To be honest, I tried to make this a ‘Ye Olde Shoppe’ post about transformations, but it really didn’t work. So, I’m going to do a simple one that lets people have fun in the comments. After all, I covered a lot of ground this week, so ending on an interactive note feels like the right move.
Questions!
This is a guest post by Stewart Dunlop. Stewart is a full-time content marketer at Foundr and part-time reader, gamer & footballer. You can follow or tweet him @stewydunlop.
Image by TeroVesalainen from Pixabay
From a literary point of view, we live in blessed times! Thanks to the development of modern communication devices and platforms, almost anyone can put their thoughts on paper (or the word editor of their choice) and release them to the world.
We now have access to printed books, e-books, audiobooks, and more. This allows the information to flow unhindered and creates a wonderful environment for those who love to read and learn.
But this level of progress has also led to a change in your role as the author. Back in the day, your job would’ve been over once you applied the last of the…
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As usual, here is your warning that this story has cursing, sex (not graphic), innuendo, and violence. It’s my Rated-R action adventure called Derailing Bedlam. This is the fourth outing (third official) for Cassidy and Lloyd, so feel free to click on one of the two covers to see how it started. Each one is 99 cents!
Cover by Jon Hunsinger
Cover Art by Jon Hunsinger
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Fullmetal Alchemist
Changing a living thing comes with a lot of ethical questions even if it’s being done to oneself. At least, there should be since I do remember one movie had kids turning rodents into cups without any hesitation. There’s not that much of an issue when your transforming inanimate objects unless you’re shooting for ‘lead into gold’. It can be a clear ethical problem if the change is being done to harm others, but mostly this is done to achieve a goal.
Now, I was going to categorize this topic like on Monday, but it all comes into the same vein. Instead, I’m going to give a few tips if you plan on using this power, spell, or whatever in fiction.
Those cover a lot of ground here. It really comes down to being careful, especially if you make transformations a big staple of a series. Doing it once or twice might not bring in any attention, but having it be a consistent activity requires a system of some kind. It can be abused by characters and authors alike since you could feasibly solve any problem with it. We’re talking almost god-like powers of creation here with the only difference being the mortal needing something to change. Removing that last limit would make the story horribly broken too. So, proceed with caution.
I got chatting via a blog post to a lovely author (who will be featured soon) about the extra challenges disabled authors and artists have. Publishing and producing work is a steep learning curve – it’s not just the actual story-telling – and many writers have physical or social difficulties which make the world, and the craft of creation even more tricky. To an extent, writing is a great equaliser. If I read a story I know little about that particular author – except what I can find out from the internet or publicity. I would probably not be aware that an author was, for example, blind, or suffered from disabling social anxiety. Writing is freedom. Writing is a veil and a fort. Reading and writing give one the chance to experience – at least in the imagination – the most amazing experiences.
There are some of us – the…
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Disney’s Aladdin
One of the most commonly used powers/augmentations in fiction is the physical transformation. It can range from a cybernetic finger to changing into a towering monster that eats planets. Some are natural while others are magical and still more are created by science. The thing they all have in common is that an organism’s physical structure is changed to some extent. With that being said, there is a wide variety of categories, which I’m going to try to cover as best as I can.
Cybernetics
I’m going to get this one out of the way because it’s fairly straightforward. This is the merging of living flesh with machines. It’s entirely different than a robot (all machine with no flesh) and an android (robot designed to look and act human). You can have only part augmented or give the character a full body that holds their brain like in Ghost in the Shell. Power source is always an issue, but you can invent a fake system for your world that will work as long as it’s sensible. For example, they can be powered by the human brain since it produces a lot of energy.
There is a spiritual side to this category too. How much technology can be added to a person before they are no longer human? Do the machines begin to undermine the soul or humanity of the person? If they’re only a brain in a robotic body then can they be sure they truly existed to begin with?
Magical on Purpose
Another broad category, which might be what I stick to here. This is different than the curses that I’ll touch on below. Here is where you would find wizards and magical creatures that cast spells of transformation. They could have an artifact that bestows such power or went through years of training. Many times this takes on an animal or elemental theme. One of the advantages to this category is that it isn’t as restrictive as cybernetics and curses. It can be the most versatile one since the characters can change themselves into anything. There could be a spell for humanoid transformations and another for animal while a third turns them into plants. You can have them be specialists and create a long list of spells that have varying degrees of niche.
Magical by Accident
Mostly curses here, but you also have magical explosions that leave a victim with transformation powers. It doesn’t always have to be bad like werewolves that can’t control themselves. One example here is from ‘One Piece’ where characters who eat the Devil Fruit are cursed with a power, but can never swim again. They find very unique ways to utilize even the strangest of powers and many of them possess a transformation component. This deals much more with the origin and if it was intentional, which you can see it was not.
With this category, you can run the story towards a few different directions. There’s the classic push for a cure or gaining control if they can’t change at will. Other characters might see it as a way to make money. Another path is bitterness and rage, which leads to a villain who seeks to spread his or her own misery. A key component here is to determine how the character handles such an accident.
Natural Shape-Shifter
There is no technology or magic behind these characters. They have been born with the ability to transform like Mystique. Beast Boy might fall into this category too, but he got his powers when he was given a serum to cure a rare diseases and the side-effect was animal transformation. Maybe it’s better to say that the characters here gained their abilities either through birth or a natural, non-magical method. Still, they tend to have the easiest time. There is no casting of spells, relics that they can lose, a curse that they can’t control, or metal parts that require a power source. Instead, they can concentrate on a form and become it within seconds. Unless they are given a specific category restriction, they can change to anything.
A tough part with this character is that they are only as strong as the author’s creativity. I can put limitations on my shape-shifters to help me focus such as humanoid only or perhaps they can only change their arms. Yet, I can also skip that and let them become whatever they need to be. One has to be careful here because you can create such a powerful character that the audience loses their interest. So, you have to use this category (and the others) with caution.
Any other categories that you can think of? Have you ever tried to write a shape-shifter or have a favorite one?
Ciao, amici! Today’s murder spotlight is on H.H. Holmes. Is the name familiar to you? It should be.
If not, maybe you’ve heard of the Murder Castle.
H.H. Holmes was a con man and serial killer. Born Herman Webster Mudgett, he changed his name to Henry Howard Holmes in an effort to avoid arrest for a slew of crimes (including grifting and insurance fraud). Holmes moved to Chicago before they hosted the World’s Fair in 1893, and he bought and remodeled a building—three stories tall and a block long—which he named the World’s Fair Hotel.
The public knew it as a new lodging facility for fair attendees. Holmes knew it as a playground for his sadistic proclivities.
Renovations were done by several different construction crews. Holmes claimed he was dissatisfied with the quality of work, so he kept hiring and firing contractors. In reality, he couldn’t have anyone see the…
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This was the last full week of camp and it was a slog. Keep in mind that I had just gotten over pneumonia, so the cough and fatigue were lingering. Last Sunday, I could function for about 40 minutes before I needed to sit down. Yet, I was at work on Monday and ready to do what had to be done. My boss understood and let me take breaks when I could as long as someone was watching my area. Still, the schedule was as follows:
There really isn’t much else to talk about. Had an encounter that I wish I could talk about in public, but that would cause ripples. All I can say is that some people need more empathy and shouldn’t start barking orders in a situation that they know nothing about. I was really annoyed by this along with other things that happened. Kind of want to have some form of a summer break, but that doesn’t look like it will happen. Means I enter the school year as tired as I left it, which is a lesson for next summer. I will either be taking courses, taking tests, or writing in 2020. People ask me about money, but I’m just going to live frugal during that time. Maybe I’ll be lucky and something will be moving with the books.
I’m hoping to get more active on WordPress and finally change my pinned Tweet once camp is done. It might take a little longer since my son and I are going on a trip for a few days. We haven’t been able to spend a lot of time together beyond a handful of weekends, which had plans. The ex-wife argued that me working at the camp that he goes to counted, but I rarely saw him. So, this trip is a much needed ‘father/son’ time that doesn’t happen very often. I tend to be saddled with the errands like school supplies or parenting work like homework. Not that I mind, but it does wear on me when I feel like I’m designated as the ‘boring’ parent. I’m hoping to do a trip like this once or twice a year, but it really boils down to schedule. It’s hard to do this when you have to contend with camp during the summer and holidays during the breaks. Can’t go traveling when Passover and Easter are in the middle of your time.
Part of me wants to start in on the editing of War of Nytefall: Eradication before camp ends. It’s 15 chapters, which means I need 5 clear days. After the trip, my son goes to his mother and that gives me 6 days. One of those will be taken by a work orientation and I always have other things going on. With editing, I can’t take long breaks between sessions because I need to work on the flow. My goal is to release it during Christmas and I haven’t done a lot. No blurbs or contacting my cover artist, which I’ll be doing once camp is done. Maybe I’ll work on the blurbs or do some editing on the trip once the little guy goes to bed. Some people have suggested quitting the writing until I’m retired and have more time, but that just makes me cry. Seriously, it’s more of a reminder that my entire life has fallen apart over the last 2 years.
Not much else to say. I feel boring ever since I stopped being a full-time author. Lost and depressed too, but that’s well established every week. Just a few more days and I get more free time, which is good.
Goals of the week:
