Writing – Page 40 – Blue Ink Alchemy

Tag: Writing (page 40 of 47)

What’s It All About, Then?

This might be my inexperience with Hollywood talking, but I think a lot of pitches to studio execs or producers go in this direction:

“So check out my new script, for the next Adventures of Captain Spanky! Captain Spanky flies out to meet the Naughticans, a race of hot alien babes bent on subjugating the galaxy! It’s full of space battles, intergalactic sex and plenty of jokes to keep people laughing!”

“Awesome! Here’s $100 million for your movie! Don’t spend it all in one place, now! Just let me know when it’s done, I’ll be sitting here chomping on my cigar.”

I’d like to think that, on occasion, it goes more like this:

“Sounds fun. What’s it about?”

“Um… it’s about the hero blowing things up and having sex with space babes?”

“That’s the plot, but what is the story about?“

At this point the ‘screenwriter’ tries to figure out what the script is actually about and ends up going home to nurse a bottle of cheap vodka or takes his script to the first producer I mentioned. Then again, maybe that’s just my imagination running away with me. In any event, making sure something you write is actually about something tends to make it more powerful, better realized and, in the end, successful.

Themes

Moby-Dick is, on it’s surface, about a whaling ship. But Melville wasn’t just writing about a bunch of guys trapped on a boat at sea dealing with a giant white sperm whale. He writes about obsession, religion, racism, sanity and politics, just to name a few. There’s a reason a long work about whales is considered a classic – there’s more to it than whales and harpoons. Obviously, not every story is going to be Moby-Dick. And some stories might be a little heavy-handed in how they convey their theme or message. District 9 was pretty blatant in its treatment of South Africa’s apartheid, but showed us that humans are still as xenophobic as ever. I haven’t seen Avatar but I hear it couldn’t be a more obvious pastiche of previously tread ground if it were fully animated and called Pocahontas. OH WAIT.

Anyway, what I’m driving at here is that under the dialog and action in stories like these are themes that work as both foundation and soil for the story. The theme shores up the other elements of the story by ensuring they’re connected, and it also allows the characters, action and drama to grow organically from it, rather than appearing out of nowhere.

Characters

Sometimes a story can get away without having a major overarching or underlying theme. Sometimes, instead of the characters growing from the theme, the theme grows from the characters. If they are interesting, smart or funny enough, ideally a combination of all three, the themes manifest themselves as the characters develop.

The legend of Faust tells the tale of a man who makes a deal with the devil to gain knowledge. This story can go any number of ways based on which direction you want to take the character. The theme or themes, be they damnation or redemption or victory over a conniving supernatural force, come out of the character’s growth rather than existing from the beginning. Iron Man, as a more modern example, doesn’t start out with a major theme, but rather with a character: Tony Stark. Eventually we see the themes of responsibility, redemption and innovation come into play over the course of the story, but it begins with Tony sitting in the back of a Hummer, listening to AC/DC and nursing his scotch. You won’t always come up with a strong central theme in this manner. 2009’s Star Trek does deal on some levels with young men overcoming the adversity of their pasts, but for the most part is a study of established characters in an altered situation. As these characters are rich and nuanced in and of themselves, their presence and interplay can drive a story without needing to focus on a central theme. However, a theme does add strength to a character driven story. I can’t think of a better example in Star Trek than Wrath of Khan, which ties back into my Moby-Dick reference.

See what I did there? Underlying theme.

Spectacle

Unfortunately, not every writer is looking for either a strong theme or interesting characters. Sometimes you just want a vehicle to follow a trend or attract an audience with shiny things. I tend to rag on Dan Brown and Stephenie Meyer a great deal. Sure, Dan Brown’s books can be entertaining and Ms. Meyer’s popularity rivals that of J.K. Rowling a few years ago. But monster truck rallies are entertaining too, and they’re not ‘about’ anything other than big vehicles smashing little ones. Dan Brown’s work is a lot like an intellectual monster truck rally, in point of fact: take Fibonacci, cryptography, speculative historical tales and pseudo-scientific terms, paint them on the sides of wrecked cars, then drive over the cars with a truck bearing huge wheels and a big banner on either side saying THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS EVIL. Ms. Meyer’s is more like a normal track race, in that the pretty Bella Swan car is getting chased round and round by the sparkle-ridden Edward car and the fur-covered Jacob car for lap after lap until one of them spins out of control and the whole thing collapses into a twisted wreck.

Sure, it’s fun to watch. But what is it about?

Works in Progress V: Somehow, someway

January 4, 2010 / BlueInkAlchemist / 10 Comments

During GameX’s “Build an RPG” panel, David Hill reminded those of us gathered that those of us without the good fortune to be paid writers would be doing our writing in our spare time. And with day jobs, spare time can be difficult to come by. As frustrating as it can be to be uncertain of when, if ever, one might be getting paid for work completed, it can also be frustrating to have a notion in one’s mind that doesn’t make it out due to client requests and phone calls.

_{“I know I’m awesome. You can stare.”}

Still, despite plunging back into a pile of work after a holiday weekend, I continue to brew some things on the various burners in my head. That burning stuff you’re smelling? That’s the smell of greatness.

Lighthouse

I’m trying to work on this whenever I can. I was made aware of something last night that, for a moment, made me think I’d have to scrap the entire project and start from scratch again. However, it turns out that the tweaks to the overall product are going to be happening in bits I haven’t written yet, so it just needs to get written. Written properly, that is.

Fantasy Novel

I’m still not entirely sure what I’m going to be calling this. It used to be “Arrow of Fate” but that seems a bit kitschy. “Wilds of Acradea” maybe. Anyway, I had an infusion of ideas the other day when my wife suggested I do the same thing to my protagonist here that I did to Morgan in the aforementioned project: gender-swap her. In this case it would help her be less annoying. The more I thought on it, the more I realized things would change within the narrative, and slowly a slightly different story began to take shape. Like the Genesis planet, new life is being formed out of the old. Hopefully, this new life won’t include slug-like tentacle things that wrestle with Klingons or become unstable & explode.

Video Project

It’s a secret to everybody.

Okay, not everybody. My wife is again playing the role of conscientious nit-picker and could end up playing a role in what’s being planned, but as I told her last night, if I didn’t have someone like her challenging my ideas, I’d wind up like another George Lucas.

…Ew. Okay, moving on.

Farraday

Okay, I know I said this’d be a back burner thing, but with the growing appeal of Star Trek Online I couldn’t help myself and this stuff just started spilling out of me. Is it any good? Does it hold a candle to the likes of Ronald D Moore or even Bob Orci? I have no idea. It just feels good to write. Maybe Bob will tell me, if he swings by this way again. If that was really him.

RPG Project

I need to throw together a to-do list for this little project: compile previous notes, organize ideas, jot down historical events, collect space-babe art. Okay, that last one might not relate specifically to the project, but come on, these are space babes I’m talking about. It falls into one of those “when I have free time and I’m not spending it with my very patient and beautiful wife” categories.

Other Stuff

I don’t have a clever picture to put here, but I have pitches in to The Escapist, there’s talk of me producing a column for an online gaming magazine that is not The Escapist, and I should be getting some freelance gaming work in the pipeline later this month.

What I need to do, in short, is just keep writing, build up more momentum behind my metaphorical pen, and sooner or later, somehow, I’ll be able to start my day with writing rather than hauling my butt out the door for a thankless commute.

Building Character: The Adversarial Ally

December 30, 2009 / BlueInkAlchemist / 0 Comments

As Heinlein once pointed out, heroes and villains come in complimentary pairs. Sometimes the protagonist of a given tale will spend more time with or thinking about the antagonist than they do their significant other. One might even find fiction that turns the antagonist into the hero’s significant other. However, it could be argued that a more interesting story occurs when an adversary, for one reason or another, becomes an ally.

This discussion involves some spoilers for a couple popular science fiction series, so consider yourselves warned.

Consider the case of Q, from Star Trek the Next Generation.

As I mentioned in my brief overview of his history, Q enters the series at its premiere as a clear antagonist. He is a seeimgly omnipotent being from an inscrutable interdimensional race holding the crew of the Enterprise responsible for the nature of humanity, described as a “savage child-race”. As the series progresses, Q takes a more personal interest in the humans aboard the Enterprise, Captain Picard in particular. He even goes so far as to put Picard in a situation where he can alter the past to correct a mistake he made, then shows Picard the ramifications of that correction to demonstrate that those things we do, as mortals, that sometimes cause us shame help define who we become through the hard lessons we learn. By the end of the series, Q and Picard have put aside their differences and come to respect one another for a variety of reasons, but mostly because Q has stopped acting solely as humanity’s judge, and Picard has realized that this former adversary has become an ally.

Another fine example is the Cylon model known as Six from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.

From her numerous iterations both on Cylon-occupied Caprica and the refugee fleet, Six demonstrates that she is loyal to the Cylon cause. And yet, her appearances in the mind of Gaius Baltar appear to be assisting humanity. She claims that she is an instrument of God, putting her in direct opposition to the polytheistic belief held by many humans in the Lords of Kobol while simultaneously assisting in their survival. While many copies of Six exist in keeping with the other Cylons in the series, on more than one occasion we see the character acting in ways that assist humanity rather than opposing it. This is especially the case with ‘Caprica Six’ who saves Baltar’s life during the initial attack on the Twelve Colonies. Her later actions put her in the same category as the Cylon model Eight who later adopts the callsign ‘Athena’ when she returns with Karl ‘Helo’ Agathon from Caprica.

Conflict is the foundation of drama. You need someone who opposes your protagonist(s) by presenting them with obstacles to overcome or situations to endure. However, a villain who simply twirls their moustache and cackles at the thought of doing evil tends to be one-note and somewhat boring. By having them act in a way that ultimately helps the heroes accomplish a goal, you color the antagonist differently and give them a dimension of depth. This especially holds true if the villain’s assistance not only helps the hero accomplish their goal but also helps the villain achieve some other aim. Audiences love a clever antagonist, which is why the Xanatos Gambit is so popular.

Having your antagonist look like Tricia Helfer doesn’t hurt, either.

“What do you mean, I’m doing it wrong?”

December 28, 2009 / BlueInkAlchemist / 3 Comments

Human beings, being mortal creatures, are bound to mess things up sooner or later. This is true in every endeavor an individual undertakes. And sometimes, it falls to others to inform us that we’re incorrect in the manner with which we’ve been proceeding.

In other words, sooner or later, you’re going to be told you’re doing it wrong.

Marital disagreements, family drama, storytelling, cheeseburger construction, you name it. It’s going to go pear shaped on you. It could be because of outside influence or because of your direct actions, but the bottom line is the end result is going to be a mess. In writing terms, maybe your protagonist is more annoying than you think. In family terms, you could have maybe timed or worded something a bit differently. Regardless of how you arrived at this point of failure, the question is not so much how you failed but how you recover from it.

First, of course, you need to realize you’ve failed. Sometimes this is obvious in the moment of value – those “oh shit” moments when your sphincter tightens as you brace for the physical or emotional impact that comes on as a result of the events that’ve been botched. Other times, you could be cruising along happy and content, and it’s pointed out to you that something isn’t working out the way you imagined. You might rail against the idea, but when you calm down and re-examine the situation, you’ll see what they’ve pointed out and agree with them.

But rather than dwelling on the failure itself, a more constructive goal is: how do you correct the failure?

Just like admitting you’re wrong, fixing the problem isn’t always easy. A workplace misstep can haunt you for quite a long time depending on the nature of the management. Some family members may be forgiving but others might have long memories that focus especially on slights. And finding a failing in a work may be as simple as excising a line or going back and doing a complete rewrite.

Funnily enough, this post is turning out to be something of a failure. It’s ambling a bit more than I expected and seems to be talking about things in a very broad sense rather than having the tight, narrow focus required for good writing. Hopefully upcoming posts will be a bit more cohesive.

In the meantime, here’s a parting bit of advice:

When I realize I’ve hit a wall of fail, at times I picture getting the bad news from Carla Gugino.

Somehow, that helps.

Jotting in the Margins: Writing Smart

December 22, 2009 / BlueInkAlchemist / 2 Comments

There was an excellent post made about “Moff’s Law” – which is, in essence, the notion that anybody making a comment about ‘just enjoying a movie/tv series/novel/game without analyzing it or thinking it through’ is demonstrating monumental stupidity. I think it’s worth noting, however, that if the creator of a work doesn’t engage their brain, the audience isn’t likely to either.

The brain, courtesy medicalimages.allrefer.com

“What’s your story about?” It’s a common question asked of authors, but one has to wonder how much the questions is actually pondered. Can you discuss the story beyond a brief synopsis of the plot? What are the themes of your work? From where are you drawing inspiration? Who are you hoping to engage?

Answering these questions won’t just allow you defend your work on an Internet forum. You’ll be able to assemble a better, attention-getting pitch if you can not only recap the story but also point out how it relates to current events, other successful works or deep philosophical issues. I’m not an authority on representation, but I’d be more inclined to represent a work if it’s got more to it than tits and explosions.

Not that there’s anything wrong with tits and explosions, mind you. After all, one of the cardinal rules of mass media in all its forms is “Give the people what they want.” And people, by and large, are interested in sex and violence. Both of them lead to drama, one way or another. But do these things serve the story, or is the story merely a vehicle for them?

Compare Terminator: Salvation to District 9. Both of them are sci-fi stories set in the present or the near-future, with human characters interacting with non-human ones. However, in one you have a straightforward action flick that tries to be gritty and serious and just comes off as full of itself, while in the other the story flows naturally from one event to another and the action scenes, riveting and exciting, grow organically from the story while maintaining the dramatic punch of the themes and mood.

Guess which is which. Go on, guess.

If all you do is toss good-looking women and breakneck action at the audience, they might comment on how good those things were and not discuss anything else, all but forgetting the experience the second that discussion ends. Include more nuances, mix in an interesting theme and find ways to make the audience think about what’s happening, and your work will not only generate more interesting discussion, people will want to experience it again, to make sure they fully understand everything you’re trying to say.

The best treats have layers to them. A water cracker by itself can be tasty but a bit bland and forgettable. Spread some cheese on that cracker, maybe add a bit of prosciutto or some chives depending on the cheese, and the snack takes on new dimensions and you’ll find yourself wanting more. Along those same lines, an attractive heroine is one thing, but an attractive heroine with a driving goal, personal issues and a strong sense of right and wrong will make the audience more interested in what happens to her, not just seeing her take off her clothes.

Let’s say your heroine is played by Carla Gugino.

She’s pretty sexy on her own, but Carla has played a few nuanced roles in her time. The Silk Spectre in Watchmen, the worst-case-scenario government consultant in the underrated and short-lived series Threshold, and Marv’s lesbian shrink in Sin City are just a few examples of the highlights of her career so far. She has charisma, radiates intelligence in most of her roles and draws in the audience just as much with her delivery and pacing as she does with her physical assets. It’d be easy for a writer or producer to toss her in a role just so she can shake her money-maker, but writing a role that makes use of her other talents and ties into an underlying theme causes her to all but explode out of the screen.

In the end, it’s not enough to just give the people what they want. You have to be smart about how you make that delivery.

I mean, I could have just posted that pic of Carla without tying it into the overall theme of the post. That’d be like mentioning Abby Sciuto just because she brings in the mad hits.

And I’d never do such a thing.

Tag: Writing (page 40 of 47)

What’s It All About, Then?

Themes

Characters

Spectacle

Works in Progress V: Somehow, someway

Lighthouse

Fantasy Novel

Video Project

Farraday

RPG Project

Other Stuff

Building Character: The Adversarial Ally

“What do you mean, I’m doing it wrong?”

Jotting in the Margins: Writing Smart

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