investment and replace it with a mystery that can easily fall flat if it doesn’t grab the reader immediately. This is why ‘just a dream’ can work better as a mid-series twist. Placed there, you allow the reader to see both worlds and how they merge. They could even relate to the disorientation of the character since they have to figure out where the dream started.
Another positive for this trope could be seen as rare because it depends entirely on how philosophical the reader is. One can start trigger a discussion about reality and if we are in a dream right now. Maybe it can be about how people perceive things differently or anything about how we see the world. After all, the character experienced a dream so real that it was a story worth sharing with the reader. It was enough for them to also remember after waking, which isn’t always the case with dreams. They tend to fade away pretty quickly or remain solely as fractured shards.
Months ago, I saw an article about the Arctic Woolly Caterpillar. This moth larvae lives in extreme cold environments and survive with an interesting method of hibernation. It puts itself into a state of hypothermia by producing a natural antifreeze and freezing solid for several months. They thaw for the brief summer to feed and then freeze again until they mature, which takes around 14 years.
This got me wondering about other animals that hibernate in ways that we don’t think about. Let’s be honest. Most of us think of bears and groundhogs sleeping through the winter, but there’s more.
Arctic Woolly Caterpillar
Box turtles do something called brumation, which isn’t hibernation. Still, it’s interesting to learn about. Brumation is what reptiles and amphibians do. For box turtles, they burrow into the ground or go under roots to slow their metabolism and heart rate. They are not in as deep a state as hibernating mammals, so they will wake up occasionally if they need food and water.
Box Turtle
Bumblebees hibernation is also called diapause. While most of the hive dies off, the new Queen enters a dormant state after mating. She goes into the dirt, rodent tunnels, or hides in leaf litter. The last one is dangerous though since us humans tend to clear our lawns of leaves, which kills any insects sleeping within. Now, the Queen survives off body fat and stays warm by secreting an antifreeze like the woolly caterpillar.
Bumblebee
The Common Poorwill is the only bird that hibernates. They enter a state called torpor, which is a death-like sleep. This lowers their metabolism and vitals for even months until the weather warms and food becomes more available. Before sleeping, they get into rocky spaces where they will be safe.
Common Poorwill
The Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur is the only hibernating primate. During Madagascar’s dry season, they enter a state of torpor for nearly seven months. Vitals go down and they match the surrounding temperatures while getting nourishment from the fat stored in their tails. The tails can make up 40% of their weight before hibernating.
Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur
Garter Snakes enter brumation like the box turtles. The difference here is that snakes will hibernate in a massive group. This helps them stay warm during the cold periods.
Garter Snakes
Snail hibernation is also called estivation. This can last months and even years. As many of the previous hibernators, they burrow into the ground before their metabolism and vitals slow down. The unique addition here is that they seal their shells with a plug of dried mucus called a epiphragm. Snails will do this for extreme cold and heat too.
Snails
Here is the Wood Frog, which is another animal that does brumation. The reason I kept another brumator here is because they do something different than the box turtles and garter snakes. Wood Frogs secrete antifreeze like the bumblebee and caterpillar, so they freeze solid within the leaf litter. Their heart and breath stop entirely, which means this is cryogenic freezing. The ice forms around their cells without penetration, so they can survive until the rising temperatures thaw them out.
So, we got hit by a pretty bad storm last weekend. It started on Sunday, but the worst happened overnight into Monday. My dad and I were lucky to have gone out to clean the cars and do some shoveling in the evening. This made the morning easier, but it was still a pain. The wind made it that we had spots with barely any snow next to drifts that were around 15-18 inches deep. This meant we got a total of over 20 inches before the storm actually stopped. Apparently, this one was the worst on record, so take that everyone who goes ‘This is nothing compared to the blizzard of ’78’.
The aftermath resulted in us getting two snow days, which won’t take away from spring break due to the governor declaring a state of emergency. Thankful for that because it would have been my half that we lost. The days off also helped us clear more out, especially after the one time the plow came through. I don’t know what was going on, but the roads are still a mess. Snow is piled on the corners, which means you can’t see what is coming without sticking your car’s nose into the street. Some people haven’t cleared their sidewalks and crossing streets is nearly impossible since you have a wall of ice in your way. Total headache, which is gradually going away.
I had my son for the snow days too, so we got to spend time hanging out. He’s trying to teach himself some basic coding, which he did while I shoveled, rested from shoveling, and worked on May blog posts. He’s 16 and wants to do his own stuff at times. Have to accept that as a parent, but he still enjoys having lunch with me and watching our cartoons at night. I think this hurts a bit more than it normally would because my brain reminds me that I missed about half of his teenager years due to the 50/50 custody. Not the best way to look at it, but there’s been a lot of events that he’s had to miss because he wasn’t with me at the time. So, I give him space and ask that we do some things together.
After finishing Darwin & the Joy Path, I’m trying to focus on ‘Phi Beta Files’ and setting up blog posts. I’m proud to say I’ve already gotten most of May set up since I’m reposting ‘mental health and writing’ posts. As for ‘Phi Beta’, I’m struggling with the finale outline. I have to figure out various pieces first and then set up the 10 short stories. I keep wanting to start the whole thing with them being sent on a mission that is supposed to get them killed. They’re still a gang of effective idiots, so I don’t know if I should have them succeed and return to face the real problem at the academy. Part of me feels like they would leave as soon as they realized they weren’t supposed to survive. That would get the person who set them up really riled up and possibly have their destructive meltdown (the main plot) be more believable.
On top of this, I’m still trying to figure out what the difference between a witch and a caster is in Windemere. Both use magic, so why would a witch be different? I already have song casters, time casters, channelers, wand-only casters, and other subcategories. I can’t figure out why the ‘Coven of the Gray’ would be unique. I even considered them being casters who lost their aura, but still have magic. That makes them undead though and that would be more like a lich . . . Unless . . . I mean, witch and lich rhyme. I still have no idea what I’m planning.
With it being a full week of school/work, I’m not going to plan much beyond finishing up blog posts and tinkering with outlines. This weekend is the big end of season Pokemon Go event, so I’ll be walking in the park for most of today and a chunk of tomorrow. The amount I walk around tomorrow depends entirely on how I do today. Not going to go for the full 8 hours nonstop though. I’m taking a break at 1 pm to get lunch and then I’ll head back out. By the evening, I’ll be tired, but I should still be able to tackle ‘Phi Beta Files’ a bit. Not having a book to write has me feeling lazy in terms of production, but I can’t tackle a project like that yet. March has too many meetings and appointments, which is causing stress.
So, what are the goals for the week?
Catch all the Pokemon on my list this weekend.
Catch all the Pokemon on my son’s list in case he isn’t allowed to go.
Work on ‘Phi Beta Files’.
Finish May blog posts.
Jigsaw puzzle!
Relax because it’s a long trek towards spring break.
So, I’ve voiced my opinion about getting back into writing. Today, I want to know what other people think about picking up the pen/pencil/laptop again. I’m sure many authors have had to take a break and return, but I feel it’s different for everyone. To be clear, I’m talking about sitting down to write a new book after a long break.
Have you ever had to take a long break from writing and how did that affect you?
What is something you would do to help get back into writing?
What advice would you give to someone who is returning to writing after a long break?
(This one stems from a time when I had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I had a job that was soul-crushing and amped up my anxiety issues to the point where I would cry in the car. Glad I’m not there anymore.)
I feel a weight
That presses on my chest
And locks my limbs in place
Unable to kill the alarm
That blares above my head
It is the morning struggle
That proves I am not dead
Though my will is weak
I continue to breathe air
And to live a life of pain
I battle to move on
Twitching weeping muscles
With a stagnant brain
Getting only spasms
Along my shaky spine
Eventually I move a leg
My foot dangling
Inches above the floor
It touches down
And locks itself in place
The alarm has gone too long
It’s droning now a whine
I use it to drag me up
With both feet on the floor
Forced to live this day
When did this begin?
These mornings of near death
Forcing me to tears
That have no solid cause
Beyond the stress I hold
It isn’t easy getting back to any hobby. Writing can be very tricky since skills can get rusty and confidence can falter pretty quickly. So, what are some ways to return and not run away in shame?
If you’re really nervous, you might want to start slow. Design a character, work on an outline, or just write a page. This can help you figure out where your skills and focus are sitting. Once you get an idea of where you stand, you can work on improving and pushing forward.
Remember that writing is a skill that you can never fully perfect. There will always be new things to learn or adjustments you wish to make. So, getting back into it isn’t that much different than continuing without a break.
Ignore people who try to remind you that you either quit or were forced to stop. It’s clear they were never in your corner to begin with.
It might not be a bad idea to take time to read your old creations. This is risky because you could pick out your mistakes. On the other hand, you could find all of the things you did right. This can help you mentally get back to where you were before you had to take a break.
Always have your favorite snack or drink nearby. Doesn’t hurt to have things around to keep you calm and happy. Big part of writing is being in the right mindset. Don’t knock the physical objects that trigger a helpful dose of dopamine.
If your confidence is really low and doesn’t improve over time, you might want to read author blogs and short bios. Not so much to see what they say about writing or any story tips. Read about their own struggles. Knowing that even the ones who made it to the top of the heap had trouble can make you feel better. It means you’re just as human and capable as they are.
Try to always remember to have fun with your stories.
So, I’ve voiced my opinion about getting back into writing. Today, I want to know what other people think about picking up the pen/pencil/laptop again. I’m sure many authors have had to take a break and return, but I feel it’s different for everyone. To be clear, I’m talking about sitting down to write a new book after a long break.
Legends of Windemere 