Questions 3: The Author Vessel/Surrogate/Avatar

Yahoo Image Search

Many authors insert either themselves or a version of themselves into a story.  It could be a realistic version or even an idealistic.  Maybe you’re a side character or a cameo, but other times the author may be the protagonist.  For example, I always thought of Luke Callindor and Clyde as my vessels.  I jumped into other characters, but these were the two I put my mind into with more ease.

Avatars, surrogates, or vessels aren’t easy.  We can be too nice or too mean to ourselves when we’re the characters.  That’s why it doesn’t hurt to share wisdom with some questions.

  1. Have you ever written a story with a version of you in it?
  2. What’s one piece of advice you would give an author if they were going to use a vessel?
  3. Do you think authors should reveal a character is a vessel or keep it a secret?
Posted in Questions 3 | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Why Am I Avoiding Working on My WIP?

Photo by Christian Erfurt on Unsplash Hi SEers. John with you today. I had a sudden awakening before writing this post, and it made me feel somewhat …

Why Am I Avoiding Working on My WIP?
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Immortal Wars: Light, Blood, & Tears Part 22

(Disclaimer: A warning to those who continue.  This is a sequel to a previous story.  Both of these were written in the mid-1990’s.  While the first one was slightly edited and vanity press published, this one has not been touched in over 20 years.  I figure I should do something with it and people may get a laugh or fright from how I used to be.  Every author comes from somewhere, so this is part of my origin.  To that end, I am deeply sorry for whatever nightmares I will inflict on the literary world and the American English language.  Enjoy?)

PREVIOUS ENTRY CLICK HERE

The Bronx Zoo is one of the favorite tourist spots of New York City.  Both kids and adults enjoy seeing different species of animals that are not normally found in their backyard.  In winter, many of the zoo’s animals are sent to warmer climates.  The fierce lions and powerful tigers are gone, but two new types of predators have gladly come to replace them.  Sort of.

“Would you stop looking at the damn seals and break someone!” hollers Cybro over the sound of his hissing lasers.  Most of the daily crowd is gone and a small, yet rapidly growing, army of police is turning into the nearby parking lot.  The cars that are already there have been destroyed and some are still burning.

“You have no patience whatsoever.  I wanted to actually walk around before we started with the destruction.  Besides, I think these are sealions.  I never did know what the difference was,” replies Draveon as he pets one of the nervous animals.

The first cop car that stops, immediately explodes when Cybro shoots the gas tank with a heat laser.  At least, twenty officers get out of their own cars while others swarm in from the street like a colony of ants.  Ten of the arriving cops are ripped apart by Cybro’s hail of lasers and bullets before everyone else has time to take cover.

“They are getting a little too close for my comfort.  Help me out here, test tube boy.”  The robot’s stomach-mounted gattling gun suddenly makes a rapid clicking noise.  Soon after that his lasers abruptly stop their low humming.

“The next time you’re upgraded, Cybro, ask for a few backup solar cells.  How close are the police?  Never mind, since it really doesn’t matter.  They will be just as dead whether they are close by or in another country,” laughs Draveon.  The two immortals walk to the top of a large flight of stairs and they jump down to the waiting cops.  Hot bullets pelt their bodies, but the immortals’ healing abilities work faster than the damage that is done to them.

“I’m going to have to avoid metal detectors after this fight!” yells Draveon when he flips one of the heavy cars onto two cowering policemen.  Three brave cops jump on the red-eyed man, but he only takes a step back in mild surprise.  He repeatedly smashes two of them together, until they look like one person, and kicks the other one through two cars and a pointy fence.

“You think that you have a problem with metal detectors?  Try being a robot going onto an airplane.”  Cybro fires electrodes from his feet, which electrocute half of an approaching S.W.A.T. team.  The other half is slowly taken out with a poisonous snare net from his chest.

“Is that a joke I just heard from you, metal man?”  The ultimate killer snaps the neck of a few more cops before a large brute of a man in full riot gear gives him a bear hug from behind.  Draveon finally grabs the cop’s head in order to flip the man over his shoulder.  Once the bulky man lands on his feet, he gets his arms ripped off.  The severed limbs are quickly thrown through two nearby cops that stopped running away in order to throw up.

“It was a joke.  Why do you ask?  Am I not allowed to make a joke once in a while?  Well, well, well.  Helicopters.  I’m going after them.  I will see you at the rendezvous point.”

Draveon fails to notice the speedy departure of his ally, but keeps on fighting the police while wearing a stoic face.  Within a few slow moving minutes, the entire parking lot is filled with the twisted bodies of dead police officers and destroyed police cars.  The distant sound of screams of terror from the fleeing survivors finally brings a smile to the large immortal’s face.

“Cybro?  Where the hell are you?” mutters Draveon while he climbs back up the flight of stairs.  A thin line of oil at the top of the stairs catches his attention and he cautiously follows it.  Little does he realize that the destruction he left behind is sinking into the suddenly liquefied concrete.  When the oil trail ends, Draveon is near the polar bears holding an empty oil drum that came from one of the police cars.

“I’ve been thinking, muscles.  At first, I wanted to kill all four of you overrated jackasses together.  Then, I remembered something important.  If I try to use my powers against your chiseled ass, I’m as good as dead.  So, it’s just me versus you without either of us using our powers,” explains Hydrana.  She silently drops behind the towering immortal and throws him into a tree by his long, black hair.

“Adriana told us that you were insane.  It looks to me like you’re only a whole lot dumber than before.  No one, with the unfortunate exception of Fate, has ever defeated me.  But if you want to take me on then I have no problem with that.  You don’t frighten me, water sprite,” laughs Draveon as he casually walks up to the small guardian.  He violently smashes his fist down on her skull, but she only falls to her knees.

“That’s the best you can do.  I’ve had more painful paper-cuts.  Anything else, Draveon?  Or have I overestimated you?”

Her answer comes in the form of a savage kick to her face, which practically shatters her nose.  Hydrana rolls up to her feet and jumps over a straight punch to her stomach.  She savagely claws the towering man in his face before she lands in a crouch.  The clawing barely stuns Draveon, so he takes his chance to knee the redhead in the chest.  The effect is something he wouldn’t have expected in his wildest dreams.  Nothing happens at all.

“How could you possibly not feel that?  That shot was strong enough to turn steel into dust!” exclaims the male immortal.

“My insanity has somehow managed to dull my pain receptors.  Your puny love tap couldn’t have hurt me no matter where it landed.  Now, do you give up?” asks Hydrana with a wicked smirk.

“No.  I must admit that you have become a very exquisite creature.  If I weren’t already unhappily married, things would be pleasurably different between us.  It will be an enormous shame to kill such a gorgeous monster like you.  But I guess it wasn’t meant to be, little psycho.”

The Neptune guardian starts to slowly circle the villain and softly moves her fingers along his chest while she whispers, “Ooooh.  Flattery.  I never would have expected such a pathetic attempt at salvation from you.  Maybe we should make some kind of deal since you seem to have acquired a sudden, and disturbing, crush on me.  Give up and I’m yours for life.  It will be a terrific experience for both of us in so many devilish ways.  So, do you give up?”

“Yeah.  Because I’ve decided to let something else finish you off.  I do have one simple question.  How do you prepare a guardian for a two person dinner?  I think in their case, it would be raw,” replies Draveon before backhanding her into the polar bear’s cold pool.  He laughs hysterically once the Neptune guardian is pounced on by two of the arctic predators.  They haven’t been feed in a while since many of the caretakers coming into work were killed by Cybro’s initial assault.  Hydrana is still screaming at Draveon as her body is being silently ripped apart.

“Are you finished, guardian?”  The red-eyed man finally stops laughing and desperately tries to catch his breath.  When the bears leave the body, it is already growing back most of the vital organs.

“When I’m back in one piece, you’re going to be dead!  Do you hear me, testosterone breath!  You’re as good as dead!” hollers the redhead.

“If I were you, I would try to be very quiet and still.  There really is no sense in becoming seconds or thirds for the bears.  Have fun, Hydrana.  I’ll see you at the warzone.”

Posted in Immortal Wars | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

What is the Superhero Paradox?

Goku from Dragonball

I’ve actually thought of this issue a lot since my teenage years, but I never knew there was a term for it until now.  It may be nuanced, but the gist is:

Superhero Paradox–  Superheroes try to make the world a better place, but the seem to make the world more dangerous.

Pretty sure everyone is thinking of Batman, but I’m going with Goku.  Why?  First, the quote can be connected to this in terms of a villain getting stronger in order to defeat a hero.  Actually, War of Nytefall: Savagery revolves around this concept.  The second reason I went with Goku is I remember him leaving Earth because he felt his high level of power was attracting the villains.  He went away to prevent his friends, family, and world from getting leveled every time someone shows up to challenge him.  This is a big part of the paradox.

How does this happen?  Let’s look at the steps:

  1. Hero debuts and beats weakest enemies.
  2. Rises in strength to face stronger opponents.
  3. Defeats first the big villains.
  4. New villain arrives either to fill void or challenge.
  5. Hero gets strong enough to defeat them.
  6. New villain arrives specifically to take out hero.
  7. Hero gets even stronger to win.
  8. New villain arrives . . . You get the point.

It isn’t always so formulaic, but it revolves around the concept of heroes creating at least a few of their strongest villains.  This happens a lot in comics with a hero making a mistake that forges a villain.  Spider-Man returning with the alien suit that becomes Venom is one such example.  He wanted to make the world a better place, thought the new suit would help, and inevitably unleashed a long line of alien symbiotes on the planet.  Not very heroic if you think about it.

Another aspect of the Superhero Paradox is the damage that they cause such as in the namesake genre.  Cities can be leveled and lives can by lost, which is partially caused by heroes getting into public battles.  The destruction is rather inevitable considering the powers and weapons being used when violence erupts.  Villains don’t care if they do this and heroes can’t always knock a target high into the air instead of through a building.  We like to think they can, but that takes a lot of careful thinking and superheroes rarely find themselves in battle situations where they can take a breath.  This results in them being nearly as much of a danger as their enemy.  Sure, their presence reduces that damage and loss of life, but it doesn’t typically go down to zero.

The collateral damage can result in more villains popping up too.  Now, you have the hero’s presence and actions making the world more dangerous again.  Makes you wonder how people in comic book worlds manage to get up the morning.  Why go into work when you have a 75% chance of getting killed in a superhuman battle?  At least Dragonball typically keeps its fights in the wilderness or tournaments.

There are ways to counter act this issue.  Have there be consequences for the damage or the hero puts a lot of effort into avoiding violence in cities.  This way, they don’t make the world more dangerous by drawing innocent bystanders into the battle.  Villains will still attack cities, but heroes can try to move them away or contain them to a very small region.  There can be an initial focus on rescue and evacuation too.

Another way to handle the paradox is to give villains reasons to act that don’t relate to the hero.  They can also have powers that will always challenge the hero, who doesn’t actually become stronger.  If a hero has to win by wits instead of leveling up then they are less likely to attract bigger powerhouses who can cause more damage.  The world will again be safer because the hero’s strength is fairly low key.  This can still create a minor paradox because reputations grow with victories and there will inevitablly be someone who wants to challenge the hero.  Bane went after Batman, Kraven went after Spider-Man, and several baddies went after James Bond because their legends grew big.  It really paints a target on them.

So, what do you think of the Superhero Paradox?

Posted in Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 31 Comments

Three Elements of Horror

Ciao, SEers. We’ve rounded the corner and are in the second half of the year. Even though we’re in the heat of summer, for me, as soon as we hit July…

Three Elements of Horror
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Something fun, with prizes #IARTG

Tonight, at 8:00 East Coast time, I’m going interviewed by Fresh Ink Group. People can call in to ask questions, and I have no idea what direction …

Something fun, with prizes #IARTG
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

War of Nytefall: Anarchy Blurb Test

War of Nytefall

Here’s an embarrassing admission.  I kind of forgot that I was going to publish a book right before Labor Day.  Well, I forgot in that I didn’t realize how quickly the summer is going.  War of Nytefall: Anarchy has been edited a few times.  I still need to hand it off to my usual reader, which I’ll get to this week.  Of course, I needed to move posts around and now I have to jump from September promo posts to continuing the new book.  I’ll go more into that on Saturday because this post isn’t about that.

Just spent an hour work on a blurb for War of Nytefall: Anarchy and it’s really difficult to do this one.  I don’t know why I’m having trouble explaining the story in a shortened term.  Could be due to their being a ton of twists and turns, so everything that isn’t vague feels like a spoiler.  Still, I think it came out well if not lacking in polish.  Let me know what you think and, of course, I’m hoping to get a few people to post promos when the book is out.  It’s the only move I’ve got these days.

*

The paladins of Windemere have had enough!

As the Vampire Civil War heats up, mysterious murders are being committed against members of every holy order.  All signs point to the culprits being vampires, which is has resulted in the creation of a unified paladin army. To protect his people, Clyde must find the killers before the holy warriors unleash their purifying crusade. It is a battle against frustrating obstacles as the war inches closer to mortal civilization and ambitious new allies join Nytefall. One slip is all that is needed for the secret of the Dawn Fangs to be revealed.

Will Clyde be able to keep things together long enough to win his war or is this the end of his secret?

Posted in Uncategorized | 13 Comments

Teaser Tuesday: Working for a Bastard

Cover Art by Circecorp

Ichabod always ends up in the top tier of characters.  It’s always strange since people love him on the blog, but the book never sells.  Maybe this will Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks a little bit of a charge.

Continue reading

Posted in Ichabod Brooks, Teaser Tuesday | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

When You Know You Have Cacoethes Scribendi

Yahoo Image Search

A curious term and I don’t remember how I stumbled onto it.  Showed up the same time I found ‘Idiot Plot’ and ‘Eucatastrophe’.  I’ll admit that it could be a silly term I ran into, but it rings so true.  So, how do you know that you suffer from this?

  1. Do you write entire paragraphs in soap bubbles in the shower and take pictures with your phone?  Cacoethes Scribendi might be for you.
  2. Do you get irritable or downright psychotic if you go for a few days without writing anything?  Cacoethes Scribendi has your name on it.
  3. Do you have a notepad attached to the steering wheel of your car in case the music inspires you?  Cacoethes Scribendi, and a driving recklessly ticket, are on the way.
  4. Do you own enough pens, markers, and pencils to fully stock a school district for an entire year?  This might just be product specific hoarding.
  5. Do you try to use text messages with friends to create realistic dialogues that you plan to use in your book?  Cacoethes Scribendi is here!  Also, your friends want to have an intervention.
  6. Do you write notes and outlines if you can’t get to book writing regardless of your situation?  Cacoethes Scribendi is on your side.  Now, put the paper down and answer the priest’s question.
  7. Do you only eat foods that can be devoured through a straw in order to keep your hands free to write?  Cacoethes Scribendi wants to speak with you.
  8. Do you maintain a blog in order to keep some level of writing in your life?  Cacoethes Scribendi is getting personal now.
  9. Do your shopping lists get out of hand and make no sense because they become eating scenes for your book?  Cacoethes Scribendi is your friend . . . It’s also hungry, so get to the store.
  10. Have you given up reading this post because it’s taking you away from your writing just like the family you vaguely remember?  Cacoethes Scribendi agrees and isn’t sorry for what it’s done.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

New #shortstory: WHY ALWAYS CHOCOLATE, MOM? @vocal_creators

Ciao, amici! Las time, I told you Vocal is running an eight-stories-in-eight-weeks challenge and I hoped to do all eight. Well, I’m two for two so …

New #shortstory: WHY ALWAYS CHOCOLATE, MOM? @vocal_creators
Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments