Goal Post: Got A Wee Bit of Progress

Posted on September 21, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

As the post title says, I got a little bit of progress with editing Darwin & the Demon Game.  I made it through the first 4 chapters ut a reason for that will be explained later.  I’m remembering that this is the book where I started doubting myself a lot.  Darwin is supposed to be slightly more independent and confident, which throws me.  He can be these things, but I come dangerously close to making him like every hero with no confusion, misunderstandings, fixations, and panicking.  Those can’t go away entirely, so I have to make sure he doesn’t go too long without one of them.  So far, I’ve only had to adjust things a bit and no major rewrites.

Last weekend would have seen me get further, but I ran into a few issues.  Editing started off slow on Saturday because I stayed up late the night before to get laundry done.  Forgot that I’m in my 40’s and won’t bounce out of bed after little sleep.  More like a flop onto the floor, whimper, and curling around my CPAP machine.  So, I moved slow and got some done before lunch and more before an afternoon Pokemon Go thing.  Finished up the 2nd chapter before bed though.  Sunday went wrong with my son going to the doctor in the morning, going in search of a new supermarket, cleaning the house, and family visiting for dinner at the last minute.  Got half of chapter 3 done though.

I tried to do better though.  Brought a chapter to work to get some editing done on breaks, but that didn’t get me very far.  It wasn’t until Thursday when I had to stay home due to my back locking up and triggering my IBS that I got more done.  Guess a big plus side of working with paper is that I can be bedridden and still do work.   Not entirely sure what caused that mess, but it was joined the night before by a new recipe turning on me with mild violence.  To be fair, I’ve been really stressed over personal stuff that I can’t get into here.  My patience has been pushed by some people and it resulted in several rather heated conversations.

Nothing else really happened since it was a crazy work week and I had to do a lot of cooking.  Aside from Wednesday night, all of my other recipes worked out.  Think I’m done for a bit though.  Want to let someone else cook while I focus on writing and getting blog stuff set up for November and December.  Got 5 posts left for November and then I’ll dig into December unless I have time for editing.

There won’t be much or any editing this weekend.  I have my son and we want to enjoy the fresh air before it rains and gets cold.  It’ll be primarily Pokemon Go, but he might work on his art for a bit too.  It won’t be for long, so I might only be able to tackle blogging.  Still haven’t gotten used to the idea of editing a few pages instead of a full chapter or at least a section.  I’ll get time throughout the week and next weekend though.  Don’t think I have much planned after Tuesday night.  Might even get to work on some editing while I’m stuck at an event on Thursday night.

Given that I didn’t do much else or have much planned, I guess I’ll jump to the goals:

  1. Spend time with son.
  2. Edit Darwin & the Demon Game.
  3. Rest after work.
  4. Finish November blog posts.
  5. Start in on December blog posts.
  6. Really need to clean the stove . . . This should be #2.
  7. Watch more ‘Eureka’.
  8. Do whatever I’ve forgotten at this moment
  9. Fix bathroom sink drain
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Love Vs Hate Stories

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

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I’d say ‘Love vs Hate’ is second only to ‘Life vs Death’ in terms of oldest stories.  Humans fought to survive before they had civilization, so that one is built into our instincts.  It wasn’t until we became civilized that the concept of love evolved into what we see today, which is more than simply needing to breed.  Of course, the opposite of love is hate, which is where we get the conflict.

Some may guess that this deals with stories of romance.  While that is a genre, it’s also a fairly common storyline.  Love can blossom in nearly any situation if you write it correctly, which isn’t always the case.  I’ve seen plenty of complaints whenever a non-romance story gets a romantic subplot.  So, an author needs to be a bit careful about adding one to make sure it doesn’t overshadow the real story.  Not that it stops people because falling in love is one of the most common actions that people share.  Even if the relationship failed or you only hope to fall in love some day, you get the concept’s idea.

Being that even children understand love to some extent, you would assume that it’s easy to write about with little criticism.  Unfortunately, love can be defined differently from person to person.  One reader might think ‘love at first sight’ is unbelievable and another will have experienced such a phenomena.  A divorced person will see the emotion in a different light than one who has been happily married for years.  There’s no way to effectively combat this though, so you’re going to have to hedge your bets on most people accepting your storyline.  Not agreeing with the method of love, but accepting that is is feasible for the characters.  Good luck with that headache.

On the other side of the ‘Vs’, we have hate.  Unlike love, this seems to be more universal in its definition.  Hating something is when you truly don’t like it.  If it’s a person then you may want bad things to happen to them or at least for them to go away.  That’s the opposite of love where you want a person to be closer.  Hatred is rather straightforward in how it operates and influences people.  So, this ‘Vs’ could also be about how a complicated emotion (love) goes up against a simpler one (hate).  That is not to say hate is hard to explain though since the triggers for hatred can be complicated.  Yet, we do tend to wrap our heads around it more easily than love regardless if we agree or not.

Something that keeps coming to my mind is the flip-flop that stories do at times.  We probably all know a story where the main characters start by hating each other and then fall in love.  Plenty that go from love to hate as well, especially if betrayal is part of the background.  With the polar opposite nature of love and hate, we can see how easily it is to create a story where the characters can jump to the other side.  Both are incredibly strong emotions, which can instill passion, so there is a chance of crossing wires.  This would come off as natural too unless the division or unity is forced without any level of understanding.  The characters can’t abruptly change their minds on each other, so events have to push them in the right direction.

Think I’ll always be tempted to throw a ‘love vs hate’ storyline into my books.  As long as it makes sense though.  Certain characters aren’t the love or hate type, so I would have to force the issue.  Not a good idea.  Just shows that you should think if your characters would even want to fall in love or be capable of utter hate before you attempt to add this storyline.

What do you think of the classic ‘love vs hate’ story?

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Story Circle

Posted on September 20, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

The Story Circle pertains to the character arc of the protagonist. Dan Harmon is the mastermind behind the Story Circle. Currently an executive …

Story Circle
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Poetry Day: Man and The Great Unknown

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

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(Mankind always has to go searching in the mysterious places of reality.  Our curiosity knows very few limits even if it gets us into trouble.)

Depthless seas

And limitless skies

Drawing us to them

Teasing at our wonder

Daring us to enter them

Putting life upon the table

Danger at our very heels

We are a race of explorers

Diving into mysteries

Using mind and flesh

Depending on a little luck

To see us safely home

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Life vs Fate Worse Than Death

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

This category is why Monday’s post was a little difficult.  ‘Life vs Fate Worse Than Death’ makes me think of a person not dying, but being left in a terrible state.  Upon reading more about this concept, it appears to be something else since it covers the themes of thriller, horror, and mystery,  People die in those, so why do they not fall under ‘Life vs Death’?

From what I can tell, the difference might come down to cause and effect.  In an adventure or action story, the heroes typically choose to be in the fray or they at least have some control over their situation.  ‘Life vs Fate Worse Than Death’ feels more like the protagonists are dragged into a terrible situation that will kill them.  There’s a lot of fear and suffering to break them down.  It’s not like when a hero falls.  This is when an innocent victim is tortured until they die.

Thriller and horror are what draw me to this conclusion as to how this is different than adventure and action stories.  While there is action, the adrenaline is born from fear of a victim instead of fear of a hero.  They might both be protagonists, but those in horror and thrillers are made to suffer before they either live or die.  A fate worse than death for many could be suffering horribly before dying or simply being murdered in one of the many outlandish ways us authors tend to create.  It’s not a natural, simple demise, but one that you can sense came with pure terror in their final moments.

Thriller, horror, and mystery stories involve more trauma as well.  If one looks at ‘life’ in this theme as more than physical survival then it shows something much different than adventure tales.  What if ‘life’ stands for being psychologically and emotionally intact at the end of the story?  Many would say that living with PTSD is a fate worse than death since you’re permanently scarred.  Taking this approach, one can see how most survivors of a thriller/horror/mystery story don’t really make it out on the winning side.  Yes, they are alive, but the things they have seen will realistically leave them traumatized and suffering for the rest of their lives.

I guess that’s another difference between ‘fate worse than death’ stories and ‘simple death’ ones.  The protagonists in adventures tend to be ready to see horrible stuff or at least have the mentality to handle it on some level.  They are adventurers or people who step up to the challenge with courage since they have to finish their quest.  With thriller and horror protagonists, they tend to be average people from beginning to end.  They might be law enforcement, but the don’t come in with powers, magic, or a ton of experience dealing with what they are about to face.  In fact, the stronger and more experienced the protagonist of these stories, the more messed up and disturbing the threat.  That’s because the intent of the author is to break them either before or instead of killing them.

Can’t be sure if I’ve ever really written one of these stories.  I stick to adventure and action tales, so my heroes either start or gain the abilities needed to survive.  Maybe the ‘Raven Series’ I put up in October would count since it was my attempt at horror with heroes who weren’t experience with what they were facing.  I still put my heroes through the wringer and have some survive with major scars.  This means there can be a ton of overlap between certain themes, which is probably a given.

So, what do you think about ‘life vs fate worse than death’ stories?

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Strength of Character

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Greetings, Storytellers. Diana here today for a little musing about “strong” characters. I spent a recent evening chatting with a group of writers …

Strength of Character
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Teaser Tuesday: Should We Knock?

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Cover Art by Alison Hunt

This excerpt is from the early parts of War of Nytefall: Savagery.  It starts off a mystery that Clyde won’t like the answer to.  Mab isn’t looking too good either.

Continue reading →

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Using Colors in Your Books

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

The power of color extends far beyond mere aesthetics. In book-writing, colors can serve as silent storytellers, weaving emotions, symbolism, and …

Using Colors in Your Books
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Life Vs Death Stories

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

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‘Life vs Death’ is probably one of the most basic concepts that any person can wrap their head around.  Living things don’t want to die, which means we will root for the hero to survive.  We see almost every genre having at least some grouping of stories that involve this conflict.  Of course, we’re not looking at genre here because these themes can span all of those.

Adventure and action stories are what would normally have ‘life vs death’ conflicts.  A person is in a situation where they are facing death and will struggle to survive.  It could be a fantasy story about adventurers, romance about lovers lost at sea, or a drama where someone is fighting to survive cancer.  You can see that these will have various levels of action as far as physical violence.  There has to be a near constant worry that the heroes will not survive.  Even if a person sees plenty of pages left, they need to know that death is possible to achieve this theme.

Some would even call this survival from nature because it is primarily about a death that doesn’t involve purposeful pain.  A character who dies simply fails to get away from the threat or make the right decision.  There isn’t malice or a desire to make the hero suffer if they fail when it’s a simple ‘life vs death’.  The person either lives or dies with nothing in the middle.  Again, the simplicity is key and helps to get readers to connect to the overall concept.  Going beyond that is another conflict theme that we’ll get into on Wednesday, so please don’t jump ahead.

As someone who writes adventure and action stories, I can see a lot of ‘life vs death’ themes in my work.  I do enjoy having my heroes come through scathed, but they still survive.  This theme doesn’t mean a hero won’t be touched by violence or harm, but they will simply be alive at the end.  So, I feel that you can do just about anything to them as long as they don’t die or end up in a state that prevents them from completing their adventure.  Doing so can extend the tension because a hero who is weakened as time goes on will have a higher chance of dying.  Increasing the likelihood of death in an adventure is difficult, but pays off better than decreasing the chances.

One of the downsides to this theme is that it ends with more finality than the others.  You can’t really go back after death has been achieved.  Sure, fantasy has resurrection spells, but that’s a genre thing.  It’s also something that shouldn’t be abused unless you’re an epic anime/manga series involving 7 magic orbs.  Seriously though, most stories are over when the main character dies or have to create a replacement.  This makes ‘life vs death’ a fairly limited theme when compared to others.  There is none, or at least very little, gray area to this finale.  At best, you can have the death be ambiguous, but that requires sacrificing some closure.

Overall, this will always be one of my favorite story types to write.  I like the simplicity even if I’m covering it with complicated machinations.  The heroes either live to see another adventure or die.  Well, they can retire too, but that’s still living.  Either way, I always enjoyed these survival adventures because of the tension they gave me.  Then again, I read a lot of books with groups of heroes, which allows you to have the theme end in different ways for each character.  That’s another way to skew and expand on this conflict.

So, what do you think of the ‘life vs death’ theme?

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Versus By Subgenre: The Topic For 2 Weeks

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Charles Yallowitz

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

I stumbled onto an article called The 9 Types of Stories and How to Master Them by Joe Bunting.  Don’t know who that is, but I was looking for inspiration for writing-based posts and this came into my search feed.  Highly recommend giving the article at least a skim because it had some interesting stuff.

The basic theory seemed to be that all stories are built around 6 values, which come from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.  These can be used to create 9 basic stories.  I don’t mean genres like fantasy and science fiction.  The 9 are:

  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Thriller
  • Horror
  • Mystery
  • Romance/Love
  • Performance/Sports
  • Coming of Age
  • Temptation/Morality

Yes, some of those are the names of genres, but it’s more about the category.  It’s pointed out that you can combine these into a single story.  Also, genres tend to work off these 9 types.  For example, fantasy can be a story that touches on these values and types with the addition of magic.  It’s the magic that makes it fantasy and not the action, adventure, mystery, etc.  So, we’re going to push genre to the side of the conversation for the next two weeks.  Think about story category.

Now, I’m not going to give each type it’s own day.  That didn’t give me as much to work with as I wanted.  Instead, I’m going to use the 6 values, which I will list after this paragraph.  These values can cover 1-3 types, which I found interesting.  Shows how closely connected some of these stories are.  So, what are the values taken from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?

  • Life vs Death
  • Life vs Fate Worse Than Death
  • Love vs Hate
  • Accomplishment vs Failure
  • Maturity vs Immaturity
  • Right vs Wrong

Really hope everyone enjoys these posts coming up on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.  Enjoy the rest of your weekend.  Please read that article for more information if you’re interested.

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