Fantasy is known for its quests and group adventures. Some authors focus on multiple figures who are active at the same time, but not working together. These stories don’t have a single hero designated as the central character. Instead, they are what would be called an ensemble group. Each member is important to the story even if they aren’t actually on at the same time. It’s certainly a juggling act since you can’t give too much attention to one character or you risk destabilizing the balance. Playing favorites can turn your ensemble cast into a one-person show while the plot wasn’t designed for it to be that way. Eventually, a point will happen where another character needs to step up, but they were ignored for so long they no longer fit that scene or an author forgot to give them the proper evolution. Oops. That can be fixed with edits, but let’s try to go over this to save ourselves a headache.
First, I want to clarify what I mean by ensemble cast even though I’m sure everyone knows what I’m talking about. As I said, this is where you have multiple central heroes instead of one leading the show. Readers may perceive one as being greater than the others, but they’re allowed to play favorites. An author doesn’t have that luxury because the plot requires actions from everyone.
These characters are all involved in the main story, so they are an essential piece of the puzzle. Whether it be revenge or destiny, they have no choice, but to be there. Variations in goals comes from the personal side of the heroes, which makes utilizing an ensemble more difficult. An author can’t have the sole interest of every character be to see the adventure to the end because then they’ll all be the same. There needs to be a variety in skills, personalities, and goals to show why they are together. Typically, these heroes have united because each one brings something to the group that the others don’t have.
For example, in Legends of Windemere each of the champions has a specialty. Luke Callindor is speed fighting and thinking on his feet. Nyx has powerful magic and book smarts. Timoran Wrath is physically strong and wise. Sari has a variety of abilities and is cunning. Delvin Cunningham is a tactician and mellow personality, which we’ll touch on later. Finally, Dariana has mental abilities and is able to shrug off a lot of damage. Individually, they can be successful to a point, but they need each other to counter their weakness and ensure overall success. This is one of the key points of an ensemble group.
Perhaps the initial challenge you will run into here is the introduction. I’ve done it two ways since both of my big series involve ensemble casts.
Although, War of Nytefall is clearly more about Clyde than the others, he’d still be in trouble without his friends, so that’s probably on shaky ground with the definition. Also, I will admit that is how you can do it in a series. With a single book or a trilogy, you have less time, especially if you have a large cast. Adjustments will have to be made or find a middle ground between these two extremes.
That’s enough disclaimers, so I’ll move on to a list to make things easier:
Probably not the safest post to make when you recently released a ‘how to’ book. Do I Need to Use a Dragon?is full of advice, so you would think an author would want people to use as much of it as possible. I mean, it worked for me, so all of it together should be perfect, right? Well, that’s ego talking.
The reality is that not every piece of advice you receive is worth taking. I’ve gone into this before, but I want to talk about the danger of following every tip that you receive. This is fairly common in people who are starting out and wanting to learn the trade that they have stepped into. The new person will look to those with experience as being wise and this can lead to a misconception that every tip they hear is gold. They’ll rush home to work the new advice into their writing, meet another experienced person, and continue the cycle of ‘building skills’. It doesn’t always work out well.
Especially in artistic trades, a person might grab so much advice that they start turning their works into hodgepodge blobs. You can see the influence of others in there, but no individuality of the actual author. Pieces won’t fit together because they took advice from those who have opposing styles. There wasn’t an attempt to see if things meshed or modify them to unite. It was just slapping in the advice and thinking that would be enough to elevate the works. I believe this is what some people would call a rookie mistake and it can be a big one.
I know this because I did this to Beginning of a Hero back in the day. From the years of 2002 through 2007, I went to a few writing classes or approached indie authors online for advice. An important note here is that only one person I ever interacted with during this time was a fantasy author. Everyone else was either a journalist, lyricist, letters to the editor writer, fan-fiction writer, romance, and historical fiction. This meant that I was getting advice that worked for their genre and path. I learned that authors tend to give advice in a general way instead of adjusting things to their audience. Guess that ability is saved for actual book writing.
So, what were the results? When I sat down to prepare Beginning of a Hero for publishing in 2013, I found myself staring at a terrifying mess. Now, this book was already a little shaky being my first big step into fantasy writing. Taking everyone’s advice and jamming it into the story had me staring at a patchwork maze. The story was still there and the characters had their proper forms. It was the presentation of the story and the personalities of the characters due to dialog that was a nightmare. I had at least three different methods of portraying dialog jockeying for domination. Info dumps were written blandly and I had random asides that showed Luke Callindor’s childhood, which served no purpose. So, I had to go through it several times to fix everything and develop a style that I was confident about. Couldn’t even tell you if a kept any of the advice or if I jettisoned everything though because it was that big a headache.
This is the danger of taking too much advice. Not only with writing, but with anything in life. As we hear many times, you can’t please everyone. This includes accepting all advice and ignoring our own identities. You truly run the risk of losing yourself as an individual if you go along with too many people. It’s the opposite of going nowhere because you won’t accept any help. So, always try to take a step back and think about what was suggested to you before you adopt it.
Been a while since I did an animal post. I’ve been saving this animal for a while. Learned about him when my son wanted to repeatedly see these videos of Conan O’Brien having animals on his old show. Watched multiple times before bed. It’s stayed in my mind ever since because of the above mentioned fact. So, what is a binturong?
They are also called bearcats because they do look like a bear mixed with a cat. You can find them in South and Southeast Asia. As you can tell from their nickname, they are very hairy, but they aren’t huge. A binturong’s most distinguishing figure is its prehensile tail, which is as long as the head and body. This helps them move about trees, which they do slowly and with no leaping. In captivity, they have been observed climbing upside down with a lot of skill.
As far as endangered status, the binturong is VULNERABLE. Their biggest threat is habitat destruction caused by deforestation. In some areas, the forests are cut down for plantations, which they do not stay in like other animals in the region. This is very bad in China, which has them listed as CRITICALLY ENDANGERED. Binturong are also poached to be used for their fur, meat, and put on display in caged animal shows. Many countries have restricted hunting of these animals, but the biggest help is an expansive breeding program through zoos across the world.
So, what are some curious facts?
The big one is that they do smell like buttered popcorn or corn chips. This is due to their scent glands, which give off a compound that gives some freshly baked breads their smell.
To help with climbing, they can rotate their hind legs backwards, which allows them to climb down headfirst.
Binturong are omnivores, but they lack a lot of predatory attributes. So, they eat primarily fruits and vegetables with meat being meals of opportunity.
They are considered seed dispersal agents for the strangler fig because they can get through the tough outer covering.
It is believed that females can delay implantation of an embryo. So, they have sex with a male and can time the birth of their young.
World Binturong Day is always the second Saturday of May.
The Orang Asil of Peninsular Malaysia keep binturong as pets. This group is the oldest indigenous population of the area.
Their closest relatives are civets, mongooses, and foosa.
There are 9 subspecies of binturong, which are mostly similar except for location and small differences in size.
Females are 20% bigger than males.
Since they are too heavy to leap, binturong need to climb down to the ground to get to other trees. This is why they prefer dense forests where branches are knitted together.
They are usually solitary, but groups have been found with a dominant female as the leader.
They chuckle when happy and wail if angry.
Very young binturong are able to spray a foul liquid when in danger. They do this until they grow bigger and stronger, which usually takes a few months.
So, my son finished camp yesterday. I finished the summer school session as well. That means, we’re going to take a relaxing father/son trip. He gets a little more than 3 weeks to have fun. I get . . . a little more than 2 weeks. You know, I’ll take it since it’s been a rough year so far. He’s with me for 12 days and then I’m on my own for a bit until the next school year starts. I can use those days to hopefully recover. God knows, I desperately need those days. He should since I’m sure he’s behind things.
Writing-wise, I didn’t get as much done as I would have liked, but I did accomplish what I expected. I finished two chapters of Darwin & the Beast Collector last weekend and into Monday. Had a feeling writing time would disappear as soon as Monday was over since so much was going on. I was going to try to write on Wednesday, but I didn’t like starting a chapter and then not touching it for over a week. Besides, things started going sideways at this point.
One incident, I can’t talk about because it was fairly private and it could cause trouble if I make it public. All I can say is that decisions were made and stress was induced by several people, including me. Will there be negative fallout from this? I don’t know. It really depends on some factors, which I can’t get into. I will say that it definitely stressed me out a bit since so much was beyond my control. Didn’t help that I had a post nasal drip, which was aggravating my sleep apnea and making me have a bunch of panic attacks. Of course, Wednesday didn’t help.
This is a health-related thing, which I’m guessing people gloss over. People come here for the writing stuff like Do I Need to Use a Dragon?has 2 5-star ratings. Thank you for that. Anyway, these posts are about my life and maybe what I go through will help someone about to go through the same stuff.
Now, I was checked by a cardiologist a week ago. Everything was fine and I even had relatively good blood pressure. The only issue was a slightly rapid heartbeat, which I’ve had for about a decade at least. To be safe, I was set up to have a stress test. This is when they connect a bunch of electrodes to you and have you walk on a treadmill for 10-15 minutes. I’ve done that before and it isn’t bad. Heck, I even factored it into my daily exercise plan. Made sure not to take any caffeine or blood pressure stuff (beetroot) and stopped eating at noon. This part should have been a clue that I was about to walk into a different situation. Showing up and seeing everyone else had some kind of mobility issue should have been the other.
I was unaware that there was a drug-induced stress test used for those who can’t do the treadmill. Why would I know since I can use it? No idea why I was given this test where they hook you up to an IV then slide you into a CATscan machine. I spent 30-40 minutes with my arms above my head and unable to move. They start with a non-reactive substance that they won’t call a dye, which shows my heart while ‘normal’. Then, they injected me with something that simulated walking the treadmill. I was told 60 seconds of stomach cramps, headaches, and other discomfort. My anxiety shot up and I struggled to count the seconds. I had trouble getting up because I never moved my legs, so they were useless. Driving home through horrible traffic was a test of will and I felt ‘wrong’ for the rest of the evening and most of Thursday. Everybody was shocked and confused on why this was done to me. I won’t hear about the results until September 7th too. Mostly, I want to know why I wasn’t given the treadmill.
I think this incident and the one I can’t talk about is another reason my appetite has been low/gone lately. I’m eating, but not nearly as much as I used to. Mostly fruits, healthy grain brains, and vegetables. No snacking. Had my only soda of the week last night. I’ve lost about 2-3 pounds this week. Not sure if this is healthy though. It’s because I can’t bring myself to eat a lot. Yet, I’m walking a ton and maintaining 8,000-10,000+ steps a day. Could this be a good thing? I don’t know. Still betting a lot on the sleep apnea test at the end of the month because my sleep is ragged.
OOOOOHHHH! I almost forgot about the big victory of the week:
I finished Lego Rivendell! Want a tour?
I finished it when I didn’t have the time or brain power to write. I had ‘Good Omens’ playing at the time too. So, I was distracted at times when I got to the new episodes. Still, I got this massive project done. The James Bond Aston Martin, Darth Vader and Obi Wan Brickheadz, and Wolverine claw I did afterwards didn’t quite measure up, but what really can to this challenge. I don’t have the space for anything this big again unless I get a new place and make a Lego room. Back to jigsaw puzzles once I get time to return to this kind of stuff.
I don’t have a real plan for the week. Not one that goes beyond the father/son trip. We have a bunch of fun stuff planned, which I’ll post about next Saturday. It’ll definitely have to be a day-by-day one and I hope to have pictures. Pokemon Go is going to be a large factor, but not the main focus. After all, we have tons of outings planned. We’ll fit it in at some points though.
I was originally going to do a ‘Muse Shop’ post, but I got to thinking about the actual Muses. People use the term a lot, but it ends up being for a personalized, nameless figure instead of a specific being. This got me curious enough to give myself a refresher on the Greek Muses. I also wondered where Do I Need to Use a Dragon?came from since it isn’t a fantasy book.
There are two sets of Muses. One is the original trio of Melete, Mneme, and Aoide. They followed practice, memory, and song respectively. The names change at times, but this is where the concept started. It eventually got expanded to 9 Muses who were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. The 9 Muse group became more popular because it was cited by Homer, Hesiod, and other notable writers of the time.
So, why are the 9 Muses?
Calliope the Muse of Epic Poetry (Considered leader of the Muses)
Clio the Muse of History
Euterpe the Muse of Music
Thalia the Muse of Comedy and Idyllic Poetry
Melpomene the Muse of Tragedy
Terpsichore the Muse of Dance and Chorus
Erato the Muse of Love Poetry (This includes Erotic Poetry)
Polyhymnia the Muse of Hymns and Sacred Poetry
Urania the Muse of Astronomy
I find it interesting that Urania is around because one wouldn’t expect Astronomy to need a Muse. Yet, one can see how scientists may need inspiration in order to think about what they haven’t discovered yet. With Astronomy, you need to be able to imagine what it is like out in space by using the data you have. Since I don’t look into this subject much, I can’t be certain on the Muse’s influence though. Still, I guess it was a big thing back in Ancient Greece, which is why it received a Muse.
For myself, I would assume that Calliope is the Muse that I interact with the most. Epic poetry is what turned into epic stories, which transformed into most types of fiction such as fantasy. Thalia and Melpomene get involved as well, but that is more about theme and plot progression than genre. This can reveal that a single story can be inspired by more than one Muse. Wonder if it was like that back in the days or it turned into a group activity as stories became more complicated.
Now, Do I Need to Use a Dragon?is a strange one. It isn’t fiction, but it needed to be inspired by a Muse. My use of humor definitely shows that Thalia was on my shoulder at several points. None of the musical ones or Urania could have been involved. Calliope may have been overseeing the project, but it wasn’t really in her wheelhouse. Erato . . . Not even in the same time zone. Probably had Polyhymnia and Melpomene with her since there was no sacredness or tragedy to the book. At least, I hope there wasn’t any tragedy beyond the one or two typos that survived all the editing.
That makes me think it was Clio the Muse of History. She is considered the ‘proclaimer, glorified, and celebrant of history, great deeds, and accomplishments’. Do I Need to Use a Dragon?certainly falls into the accomplishment arena to me. Not because I wrote a book that had me exposed instead of hidden behind characters. It celebrates the progress I’ve made as an author in terms of craft knowledge and developing my own style and identity. Is that really an aspect of history? Not in the traditional sense, but it can fall under her umbrella.
This isn’t to say that you only have the 9 Muses to work with. Maybe more have appeared over the years as new types of art and genres are created. For all we know, there are Muses of fantasy, Lego building, macramé, and everything else. Could be a unique Muse for each artist, which makes the whole concept moot in a way. Does bring up an interesting question though:
Did the Muses create human imagination or did human imagination create the Muses?
(This is a pretty simple poem. Perfect opportunity to simply remind people that Do I Need to Use a Dragon? is available as a $2.99 eBook and a $20 paperback.)
