Category: Storytelling

Hollow Knight and Breadcrumbing Backstory

Quan

As I write this, my current nerd obsession is the hit indie video game Hollow Knight. It’s almost everything I love in a video game: exploring a massive map, quick, action-oriented gameplay, tons of ability and power upgrades and cool moments that make you feel like a total badA$$ for making them happen. But the thing that keeps me most engaged in the game is its deep, engrossing story. The game absolutely drips with lore and backstory, and you can spend hours delving into the plethora of characters and landmarks, learning what the stories are behind them and how they all connect and form the tapestry that is the world and history of Hallownest. Okay, I don’t love the insane difficulty level of the game, but I’m not writing about that.

What I appreciate about the story is that it is not frontloaded for you. You are not told everything at the start of the game. In fact, you are told very little: the first scenes of the game are something ominous happening to what you assume is a final boss, then an ominous poem about somebody else, and finally your character “the knight” walking casually towards the village where the game will take place, and then jumping off a cliff. That’s it. Reading the instructions or game description doesn’t clue you in to much more: there’s something going on in Hallownest and people who go there aren’t coming back, and you’re there to figure out why…maybe.

The reveals are plenty as the story progresses, as is typical for many games and other storytelling mediums. But what makes Hollow Knight unique is the amount of storytelling and lore that was put into every single detail of the game. Literally everything has a backstory and a history, from the locales, to the items you pick up, to the systems you use to stay alive, to every single creature, foe, friend, boss and secondary character you interact with in the game. You can learn crucial information on just about anything you see and touch in the game, you can learn lore from speaking to random NPCs, and also gleam its relevance to the overall story (and yeah, I’m going to dabble in spoiler territory. You’ve been warned.)

One of my favorite connections is early in the game, when you are fighting your first boss, The False Knight. When you beat it, you open its massive armor to see this big-headed, marshmallow looking creature that is an easy kill. You don’t think much of it at first because you’re still getting your bearings in the game. But then after you’ve explored for a while, you see that armor again in a different place, but this time worn by one of Hallownest’s fallen Legendary warriors. You return to the scene of your first battle to see the armor still lying there, but the body of that marshmallow creature has been taken away to a hidden spot nearby, where you will find two others of its kind holding a funeral for it. A special upgrade you find early allows you to get intel on any creature you’ve killed, and it tells you that these marshmallow guys are literally the weakest, most frightful creatures in the kingdom. They literally run from you when they see you and they do not put up any kind of fight as you kill them with one hit. Another upgrade allows you to get even more backstory, where you find out one of those things wanted so badly to get stronger to protect its brethren that it stole the armor of a random warrior it found sleeping and donned it to be their hero. Yes, that is the armor of the legendary warrior you saw in another place, and yes, you just mercilessly killed a guy who just wanted to protect its friends from…well…people like you, since you just mercilessly killed its friends, too.

And there are tons of other moments like this in the game, where the entire backstory isn’t given to you all upfront, but you can collect details and bits of lore from areas all over the game and piece things together at your leisure. Connections are implied, hinted at, and alluded to, which implores you to dig deeper to find the connections and process the overall relevance to the main story. It allows for true discovery and revelation as you connect the dots and fit pieces of the puzzle together. And it adds replay potential to the game because you are not going to find everything the first time you go through it, but if you liked the game, there will be ways for you to learn that there is stuff you missed that makes the story even more complete, which compels you to dive even deeper in the game to experience what you missed. It’s a brilliant setup.
The goal of Breadcrumbing is to give a story all of its exposition without actually doing exposition. There is no need for a lengthy explanation of what came before if you offer it in bits and pieces throughout the story, and in ways that aren’t obviously a character or the narrator explaining things to you.

But now the question becomes, since the guys at Team Cherry were able to do what I call “breadcrumbing” so well, how can YOU utilize this technique in your stories? Well, I’m glad you asked…

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE ON THE OFFICIAL PROSE & QUAN’S SUBSTACK PAGE! AND THEN SUBSCRIBE!

Time for a relaunch.

Quan

If you’ve been following this blog regularly, you’ve probably seen that I haven’t posted anything new in a while. there’s a reason for that.

I’ve taken a sabbatical from Prose & Quan’s to focus on some other projects, but also to step back and reevaluate this entity and see what the next best move for it is.

Well, I’ve decided that the next best move is to…well…move.

I’m moving Prose & Quan’s to a new platform to see if that can increase exposure for this project. What I’ve been doing here on My WordPress site has been okay, but I think these articles need to reach more people, so I’m moving it to a platform where I can potentially get more eyes interested in reading my articles.

The platform of choice is Substack. The gameplan is to repost all of my published articles from this site weekly so people that missed them the first time around can get a chance to read them. I am also writing new articles that will be posted once a month. On top of that, I’m currently reaching out to more authors to get more interviews (and free advertising for them!) so if you have a book out and you want some extra publicity, Contact me and we can work something out.

So jump aboard and follow me on my new venture! You can see my first post on my new platform at the new website: www.proseandquans.substack.com. Subscribe, start readin’ and then start writin’!

Interview with S. Lani Hayes

Quan

I’ve been blesses to have attended school with a great number of authors, and Ms. Hayes is one of them. She has taken negative experiences in her personal life and channeled them into a book of poetry. Here she explains the process behind her writing.

What inspired your book?

Unfortunately, the answer to this question is long and convoluted. It was a heartbreak and the book was a lot of things. It was a way for me to get over this heartbreak, it was a way for me to see my own value and worth; and it was a lesson for my daughters so that they would know how wonderful and magnificent they already are even without a partner.

Did you start with an outline or did you make it up as you went along?

These poems came straight off the Dome. There was no outline for it, I just picked up my recorder when I had a feeling and I let it go.

What researching methods did you use?

There was no research; this was all lived life experience it was absolutely first person first feelings; all of the feelings and I didn’t hold anything back.

Did you draw on personal experience?

(See above)

How did you publish?

I self-published through Amazon. 

Why did you do it that way?

I did it that way because I was in a time crunch. I had determined that I was going to do this thing and I wanted it to be done by a specific date and I didn’t have time to wait for other people to say “Yes, we will accept this work or yes, we’ll do it this way.” so I went ahead and did it that way.

Who did your cover and marketing?

I did my own cover and marketing.  I did my own marketing; in that I’ve let people know that I had published a book but I was also on Amazon’s website, so they do some marketing of it. 

How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?

One, it only took one revision because I tend to be very detail oriented, so when I was composing… actually when I was transcribing the poems I was going through and making sure that they were grammatically correct, that they you know… that the sound was there but also when a reader read them even those that are not grammatically correct the intention was very much understood.

What is the ratio of time you spent researching to time you spent writing?

Again, no researching done. Time writing was just in the moment. It was literally if I felt something; I knew I needed to get it out, so I recorded, and I did that. I kept my phone handy of course and then I just transcribed the poems when I was preparing to publish.

How did you make time to write?

I didn’t make time to write I wrote when the time cam; whenever the feeling struck, I took the time to get it out. If it was the middle of the night, I was picking up my phone and recording. If I was driving in traffic I was just recording.

How does your published book enhance your other ventures?

My published book doesn’t really enhance my other ventures because it does not fit at all with them. This is so far from all of the other things that I do. Even as an artist my work does not generally fall in such an emotional realm as my professional work. If it does however, I tend to keep them very separate so it no one thinks “Wow! This is another side to Miss Hayes.”  This is completely off the grid. I use a totally different name than I do in my professional life, I endeavor to keep it very separate.

Who are the people that would benefit the most from reading your book, and how did you determine that?

The people that would benefit the most from reading my book, I believe young women, older, men, boys; anyone who has experienced love or heartache. That is a universal language, it is something that we all understand. Giving ourselves to a person and not necessarily having that reflected back to us. I feel any person with a heart, a loving heart is a good audience for this book.

How did you decide what order to present your topics in?

I made the decision to present the poems in the order that they were dictated.  That was the natural ebb and flow of life and that’s essentially what the book is. It is the life cycle of a love, and you can’t skip ahead.  You just go with it until what you feel doesn’t hurt anymore; so, I just rode the wave and presented the poems in the fashion that the wave was ridden.

How would you describe your process for writing poetry as opposed to writing prose?

Yeah, my process for writing poetry is very different from writing prose. Poetry is very much what I feel; it’s just what I feel I don’t try to manipulate it or switch it around. I really try to give the raw feeling of the moment. When I’m writing prose I am very structured I am sticking to the outlines maybe making deviations or character development deems necessary but I am definitely following some sort of structure that allows for a sequential flow of events there is quite a bit of manipulation in prose right because you can change things around and you can make characters feel a different way but my poetry is very lived life experience so there is no changing that around.

What would you like your readers to gain from reading your book?

I would like for readers of ;hope;love all the feels to gain the hope and wisdom that life does go on, love does go on. Even though one love may not have been what you had hoped it would be there are other loves that will fill those needs, those wants, those desires; because essentially the greatest love that we have… should have hopefully, is the love of ourselves so learning that because this one person didn’t love us that is not the end of our world because we are able to love ourselves. That is expressed in a few poems especially; the ones that I wrote for my daughters because see it’s not just about Eros love it’s about philos and agape love.

What are you writing now?

I just recently finished a piece for an anthology project that a friend of mine is working on. It’s called A Poet Found Dead.  I’m very excited for its release; that was also very cathartic for me.  I had a great time working on it.  My next personal project is going to be a complete book for my daughters. There were a few poems for them in ;hope;love all the feels; however the next book will be all about them.  I remember when I was a little girl and my dad would give me these calendars of poems and it was a woman; she was writing letters… poems to her daughter. In these calendars and books (and I actually picked up a book of hers some years ago because I really love her work).  I want to affirm them or to continue to affirm them in such a manner that they are loath to forget that they have been loved since the beginning of time. I think it’s very important that we impress upon our daughters the significance of self-love and self-value and self-worth and how priceless those things are; and having confidence without being cocky, so being humble but also steadfast and convicted 

What is your advice to other writers?

My advice to other writers would be; (and this is advice that I gave to just about anybody that I talk to when they say” what advice do you have for me?”) and I definitely want to give Mufasa his credit; but “remember who you are”, these are your words, these are your stories, don’t let others twist them, manipulate them, turn them. Let your words have the power you intended them to have.  Let them touch, let them caress, let them mingle, because sometimes our words wrestle with people. Stay strong in your conviction of your work, in your ability.   Now, that is not to say don’t accept help, don’t accept edits right.   Be open to editorial feedback, don’t be stubborn, but remember who you are and what your story is and the point you’re trying to get at, and you’ll be fine.

Be Sure to Download Shanta’s Book “;Hope;Love, All the Feels” on Amazon Today!

Interview with Bunny DeBarge

Quan

Anyone who has enjoyed R&B Music in the 1980s knows of the legendary DeBarge family. One of the people responsible for their string of hit songs during that time is Bunny DeBarge, who also happens to be one of my graphic design clients. Here she speaks on her process for writing her series of autobiographies.

What inspired your book?

Healing! I started writing my book because I had cover up so much and swept so many things under the rug. It was time I revisit and have last cries and I took who I know of God with me. I was tired and I wanted to be healed. It wasn’t something I started to put out to the world. While writing I was inspired to as well given the grace to share my book with the world!

Did you start with an outline or did you make it up as you went along?

 I never wrote a book before. Did not know to make a outline. I started at the beginning so I guess you can call that as I went along!

What researching methods did you use?

None! It was my life. My research was from within!

Did you draw on personal experience?

Yes it was all of what I’ve been through.

How did your publish?

I self published!

Why did you do it that way?

I found it was best for me to keep up on where my revenue was going. Straight to me.

How long did it take to land representation?

Did not seek any. Went totally on the fact of who I already was from the famous group in the 80’s DeBarge!

Who did your cover and marketing?

Hired someone in my fan base to do the cover.


How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?

 About three or four. Many caring people helped me to edited the first book and I am still going to do another edit! I go two reversions of the second book! Then I was writing better. I learned a lot from writing the first book!

What is the ratio of time you spent researching to time you spent writing?

It took years To finish.

How did you make time to write?

It was healing for me so it was something I started doing every day. Then once I stop to get a rest I found it hard to get back to it. So I found that I had to totally get away. Go somewhere where I was totally alone to keep going. I took several trips like this to keep focus.

How does your published book enhance your other ventures?

It allows me to have interviews to speak on my testimony!

What methods did you use to research for your book?

My research was within me.


Who are the people that would benefit the most from reading your book, and how did you determine that?

Hurting people who might have been through some of the same things and the DeBarge fans who were interestz in our lives!

How did you decide what order to present your topics in?

I just went from as far back as I could remember in my life and kept writing.

How did you ensure that your advice, memories, and recollections were accurate?

It was what I lived!

What would you like your readers to gain from reading your book?

Strength encouragement, deliverance, insight about how and why my life went where it went.

What are you writing now?

I just finished book 2 the fame years. Currently not writing anything but my post on f/b.

What is your advice to other writers?

Go for it! If that’s your gift. Sky is the limit!

Be sure to get your copy of her “The Kept Ones” book series on Amazon today!

Quan’s Unfinished Stories

Quan

I’m going to take a minute to pull the curtain back on my process. I get a lot of story ideas, most of which I will never get around to writing. Some of the stories I’ve started will never get finished, and some finished stories will never see print. It’s part of the process of being a creative individual.

I’ve touched on this in a previous post. But I’m going to delve a little deeper and tell you about a few stories I have in the vault, along with how likely they are to ever being finished and published.

-Killing Dr. Lucky

This was what I thought up as a “reverse chamber mystery” where the issue isn’t solving whodunnit, but was instead figuring out “who gets to do it.” It was based on a little known boardgame by a company called Cheapass games. Their game was a reverse version of Clue, where instead of solving a murder, you and your opponents were trying to find and kill a guy without being caught in the act by everyone else. I had gotten a rough plot outline and wrote the first chapter. Problem is, the characters I created for the story weren’t interesting enough for me to develop, and as hard as I tried I couldn’t generate enough interest in the characters to delve any further. This one is probably dead in the water.

-Godmode Redemption

This is the planned sequel to my successful Sci-fi horror novel Godmode. It’s actually supposed to be the second part of a trilogy. There are a lot of worldbuilding, plot and character development issues that are slowing this one down. I want to introduce a new protagonist (Elijah’s daughter Elisha) that I’m having a hard time developing, there are some believability and trope issues with the plot I have set up, and I really didn’t think far enough ahead about the type of world the story happens in when I wrote the first book, so I have to explain a lot of stuff I didn’t think I’d have to explain. Plus there is the issue of developing the returning characters, and figuring out what roles they have in the new installment. And the issue of staying true to what made Godmode work (the horror elements, the action scenes, and – most importantly because they were the most popular element of the story – the flashbacks). This story has a lot of moving parts, and I’ve had a hard time figuring out how to make it work. I haven’t given up on it, though. 

-Losers

This is a combination sci-fi and sports novella that started off as a short story I wrote for one of my creative writing classes back in college. I realized I could add more character development and worldbuilding to it to possibly expand it into a novel. I didn’t quite make it – the story is about 45,000 words long. But I am happy with how it turned out. Now the issue is taking the next steps with it. I need beta readers to look it over and pick it apart, and I haven’t found anyone willing or able to take the time to do that. There are some serious questions I have with the way I told the story that I need an extra set of eyes for. Then after that there is the issue of finding a publisher that a) publishes novellas, b) publishes sports fiction and c) would take a chance on an unorthodox storytelling style. That has been easier said than done. I’ll figure something out soon, though.

-Bad Meets Evil

My issues with this completed crime/farce/satire novel have been well documented in previous posts. This one will never see the light of day.

-The Rise and Fall of the Krush Krew

This was the first manuscript I ever wrote. It was a historical fiction drama (if you consider the 1990’s as historical. Considering that it is now over 20 years ago I think it counts) about a fictional rap group’s rise to stardom and fall from grace, based on the idea of a supergroup featuring Nas, Method Man, Snoop Dogg and 2Pac (with Nia Long as their manager). This book actually got the attention of a major literary agent when I first wrote it. Problem was, I had submitted my first draft to them when they asked for the manuscript, and the writing was quite raw and unrefined. They rejected it because of that, and to this day I’m still kicking myself for the missed opportunity. I’ve tried to refine the story, but other issues with the characters, plot and setting appeared when I was doing that, and I lost interest in the massive amount of work I would have had to do to get things right. This one will probably stay in the vault.

–Needle of the Southside

This is the urban fantasy thriller I’ve been alluding to for so many posts. It is finished, it has been beta read, and I am quite proud of it. I am currently seeking an agent or publisher for it. I think the book has franchise material if the right publisher promotes it properly. More on that in the next entry.

-Jewels of the Eastside

This is my first follow-up book to Needle of the Southside. I saw the potential in Needle to tell multiple stories set in that world a la Terry Pratchett’s Discworld, and this was my first stab at a spinoff. I’ve got at least one great character I’m building the story around. But my content editor shot a bunch of holes in my first two chapters, so I’ve stopped working on the story to do a deep dive into developing the characters and world. I started even putting together a sourcebook for the world to reference for Jewels and future stories (hence my posts on worldbuilding and creating sourcebooks). Progress on this story has slowed to less than a crawl. But I haven’t given up on it yet.

–Return of the Tyrant

This is the other finished manuscript I’ve been telling you about. It started off many, many years ago as a JRPG video game treatment. I decided to make it first a comic book (once I realized how much it would take in time and effort to actually make the video game), but eventually it became a novel. I am very pleased with how it came out. So far I’ve only had one Beta Reader skim through it, so I’ll need some more eyes on it to make sure everything is consistent, but overall I think it’s ready to be submitted to agents or publishers. This is the first part of a planned trilogy.

–The Queen’s Betrayal

I’ve started writing book two of the saga started with Return of the Tyrant. I’m only halfway through chapter 2 as of this post, but I am really enjoying how the story is developing. I’ve got a ton of adventures in store for my protagonists, and a lot of new developments and revelations that will shake both them and their world to its core. I’m having a blast writing these guys. Other priorities have slowed down the process quite a bit, but I’m eager to dive back in when I can free up more time. By the way, the third and final pat of this series will be called “Extinction.”

–Kingdom in the Closet trilogy

this was to be a three-book prequel to Return of the Tyrant. I wanted to write a Narnia-type story about a normal family being sent to a high fantasy world and having to find their way home, except starring an African-American family. But while talking about my first few chapters of the first installment with my content editor, I got into a heated argument with her about it when she accused me of stealing ideas for book one from a book she was working on that I had critiqued for her earlier on. I still don’t agree, but for the sake of keeping the peace and not sacrificing my 30+ year friendship with the lady, I just shelved the whole thing. I’d like to revisit this story someday after Return of the Tyrant and its sequels see print.

-The Seizure 2

The Seizure was a b/w webcomic I produced many years ago, which has since been made into a graphic novel. I wanted to do a more robust follow-up story, so I started The Seizure 2 with a deeper storyline, more characters and color art. I managed to get the first five chapters done, along with a spinoff webcomic and some art for a tie-in deckbuilding game. I actually managed to write the full scripts for the final 5 chapters. But I fell out of love with the process of drawing, inking, coloring and lettering comics, and I was not happy with how the art for the previous chapters came out to begin with. Then, after Chapter 5 was posted, two things happened: Godmode got published, and I shifted all of my attention into promoting that book, and I did something very foolish which led to me getting to the ad account I depended on to make money off of the webcomic permanently disabled. So those things killed my motivation to finish the story at the time. I do want to finish the book someday, but there are a lot of obstacles to getting it done, reposted, and published as a graphic novel: i.e. the cost of printing a color graphic novel, setting up a brand new webcomic, deciding how to handle reposting the older material, etc. So this one is still in the pipeline, but it is not a high priority.

-Storm Pigeon

this was a three-part comic book I had an idea for back in college about a pigeon with a gun. I actually mananged to finish the first issue, do complete plots and thumbnails for the second issue, and write the script for the final issue. I really don’t know why I never got around to finishing the book. I think it had something to do with not being able to get the 11×17 bristol boards I needed to keep drawing. Or maybe I just got tired of drawing pigeons and guns. I don’t remember. Regardless, the unfinished second and third issues have been in a storage bin in my garage for the past 10 years. I’m scared to open that bin because I’m afraid everything in it will disintegrate as soon as it is exposed to air…or even worse, critters may have somehow gotten into the bin and destroyed all of the contents. it’s like Shroedinger’s cat. I don’t know either way if I will ever finish this one.

-Unbeatable Heroes

This is a short-lived webcomic strip I created a bunch of years back. I recently reposted literally everything I have created in relation to this strip on an official Facebook page for it. I had a number of  new strips written and planned, but I never got around to drawing them. If the strips had generated enough interest, I would have kept it going…but they didn’t. I think this one is done.

So those are the most prominent ideas I’ve started on. Some are finished books that I’m still seeking publishers & agents for. Some are finished books that I’ve just accepted they aren’t good enough to ever see print and I don’t feel like rewriting. Some are ideas that encountered fatal story flaws as I was writing that I don’t feel like working that hard to fix. Some are stories I intend to finish, but have reached a critical issue in development that I haven’t quite figured out how to fix…yet. And others I actually do intend to go back and finish…but they’re at the bottom of my priority list under a bunch of new stories I want to tell.

So if you ever get frustrated at yourself for not finishing stories you started, don’t be. It happens to all of us.

Interview with Lisa A. McDonald

Quan

Lisa, a cancer survivor and public speaker, was one of my freelance graphic design clients. I always offer my clients that are authors a chance to speak on their writing process and experience on my blog. This is hers.

What inspired your book?

The fact that I am a 17 year breast cancer survivor and I want to help people understand that cancer isn’t a death sentence. I want to encourage people with my 8 steps that they cannot only survive cancer and any other challenges/obstacles that they are faced with but they can thrive and live a great and prosperous life.

Did you start with an outline or did you make it up as you went along?

I just started writing from my head and my heart. I remember it all like it was yesterday. I did attempt to create an outline when I struggled how to align my chapters. That didn’t work for me. So I kept moving forward knowing what I wanted to say and I named my chapters accordingly. This made it easier to stay with the flow and write of each chapter.

What researching methods did you use?

I didn’t use any formal methods. I looked at many self help books that help me create my own lane to follow so that my truth would come out through my writing. I also researched bible verses and breast cancer statistics.

Did you draw on personal experience?

I totally drew on my personal experiences throughout the entire book. I felt like no one could tell my story like me. My goal was to be transparent so that someone who may have a similar experience could draw from my positive outlook on my situation.

How did your publish?

I used a black-owned publishing company. They edited, formatted and published my book. (Rubio Publishing Consultants)

Why did you do it that way?

My sister, also an author, used and recommended this company. Her book, cover etc. are amazing and I wanted the same-if not better results. I also liked that they are a black, christian publishing company.

How long did it take to land representation?

It took about a month before we were really able to connect and get the ball rolling. Contracts etc. had to be in place.

Who did your cover and marketing?

Cover by graphic designer named Veronica, Logo by my nephew (junior in college) Malik and I do some of my marketing, J.D. Williams definitely helped me with marketing by creating my awesome website and Client Impact also helps me with marketing.

How many revisions did it take to get a publishable book?

There were multiple revisions before the book was placed into the cover. After being placed into the cover, it took 2 revisions.

What is the ratio of time you spent researching to time you spent writing?

I started writing first, then I started to research to get some guidance. Afterwards my writing was smoother. I spent a lot of time doing both but I wrote most of the time.

How did you make time to write?

It wasn’t easy but I etched out 3 hours a day without the phone, television, kids or any other interruptions because early on I let any and everything detour me from writing. I started writing in December, 2017. I stopped writing for all of 2018 and began writing again in January 2019 (my new year’s resolution) but things happened and I didn’t begin writing again until late June, 2019. That’s when I realized I had to etch out time to get it done so that’s when I implemented my 3 hours a day until done rule. I finished in late August, 2019!

How does your published book enhance your other ventures?

It’s pushing me to do more and to know that I can do anything through Christ that strengthens me! I focus on being positive and helping others discover their truth and their purpose. I am now creating facebook live segments based on my 8 steps to healing, just partnered with the American Cancer Society and I can’t wait to do my book signings and speaking engagements after Covid-19 is over!

How did you decide what order to present your topics in?

I didn’t determine the order. My experiences and my truth determined the order. Meaning that I just told my story exactly how it happened and my topics mirror that and the steps I used to overcome my challenging times.

How did you ensure that your advice, memories, and recollections were accurate?

It’s so surreal because I remember each incident like it was yesterday. If I felt that I was a little foggy and it involved someone else then I asked them what did they remember and we often agreed.

What would you like your readers to gain from reading your book?

We all have a story. We all go through various challenges but it’s how we deal with them that will determine if and how you will come out on the other side. We all have a purpose and it’s important to find out what that is so that you can work to fulfill the purpose God has for your life.

What are some of the methods you have used to generate interest in your book?

Facebook and Instagram posts, website, Amazon. Refer to #12.

Did you use beta readers? How did you secure them?

I did, I’m an educator so I reached out to my siblings and friends who are also educators and they acted in those roles. I felt confident with this method because I knew they would keep it real with me.

What aspect of the book writing process did you find the most challenging?

The most challenging to me was just sitting down to write and having the emotions all over again from recounting everything.

What are you writing now?

I started writing my book about relationships. I also want to do another book based on survivors and their families. I also have an educational book in my brain that will talk about how it’s not about the educators, it’s about the students (It Ain’t About You)

What is your advice to other writers?

Don’t worry about the format or the alignment of your book just start writing! Get your book out of your head on onto paper! There is a whole other process that will give you structure to move your book forward. Yes, outlines are nice and some people use them with success but my method works for me. Stay positive, stay purposeful and stay focused!

be sure to download her book “The Survivor In Me” at her website www.lisaamcdonald.com.

Your Story as an RPG Campaign

Quan

One of my all time favorite comic books is Gold Digger by Fred Perry, published by Antarctic Press. It’s a fun, engaging story with amazing anime-styled art, constantly growing and evolving characters that pays heavy homage to 1980’s cartoons. In reading one of many insights from the creator, he mentioned that he plots his characters and stories as if his comic book were a tabletop Role Playing Game. That struck a chord with me. In fact, I think this can be a great mechanism for any writer looking to craft stories around their characters and worlds, especially if you’ve done a lot of character development and worldbuilding but can’t think of a story to tell about them.

How to play a tabletop RPG

If you’ve never played a Role Playing Game before, the set up is actually pretty simple. One person called the DungeonMaster creates a fictional world and scenarios within that world that the players, who are pretending to be characters with different backstories, personalities and abilities, respond to. And then the DungeonMaster progresses the scenario based on the players’ responses, and so on until either the players are killed or they accomplish their goal. It’s basically like an interactive campfire story, or even an improv script reading for actors in a movie. There are other details involved like determining levels and handling probabilities for success or failure of the player’s decisions, but at its core, interactive storytelling is what Role Playing Games are really about. And it doesn’t have to happen in just a high fantasy setting like the most popular RPG, Dungeons & Dragons. I’ve seen Role Playing games for Superspies, Superheroes, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Lovecraftian Horror, and Feudal Japan. You can apply this model to any situation where people can assume roles. Heck, you could even argue that Monopoly is a form of Role-Playing Game, where you play the role of a real estate mogul.

You are the dungeon master

This applies to your storytelling in that You are in full control of the environment and everything that happens within it. The Dungeon Master is responsible for knowing the setting and parameters of the campaign. That includes everything from the place the adventure will be happening in and all the details of it, as well as the noteworthy elements of that place like its history and role within the rest of the world. The DM also needs to know about the denizens that inhabit that place, both major and minor. The DM needs to know how the world of this story works, and what the players can and can’t do within that world. This is you. It is your responsibility to set up the parameters for your characters and give them a world to operate in, goals to accomplish, obstacles to overcome and other people/animals/things to interact with. 

Also, as the DM, you are responsible to reacting to the decisions the players make within your campaign. Every action has a consequence, and you need to be thinking of how the environment reacts to your players’ actions. An RPG campaign is a constant dialogue between DM and players, with each reacting to each other to progress the story.

You are the players

Likewise, you also assume the role of the players. Each player in an RPG party creates his or her own character which may or may not be a reflection of the actual player. They act and react to the scenarios the Dungeon Master presents, and they gain experience in various areas in response to their decisions. When you write your characters, you are getting in their heads and making their decisions, reacting to the scenarios and challenges you placed for them as the Dungeon Master. So as a writer, you need to really thunk of how that character approaches that scenario. For my high fantasy story, I actually used the color pie from the popular game Magic: The Gathering to lay the foundation for my character’s personalities. And it is what I refer to when I need to figure out how they would act and react in general.

Actions and reactions

As I said earlier, the Role Playing Game campaign is a constant dialogue between Dungeon Master and Players, as well as a constant interaction between the players themselves. This is a dialogue you need to be cognizant of as you develop your story. Nothing in your story happens in a vacuum. The decisions your characters make in relation to the story have an effect on the environment, so that change must be reflected.  And as the situation changes and evolves in response to your characters, your characters have to respond to those changes. That interplay has to happen in a natural, organic way that progresses the story naturally. So on one hand you need to be intuned with your character’s personalities to know how they will react to various situations. But you also have to have an in-depth knowledge and familiarity with the environment your characters interact with.

Getting to know your characters

Even as the DungeonMaster has sourcebooks and reference materials to help them get a better understanding of the world an everything in it, the players have materials they can reference, also. They keep stat sheets listing their name, background, occupation, class, inventory, spells learned, weapons in hand, as well as the levels of experience they have in all necessary areas. This is valuable for a player knowing what they can and can’t do in response to the given situation. You might want to go this deep in developing your characters. It is a great way of knowing what your characters have available and what their true options are in any given situation. Keeping track of levels may help, too, because that shows just how well-versed and experienced your characters are in things they are trying to do, which greatly affects how successful they can be at it.

Variance and unpredictability

One thing RPGs feature that might be unfamiliar to you is the element of chance. Not every decision the players make is guaranteed to go as intended. The success or failure of many decisions is determined by a roll of dice or a coin flip, this creates a level of tension and unpredictability, and gives another variable the player and the DungeonMaster must react to. If you are ever in a situation where you don’t know what should happen next, perhaps you can adopt this method and let chance decide. Have your character decide to do something, and then roll the dice to see whether that decision gets the intended effect. And if the roll comes up not in favor of the decision, then you need to ask yourself what a failed decision looks like and how best to portray it.

If you are in need for some inspiration or something to jumpstart your storytelling, perhaps treating your story like a Role-Playing game might be that catalyst for you. It helps organize your ideas and plans into a cohesive narrative, and can help you truly visualize the story you want to tell, as well as all of the elements within. And who knows? It might even interest you in giving an actual Rope Playing Game like Dungeons & Dragons a try. Just don’t forget to bring your 6-sided dice.

Writing Jerks

Quan

I admit it: many of my protagonists start their respective stories as not-very-likable people. Melvin is a deadbeat dad in Double Entry, Elijah is a corporate ladder-climbing @$$hole who mistreats his wife in Godmode, and Jay is an immature college kid that knows very little about how to act around women in The Hand You’re Dealt. And that’s before you throw in my so-called heroes for my recently finished high fantasy story, who all have feet of clay in some way, shape or form, and my protag from my urban fantasy story who is about as blatant a jerk as I’ve ever written. So this begs the question of why I choose to go this route so often when I’m writing my stories. 

Personally, I think Jerks are just more fun to write. They have less filters, and are free to do the things that normal people wouldn’t do. That gives you a lot of leeway as a writer. A jerk can say whatever he or she wants because they don’t care who they offend. You can unleash all of the meanest, snarkiest, most sarcastic quips in their voice. They can exhibit the most selfish, disrespectful behavior, the stuff you know deep down you would love to do if you could get away with it. You can let your imagination run wild, thinking up new and creative ways for your character to be an @$$hole. It can actually be a bit cathartic.

But I learned the hard way that you can’t just make a character act like a jerk just for its own sake. Especially a protagonist. Writing Bad Meets Evil taught me that the reader will find the character’s behavior reprehensible, but without any true connection to the reader, the bad behavior will ring hollow, and quickly lose the reader’s interest. There must be a reason and a methodology to your protagonist being that way, otherwise the reader won’t buy into it.

I once wrote a comic book story about a supervillain called Badside for an Art class. I was trying to push the envelope of what I could do in the class, and the story was pretty vulgar and offensive. And by “pretty” I mean “I’m sure my teacher and most of my classmates lost quite a bit of respect for me when they saw that.” It’s not something I’m proud of or even claim in my body of work. It was from the perspective of the villain, and I portrayed him as a truly despicable character with perverted obsessions like pornography and torture and stuff like that. I’m honestly embarrassed that I submitted it for my peers to critique. I tried to justify it at the time as an exploration into the nature of evil. One of my classmates gave a real astute critique of that, saying he needed some more depth and even a counterbalance to the evil of this character. Other wise the story is (and I quote) “look at all this Evil, now don’t you feel dirty.” And if that’s all the story has to offer, then the story is a failure. It was a real lesson in storytelling…that I totally ignored when I wrote Bad Meets Evil (which is why it is no surprise that book is unpublishable).

So with that in mind, what are some elements of making an unlikable protagonist interesting enough for readers to want to follow them?

Possibility of redemption

The best stories are about the progression of the protagonist’s character (or the lack of which). And a storytelling staple is of having a jerk protagonist grow and change into a better person over the course of the story. They encounter things in the story that make them reconsider their behavior and attitudes, and by the end of the story their behavior is much more positive and reflective of the trials they endured. It’s tried-and-true trope, and readers often look for it when reading stories about an unlikable protagonist. What would it take to make this person want to change and be a better person? So to pull this off, you need to plant at least a seed which shows that the protag is capable of change. Maybe have a glimmer of positive behavior in the midst of all the jerkishness.

Possibility of comeuppance

Sometimes the appeal of a Jerk is waiting to see if they get What’s Coming To Them. A straight-to-D VD movie I saw called “Bad Lieutenant” starring Nic Cage played into that. A lot of the BS he started was starting to collapse around him and he was scrambling to find a way out without giving up his lascivious behavior. What kept me interested was seeing how his comeuppance would play out. Spoiler alert: it didn’t. He got away with everything, and I was rather pissed off to see that. But the narrative gripped me to watch until the end to find out. Once again, the key to pulling this off is planting seeds and elements in the story to make this plausible. Your jerk needs a counterbalance and an antagonist of some kind keeping them in check or working to ensure they pay for their misdeeds. Your Jean Valjean needs a Javert.

Interesting personality quirks

An unlikeable character can often grip a reader on the sheer strength of their unique personality. This means they have some redeeming qualities. Perhaps they are charismatic, or are profoundly intelligent, or have some other notable talent or quirk that makes you want to know more about them despite their selfish tendencies. The Talented Mr. Ripley fits into this category. He is the bad guy in his own story, but his character is very charismatic and draws people to him, so you are compelled to follow him around. Your character development is key in taking this approach. Introducing details and quirks, and truly fleshing your protag out to make them unique and complex can help make them compelling on their own and have readers rolling with their jerkish behavior.

Interesting supporting characters

You can also define your jerk by how the people around them generally react to them. Do they put up with the jerkish behavior, or do they hold them accountable? Do they even encourage and welcome the jerkish behavior, or find it somehow endearing? How do they respond to the jerk and how does that dictate what the jerk does in response to that? Focusing on how the Jerk affects everyone around him helps humanize your supporting characters and flesh out your world, so this may be a great approach to incorporate into your story.

Key interactions

There will be moments in your story where your character will face a crossroads of how they respond to situations. They can either continue their jerkish ways, or they can start doing something better. Or those moments will tease them finally getting what’s coming to them and the question is whether they can get out of that in that moment. You really want to highlight these moments and add extra drama to them, because they are crucial to keeping the reader engaged and interested in seeing which way your protag develops. I admit Bad Meets Evil didn’t have nearly enough of these moments. My despicable characters were never given an opportunity to change their behavior, and I put off their comeuppance until the end of the book, which by then was way too late.

Backstories and  motivations might help

An interesting backstory explaining why your protagonist acts like an @$$hole won’t save a bad story or a poorly developed character. But it can enhance a good one, and give the reader some context behind why your protagonist acts the way they act. Elijah was bullied as a child by both his peers and his parents, and responded by becoming retaliatory. He spent time in juvenile hall where he learned how to be vindictive, and that behavior was encouraged when he entered the workforce. I’ve been told that the progression of Elijah’s character in his backstory was actually the strongest element of Godmode. If you can create a compelling scenario explaining why your protag is such a jerk, then along with your other elements, that can make your character more compelling. Especially if you’re teasing the possibility of redemption.

So not only is it possible to write a story starring an unlikable character, there are many ways to do it effectively. My advice is to read up on a few stories with jerks as protagonists like Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, L. Ron Hubbard’s Mission Earth Series, J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace and Alain Mabanckou’s African Psycho. Hopefully these tips can help you get in touch with your inner @$$hole, and bring your jerk to life.

Writing Ensemble Casts in your Stories

Quan

As of this post, I am currently writing a high fantasy trilogy featuring a group of heroes questing together to save their world against a vicious death cult. This presents a unique challenge in that you really have multiple potential protagonists and you want to portray them all with equal depth and development. So when presented with that conundrum, the question becomes whose eyes do you tell the story through?

How about all of them?

I chose to approach this issue by switching my POV character with every new scene. Each of my characters has a unique voice and way of seeing both the world and their comrades. So I tap into that by following the most important character in a particular scene through the scene and writing from their perspctive. And I decide that on a scene-by-scene basis, so each scene is told from a different character’s perspectve. This is a technique you might want to consider when writing stories about multiple characters.

Do’s and dont’s of switching POV

The biggest rule about writing from multiple points of view is not to disorient the reader. You want to be consistent with who’s head you’re in at any given time. I separate things by scene, where each complete scene in a story is told from the perspective of one character. I try to make it clear early in the scene who the POV character is, and after the scene ends, I put an extra space between scenes to make it clear that there is going to be a change. But there are other approaches. Some writers switch characters within a scene, but they still make a point to separate the segments of the different characters. Just make sure that it is clear who the reader is following around, and when you switch to somebody else.

How to determine which POV to use at a certain scene.

For my story, I look at the scene I want to write and ask myself which character would have the most to say or do in it. Whose perspective would make the most sense and would reveal the most about what is going on at all levels within that scene? I also factor in previous scenes, and whose perspectives I had used previously. These are factors you want to keep in mind for your story. Which of your characters would resonate the most with what is going on at that particular moment in the story?

Managing Interactions

Another thing you need to be cognizant of is how your ensemble interacts with each other. How each character is viewed and presented should change as perspectives and points of view change. Different people view different people differently. To Lois Lane, Superman is her husband, her lover, the father of her child, and a respected peer in the journalism world. That is totally different from how Batman sees Superman, which is also totally different from how Lex Luthor sees Superman. But each person’s view of him reveals more about Superman than if seen through the eyes of just one person. You can do some interestng things with that.

You also want to make sure that your point of view stays consistent as these different characters interact with each other. You don’t want to have Billy be the POV character talking to Jack, but then switch to Jack’s POV mid-conversation. That can confuse and disorient the reader, which is something you don’t want to happen.

Using Stage & Screen as a template.

I like to model my character interactions after interactions on television, plays and movies. I understand most of those interactions aren’t the most realistic, but I enjoy the heightened drama of those interactions, how every character has something witty or profound to say, and how there is very little wasted dialogue and movement. Real life interactions are not nearly as clear cut, and can be very messy, uncoordinated and awkward. Oftentimes people don’t know what to say, or say the wrong thing, or stumble over their words, or make gestures that can be misconstrued. These are things that can be tapped into for good effect, but they can also get in the way of moving the story forward if not handled correctly. I like how in screenplays the most important dialogue and interactions are presented first. So when these characters interact, start with what is most important for advancing the narrative, and branch out from that.

Writing a story with multiple POV characters is not an impossible task, and can be done effectively. The key is to make sure that each character is given an equal amount of respect and care. Your reader should come ou of the story with a deep understanding of everyone in your ensemble. Keep that in mind and you should be able to effectively handle it.

Your Hero Doesn’t Have to be the Hero!

Quan

The vast majority of stories are told from the perspective of the altruistic (even if flawed) hero facing the odds to accomplish whatever goal he or she has n mind. They may stumble and fall, but it is clear that particular lead character is the one you as a reader should be rooting for to solve their problem and succeed. This is a tried and true method of storytelling, and it obviously works. Having a likable, relatable character makes it easier for readers to get invested in the story because they genuinely want to see if their protagonist can overcome the obstacles put in their way. Even tragic heroes that are doomed to fail have some redeeming qualities that readers can get behind.

But what if I told you there was another viable way to approach the story? What if you told the story with the villain as a protagonist? Or with a companion to the actual hero as the protagonist? These are storytelling approaches that have also been done, and done well. Ahab was the hero of Moby Dick, but the story was told through the eyes of his first mate Ishmael. The legendary exploits of Sherlock Holmes were told trough the eyes of his trusty sidekick Watson. And L. Ron Hubbard’s epic sci-fi saga Mission Earth was told almost entirely with the central villain of the story, Soltan Gris, as the point-of-view protagonist. It can be done.

Writing the story from a different perspective allows you to add new nuances to our story. Watching the story through only the hero’s eyes can be like watching with blinders, and you don’t really get to see what is going on beyond what the hero is paying attention to. But if you tell the story through someone else’s eyes, you can point out details about your hero, the situation and the world your characters populate that the hero will miss. A supporting character can see your hero’s more vulnerable moments, faults and foibles better than the hero, and may be in a position to comment on it. Telling the story through the antagonists eyes allows you to poke holes in the logic and idealism that drives you hero to try to complete their mission, and also might serve to humanize the villain and make him more relatable. Telling the story from the perspective of an everyman passer-by or a random person caught up in the crossfire of he story adds a different, more detached viewpoint, that can focus on the realtime consequences of the hero’s actions and how they affect everyone else that isn’t directly involved with the events transpiring. In a recent Magic: The Gathering story set on an ancient Egypt-themed world, a series of short stories were dedicated to chronicling the average people of that world caught up in the middle of an epic struggle between the heroes of the story (The Gatewatch, a collection of powerful mages dedicated to protecting the multiverse) and an army of undead warriors and evil gods led by the ancient elder dragon Nicol Bolas. By reading the events of the story through their eyes, you can get a very real and relatable sense of the stakes of this battle and how it really affects the world the battle is taking place on.

The first thing you want to do is take a look at the basic framework of or story and ask yourself who is involved in it. Obviously your typical protagonist will be there, but usually the protagonist isn’t alone in their journey. Who else is in the story, and how can they offer a different perspective on what is happening?

Or maybe the hero’s journey isn’t the most interesting aspect of the story. Have you taken a deep dive int your villain or antagonist, and followed their story? What if that was the more fascinating tale? The protagonist of The Talented Mr. Ripley series is charismatic, likable and relatable. He is also a liar, manipulator and cold-blooded murderer who will doublecross and destroy anybody in his way to get what he wants. And for many of his books, there is nobody else hat can match how despicable he is to make him come of as more sympathetic or heroic. He is no antihero. He is clearly the villain of his own story, but what he does and how he does is is an engaging read because readers are actively wondering if he is going to actually get away with everything he is doing, and who – if anyone – will be the one to finally stop him. That is a formula that can work for you, if handled properly. There is a reason why iconic villains like Darth Vader, The Joker, Lex Luthor and Dr. Doom often get to be the protagonists of comic books. Even the villain is a hero in his own mind.

I am currently working on a series of fantasy stories where the actual hero of the entire saga only makes brief cameo appearances, and the reader doesn’t realize that the protagonists I’ve been telling the story though aren’t the real heroes of the story until the very end. Unreliable narrators make for very engaging protagonists. You can really play with tat, and mess with reader expectations, by portraying a less-than-noble protagonist in a noble light. It can really add some depth to your story and keep the reader guessing.

So when you start writing your next story, take a look at all of the characters involved, and consider experimenting with who you tell the story through. You might get a more engaging story by telling it through someone else’s eyes and voice.