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With summer here, many people find that they want to spend as much time outside as possible. Usually because I’m writing this in May, so I have no idea if we’re still under lockdown or not. Last thing I heard was Murder Hornets before I did this post. Sorry if I brought up bad memories or angered our sting-happy overlords. Anyway . . . I’ll just jump to the next paragraph.
Now, I haven’t done this in a long time, but some authors like to write outside. Maybe it isn’t a book, but an outline or some poetry. You get a sense of peace if you find a nice tree to relax under and let the muses take you away. This comes in very handy if you’re describing a scene that involves the outside. Something about being in nature can remind you about the other senses. You smell and hear so much that they come to mind as easily as sight. Even if you’re only in your backyard or on a balcony, you can feel a breeze and describe it better than if you tried to get the same sensation from a ceiling fan. So, there’s definitely a lot of positive for writing outside.
At least if you can do it because not everyone has that option. Those who can have challenges to contend with too. No outlets in a forest and WiFi isn’t a sure bet either even in the backyard. Stray too far from the router and you’ll be in a little trouble if you need to research something. Nothing says relaxed author like one wandering around with a laptop held over their head and praying for a signal. Wildlife can be a challenge too. Insects buzzing in your face or a squirrel running around the branches above. Imagine being in the middle of a great scene and an acorn clonks you on the head. Let’s not forget you have the weather too. Heat can be brutal, so bring water and sunscreen. Rain can be a sudden disaster for either paper or electronic. Wind has been a thorn in my side whenever I’ve tried to outline in the backyard. So much fun getting a page whipped out of my hand or flipped over as I write.
Personally, I’m an indoor guy. I’ve tried outdoors and haven’t had much success in the last decade. Last time I tried and got anything done was in Florida. Just a little notebook work by the pond outside the apartment. It wasn’t consistent either. Another time I tried and a damn hawk decided to land on the far side of the picnic table. You think it’s uncomfortable writing with a human staring at you? Try a bird of prey or a snake that you didn’t notice was under the table. Up in New York, the problem is wind, that dang squirrel, and there simply being nowhere comfortable to sit and work. Too many roots in the ground and I’m too heavy to sit on the roof like I did as a teenager. That and the window I would climb through was replaced with privacy glass. Best I do is take a walk and daydream about the ideas I’m piecing together.
So, do you try to write outside? If so, how does it go? If not, why isn’t it for you?
My Ph.D. thesis, Design in the Digital Age: In Search of a Collaborative Paradigm, was all about finding novel ways to help designers interact with their clients. I had envisioned a tablet-based Virtual Reality environment with Augmented Reality elements for the client, thus allowing them to better understand what the architect or designer was trying to achieve. As for the architect or designer, Artificial-Intelligence software would significantly speed up the design process.
My thesis was published in 2000. Unfortunately, my vision has yet to be brought together by a software company, even though most of the elements I was describing are now widely available.
However, that doesn’t mean that technology hasn’t changed in other ways. As an article in IndiaCADworks explains, in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries, new technologies are advancing with each passing day that makes the process of construction smarter, more streamlined, and indeed futuristic.
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Joker
Surprisingly, I might look like someone with a plan. Mostly because I see that things aren’t going as planned. With the way my son’s summer school goes, I don’t have enough time and privacy to get any book writing done. I can do 2-3 blog posts during this time, but Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) is going to be an issue since I have to be ‘on call’. The stuff I post here are fine for me taking breaks in the middle to help him out. Heck, I stopped this one an hour ago. So, what can I do and why I am already talking about October?
Well, the only thing I can do during these school days is schedule blog post. It’ll be very useful with grad school coming in September alongside work and possible remote-learning for my son. It’s always a possibility. Now, I have August and September ideas listed because I’m going to do promos for War of Nytefall: Ravenous. That means the next month on my list is October and that’s always infamous. Why? Well, I like to make this a special time with the following:
My plan this year is to do Monster Maker on Fridays, which gives me 5 of those. How does this work?
Monday and Wednesday are tougher. With Tuesday being Teasers and Thursday being ‘Immortal Wars’, I can’t go with excerpts. Not really. I did ‘War of Nytefall’ interviews last year and those didn’t go very well. Thinking of making Mondays promo days for each of the volumes, which carry into November to cover the newest release. Unless I can think of something other than a standard ‘LOOK AT ME’ post and decide on something more interactive. Not that sales go through the blog. I was thinking of a ‘Questions 3’ for each book if that sounds interesting.
This brings us to Wednesday. I’m going to put a poll below of the Windemere Monsters that never got a post. Hoping a lot of people vote and the top 4 will get a flushed out explanation:
Actually . . . I need four things and I’m considering this:
It’s basically the pets of War of Nytefall. Should be a fun highlight. So, let me know what you think and feel free to join in Monster Maker. I know it’s a long ways off, but I don’t know how my free time will look in the future. The more I can prepare now, the better.
I have no idea why I’m so tired. Think I tried to wear more hats than my head was able to handle. Too exhausted to list them, but I juggled a lo. There was stuff with grad school, work, writing, parenting, blogging, and kind of health things. Had a few low points emotionally due to the stress as well. Nothing horrific or anything to worry about, but I felt sad for a bit. At least I know the source of it.
Over the week, I saw many reports and articles about new books coming out. Talking traditional publishers really. It hit me the wrong way because I saw that the authors all fell into one of four categories: Celebrity, Big name trad, Politician, or Somebody connected to a politician/celebrity. I get it that these are popular areas, but it feels like these are the only types of books getting put out there with any attention. Makes the whole gatekeeping and iron wall of the publishing world feel thicker than ever. I lack the thousands of dollars to hurl at marketing, so I’m getting the ‘I failed’ thoughts again. Struggling simply to write a book these days and my generation doesn’t do the ‘when I retire’ thing because few of us believe retirement is in our future. With everything else coming my way, I worry that what little spark I have is about to be squashed. How can an author be one if they don’t have the time to even think about ideas?
I think the steadily approaching graduate school thing is factoring into this. As much as I want to be a teacher and need the degree for that, I always have that part wanting to be a full-time author. Knowing I will have to put so much aside for 2 years kind of stings, especially since there may be complications. From what I can tell, graduate school is designed more for people right out of undergraduate. I’m 40 with a job in a school, a son, and life experience, so I feel out of place in a way. Don’t get me wrong. I’m going to be doing it, but it’s going to be really hard to balance the blog, writing, parenting, working, and being a student. The first two things will take a hit. Even the mention of a semi-retirement made a massive dent in my blog traffic, so an actual semi-retirement might kill it completely. I know blogging doesn’t bring sales, but I can’t see publishing a book without having this medium to do an announcement. Could an author get anywhere simply by silently publishing one book after another? Again, this feels like the universe doesn’t want me to tell my stories.
Yeah, I’m in a mood this week. I had a lot of fun with my son when he wasn’t in school, but it was mostly playing in the inflatable pool and LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 on the Switch. My back and shoulders got badly burned too even though I used sunscreen, but the pool isn’t in the shade. Had to use a wooden ruler with a metal edge as a back scratcher at one point because I couldn’t take it any more. That probably added to my surliness, which only comes out at night. I want to write and work and play with my son and stop having things turn to crap in my hands. As I’ve told a few people, I really just want to catch some kind of break somewhere. Hard work can only get you so far because you inevitably hit a door that somebody needs to open for you. Either through luck or they believe in you and have the ability to give you that break. Eh, I’m back to ranting again, which is the theme of this post.
Look . . . I didn’t really do much aside from going through the motions. I got one chapter of War of Nytefall: Anarchy written by using nights, but that was a freak accident and won’t happen again. I’ll be back to needing weekends, so I probably won’t finish this until August. That means Do I Need to Use a Dragon? (Fantasy Writing Tips) is going to be delayed for a while. Here I thought I could write two books at once, but everything fell apart fairly quickly. I don’t even get full weekends for a while because things keep coming up. Being social even though I really just want to curl up with my laptop in my room. Not having my shit together in life isn’t an excuse for avoiding those who are far ahead and able to relax.
Next week is back to a normal schedule, but I have a work day at the end. Happy to go back even if it’s for a day because I miss that place. Feeling useful is something that everyone wants. Covid-19 has made it really difficult for many people to find this sense of purpose. It’s disheartening and brutal because you can start to lose a sense of your humanity. Many define themselves by what they can do and are depended on for because it means we’re part of a society. Losing that brings about a feeling of being lost and that just opens the door for anxiety. Of course, we can’t go rushing into the world as if nothing is wrong. Everything is just so fucked up. I made a Facebook post about the pandemic and it being a test of empathy. Was happy that many people agreed with it and I didn’t attract any trolls. Guess that’s the week’s victory.
Goals for the week?
It’s been a week with a topic that was more difficult than I expected. You would think doing a physical description is basic and easy. It’s part of a foundation for a character and a story when your goal is to create an image in the reader’s head. Everyone has their own opinion and strategy. So, let’s not beat around the bush and end the week by opening the floor:
(Previously on Immortal Wars.)
(Again, we shall revel in my teenage originality. Everyone groan in unison.)
Disclaimer: Immortal Wars was the book I came up with and wrote in high school. I hadn’t even hit college by the time I wrote the first two books. That means I hadn’t developed my style yet, wasn’t good at self-editing, and the story was fairly basic. So, you’ve been warned that this is the ultimate author throwback segment for my blog and will show my author origins. FYI- I put the first book (The Summoning) through a Print-on-Demand publisher and the second one (Light, Blood, & Tears) never saw the light of day. Enjoy!
Mindtrigger and Draveon had landed on Pluto’s desolate surface about twenty hours ago. All they had to do was build some kind of base on the desolate planet, which was much easier done than said. Mindtrigger had quickly designed a giant, black tower that he admitted wasn’t as powerful as their warship. Yet, it was still powerful enough to destroy a small moon or a young planet. The two immortals had taken one hundred members of the Clan of Fire to help with the construction work. The Clan of Fire is the evil immortals’ immense, brainwashed army. These obedient, mindless soldiers are a collection of aliens from different galaxies and planets. Most of their weapons are sun forged like the guardians’ nonmagical weapons, although the Clan of Fire’s weapons was not forged in this particular galaxy’s sun. They are all wearing oxygen helmets because none of them are immortal like Draveon and Mindtrigger and the atmosphere stabilizer has not been installed.
“Hey! You with the drill bit! Put that drilling equipment down and go help them finish the infrastructure!” yells Mindtrigger to a multi-armed alien. Draveon and the other soldiers are already close to finishing the tower’s immense infrastructure of alien metal. Flying aliens are whizzing around firing bolts into the metal while the land-based aliens are climbing around to put the girders in place.
“A couple more minutes before we can start on the floors and walls, father,” announces Draveon while walking over to his creator.
“Great. Have there been any unseen complications? You know how much Adriana hates having those. Unless she is the one who causes them.”
“Nothing big. Two workers have fallen off the top of the infrastructure and one of the Maviks went berserk.” A terrified scream is heard from the top of the metal structure and is shortly followed by a sickening splat.
“Now, it’s three workers. What did you do to the Mavik? I really hope you didn’t kill the monster. Those things are impossible to find these days since we are the ones who stole them and domesticated them.”
“No way. I’m not an idiot like Hellax. That giant lizard does a lot more work than the soldiers. It was scared by a clumsy worker. The person who was responsible for the accident has been . . . taken care of.”
“Good to see you can keep them in line, son. Just don’t put too many of them in line because we’re on a schedule that’s as tight as Adriana’s wardrobe. If such a thing is possible in this dimension.”
“She’s going to love that remark. What weapons do you have planned for the Black Tower? You do have some weapons in mind, don’t you?”
“Of course I do. First, I plan to put a special shield generator under the basement of the tower. The shield will only allow immortals and the Clan of Fire to pass through. Anyone else who tries to sneak in, and is not immortal, will be painfully disintegrated. This does mean that the planet guardians can sneak in, but it is much more enjoyable to fight them face to face instead of having a machine do it for us. For most of the offensive weapons, I can simply use some of the warship’s guns and missile launchers. We have hundreds of them on that outdated, floating piece of scrap metal. Most of those weapons haven’t even been used.”
“Nothing else new and impressive? That’s very disappointing. I thought you could do a lot better than that, father. You’re slipping in your old age.”
“Don’t complain. It makes you sound like Kilanus before we fixed her damaged psyche. If you must know, I do have a long-range laser cannon in mind that can dissolve all forms of organic materials that the weapon’s wide beam comes in contact with. The only problem with the weapon is that I don’t have, and probably never will have, the needed materials for it. Well, that and we couldn’t possibly use the weapon without destroying ourselves with the laser cannon’s target. That is not a good, or clean, way for any of us to die. And the beam would kill us because all of our atoms would be disintegrated. At least I think it would. None of us have ever tested that theory and I don’t plan on being the first.”
“Oh! Should we tell Adriana about our progress?”
“There is no need to report. She already knows about our progress. Did you hear all of that, voluptuous one?” asks Mindtrigger. A holographic image of Hellax and Adriana is projected from Mindtrigger’s buzzing wristwatch. Instead of a clock, the watch has a small, crystalline face with two buttons on the side.
“We heard everything. Do you want me to send down the heavy stuff with the blinking lights?” answers Hellax in his usual dumb tone. Adriana just holds her head in her hands as the hologram of Mindtrigger grows a painful frown.
“Stuff with the blinking lights? What the hell are you talking about, you idiot? Make some sense for once in your useless life! And for your information, I was talking to Adriana! Not you, Neanderthal!” yells the evil scientist.
“Calm down, Mindtrigger. For once don’t let Hellax’s stupidity get you angry. Although I have to agree that his moronic comments get very irritating. He does have one use that I can take advantage of, but I don’t think I should get into that. Anyway, he means the equipment needed to set up your intergalactic sensor grid and the final components of the atmosphere stabilizer. Go bring the equipment down to them, Hellax. Oh, and I like the nice explanation of how tight your schedule is, old man. If it wasn’t true, I would have had you launched into the nearest dwarf star. Now, I’ll only slightly beat you up for the joke. The hell are you waiting for, Neanderthal! Bring down the equipment or I’ll feed you to Psylon,” orders Adriana. Hellax just gives an idiotic smile and marches off to deliver the sensor grid and atmosphere stabilizer. A departing crash tells her that he walked into a door before asking it to open. Adriana breaks contact with Mindtrigger and Draveon as soon as the resident moron leaves the room. She was in her bedroom enjoying Hellax’s company, but now that she is alone, Adriana lies down on her enormous bed with her emerald eyes shut.
“You really need to get some sleep. Those short catnaps do not help you,” mentions Startrix. She had walked in only a few seconds ago, but she still knows everything that has occurred. Adriana has been like a daughter to the enigmatic Startrix since the orange-eyed woman was hired as the midwife and teacher for a young, and surprisingly innocent, Adriana. In fact, Adriana is the only one in the galaxy who has seen Startrix’s face before it was hidden under the ebony helmet.
“I know what I need, but there are still some things that I have to do,” mumbles Adriana into her soft, blue pillow. Startrix walks to the bed and sits in the comfortable recliner that is next to the blonde’s bed.
“Kilanus has gone through some changes that I did not predict. Her attitude is much more like that of a teenager than her previous state of mind. She has also changed her outfit and daily clothing to something that resembles your. . . . revealing fashion sense. Only the girl prefers pure black instead of pink and she does not wear that silly tiara.”
“Good point. Tiaras went out so long ago and they probably won’t be mainstream again unless I do something. I’m never wearing that stupid thing again. But is there any problem with my daughter wanting to be like me?”
“Yes, but that is not the point I wanted to discuss with you. What happened to her? How did you fix her shattered psyche? We all thought that it was irreparable.”
“Simple. I had asked Mindtrigger to build a machine that could turn Kilanus into the type of immortal that I always planned for her to be. What is the point of having a genius like Mindtrigger on your team if you don’t use him to your advantage? Of course, his invention ended up working much better than I had ever hoped. Look, I promise that I will talk to Kilanus about the planet guardians and her recent changes. I swear on my life and the life of my daughter that I will take care of everything. Now, is there anything else you have to say?”
“Yes. I had another vision of the new guardians. This one was very clear and went straight to the point. They will be arriving on Pluto in a couple of days. I suggest that we land the warship and prepare a trap for their arrival,” says Startrix. She stands up and silently walks toward the open door. Adriana, while grumbling to herself, takes her glowing staff from its stand in the corner and wearily follows her friend to the star room.
On the way there, Adriana childishly asks, “Why couldn’t you have your visions when I’ve had a good night’s sleep?” Inside the dark helmet with horns, the seductive leader can almost make out a smirk on Startrix’s face.
Jessica Rabbit (She’s Not Wrong)
Don’t go jumping to the comments just yet. Jessica makes a good point. Our characters are what we make them, so we shouldn’t blame them for it. We do have to be careful on how we go about doing a physical description. Know what you’re aiming for and make sure it’s what you want. Of course, none of these tips will matter if you want to keep it as vague as possible. Now, let’s get to it.
I think we can take this for granted. Physical descriptions come off a little like a ‘duh’ concept. We need to know what our characters look like to some extent. Otherwise, every reader gets their own visual with no similarities. Not necessarily a bad thing until people begin fighting over it. You also lose a dimension if you avoid it entirely. Yes, we have a personality, actions, and words, but there can be a sense of lacking if we don’t have even a basic appearance. This goes for places too, but we’re going to focus on characters for this week. So, why is this?
Readers have these things called the five senses . . . Oh, that’s going too far back into the details. We all know this. We also know that an author should try very hard to hit as many of them as possible. This is much easier to do with places, animals, and objects if you’re going be instinct. One can imagine themselves examining such things in reality without any problems. We wander cities, smell flowers, eat food, hear birds, and touch water. We register our environment through a 5-piece sensory system that is always operating. Everything is taken in as much as possible with no restraint except for one piece of our surroundings: Other Humans.
For good reason, we pump the breaks and stop primarily at sight when it comes to examining other people. Hearing can get into the action if we’re close enough to catch their voice, but it’s not polite to eavesdrop. Smell requires being really close and you can’t go out of your way for it. People give you looks if you’re sniffing them. Touching is a big no-no without permission and taste is probably worse. Now, this differs depending on how close you are a person, but you need to work your way up the chain as such:
Because of how we operate in reality, we can unintentionally carry this over to fiction. An author may stay at the first two levels since that’s a habit. It may require focus and thinking to delve deeper into this character because it isn’t like reality. Readers aren’t meeting these people from afar and easing into their lives. They are being dropped next to them if not shoved into their perspective. In some styles, the characters are vehicles or skins for the reader to ride, so you need a level of intimacy that comes from a deeper physical description. Mention how they smell, the softness of their skin, and anything other trait that can give them some creative flesh.
Now, there are many schools of thinking on how much to reveal. My preference is to give a full description with the initial introduction and then pepper more or repeated information throughout the story. I have a think about using hair color to identify characters. That and I try to have at least one physical trait that is unique to the character such as Sari’s blue hair, Nyx’s violet eyes, or Clyde’s corn-shaped necklace. Yes, items of clothing can fall into this too. Of course, this is a very detailed method. Some authors are detailed once and leave it at that while others do the same with a basic framework. Others gradually describe the character as the story progresses. Another way is to say very little beyond gender and let the reader come up with their own thing. You have a lot of stuff in-between too.
So, with all of that being said, there is one way to write a character’s physical description that is correct. The others are wrong. I’ve thought long and hard about this. Pretty sure some people will be upset as well. Can’t please everyone. The answer is:
Whichever method you’re most comfortable with for your story.
Seriously, this is a big area where it depends entirely on the author’s style, the story, and the combination of the two’s goal. Never let anybody step up and say that they have the only way to do it. Never let them tell you that your way is wrong if that is what works for your story. If people do ask too many questions or imagine your characters in a way that doesn’t match your own image then you can change it. That’s a big danger here that we never consider. If you don’t do a thorough description then you can’t get angry that people assign incorrect appearances to your characters. Sorry, but if you want the image to be the way it is in your head then you need to make sure that’s on the page. Not sure if I undermined my previous point or not here.
So, what do you think of physical descriptions?
Legends of Windemere 