Upcoming Events: Author Visit and Winning Nanowrimo

I'm excited to announce a couple of upcoming events I'll be participating in. These are free, so if you have any interest in them and happen to be in the neighborhood, be sure to check them out. 

Author Talk: Rebecca Lang and Michelle Knowlden

What: Fantasy writer Rebecca Lang (The Changelings) and mystery author Michelle Knowlden (Sinking Ships) discuss "Putting the Mystery in Fantasy and the Fantasy in Mystery." Free event. Signing, snacks, Q and A

Where: Brea Library

When: Saturday, August 22nd, 11AM

Michelle Knowlden is one of my dearest writer friends. I've actually had the pleasure of Beta reading (reading an advance copy of a manuscript to check for mistakes) her novella Sinking Ships, as well as the other books in her Abishag mystery quartet. So I'm very honored to be able to do this author talk alongside her.

Although she writes primarily in the genre of mystery, Michelle does have experience in speculative fiction, writing with author Neal Shusterman on Unstrung, an e-novella set in the Unwind series. As we talked about how to present together, Michelle mentioned that Sinking Ships does have a fantasy element to it, while my epic fantasy novel, The Changelings, has aspects of mystery. And so our topic was born.

We've been working very hard on our speech, but we should have plenty of time for questions afterwards, and maybe even a reading of our books. We'll see. As local and independent authors, we rely on community support and appreciate any chance we have to talk about our writing.Hopefully it will be a fun and enlightening event.

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Strategies for Winning Nanowrimo

What: For those curious about National Novel Writing Month, or Nanowrimo, Rebecca Lang will be presenting a special Writer's Corner on ways for first-timers to approach Nanowrimo, to maximize the chance of success.

Where: Brea Library Writer's Group September Meeting at the Brea Library

When: Saturday, September 5, 1:30 PM

The first time I heard about National Novel Writing Month, I was convinced that I could never write 50,000 words (200 pages) in 30 short days. It took me years to wrap my head around the concept. When I finally mustered the courage to give it a shot, I realized that it was a great way to give my writing a boost. 

Winning at Nanowrimo is like climbing a mountain for the first time. It helps to prepare yourself for the challenge and have a guide to help you out. In the September meeting, I'll share my strategies I've used for getting through a month of furious writing.

Depending on how much interest I have, I may form a support group to help people with this challenge, throughout October and November. I may also post materials and resources on my blog, so even if you can't make the meeting, you can check in on what you missed.

Dissecting Fantasy: Heaven and Hell

"The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven." --John Milton

This isn't an article about the afterlife.

This is an article about writers, especially fantasy writers, creating their own representation of Heaven and Hell in their work. You can build a setting so wonderful your readers will wish they can buy a ticket there for their next vacation, or so terrible they will shiver with fear.

Heaven

"On earth there is no heaven, but there are pieces of it." --Jules Denard

Although I use Heaven in this article, for the sake of contrast, another way of putting it is Home. It's a place where your characters feel loved and accepted, usually a place of peace and truth and beauty. The beauty does not have to be extravagant or perfect. A cracked vase with a single wildflower can be more beautiful than a silver urn overflowing with roses. It's the heart put into the place that makes it special.

The importance of Heaven is twofold. First, it gives the audience some place to care about and to feel safe in. When that place is threatened, the audience feels that tension. Another use of Heaven is to manifest ideals and themes. It can be a utopia, a place to aspire to.

Some famous representations of Heaven include Hobbiton, Rivendale, and Lothlorien in the Lord of the Rings, Hogswarts in the Harry Potter series, Shangri-La in Lost Horizon. But my favorite versions of Heaven probably come from the writings of Laura Ingall Wilder, who drew such a vivid portrait of the landscape of the American pioneer, it inspired a thousand games of make-believe.

Hell

"We are each our own devil, and we make this world our hell." --Oscar Wilde

Hell, by contrast, is any setting comprised primarily of pain and misery and dread. It is a place where natural human relationships are strained, perverted, or broken. It may be superficially beautiful, but it is rotten to the core. Whereas Heaven inspires the audience's love, hell provokes fear.

Hell is the ultimate obstacle. It will test your protagonist on every level. It serves as an object of dread; if Heaven is what your protagonist seeks to gain, Hell is what they want most to avoid. That said, as an author, you'd do well to toss them into Hell at least sometimes. If the hero's don't confront Hell, they don't deserve Heaven.

Hell is probably easier to write, since we have many more real world examples and since, while people might disagree on what Heaven looks like, we all have a pretty good idea of Hell. Popular examples include Mordor in Lord of the Rings, the arena in The Hunger Games (where the games are played), and, well, Hell in Dante's Inferno. My most frightening vision of Hell was in George Orwell's 1984. I had nightmares for a week.

How to Build Your Own Heaven or a Hell

1. Draw on your own loves and fears

"To different minds, the same world is a hell, and a heaven." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Heaven is usually built on love, hell on fear.

When you start to draw these places up, you should begin with yourself, what you love, what you fear. If you simply steal the trappings of other people's visions of heaven and hell, without bringing in your own emotions, you'll be left with a dull facade.

For example, if you love animals, incorporate that into your version of heaven. I, personally, like art, culture, and history, so into the pot it goes. In The Changelings, I drew upon my experiences in Japan to create a festival that, for me, represented the heavenly aspect of that particular group of people.

As far as fears, I tend to draw on failure, rejection, brainwashing, loss of control, and things of that nature. I find that cult environments play heavily in my version of hell.

Don't overdo it. Don't try to throw in everything at once. Also be careful to make sure your love and fears can appeal to a wider audience. I have a phobia abut butterflies, but I doubt I could evoke fear with a horde of raging Monarchs.

2. Location, location, location

"Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company." --Mark Twain

This is a bit obvious, but Heaven and Hell are settings.

Not necessarily physical ones, though. If you're literally doing Heaven and Hell, you're dealing with the afterlife. Or you could do a dream world or a virtual reality. In cases where you're not dealing with physical limitations, you may still want to set some specific ground rules, so that your writing isn't all over the place.

If you are creating a physical landscape, what sort of environment? Land, sea, sky, underground? Hot, cold, temperate, humid? Wild or civilization? City or country? Woods, mountains, grass, swamps, river, lakes, volcano, islands?

Rather than picking and choosing places at random, you may want to look at the characters, ideas, and scenarios you already have in your head. For example, if your character is a mermaid, Hell might be a desert or any stretch of land far from the ocean. If you know your character values freedom, Hell might be a prison.

For some reason, the strongest representations of Heaven and Hell that I've read about have some element of isolation. In Heaven, this isolation protects it from evil or corrupting influences. In Hell, this isolation helps keep the evil from running rampart; but once you're there, you can't get out.

One thing you may want to consider, then, is a barrier. It can be a physical barrier, like mountains, desert, sea, or a physical wall. It can also be something more abstract, like magic, existence on a different plane of reality, secrecy, or obscurity: no one knows about this place.

3. Origins and History

"The safest road to hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without sign posts." --CS Lewis

I, personally, like to know the origins of everything, whether or not I share it with the readers.

If you're only dealing with a wild, natural landscape, no further explanation might be necessary. But if there's any human (or non-human) involvement, you may want to think about who built the place and why and how.

Heaven, I like to think, is built on the foundation of love, so think about what the great passion of the builders may be. What sort of ideals did they hope to embody? What obstacles did they have to overcome and sacrifices did they have to make to create the place? Are they still working to better themselves even now?

With hell, it's a bit more complicated. Unless you have beings that are pure evil, most people don't set out to build a place of pain and suffering. So what happened? What went wrong?

You could begin with a fear. People were desperate to protect themselves, and in that desperation, they did something stupid, like hand over power to a dangerous man or shut themselves into a system they can't get out of.

It might begin as a kind of bitterness or hatred to a certain group of people that grew and grew, until it became ever more demented. It might begin as a beautiful ideal that got perverted somewhere down the line. Maybe the place was a normal city, but complacency and indifference allowed criminals to take over. Maybe greed got the better of the people.

There's all sorts of scenarios you could come up with.

4. How Did I Get Here?

"To be willing to march into Hell for a Heavenly Cause" --from Man of La Mancha

So now that you've got your Heaven and Hell, it's time to think about how your character gets to these places. One of the simplest ways is to have your character start off in either your version of Heaven or Hell. That way, one location is given right off the bat.

A person starting off in Heaven might experience a fall from grace and be ejected or they might voluntarily leave to seek out greener pastures (before discovering there's no place like home) or they might be forced away from their Heaven in order to protect it, rather like a soldier might.

They might be violently ripped away: captured, kidnapped, enslaved, orphaned. Or it might be that Heaven gets destroyed from the beginning and they might have to seek a new paradise or build one from scratch.

On the other hand, they might start off in Hell. An orphan or slave might, through brains, cunning, skill, spirit, daring, or sheer luck, find himself propelled out of his horrible situation. Or, perhaps he, like his Heaven counterpoint, is forced out, due to war or other external forces. Maybe he's rescued from his situation.

Another option is for a character to stay in the same basic place, but have either that place, or their perception of that place, change. Even Heaven can become Hell, if taken over by bad management, as Hogwarts was under Voldemort. Or perhaps the character starts off thinking they're in Heaven or in Hell, but as they see more of the world, they get a new perspective.

Perhaps a great catastrophe comes to the place. War, for example, can make even the most peaceful place into a Hell. Or it could be a natural disaster or (in the case of virtual reality) maybe some bug in the system.

If, however, a character actually has to seek out Heaven or Hell, consider why. Hell usually pops up as an obstacle the character must go through in order to get to Heaven, but if the character intentionally seeks it out, there must be a reason.

In classical myth, heroes make trips to the underworld (Hell) in order to retrieve a loved one's soul or to seek the advice of one long dead. There can be valuable treasures in Hell, as well, enough to make the trip seem tempting. Or perhaps they want to destroy Hell and can only do it from the source.

The last thing to consider is that the character may never actually enter Heaven or Hell. The places may exist as an aspiration or as a threat, and maybe the mere mention of them is enough.

5. What Can Threaten Heaven?

"If you're going through hell, keep going." --Winston Churchill

Heaven, at least the kind found on earth, usually has a sense of fragility to it. Whatever is good and peaceful and loving and beautiful can always be destroyed. One of my favorite passages from Lost Horizon sums up this fragility nicely:

"It came to him that a dream had dissolved, like all too lovely things, at the first touch of reality; that the whole world's future, weighed in the balance against youth and love, would be light as air. And he knew, too, that his mind dwelt in a world of its own, Shangri-La in microcosm, and that this world was also in peril. For even as he nerved himself, he saw the corridors of his imagination twist and strain under impact; the pavilions were toppling; all was about to be in ruins."

In this case, it takes only a shift in the hero's perception, that causes the whole thing to collapse. One generation might build their ideal, only for the next generation to reject it. Passions cool, causes are abandoned, community ties become too much work. People leave.

Of course, it might, more directly, be attacked.

Hell, like any good enemy fortress, likes to appear unassailable, but, unless you're writing a depressing Dystopia in the vein of 1984, it usually has some weakness built into it. If Hell is built on deceit and people discover the truth, that power is broken. If it is built on fear and people find courage, that power is broken. If it is built on hatred and people forgive, that power is broken.

Change can happen anywhere and in the blink of an eye.

Crowdfunding on Pubslush

A long time ago, I went to a talk on publishing by Sonia Marsh, and at the very end of it, she mentioned using Pubslush to fundraise for book launching parties. I've been researching the website on and off for the last few months, before finally deciding to try and run a campaign on my own to help pay the publishing costs of my novel The Changelings.

The campaign will run in October. You can see it here.

What is Pubslush?

Kickstarter for Books!

Basically, Pubslush is a way for authors to raise money by creating a "campaign" for a set amount of time (15-45 days) and asking your supporters to donate money in exchange for incentives. The authors (or agents or publishers) can use this money to create or promote their book.

A 2013 article in Forbes says this: "Run by mother-daughter team Hellen and Amanda L Barbara, this American start-up is focused on providing crowdfunding services tailored to the needs of authors, agents, self-publishers and small presses."

On the website: "Pubslush is a global marketing platform for literary projects only. We offer flexible funding, we have the lowest fee in the industry, and we provide our campaigners with valuable market analytics. Most importantly, though, we pride ourselves on our emphasis on user education and for being an accessible resource for our campaigners every step of the way with the Pubslush Prep program."

Commentary

The website seems very proud of taking authors under its wing. Unfortunately, since I have issues with asking strangers for help, I've mostly been browsing the site. The "help" button takes you to wonderful links. You can also get an idea of what works by scanning successful campaigns. So there's still a lot of room for independent-minded writers as well.

Money Matters

You must raise a minimum of $500 in order to keep any of the money. You can raise the minimum if you so choose. You can set a maximum, although, if you raise more than the maximum, you can still keep the extra money.

If you reach $500 (or your own minimum), Pubslush deducts a 4% fee, plus 3.5% in credit card charges.

"Supporters of a campaign will be charged on the final day of the Fundraising period. In the event that the Minimum Threshold has not been met [...], Supporters will simply not be charged." This is in the Terms of Services. Basically, no one pays until the final day. If the campaign fails, no one spends money or makes money.

You entice people to donate by offering "incentives," small rewards for certain amounts. Although authors, in general, try to offer "free" rewards, you may have to spend some of your own money purchasing rewards. You will also have to factor in the cost of shipping.  You have the option of tacking on additional fees for international shipping. 

You can also choose to donate some of the proceeds (a minimum of 10%) to a charity called the Pubslush Foundation, which fights illiteracy. If you do so, you'll receive "a special distinction on our site."

Pubslush Prep is "a customized program designed to provide our campaigners with hands-on campaign support." On a basic (read: free) level it offers email templates and an introduction email with campaign relations coordinator. However, it also offers Bronze Prep ($50), Silver Prep ($75), Gold Prep ($175), Platinum Prep ($250), and Strictly Social Media Package ($100). 

Bronze level offers thing like an initial email consultation with the campaign relations coordinator plus 30 minutes of phone time, while Platinum Level gets you customized tweets and a feature on the Pubslush blog. 

Commentary

I think the 4% fee is reasonable. The website does offer authors a wider audience, so it's only fair to take a small cut. I'm a little more leery of paying for the advice, if only because if you fail, you get nothing--so it's a bit of a gamble. Also, in a business sense, you do have to worry about being nickeled and dimed. 

Let's say you paid $50 for a consultation and decide to donate 10% to charity and put in $30 for incentives and shipping. You raise $500. $20 goes to the website fees, $17.50 goes to credit card charges, then you pay another $50 for a donation and include the cost of supplies. That means raising that $500 has cost you $167.50, or roughly 1/3 of the money raised. If you give away copies of your book as an incentive, you have to be doubly careful because you're cutting into the audience who will buy your book later.

These concerns, by the way, come from a first-time publisher with very little money to subsist on, let alone publish with. Don't get me wrong, it's still an amazing tool to have at your disposal. But it's not free. You have to spend money to make money; it's just a matter of considering how much you're comfortable spending.

Other Benefits

Though the primary function is to raise money, the secondary function is to generate interest in your books. First-timers can build an audience outside their usual friends and family. Authors with an audience can appeal to their fan base by offering samples of new work.

Once you run a (successful?) campaign, it stays on the website, so that people can click on it and have a peek.

They also have tools, a blog, and articles for author education.

Commentary

It seems like Pubslush is striving to be not only a crowdfunding website, but also an author platform. They seem to want you to promote the book long 

The articles are a great resource. I recommend browsing them just for the heck of it. Some of these have to do with crowdfunding, if you're uncertain of what it entails or whether or not to take the plunge. Others talk about writing and promotion.

I couldn't use the tools because I have ancient technology which Pubslush doesn't seem to like.

Starting a Campaign

You will need to type/ upload the following:

• Title
• Byline (Your name or pseudonym)
• Image (at least 720 px in width--optional)
• Video (optional)
• Project Overview (a 1-sentence blurb to summarize your project and capture your audience's attention--200 characters max)
• Book Details (aka, your genre)
• Page Length (less than 50, 50-100, 100-250, 250-500, 500 +)
• Book Status (idea, working draft, or completed manuscript)

• Book Excerpt (5-10 page sample, submitted as either a text document, PDF, or series of images--optional)
• Tags (metadata that 
• Author Photo 
• Author Bio (Approximately 2 sentences about yourself--500 characters max)
• Interview (The standard questions ask: Why did you write this book? Wo are your favorite authors? What was your inspiration for this book? What do you plan to do with the funds you raise? You can answer some, all, or none of these question. You can make up your own questions, too.) 
• Links (your website, Facebook account, Twitter, etc.)
• Funding Goal (How much you want to raise--$500 minimum)
• Funding Duration (15-45 days)
• Launchpad (When do you want to start?)
• Levels and Rewards (How much money do people need to spend to qualify for the reward? Is there a limited amount of rewards offered? When do you expect to deliver the reward, assuming the campaign is successful? Do you charge extra for international shipping and if so, how much?)

After filling in all that massive amount of information, you review your information, agree to the terms and conditions, and wait for them to approve your campaign. After that, your campaign will appear on the website for people to browse, although they will not be able to donate until the launch date.

Commentary

I thought about using Pubslush to pay for my cover, but I noticed that most campaigns have a picture, some more professional than others. I, personally, feel more attracted to professional-looking artwork; it reassures me that the author is serious. For me, though, it meant paying for the cover out of my own pocket.

Filling in the information was time-consuming, but helpful, because it forced me to sit down and write (and re-write) promotional material for my book. However, copy and pasting from a word document to the little boxes caused the lines to go all wonky. You may need to re-type.

Before starting the incentives, I read and re-read an amazingly helpful article by AJ Walkley. Since the site recommends using your personal talents to create incentives, I decided to channel my card-making. Shipping and handling threw me a bit, but cards are cheap to mail. Still, I had to factor in that cost, as well as website fees, and card-making materials.

One of my most difficult problems was uploading the sample of the story. Again, I blame ancient technology. (My laptop is 4 years old.) Pubslush was not happy with Internet Explorer, but it worked fine for Mozilla Firefox, once I updated everything. Even though it uploaded my Microsoft Word document, it wouldn't let me actually see the writing. It did show me the PDF document, so I went with that.

I read through the Terms and Conditions, and one part bothered me a bit. "With respect to all Content, by submitting Content to Pubslush, you hereby grant to Pubslush a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sub-licensable, perpetual, irrevocable ad transferable license to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Content in connection with the Service and the business of Pubslush, and of its successors and assigns." 

"Content" is defined earlier, "any text, scripts, graphics, images, or other materials which a User posts to the Service," which includes "a segment of the User's original book."

So I think what this means is, once it goes on the site, it stays on the site, and they can distribute it worldwide. They do not have the rights to your entire novel, just whatever you put on the website. You can use the material you publish on Pubslush elsewhere. You cannot charge them to use your work. I think they are just covering their bases so people don't sue them or claim copyright violations. However, if you are uncomfortable with these terms, don't use the site.

What's Next?

In the next few months, I'm going to look at Pubslush from the point of view of someone donating and someone running a campaign. I'll write more when I know more, so stay tuned.

Weekly Update: 9-2-14 Thoughts on Revision

In the last week, I started to focus on finishing my own private editing of The Changelings so that I could get it in to my editor for a final blast of correction.  

My editing process goes something like this: take a pristine white manuscript, slash it to bits with my pen, type the revisions in the computer, underline passages that need more work, print it out, write out 1-3 revisions of the underlined passage by hand, type up the best parts of the revision, and play around with word choice until its as strong as it can be.

Today, after my standard hack-and-slash of words, I happened upon a quote by Amina Gautier on Jane Friedman's blog that spoke about how re-writing rewards mistakes. To quote:

Revising encourages and liberates the writer to “make mistakes.” It rewards mistakes; each “mistake” teaches one something about the story one is writing and gets one that much closer to the story one is meant to write. Revision reconciles the competing versions of the story that the writer carries in his head. Until the writer has gotten the story down on paper or onto the screen, he often cannot tell the difference between what he actually wrote, what he thought he wrote, and what he hoped to write. 

This passage spoke to my heart and reminded me of how far I've grown as a writer.

In my younger days, when I was first learning the craft, I hated to even look at my own writing. I thought it ugly, horrible, boring, and every mistake glared out at me with blood red eyes. My solution was to simply throw everything out and start again. I knew that by some alchemy, revision turned my writing into gold. But I didn't know why, and it frustrated me to no end.

As I got older, I began to understand what was happening. Unconsciously, I was learning from my mistakes. Everything I didn't like, I threw away, trying new ways of writing until something worked. Once I started realizing the value of my mistakes, I began to make a conscious effort to seek them out. Now I read through my drafts over and over again, analyzing why certain passages don't work and brainstorming ways to correct them.

A lot of the magic still happens when I'm not expecting it. It's like churning butter: you churn and churn and churn some more until suddenly this pale milky substance solidifies. A wavering idea turns into a real experience, for you, for the reader. As you get older, you grow to trust the process and learn how to make it more efficient for you.

Character Archetypes: Trickster

Lately, I've been playing with an idea for a girl who uses a magical ring to change her appearance and lead a double life. Diamond, as I call her, likes to be at times beautiful, at times plain, at times rich, at times poor, at times the center of attention, at times practically invisible. She uses these dual roles to get what she wants. She's a trickster.

Which got me thinking. What is a trickster? What makes them tick? How do they pull off their mad plans and what roles can they take in the story?

Definition

"A trickster is a character who plays tricks or otherwise disobeys normal rules and conventional behavior. The Trickster openly questions and mocks authority, encourages impulse and enthusiasm, seeks out new ideas and experiences, destroys convention and complacency, and promotes chaos and unrest." So sayeth TV Tropes, my authority on archetypes.

Put another way, a trickster is the polar opposite of your typical law-abiding hero. He trades relatability for unpredictability. You might not approve of what a trickster does, but darned if hhe doesn't make things interesting. And therein lies both the risk and reward of writing one. You may have to push the boundaries of what is acceptable in order to give the character life.

Characters In-Depth

I want to look at what makes other trickster characters tick. T.V. tropes offers a wonderful list of examples, but for my intents and purposes, I want to study tricksters I know very well, so I've chosen one trickster I watch every Sunday and another I wrote an awesome fanfiction about.

Rumpelstiltskin (Once Upon a Time--TV series)

In a show chock full of magicians, Rumplestiltskin is arguably the most powerful of all. Though he's known as "The Dark One," he's not really into taking over the world or committing acts of genocide. Instead he watches on the sidelines, offering deals to heroes and villains alike. If you need something, he'll give it to you... but often at a price.

The deals are the source of his trickster power. Every single one is made to his benefit and few are what they seem. Sometimes, Rumpelstiltskin seems to promise one thing, only to deliver something else. Sometimes he asks for small tokens in return for powerful magic: name, a cloak, a strand of hair. They will be important later on. Rumpelstiltskin works the long game like no one else in the show. It took him several hundred years to put his grand scheme into action, but he did succeed.

Nabiki Tendo (Ranma 1/2Anime/ Manga)

Almost everyone in Ranma 1/2 is a rock-splitting, high-flying super martial artists, half the characters are cursed, and the rest are more than willing to use magic objects lying around for their own nefarious purpose. (It should be noted, this is a comedy, so said purpose includes anything from growing hair to making someone fall in love.)  In this world, Nabiki Tendo is an anomaly. She doesn't fight or dabble with magic. Yet, when something stands between her and money, she will destroy heaven and earth and poor hero Ranma to get it.

Whereas everyone else uses physical force, only Nabiki relies on manipulation to get her way. She blackmails, spills secrets, sells things the heroes might want. To keep from getting hurt, she plays up her own weakness and her strategic position as the sister of Ranma's girlfriend. Nabiki knows Ranma will be obliged to save her from the chaos, even if she's the one who created it. If worse comes to worse, she'll whip out the crocodile tears, pretending she's hopeless in love or wounded by the hero's actions. Then, as he stands paralyzed, she'll strike like a viper, wheeling and dealing not two feet behind his back.

Personality Traits

Deceptive

All tricksters lie. If they don't fib outright, they tell half-truths or leave out important information. It's impossible to play tricks without deception. But aside from that, this may have a defensive purpose. They know the power of getting inside someone's head; they don't want that to happen to them. So they feign indifference about the things they care about, mask anger with a smile, and lie about their motives. Some may go all out and pretend to be crazy. They want to seem unpredictable, as that is their greatest asset.

Student of Psychology

Tricksters are smart. Not in a memorize-the-Internet way or a make-robot-out-of-soupcan way. Their power derives from psychology. They can predict how people will react. This isn't done by reading books, but by going out and studying them. The trickster doesn't hide out in a tower, he interacts with the masses. And if he finds a special subject of particular interest, you can be sure he will unwrap their loves, desires, weaknesses, and philosophy on life.

Master of Planning and of Improv

Tricksters can draw up insanely complicated plans and abandon them in an instant. Maybe they say that everything is going to plan. Maybe they say they have no plan at all. These are lies. Think of any prank or surprise party you've pulled off. You need to figure out what you want to do and how to pull it off. So you plan. But something goes wrong. So you improvise. Tricksters must do both, and do them so well it comes off as effortless.

Playful

Tricksters generally don't take themselves too seriously, and ultimately, this is their saving grace. An evil mastermind will pull off a complicated schemes in hopes of ruling the world. Tricksters usually settle for a few bucks, a shiny object, and maybe some amusement. Even dangerous tricksters tend to be witty, charming, and amusing. They force you to like them--perhaps their greatest trick of all.

How to Play a Trick

The Motive

Why are they playing the trick? That's the first thing a writer must consider. Reasons can range from great to petty: trying to prove a point, trying to win a bet, boredom, money, a valuable object, love, greed, vengeance, justice, freedom. They may, of course, say they want one thing (like money) but really want something else (like vengeance). Or their motive may evolve alongside the prank.

The Victim

Who are they playing the trick on? Bear in mind, the choice of victim may shine a light on the trickster's psyche. Does he chose people he admires or loathes? Does he pick easy marks or go for a challenge? Even if he chooses at random, he may adjust the trick according to the person.

The Set Up

You cannot just pull off a trick in a void. You need to make sure the circumstances are just right. In The Dark Knight, the Joker had to carefully cultivate an atmosphere of terror. In Ocean's Eleven, Danny Ocean had to make sure he had the right people in the right spot at the right time. Costumes are dawned, mirrors polished, smoke blown. Even magicians aren't exempt. They may be able to wave their hands and come up with any scenario they want, but first they need to think up that scenario. Weirdly enough, the more powerful the being, the more they relies on rules and limits. A trick is only fun if you can get the hero to play along.

The Test (Optional)

If the trickster doesn't know their mark very well, and if they are a relatively normal person (not an immortal god), it might behove them to set up a little test in order to gauge their victims reaction. For example, in my fanfiction, I Want a Refund, Nabiki's trick relied on her victim carrying enough about her to fight for her honor. To test this out, she had him walk her home from school. Little tests like this are a good way to foster trickster-victim interaction and make the audience wonder what's to come.

The Strike

This is where things go boom.

Now tricks can take many forms, but its usually vital for the trickster to insert himself in the action. No sitting in a tower for him.  First of all, the trickster knows the trick won't go off without his involvement. Second, this is where the fun is.

The Counter Strike

Tricks don't go as planned. Any simple thing might go wrong. The victim may fight back. A good trickster will roll with the punches.

The Getaway (Optional)

The problem with tricks is that, even if you succeed, you will end up with a huge mess and perhaps a mob of angry people. This is a good time for the trickster to make a graceful getaway, far from the chaos and the consequences.

The Lesson

Tricks are a psychological experiment. You mess with people in order to see how they'll react. If the victim is wise, he will learn something from the trick. The process may also change the trickster.

Final Thoughts

Tricksters work especially well as wild card supporting characters in long running series. Their personality adds spice and they can cause the hero plenty of stress without doing him much harm. Tricksters can be good or bad, helpful or bothersome. They can switch sides on a whim.

The question, for me, is can they work as main characters? I think so, but they may be trickier (ha) than a regular hero. The fun of a trickster is their lack of inhibition. Heroes get saddled with the weight of expectation: upholding morals, saving the world, etc. One way of balancing this is creating a secondary character who can act as the pillar of respectability, freeing the trickster to act as they want.

Another problem is the actual trick. A trickster must be like a magician, misdirecting the audience all the way until the end. Having a trickster as a point of view character risks giving up the goat too soon. However, a writer can get around this by judiciously cutting scenes or setting up the trickster as an unreliable narrator. It's a delicate art to leave out important information without annoying the reader, but it can be done.

In Case You Missed It: Kate Carlisle and Hannah Dennison at the Brea Library

Who: Kate Carlisle and Hannah Dennison
Where: Brea Library
When: Saturday, May 31, 2014

Please Note: The quotes are approximate.

* * *

I arrive fifteen minutes early, but there’s already a crowd filling the blue, green, and burgundy chairs. As I take my seat toward the back, I run into four or five members of my Brea Library Writer’s Group, including Kaleo, one of the founders.

The moderator kicks things off by introducing the guests, both authors of cozy mysteries.

Kate Carlisle is the author of the Bibliophile Mystery series, her latest one being The Book Stops Here. She has blond hair, clear glasses, a beige jacket, and a gold necklace. She also writes romance.

Hannah Dennison is the author of Murder at Honeychurch Hall, which is set in her native country of England.  She has brown hair, dark glasses, a white blazer, and pearls. 

The moderator gets the questions rolling, but almost immediately the audience jumps in. The library was not constructed with acoustics in mind. It’s hard to hear. I scribble down notes as best I can.  

* * *

Moderator: What made you decide to write mysteries?

Kate: I started reading Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys, then went to James Bond and Sue Grafton. I never thought I could write a book. I thought I had to have all this education but it turned out I didn’t. It took a long time before I realized I was allowed to write.

Kate Carlisle

Hannah: For me, it was the realization that I’ve always been interested in justice. I like a mystery to have a satisfying ending—everything neatly tied up. As a kid, I loved the book where I could turn the pages and solve puzzles. I was not a natural storyteller, I was a natural liar. The truth is, I always thought my versions were much more interesting.

Audience: Where do you get your ideas?

Hannah: I read a lot of small local papers. That’s where the gems are. Everything has a story, even coming here today. So watch out!

Kate: When I first started writing, my stories didn’t have a hook. It took me a while to figure out what a hook was—so if anyone here is an aspiring author, have hope! For this series, my protagonist is a book binder. So the first thing I do is choose a book for her to work on.

Audience: Real books?
 

Kate: Real books. One time, my editor said, “Why don’t you use a cookbook?” Well, I couldn’t use just any cookbook. In the first place, it had to be really old.  I found one from the American Revolution. A woman came over from England, writing recipes as she went along with the soldiers. It was actually a cookbook, a journal, and a healing advisory. That book became the basis for A Cookbook Conspiracy.

Hannah Dennison

Audience: I talked to an author who she said she changed killer because her writing group guessed who it was. Do you ever do that?

Kate: I’ve had to change who the killer is because my editor likes the character and doesn’t want him to be the murderer. There’s this one character named Gabriel that my editor’s in love with.  Once I tried to hook up Gabriel with this nice girl. My editor said, “She’s not good enough for him.” Spoiler alert—they did not end up together.

Audience: I had no idea editors had so much power.

Hannah: My new series came from brainstorming with an editor in a bar for 20 minutes—and at the end of it, she gave me a contract!  It felt like a Hollywood pitch meeting.

Audience: Do you ever bring characters from first book into the others?

 

Hannah: In cozies—mysteries based on the Agatha Christie type of novel—the whole idea is to have a small setting, a community of people you get to know. You have to keep those characters going for the readers, weaving them in and out of the series. That’s why people read a series—these are characters you come back to see.

Kate: It’s great to tap into secondary characters. I like to pick one of the villagers and write a story around them. Of course, the first book hard to set up. You have to create a cast of characters without overwhelming your audience.

Audience: Do you expect people to read your books in order?

"The Book Stops Here" by Kate Carlisle

Kate: I don’t. Reading in the books in order gives you growth and character development—that’s fun—but the mystery is a self-contained story. And that’s kind of important to writers. How much do you explain to new readers who don’t know these characters?

Audience: What are some of the famous authors you read?

Hannah: Obviously Agatha Christie, Dick Francis, let’s see…

Kate: I just read this cozy—it was free on Amazon—it was all about a Maine clambake. It was so enjoyable. I don’t read a lot of cozies either. Sometimes I need to get away from my own genre.

Hannah: When I’m writing, I can’t read any fiction. Just nonfiction

Kate: I read romances.

Audience: What’s your writing schedule like?

Kate: I write every day. I used to get up at 5:30, write for 3 hours, and then go to work. But now that I’m writing full-time, I still get up at 5:30, but I spend that time doing business stuff—which is just a brain-sucking thing to do. Then I write for 6 hours a day. But Hannah still has a day job.

"Murder at Honeychurch Hall" by Hannah Dennison 

Hannah: I write very early in the morning. When I come to a deadline write, my writing is very eratic because it has to get done. It’s a struggle to fit in all the social, promotional stuff. I’m doing a blog tour, writing for 13 or 14 blogs. At the same time I’m finishing a fifth book.

Audience (Kaleo): Any advice for the aspiring writer?

Kate: Don’t give up.

Hannah: Follow your dreams.

Kate: Steven Spielberg told her that.

Hannah: Yes, I saw him on a plane. He said, “You’ve just got to take that leap of faith and follow your dreams.” When I started writing, I found that’s when the universe opens up. I recommend taking classes. Be wary of book writing groups—unless someone is published—it’s easy to get side-tracked and write the same thing over and over again.  Finish the manuscript, even if it’s crap.

Kate: And read. Don’t give up on the craft. Continuing education is important. Don’t think that just because you’ve got a book published you’re done learning. Being a writer is hard. There are so many other things you could be doing.

Hannah: It’s like having homework the rest of your life.

Kate: It’s the best revenge.

Body of Revision

A few years ago, I read an article on Steven Pressfield's website about revising in layers.  Unfortunately, I can't for the life of me remember the title or even give a more specific summary.  What I do recall, though, is that this mysterious article came as a revelation.

I knew, through painful experience, that I had to go through many re-writes before my story took shape.  No matter how long I toiled or how carefully I planned, Draft 1 came out awful. Draft 2 was even worse.  Yet around Draft 5, 6, 7, the writing started to come out better.  The problem was, I didn't know why.  I'd tackle everything at once, and sometimes the story sounded nice and sometimes it didn't.

The article made me think about breaking up the elements of writing and focusing on different ones for each drafts.  This kept me from being overwhelmed.  So what if I my sentences were mangled, my description nonexistent, and my point of view kept switching?  I'd figured out the plot, so mission accomplished.

But I knew--again, through painful experience--that the elements had to be handled in a certain order.  Why spend hours trying to tune a phrase just so, when two drafts later you have to throw the scene out.  No, each draft had to build on the next one.  I thought of it like creating a human body.  If you tried to fix skin onto the bones and inject muscles in between, you'd end up with a bumpy looking mess.  Better to make a solid skeleton and then slap on the meat.

As I experimented more and more, I came up with a system for revisions.  I'd start humble, write fast and loose and messy, experiment and leave my options open.  As the story took shape, my writing became slower, more thoughtful, more precise.  By the end, I had a pretty nice, pretty shiny story.

Here's how it works.

Draft 1: Ideas
aka the Soul

Ideas gives birth to the story.  They're what compels the writer to write.  Each story begins with a simple question. "What is this about?"  As that question is explored, the humble idea grows up to become a theme or a motif.  Ultimately, it's what gives the story its meaning.

I call ideas the soul of the story because they are mysterious and hard to explain, but without one the story withers and dies.

For me, the idea draft is simply finding out what the story is about.  I take my time and ask a lot of questions.  How does this happen?  Why? What are the consequences?  I find a novel must have more than one idea.  As the first one starts to dry out, a new idea must be presented.  The old idea and the new one overlap and grow on each other, creating even more question.  I keep asking until I get an idea of an ending.  The idea draft usually looks like something between notes, an outline, or an exploratory draft with lots of gaps and plot holes.

Draft 2: Character, Plot, and Setting
aka the Internal Organs

Character, plot, and setting are fundamentals of story-telling.

Character means, of course, knowing your protagonist inside and out: his past, his morals, his desires, his fears, his strengths his limitations.  But it also means knowing these same things about your supporting characters and understanding their relationship to your protagonist.  

Plot is a progression of events which moves the story to the climax; it should run parallel to your theme and illuminate what your idea is trying to say.  For a plot to move, things must happen now.  Flashback, backstory, and exposition may be vital for clarity, but these are not plot.  At the same time, there must be a purpose to the action or it's just a random bunch of events.

Setting, obviously, means a physical environment: a forest, a castle, a room.  But it also includes the objects in the environment: clothes and furniture and weapons.  If your protagonist finds himself in unspoiled nature, what animals live there and what are their relationship to man?  If he's in a town or a city, what sort of culture does he confront?  What is history of the land?  What's the day, the month, the year?  What's the weather like?  How much time passes for the duration of the scene?

I like to think of character as the heart, plot as the brains, and setting as the lungs.  Each controls its own vital system that keeps the body alive.  Take away one and the story instantly collapses.

The reason I lump these three together is because they're interconnected.  Take a battle, for example.  You have to choreograph the action, one attack leading to another, until someone wins or the fighting ceases. (Plot.)  But in order to understand the action, you need to know where they're fighting and how many people are there and what's the weather conditions. (Setting.)  But you also need to know why the commanders chose to fight here and now and what they expect to happen and how your point of view character fits into the grand scheme of thing.  (Character.)  Any little alteration of one can greatly affect the others.

Not surprisingly, this drafts tend to be muddy, bloody, and messy.  I usually dive in at one section--say, plot--realize I need to do setting, change my mind about the plot, start on character, change the setting, change the plot again, have an idea for something completely different, and start all over.  At the end of it, I've got long thorough drafts so contradictory I can barely understand what I've written.  But that's fine.  I've explored different ways to develop the ideas all the way through from beginning to end.

Draft 3: Logic and Structure
aka the Skeleton

Structure and logic force the various writing elements into one solid story.  Structure means composing scenes, building chapters, putting events in order, deciding where backstory and exposition goes, choosing a point of view, commanding the pace, and ruling over everything with the iron fist of consistency.  Logic means going over the manuscript with a red pen for plot holes, unbelievable characterization, inaccuracies, and any other mistakes.

I call these two elements the skeleton, because they're rigid and they keep plot, character, and setting from spilling out in a disgusting heap.

It's on this draft that I switch off the right side of my brain and let my inner critic come out.  I make note of all the inconsistencies, the confusion, the unnecessary stuff, and I do my best to cut it out and clean it up.  On the flip side, I see what's working and what needs to be expanded or further developed.  This is the draft where I make all the big decisions about what happens in my story and stick to those decisions.  By the end of it, it actually starts to look like a novel.

Draft 4: Imagery and Emotion
aka the Flesh

People read in order to experience something new, be it travel, adventure, or falling in love.  What gives them that experience is imagery and emotion.  Imagery appeals to the five senses: sight, smell, sound, touch and taste.  When people talk about painting a picture, this is what they mean.  But a picture alone can be boring.  Emotion creates a human connection.

Imagery and emotion makes up the good, meaty part of the story--the part people ultimately hold onto.  That's why I liken it to the flesh.  And like the flesh, this kind of description can be thin or voluptuous.

My previous drafts already include imagery and emotion--it's impossible to get this far without them.  But here I crank it up to eleven.  I go over my scenes and write exhaustive description, sometimes ticking off the five senses one by one.  Likewise, I have my point of view character react to everything from the weather to the sight of another character to a bit of exposition.  The more dramatic it is, the more paragraphs I write.

Draft 5: Prose
aka the Skin

Prose is the "good writing" part of the story.  It means choosing the right words, arranging the sentences, listening to the rhythm, building paragraphs, adding tone, and creating pace.  This is when I look at active verbs versus passive verbs and start hitting the thesaurus.

To me, prose is the most cosmetic part of the story, but it's also the part people look at first and judge accordingly.  It's the skin that gives a pretty face to the substance, and the clearer and smoother it is, the better..

I start this draft by reading through the imagery and emotion of the previous draft and hacking out everything but the most evocative words or phrases.  I build new sentences around these words.  This is the most time-consuming draft, as I easily spend an hour or more per page.  Everything is chosen and arranged with meticulous detail.

* * *

By now, the story is basically done.  There's more editing, of course: grammar, spelling, punctuation, and the like.  But this is what I consider hygiene.  It's clean up, not a major re-write.

This is my own method.  It works for me, for the most part, because it lets me switch my brain back and forth between creator and editor, feeler and thinker, experimenter and decision-maker.  To me, it's a logical progression.  But is it the same for you?  Or do you have a different way of tackling revision?

Please let me know.

Dissecting Fantasy: Objects, Part 2

Objects, Magical and Mundane

Part 2

How selective use of objects can enhance a fantasy (or non-fantasy) novel

Last time: We discussed the importance of choosing wisely which objects your characters should have access to and what sort of practical items can help in your character's survival

Sources: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins,  the Harry Potter novels by J.K. Rowling, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien, "The Snow Queen" by Hans Christian Andersen

Objects in Identity

"For the opening ceremony, you're supposed to wear something that suggests your district's principal industry.  [...]  This means that coming from District 12, Peeta and I will be in some kind of coal miner's get-up.  Since the baggy miner's jumpsuits are not particularly becoming, our tributes usually end up in skimpy outfits with hats and headlamps.   One year, our tributes were stark naked and covered in black powder to represent coal dust.  It's always dreadful [...]."

--Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games

I'm going to say three objects and you're going to tell me when and where the story takes place. Ready?

Spurs.  Revolver.  Star-shaped badge.

Obvious, right?  American West, circa 1880s.  The setting of many cowboy movies.
How about three more:

Katana sword.  Green powdered tea.  Silk kimono.

Feudal Japan.  Not hard at all.

But it shows the power of objects and cultural identity.  Say toga and we're in ancient Rome.  Nesting dolls sticks us in Russia.  Heck, even magical objects have cultural implications.  Flying carpets and magic lamps evoke pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia, while 7-league boots and deadly spindles plants us squarely in pre-industrial Europe.

These associations can help or hurt your story.  If you want to set your fantasy story in a specific time and the mention of even a few of these items will immediately paint a picture in the reader's minds.  Food, art, and technology, in particular, show the culture of a society.  Dried deer jerky versus cream puffs, marble statues versus ink scrolls, chariots versus steam trains--each thing very succinctly paints a picture of a time, a place, and a people.

On the other hand, if you want to create your own unique world without any cultural associations, objects can be a problem. How do you show readers that the world is different? There are three main strategies:

1. Mix-and-Match Objects

Let's see the reader try to place a character wearing a kimono, toting a six shooter, and standing near a marble statue.  That will teach the reader to form associations.  Unfortunately, it may also confuse her.

2. Create-Your-Own Objects

The splutok is a clay-based water holder with a rope handle and patterns of pre-Groteal artwork covering the surface.  By creating your own objects, you show the reader that the culture is not of this world.  Unfortunately, not only do you have to spend the time to invent this new object, you now have to slow down the story to explain it to the readers.

3. Intentionally Vague Objects

The girl sits on the comfortable sitting object, holds the writing object, and writes on a flat writing surface.  The less specific the object, the greater the chance of it being universal and thus not tied to a particular time and place.  But if your objects are too vague, the reader loses a lot of the imagery and thus the joy in the story.

Now, I realize my examples are all exaggerated and sort of ridiculous.  Hey, I like to have fun, too.  But I don't want you to think that these strategies don't work.  They do.  They just need to be employed with a deft and subtle hand.

For example, when you mix and match cultures, take into account the setting.  Fans make more sense in hot, muggy environments than in arctic ones.  A few strange, magical, and important objects show you're in a different world.  If the splutok is used in an important religious ceremony that will play a crucial role in the plot, the reader may be more inclined to read a long description.  Otherwise, opt for general objects: dress, chair, pen, soup, wine.  Oh sure, you can embellish them with adjectives.  The Artrukian silk dress, the famed plum wine of Chial.  As long as the readers can visualize the noun, you should be okay.

* * *

Thus far, I've been discussing objects in relation to cultural identity.  But it can also apply to the individual.

Now, I'm going to play the same "three object" game, but with people instead.  I want you to guess the name of the person based on some objects.  Tell me who has:

Glasses.  A magic wand.  An invisibility cloak.

Too easy?  How about:

A magic ring.  A glowing sword.  A (distinct lack of) pocket handkerchief.

Okay, so Harry Potter and Bilbo Baggins are famous, iconic fantasy figures.  Even so, you were able to guess them based on three objects, weren't you?

Why do we want to chose our own clothes?  Why do we want to decorate our house in the way we want?  Why do we take a glance at a person's clothes or nose through their house and draw certain conclusions about them?  Objects have power to reflect a person's identity.  Even objects chosen on a whim.  Wear dragonfly earring everyday and people will associate those earrings with you.

What does this mean for you?

It means that a few well-chosen objects can act as a shortcut to the character's identity.  A main character, of course, will have loads and loads of objects.  But a minor character with a single memorable object will also stick in people's minds.

* * *

Writing Prompt

Your hero roots through the corpses of his enemy for supplies.  All the enemy look the same--similar faces, similar clothing, similar supplies.  Then, suddenly, your hero opens an enemy's pack and finds a single object that makes him stop dead in his tracks.  When he sees this object, he realizes that his enemy was a real person, not some faceless monster.

What is this object?  Why does it affect your hero so much?

* * *

Magical Objects

"One day [a hobgoblin] was in a high state of delight because he had invented a mirror with this peculiarity, that every good and pretty thing reflected in it shrank away to almost nothing.  On the other hand, every bad and good-for-nothing thing stood out and looked its worst. [...] All the scholars in the demon's school [...] reported that [...] now for the first time it had become possible to see what the world and mankind were really like."

--Hans Christian Andersen, "The Snow Queen"

Admit it.  This was the part you were really interested in.

I hardly need to explain why magic is awesome.  It just is.  On the one hand, it can bring your every desire to life.  Things you can regain what you lost, you can do they impossible, you can master skills in a flash.

Things We Desire

• Power over Nature (water, fire, wind, lightning, earth)
• Power over People (having them like you, protection against harm or disloyalty)
• Power over the Supernatural (bringing the dead to life, speaking to ghosts, visions of the future)
• Mastery of a Particular Skill
• Wealth
• Transformation (controlled shapeshifting)
• Communication (telepathy, speaking to animals, speaking different languages)
• Youth and Rejuvenation
• Flying
• Invisibility
• Healing
• Knowledge
• Love

But on the other hand, magic can represent everything we fear, especially the things which are not necessarily solid or material.  It can manifest horrible losses, it can mar the soul, it can turn us into what we most hate.

Things We Fear

• Power (used against us)
• Loss of Loved Ones
• Loss of Identity
• Loss of Soul
• Loss of Freedom
• Loss of Respect
• Pain
• Poverty
• Sickness
• Deception
• Transformation (uncontrolled, monstrous)
• Ugliness/ Disability/ Age 
• Death

All this awesome power comes packed inside an ordinary, everyday item, usually something small enough to pick up.  Though the object can be anything, it usually comes fraught with some sort of symbolic power.  Things that bind, things that reflect, things that speak in some unconscious way to our soul.

Ordinary Objects

• Mirror
• Paper (books, scrolls)
• Clothes and Shoes (cape, belt, slippers, boots)
• Jewelry (rings, amulets, necklace, gemstones)
• Plants (dried herbs, nuts, mushrooms)
• Masks
• Cups, Bowls, Spoons
• Dolls 
• Game Pieces (dice, chess pieces, cards)
• Musical Instruments (pipe, drum, bell)
• Keys
• Weapons and Armor (sword, bow, shield, helmet)
• Candles and Lamps

Put the dread and desire of magic into one of these unassuming objects and you have the beginning of a story.

Just the beginning, of course.  Though the object may be fascinating in and of itself, what people really want to see is how the character uses the object, or, if he doesn't use it at all, why not?  The relationship between the character and the magical object may prove significant.  In order to develop it, ask yourself some of these question.

1. To begin with, how did your character get a hold of it?

Created it
Gift
Found it
Bought it
Earned it
Stole it
Traded for it
Other

2. Does he actually know what the object does?

Yes--completely
No, not at all
Thinks he does but is wrong
Knows some aspects of the magic but not the whole thing

3. Does it take any skill to master it?

Yes
No

4. Can only certain kinds of people use it?  (Pure-hearted, wizards, members of a certain bloodline, etc.)

Yes
No

5. Does the object have a limitation?

Yes--can only be used during certain times (full moon, before midnight)
Yes--limited quantity (only three wishes)
Yes--needs magic words/ rituals (must blow three kisses)
Yes--delicate/ can be broken
Yes--dependent on the physical/ mental/ spiritual state of person using it
Yes--other
No

6. Is there a cost to using it?

Yes--stated up front
Yes--hidden
No

7.  Is the object good or evil?

Good
Evil
Neutral

As you answer these questions, you should start to think of what kind of dilemma this object can cause the character.  Rarely is it satisfying for a magical item to swoop in and solve the character's problems.  There should be a conflict.

* * *

Now up until now, I've been treating the magical object as though it has a deep connection to the heart of the story.  But sometimes magical objects just pop up for convenient's sake.  Magic is like technology.  Sometimes we get airplanes and atomic bombs.  Other times we get velcro and flashlights.

Remember back in the survival section how I said you could use magic to cheat.  Well, here we are.

If you don't want your character lugging around 50 pounds of equipment and if you've created a world where magic is fairly common, you can use select magical objects to make the trip easier for him.  For example, a cloak that keeps your character dry no matter the weather.  A quiver that never runs out of arrows.  A piece of paper that automatically draws perfect maps.

The possibilities are endless.

Favorite Cheat Magical Objects

• Tables that always fill with food
• Purses that never run out of money
• Bread that fills your stomach with a single bite
• Boots that take you seven leagues with a single step
• Walnut shells that store ball gowns

The danger of cheat objects is that it creates what I like to call the RV paradox.  Sure, you can bring an RV into the woods, complete with T.V. and all the comforts of home, but at what point do we start to miss the point of going camping?  Magic can be a nice short cut every once in a while, but too many shortcuts and you suck out all the risk, struggle, and danger.

So when do you use magical cheats?  When the characters actually need them.

Look at The Hobbit versus The Lord of the Rings.  Bilbo didn't get magical lembas bread that filled his stomach with a single bite, because going on an adventure--being uncomfortable and hungry--was the whole point of the book.  Frodo, on the other hand, had to carry a magical ring that was corrupting his soul through an enemy war zone while being hunted by flying ghosts with poisonous swords.  Not starving to death along the way was the least they could do for him.

* * *

Writing Prompt

It's a dragon scale, or so your friend claims.  Blue and bold, with serrated edges, and large as your head.  After the knight killed the beast, your friend blunted three knives to pry it off.  On the dragon, the scale had been green, but once plucked, it turned a mystical blue.

"Proof," your friend says, "Of magic."

"All right," you reply, handing the scale back.  "It's magic. But what does it do?"

What does it do?  Finish the story.