More on Writing The Final Battle

If you read my previous post about writing final battles, here are a few more thoughts about the process.

First things first. You’ve gotta give your final bad guys a weakness. There has to be a way to beat them, otherwise it defeats the purpose of your hero’s quest. I believe this is the whole reason for the whole silver/garlic shtick with our fanged and furry friends (if I ever decide to write my shelved Werewolf story idea “Hunter’s Moon”, I’m doing away with that weakness to silver. In my world, werewolves can be killed like any other living creature. but the catch is they are more cunning than average werewolves. these guys are still half human, after all. They can plan, set traps and use guns as well as hunt you down and rip your head off. I think that would be an interesting enemy to have to fight against). Otherwise these things are unstoppable monsters and there’s no point in fighting them. Your audience needs to see your heroine find a way, so you need to build one in. You can give some crazy backstory behind the weakness, but it has to be there.

Don’t think too big, even if your current story is one part of a larger narrative or storyarc. yes, this is part of a larger narrative, but this also has to work as a self-contained story. I’m going to again tell you what my publisher at Necro told me: there has to be a payoff. for Godmode, the problem was Elijah going through all this crap only to fail at saving anybody (Snitsky, Ith, his wife or his child). you have to reward the readers in some way for following your character through all of that hell. For a large story arc…Everything your protag has done so far culminates into this one moment, which is part of preparing her for the next moment in the next story, which is an even bigger moment. It’s part of the progression of the hero. And this isn’t literal. This is a matter of how you craft the story. By the time your heroine meets her last foe, you, the writer, will need to have given her the tools to give herself a fighting chance to win. If she doesn’t, then you failed her, and that part of the story’s not over until she at least has a chance to win.

Here’s an allegory: everything I have done in my career has prepared me for the job I have right now. Learning web design, Learning specific graphics programs like InDesign and Photoshop, Working in the publishing industry designing at newspapers, running my own magazine in college, writing for my college newspaper, including writing reviews and conducting interviews, learning to efficiently research stuff online, learning to get along with coworkers, understanding the editing process, even the clipart sites i used as a freelancer: all of that stuff has played a part in my success (so far) at my current dayjob. I once interviewed my now ex-brother in law for a featured article in the magazine, which draws upon another set of life experiences because him trusting me enough to ask him about his time in the Marines and his time as a police officer was not something that was built overnight. I’ve been preparing for that job my entire life.

That’s what I mean. everything your heroine has been through, the skills she picked up, the weapons she collected, the lessons she learned about handling certain situations and people, all of that was training and preparation for this. one. battle. I know there will be other final battles in the future, but if she can’t figure out how to win this one, there WON’T be any others. and that’s kinda the point.

If you haven’t watched the film Donnie Darko, I recommend you at least read some of the analyses of the movie. There are a bunch on Youtube. it’s a fascinating look at how this kid was led to be the savior of his world. long story short: he came across an unexplained artifact that created a tangent universe that was going to collapse on itself and destroy the real universe if he didn’t find out where that artifact came from and put it back. The people in this tangent universe are called “the manipulated dead” and they are all giving him clues and tools to save the world – even the ones antagonizing him, but he – and the audience – doesn’t know it. And since he was chosen, he also has some supernatural powers to help him complete the task. Nothing major, but just enough to get what needs to be done, done. and everything he does in the movie sets off sequences of events like dominoes falling, which leads right up to him doing what needs to be done, at the cost of his own life. Come to think of it, this is a similar phenomenon to how the video game Link’s Awakening progresses. Those are extreme examples, but that’s pretty much what every writer does with their protagonists, and what you’re doing with your heroine.

That’s why I asked what your protag has learned. There has to be some nuggets of knowledge she picked up in her story that will come in handy during this battle. same thing with her special abilities. She was granted those powers for a reason. This is the reason. Perhaps at some point of time, she learned of her enemies’ weakness, but it was unimportant factoid at the time. and of her blade fighting training, one of the techniques she learned is VERY effective on that particular weakspot. She learns from a previous battle to not to hold back, or to never turn her back on a defeated foe, or maybe she learns the secret to fighting off multiple foes by herself. I’m talking about very practical lessons she learned that she can use to win.

And if at all possible, avoid information dumps. they read too much like exposition. the intel she needs to win this battle should be learned throughout the story , not on the day before the final battle.

Hubris is a good weakness for your final boss to have. Some of Comicdom’s most powerful villains are usually stopped because they are too arrogant to think there are any flaws in their plans. For guys like Lex Luthor and Dr. Doom, their arrogance is literally their only real weakness. They often underestimate their foes, or do not thoroughly reinforce their plans, and end up leaving a loose thread, which, when pulled by the hero, makes the whole plan unravel.

Even if you’re writing a series of novels/movies and this will be one of many final battles, don’t fall into the trap of thinking too meta. you need to go micro with this moment. If your heroine doesn’t shine in this battle, there may not be any more final battles for her to engage in (story-wise or publication-wise). THIS battle – whichever one your heroine is in at the moment – is literally your heroine’s finest hour. Which means this foe needs to bring out the best of her. You have to make the opposition’s weapons formidable, but there has to be a way to overcome them built in that your heroine can exploit. The mithril armor and Sting don’t seem like much for Bilbo and Frodo, until they are in battle and that little glowing sword saves everyone’s lives. Think of your foe’s weapons and powers as opportunities for your heroine to show off HER abilities. it’s kind of like a dance, and you need to choreograph it.

Now look at the environment the battle is happening in. Your characters are not going to be fighting in an empty room, or even in a ring. There will be natural obstacles and weapons lying around which can help raise the stakes and the level of danger in the fight. A crumbling stronghold holds different obstacles than a sinking ship, which is different from a desolate battlefield or a dense jungle. The final battle in Kill Bill happened at a picnic table in a couple of lawn chairs in a suburban backyard. When you’re in a fight for your life, and you’re fighting for everything you hold dear, you’re going to utilize every advantage at your disposal. That’s why you need to give your final foe a built in weakness. And Your heroine needs to be the one to recognize it and be the first to exploit it.

Terry Pratchett example of this: Cohen the Barbarian is the world’s oldest Barbarian. before you laugh, remember that he has worked in a very deadly profession and lived to be a very old age. think about that, and THEN you can laugh. in any case, he’s in a Japanese-like world facing off against some samurai. The samurai want to show how skilled they are, so one pulls out a hankerchief, throws it in the air, and slices it into thirds while it is still in the air. Cohen is impressed, and now he wants to try it, so he pulls out a handkerchief and throws it in the air. while the samurai are all looking up at the handkerchief, he cuts all of their heads off. his quote? “You can show off, or you can fight. you can’t do both.”

Another way to enhance your final battle is with in-battle dialogue. this is the final battle. this is personal. there will be trash talked, and plenty of it. what are these guys saying to and about each other before the fight? during it? after it?

By the time you get to the final battle, there has to be more at stake than your protag’s survival. What exactly is she trying to do when all Hell breaks loose? what is she trying to do right at that moment within the framework of her overall quest in story. every good hero’s journey involves the quest. what is her quest for this leg of her journey? what is she trying to obtain or accomplish? And why is it so important for your final foe to stop her?

Regardless of what genre your story is in, a final battle is and should be heavy on the action. Doesn’t matter if it’s physical, verbal, or psychological: the pace of this confrontation has to be brisk and full of tension. There has to back a back and forth and ebb & flow to the momentum of the battle. it really is like a dance. or better yet, like a well choreographed pro wrestling match (I loves me some rasslin’). the best matches tell a story within themselves, have good, solid action of a hard fought battle, engage the crowd and get them cheering or booing and genuinely caring about the outcome, and make it hard to predict who is going to win or lose. Dances With Smurfs –er– Avatar actually nailed those aspects of the final battle.

Speaking of Avatar, why dontcha check that movie out again to see what I’m talking about?

Dear Warren Elliss…

Just for laughs, here is an open letter I wrote to Sci-fi & comic book writer Warren Ellis back in 2001 on the evolution of the comics industry. Let’s see if my opinion then holds up to what the industry is like today…

Hey, Warren (and anyone else reading this).

Just finished a couple of your essay books, namely COME IN ALONE and FROM THE DESK. Brilliant stuff, and I agree with nearly all of it. I love reading up on creator’s opinions on the industry and on the craft. As an aspiring writer and lover of comics myself, I always gain new insights from what you all have to say, whether I agree with it or not. Comics were the reason I started writing and drawing, and it led me to a Graphic Design degree and three finished novels I’m seeking publication for (Okay, one was already published, but by a vanity house. I got suckered into thinking they were legit, so that doesn’t count).

Like I said, I agree a lot with what you say about diversifying the comics market past the superhero, and I think the industry takes stabs at it periodically, with mixed results. I remember the brief time that fantasy comics like Tellos and Battle Chasers were all the rage, and that was followed by the boom of crime comics such as 100 Bullets, Powers and Losers. And then there were the 80’s licensed comics, which were big for a little bit (actually they DID bring back the Micronauts like a lot of these geex were begging for, but ironically, nobody bought it). And now Marvel’s trying on the sneak to bring back romance comics (at least, it seems that way to me).

I try when I can to support new comics ideas and independent publishers. If the premise on a book is intriguing enough, or if the buzz on a book is big enough, and I can afford it, then I’ll add a non-Marvel/DC/Image/DHP book to my usual pulls (currently Fred Perry’s GoldDigger, New Avengers, Joesph Linsner’s Dawn and The Green Lantern Corps). I want to be one of the geex telling the world “I told you so” when the next Ninja Turtles or The Crow or Road To Perdition becomes a worldwide phenomenon. I loved telling the movie geex drooling over Frank’s awesome SIN CITY flick that “the books were better.”

I am blessed to have also dealt with comics shops that heavily support books that are alternatives to the superhero, also (too bad the majority of them are out of business now). The one I currently get my books from is big into that. They display their independent stuff right next to their mainstream stuff, and the staff talks with the customers and encourages them often to try some of the non Marvel/DC stuff. Also, when people come in and request specific books they often order a few copies for others to try out, too. They were big supporters of Alias (that umbrella publisher of various indie studios) and a lot of people who frequent that store gave Alias a chance. Ditto with Antarctic, Crossgen (RIP), Devil’s Due and Dreamwave (also RIP). I do wish they’d carry more Oni, but I’m splitting hairs.

I think the industry has taken a shift towards some of the things you’ve been preaching about. Publishers are now expanding their book marketing way beyond the comic store crowd, and I’m seeing Marvel comics in supermarkets next to the magazines. The Graphic novels section in the bookstores is constantly growing, and there’s been a big push to get readers buying commix in new and unique ways. The cross pollination of commix into other media (Video Games and Movies, most notably) hasn’t hurt. Publishers are now also realizing the selling power a well-known or highly reputed creator has. I think that’s part of why Bendis and Millar write 75% of the Marvel Universe (with Claremont getting the other 25%), why Johns writes roughly 75% of the DCU, and why Jim Lee draws damn near every cover for DC. I think it’s only a matter of time before we get that Powerpuff Girls book written by Johns and illustrated by Lee, BTW.

In my hometown, surprisingly enough, the biggest and best place for quality comix has been the library, with its ever-increasing collection of graphic novels and TPBs. It’s the latest trend in libraries, apparently. They stockpile these things and hope it draws in more young readers (or in my town’s case, it gets the all the brats hanging out at the library after school waiting for the bus or surfing blackplanet.com on the library’s computers to actually pick up a book while they’re there). And only half of the books they get are of the Superhero, Marvel/DC variety. True, a bunch of it is manga, but I’ve also used the library to pick up lots of great Graphic Novels and trade paperbacks I wouldn’t been able to afford by myself – stuff like Little White Mouse, Blankets and Persepolis. I recommend stuff to them all of the time, and they go out and get it. One time, they even had all of their American Splendor Books on display next to the DVD of the movie!

That all being said, I still love the Marvel/DC superheroes and make no apologies for it. At their best they are iconic, excellently designed characters who use their unique abilities to solve unique problems, mostly in spectacular and creative ways. To me, superheroes speak to the ability in everyone to find a way, to overcome and to make things happen. It’s great to see these heroes put to the ultimate test in so many different ways, to see them pushed to their breaking point and beyond, to see how they make it through and whether or not they compromise their principles in the process. These guys are metaphors of aspects of the human condition, the everyday trials and tribulations we all go through except with the volume turned up 100-fold, the stakes incredibly higher and the clothes tighter and stretchier (unless you’re Brittney Spears or Lil Kim, in which case that last point is debatable). It’s great entertainment, when handled with intelligence, creativity and integrity. In my opinion, the principles in superhero stories are prevalent in all great stories. James Bond is a superhero. Hari Seldon from the Foundation series is a superhero. La Femme Nikita is a Superhero. Stone Cold Steve Austin is a superhero. The CSI guys are portrayed in a superheroic light, as has been George W. Bush at times. In fact, I even believe that King David and Jesus Christ are superheroes! No one can tell me that the feats of the great people in the Bible aren’t comparable to today’s superhero stories (I’m also unapologetically Christian).

I agree that it’s ridiculous how superheroes dominate the industry, but I still believe there is a place for good superhero stories. I’ll read a good Green Lantern comic (the Kyle Rayner one) just as quickly as I’ll read an issue of Scud the Disposable Assassin. I love the vast ensemble cast of GoldDigger as much as I love watching how the disparate personalities in New Avengers try to coexist. I enjoy the epic, widespread, unpredictable mayhem in Infinite Crisis as much as I enjoy the terse, understated, controlled action in Usagi Yojimbo. I respect Bone as much as I respect Astro City. I just wish I was filthy stinking rich, so I could buy every single book that I want to read and support. I also wish I was rich so I could pay these ridiculous gas prices, but that’s another rant altogether.

But don’t mind me. I’m just a ranting and raving comic book geek who’s only real wish is to see more well-written, quality black characters in comic books. (God bless Grant for putting two of us in 7 Soldiers. How much you want to bet he kills one of them off?) Hopefully someday you’ll be mentioning me in one of your essays in the same breath as your other writing buddies like Grant, Mark Waid and Garth Ennis.

Take care, and keep writing the cutting edge stuff.

To everyone else: Ellis has written a TON of awesome stories, both in comic book and prose form. This one is by far my favorite.

I Wrote an Unprintable Novel! Now What?

Every now and then I go through my old archives to see if there are any unfinished ideas that I could mine for inspiration and/or new material. This process was how I got around to doing new material for THE SEIZURE webcomic and for its spinoff webcomic, WEEKEND HEROES. Recently I dug up an old novel manuscript I had written way back in 2002 which never saw print…and probably never will.

Why will it never see print, you may ask? Well, for one, the writing is EXTREMELY raw, and I have no motivation to polish it up. Also, I’m entrenched in my current projects like trying to find representation for these two manuscripts I just finished and writing their follow-ups.

But the main reason why I won’t pursue finding an agent or publisher for the novel is that I’m not too sure I want this book to represent me as a writer. You see, I was in a very dark place in my life when I wrote the story. I had just lost my job to corporate outsourcing, I nearly lost two relatives and a close friend to the attacks on 9/11, the music group and entertainment corporation I had been a part of for the past 2 years was on the verge of dissolving, and I had just been screwed over by an auto mechanic on car repairs. I was NOT a happy guy. At that time I had an idea for a story bouncing around my head because I saw Christopher Walken’s character portrayal in “Last Man Standing” and loved how he portrayed a remorseless thug. I wanted to write a story about that. I had visions of this badass old thug walking down the street with some Deliberately-paced death metal playing behind him. He’d swoop into a city, do some dirt and leave. Kind of like Jack Reacher, except this dude has no morals whatsoever (but he does like dogs). I was also into John Malkovich’s criminal mastermind characters, and I came up with the idea of what if these two guys were pitted against each other? And that was the genesis of my unpublished crime novel BAD MEETS EVIL. While prewriting I heard of some writers debating on whether you could write an engaging story which was devoid of sympathetic characters, and I took that as a challenge. So this story evolved into a full-on evil-fest, starring seven dastardly people (each loosely representing one of the seven deadly sins) locked in a competition none of them could win. There’s a big illegal money deal going down, and everybody wants in on it: from The lazy CEO Vick and his Lustful, philandering wife Barb, to The arrogant Human trafficker Ken and his Wrathful crooked cop brother Abe, to the Greedy Private Investigator Kwame and his Envious girlfriend Terri, and of course The gluttonous superhoodlum John who is at the center of it all.

While writing this story, I ended up pouring all of my anger and frustration at my situation into the book. The result is a story that I wrote to intentionally offend and disgust as many of its readers as possible, regardless of race, religion, gender, social status, or sexual preference. I wanted to piss EVERYBODY off. The story was basically my middle finger to the whole world. Once done, there were actually some people brave enough to want to proofread it (I warned them about it, though. I told them that after reading it, they might want to take a bath). None of them could get past the first chapter. But it was for a reason other than the story being offensive. They simply couldn’t find my central protagonist interesting enough to want to read any more about him. That’s the cardinal rule of storytelling, it doesn’t matter how virtuous or evil your hero is, he has to first and foremost be interesting. And in that regard I failed. And that was the end of that, so I moved on to another story.

I think some people would think creating unpublishable works to be a waste of time, but I beg to differ. First of all, it’s good exercise, and helps a lot towards developing your voice and writing style. Secondly, it can be very therapeutic to just cut loose and not worry about grammar and character development and all that other stuff that content editors harp on. Just let the imagination run and see where it takes you. Thirdly, your unprintable story might have some ideas in it you can come back and mine later on for other more salable projects. Who knows? Maybe someday you’ll see some elements from this story in something else I publish. Stranger things have happened.

Writing The Final Battle

Probably one of the most fun and challenging parts of writing Godmode was coming up with the final battle. My Content Editor is working on her latest novel, and came to me for some advice about the process of it. This is what I told her:

The final battle is the culmination of everything your story has been building up to. Basically, everything your protagonist has done, experienced and learned was in preparation for that one moment. and with it being a battle, it will be against a foe that will require everything that protagonist has learned to defeat.

Take an inventory of your heroine. What are her special abilities? What has she learned throughout the course of the story? What are the weapons at her disposal? What life lessons has she learned that will be of use during this conflict? What weaknesses can the foe still exploit? Why is it more important to your heroine personally to beat this foe than any previous one?

Now look at your villain, or whatever your final foe is. What are his special abilities and skills? What are his weapons and tools? What are his weaknesses? How far in advance would he have planned for this battle, or was he caught by surprise? Most mastermind-type villains are very hard to beat when they’ve had time to prepare – that can also apply to heroes, by the way. Heroes like Black Panther and Batman are dangerous despite their lack of superpowers because they are meticulous in scouting their opponents and preparing for them accordingly. Being mere mortals, they would get creamed in a fair fight against these demigods…so they make sure the fight is never fair. Or you can go the opposite route, with a foe that can adapt to any situation and turn it to his advantage (re: Captain America and James Bond. a villainous version would be Deathstroke the Terminator). Both types of foe present their own sets of challenges for the heroine. And finally, what are the stakes for the villain? Why is this a fight that he can’t just walk away from?

Your final foe has to be able to push your heroine to the absolute limit of her abilities and endurance. This has to be her most dangerous battle, the one she is in the greatest danger of not making it out alive from. So think about your villain’s abilities and weapons in this way: how will this ability or weapon test my heroine? What skills and knowledge will it force her to utilize? What happens to her-specifically- if she can’t overcome that particular ability or weapon? Godmode’s final monster battle was the amalgamation, a mishmash of a bunch of deadly animals, that had an answer for everything Elijah tried to do against it. To win, Elijah had to utilize the tools of his environment, tap into skills he had forgotten he had, and …most importantly…not lose control, because his rage mode would have surely gotten him killed.

Now look at the environment the battle is happening in. your characters are not going to be fighting in an empty room, or even in a ring. There will be natural obstacles and weapons lying around which can help raise the stakes and the level of danger in the fight.a crumbling stronghold holds different obstacles than a sinking ship, which is different from a desolate battlefield or a dense jungle. The final battle in Kill Bill happened at a picnic table in a couple of lawn chairs in a suburban backyard. When you’re in a fight for your life, and you’re fighting for everything you hold dear, you’re going to utilize every advantage at your disposal.

This is a formula similar to that in many video games. in most action and adventure-based games, you’ll have accumulated a lot of new weapons, techniques and abilities to get through the game, but to defeat the last boss, you’re going to need all of those skills and then some to find a way to win. Especially in JRPGs like the old Final Fantasy games. your characters could be leveled up to the max with the best weapons, but if you don’t wisely utilize your attacks, spells and items, you will still get your rear end handed to you.

This is the fight where your heroine reaches her full potential, so don’t be afraid to cut loose and go all out with the special effects and collateral damage. If you get stuck, blow something up. it worked for X1999 and Akira. Dragonball Z and The Matrix, too, for that matter. and Man of Steel. and Pacific Rim.

Another thing to consider is the personal element of this confrontation. How are the people involved connected? What kind of dialogue would they be having in the middle of this fight? What personal history or surprise revelations are going to be brought up? Remember that moment when Vader told Luke he was his father. That revelation was made even more powerful because Luke had already lost the battle, as well as his hand. It was demoralizing for him as a character, but planted seeds for the next phase of the story: how is Luke going to redeem his father? Inception’s final confrontation didn’t have a big fight, but it did have Cobb finally owning up to the truth about why his wife killed herself, and confronting that aspect of his psyche that had been sabotaging his efforts from day one.

As for the fallout…what is the purpose for your final battle anyway? What is your heroine trying to accomplish and why is the foe trying to stop it? And not in the meta “Save the world” sense, but very specifically: what exactly is your heroine trying to do, (press a button, deliver a message, drink a soda) and why exactly is this person or thing trying to stop her? Answer that question and you’ll answer what to write about. In the end, your heroine will either be able to do what she set out to do, or she won’t. It’s as simple as that. Start by writing that exact moment, and build off of that. I’ll even say that writing the aftermath might give you some clues as to what happens during the battle.

My example this time is a Final Battle that Wizards of the Coast had been building up to in 3 years’ worth of stories. In this novel all of their discordant threads come together and the heroes are put to the ultimate test.

Plotting Your Plot with Reverse Outlining

When you’re trying to flesh out that kernel of a story idea in your mind, putting together a cohesive plot can be a daunting task. Sometimes figuring out what happens and how can seem intimidating. Many writers solve this issue by taking a lot of time crafting a complete plot outline of how everything flows from start to finish before they begin writing. Other writers start with their characters and their unique predicament and make up the plot elements as they go along. These two approaches do not have to be mutually exclusive.

For many of my stories I first create a list of cool moments I want to see happen in my story. Then I build a vague plot outline around those moments. I keep the outline vague to leave some flexibility for if the characters or situations dictate a change in direction. But basically these moments serve as destination points you can direct your story to. You can discover some cool stuff by pointing your characters in a direction and just following them around. This is a hybrid technique for early plotting, where you set a destination point and then make stuff up as you go along their journey to get there.

This is the early plotting stage, so you should not worry about any filters. Be as weird and outlandish as your mind will allow. Don’t try to filter the ideas, just let them flow directly from your mind to the paper (or computer). You can go back and tweak, finetune, rework your ideas, or even replace them with something better later. Just get the ball rolling and follow your muse without overthinking things. One you have your vague plot outline done, then you can go is and add details.

Asking Questions

To get this process rolling, ask yourself a few questions about your stories, and write down your answers. Start with this one: What are the 5 biggest moments that you want to see happen in your story? Now step back. What is the next moment you are working towards in the story? Write out, step by step, how your characters get to that moment. Write single sentences for each action and don’t overthink it. That’s how I map out the next sequence of actions in my story. I don’t have a rigid outline, but I have moments that I want to happen, and I lead my characters to those moments, step by step.

Say you want one of your villains to spring a trap on your group of plucky heroes. How do your heroes get into position for the trap to be sprung? How do they spring the trap? What do they do when the trap is sprung?  How do they get out of that mess? What does the bad guy do when they get out? Sometimes you need to micromanage your plot to get the story moving.

But that just gives you a skeleton to build on. Now you need to add the meat. Pick a character, any one, and follow him or her through that sequence of events. What does he or she see, smell and touch? What are they thinking as they go through this? What memories does it bring up? What are they thinking about the rest of the characters right now? How is he or she reacting to what is happening? And what does he or she do about it?

here’s an example. In Leopard Man, my key scene was Ashlynn being chased through Forest Park by the bad guy. With that in mind. I had to ask myself how the heck she ended up in Forest Park to begin with. She was there with her best friend because they had to walk to her friend’s house in that area. So now why is she running for her life? She saw something in that forest she wasn’t supposed to see. Okay, so now that she is running, where exactly does she run to? Well, there is a small neighborhood at the end of the park, with a church at the end. So what happens if she makes it to the church? Will she be safe there? What if she isn’t? Who is chasing her, and why is she so afraid of him? And where is her friend in the midst of all of this?

Every answer leads to more questions, and each question and answer is a block to help you build your scene, chapter or story. I hope that helps.

Writing Believable Dialogue

One of the key elements of a good story is the dialogue between characters. Any story that has people interacting will show their conversations, and that is an important aspect in conveying an engaging, believable story. People can reveal a lot about themselves and their world through their dialogue. With good dialogue you can establish everything from character traits to plot elements to setting. You can tell the reader the what, why, how and where using just dialogue, and you can also use it to point out key details in the plot that you want readers to know. It is a versatile tool you have at your disposal that can convey a lot about your story when used well.

Writing good dialogue can be tricky. You want the conversation to flow naturally and sound authentic. You don’t want “talking heads” where it’s just two disembodied voices talking back and forth with nothing else happening (or do you? I’ve read some compelling stories that were nothing but two talking heads. I think this is the exception and not the rule, though). You want your people to sound like actual people with real personalities and quirks. So how can you do this?

I’ve been told that writing dialogue is one of my strengths. These are some of the techniques I use to handle it.

REAL LIFE INFLUENCE

Always listen to how people talk and converse. You will be surprised at how much you learn about how people talk just by listening to how people talk. Follow the ebb and flow of their conversation. Every dialogue has a rhythm and a poetry to it, regardless of who is talking or how they talk. Pay attention to that. You might also hear some cool antec dotes you can use in future stories. Some of the coolest dialogue from supporting characters in my book The Hand You’re Dealt came directly from people I was standing near while waiting to sell my blood plasma (Yes, that aspect of the story is quite autobiographical.)

BODY LANGUAGE

Body language and facial expression is also an important part of writing believable dialogue. People are twitchy, and nobody is just sitting perfectly still while talking. Take time to mention what their bodies and faces are doing while they are talking. You can convey a lot about what a character is thinking or feeling as they talk this way. Oftentimes, I will describe a character’s small action before they say something instead of using “he said.” Because it does a dual job of indicating who is talking while also giving some of that movement to the character. This also applies to giving a brief description of what is going through the POV character’s mind as they speak.

GRAMMAR

People don’t use proper grammar when they talk, not even English teachers. People talk in fragments, have unfinished thoughts, stumble over words, use incorrect phraseology, use filler words like um and uh, cut each other off and try to finish each other’s sentences. When writing dialogue, you want to utilize those quirks to make the conversation, and the characters, more believable. Save the soliloquies for Shakespeare.

SLANG

Pay attention to slang and local colloquialisms. If you’re writing a character from New York, that person is going to sound and talk quite differently than a person from Atlanta. Slang words and different pronunciations can be a great teller of where they are from and what their culture is, and in that instance you can be forgiven for intentional misspellings. I got into quite a few arguments with my Beta readers and editors over a New Yorker I put in The Hand You’re Dealt. They thought I misspelled one of his colloquialisms, and I had to repeatedly explain that he comes from a culture where People call each other “sun” (as in shining like the sun) instead of “son.” I got so tired of the fight I just switched to a different slang word.

Incorporating other languages can also be a key element in establishing a character. If a character comes from a unique culture, including a word or two from their native language will drive that point home. Just don’t overdo it: sprinkling in too many foreign words will make it blatant to the reader that you’re trying to make the character seem more ethnic.

THE WORD ‘SAID’

When writing dialogue, you tread a fine line when using the word “said.” You don’t want to overuse it, but at the same time, it can become quite obvious to readers when you are trying too hard to not use it. If you find yourself trying to come up with a new verb for talking every time you have somebody speak, then you are doing it too much, and you need to use “said” to give the reader a break. “Said” is usually an invisible word: the reader will read that and know what it means intrinsically without it interrupting the flow of the story. The key is to not use it ALL of the time lest you appear unimaginative. You also want to keep a lid on the flowery adjectives (which usually come right after you use the word “said”). Whatever you’re using that adjective to describe in what that character said should be self evident in whatever that character said and the actions and details around it. If you do that well, then the adjective becomes redundant.

TESTING IT OUT

Once you’ve written your dialogue, the next thing is to test it out. Don’t be afraid to read your dialogue out loud to see if everything sounds smooth and believable. Sometimes words and phrases that look good on paper (or your screen) won’t sound right when actually spoken, and that can be problematic if you want you dialogue to sound authentic.

These are some of the techniques I use when writing conversations. Give them a try and hopefully it will make your dialogue more memorable.

D’ya know who else excels at writing dialogue? Chuck Palahniuk! Check out this book from the creator of Fight Club and see for yourself.

Now Leaving: Your Comfort Zone

If you’ve looked at the body of my writing work, I think it would be hard to pigeonhole me into any particular genre of fiction. I’ve written comic books, Young Adult novels, Business Melodrama, Science Fiction and Survival Horror. I just published a literary love story, and I wrote a crime novel that will never see print. And right now I’m seeking an agent for both a high fantasy epic and a thriller with some elements of high fantasy. I never gave much thought into what motivates me to switch genres and styles of storytelling. I could say I just go where the story takes me, but that would be too simple.

Truth be told, every story I’ve written has been a challenge to myself in some way, shape or form. I get inspired by books I read, TV shows I watch and movies and video games I enjoy. And these stories inspire me to tell my own. I often ask myself “wouldn’t it be cool if I could write XXX kind of story?” and being the impulsive guy I am, it doesn’t take me long to hash out some ideas for that genre and style.

For the Thriller I just wrote, it started off as a prequel to an epic urban high fantasy series I’m planning. But as I was writing it, I didn’t really know how the story was going to get from its beginning to the point where my saga started. I’m usually a big “plot” guy, and I’ll spend a lot of time outlining the plot points and twists, creating a roadmap for where I want the story to go. But this time, I didn’t want to spend a lot of time pre-planning my story, and I really just wanted to start writing. So that’s exactly what I did. I only had a handful of vague plot points in mind when I started writing this story. I had two or three events I wanted to build up to, and I had a general idea of how I wanted it to end, but I left myself completely open with this story. I just created some characters, created a world for those characters to inhabit, and put the central character in a dire predicament. I then just followed that character around in this setting, observing his actions, getting inside his head to find out what he’s thinking and feeling as he does what he does, and writing everything down. This style of storytelling is counter-intuitive to every other book I’ve written, and it was uncharted territory for me. It was kind of scary. But it was also thrilling to be “winging it” and basically making the story up as I go along. And I turned out great; “Needle of the Southside” may be my strongest story yet, and I already have a ton of material in motion to take a similar journey in its follow-up book.

I believe the only way to truly improve as a storyteller it to challenge yourself and step out of your comfort zone. Even successful writers (actually, ESPECIALLY successful writers) can get complacent and fall into a rut, telling the same types of stories in the same style over and over again. This is why Steven King will take a break from writing horror to write stories like The Green Mile, Shawshank Redemption, Dark Tower and The Stand. It gives one a chance to freshen up, and learn new things about ones self as a writer and storyteller.

So my challenge to you is simple. Try something different. If you’re used to writing modern fantasy (especially if your Vampires glitter and your Werewolves are emo), take a stab at writing a crime story. If rustic heartland romances are your thing, take a shot at writing a political thriller. If you write historical fiction, then maybe you can shift from the past to the future and write some hard Science Fiction. And you can even stretch your muscles stylistically, like switching from the female protagonists you always write to a male one, or switching from Third person to First person (or the even bigger challenge of Second person), or switching from writing in past tense to present tense. In doing so you might broaden your horizons and discover some new things about your voice that you never knew you had before.

You don’t even have to commit to a whole book of it if you don’t want to. Maybe just a short story, or a simple scene just to see what it would feel like and read like in your new style or genre. And whatever you don’t finish you could just put in your writer’s vault for future idea mining. This would be a great way to improve your storytelling acumen.

Judy Blume is one of my favorite children’s authors. The Fudge series of books is legendary. But did you know she writes books for adults, too? Give this one a try.

Picking Through the Remnants of Unused Stories

Like most writers, I have gotten a lot of story ideas. We get bombarded daily by “what if” questions that are begging to be answered in our own particular style, with our own particular voices. It would be foolish not to record these ideas. Even if you cannot utilize an idea now, it is something you very well might want to revisit at a later date.

Sometimes, that “later date” actually arrives. I was in the midst of promoting my sci-fi horror novel Godmode and I had gotten the itch to start writing a new story. Problem was, I didn’t have any new ideas to explore at the time, not that I wanted the hassle of building on an idea from scratch anyway. So I picked up my old archive of unused ideas and undeveloped concepts and thumbed through them to see if there was anything that struck me at the time. It is always good to keep some kind of record of your unused ideas, whether it be some kind of database, or a journal, or a folder of notes, or something. I have folders of unfinished comic books in storage, as well as CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs full of stored ideas and unfinished manuscripts. It was my unfinished comics that game me inspiration this time, and I decided to adapt one of them into a series of novels.

Some of my best projects have come from recycled ideas. All of my webcomics were continuations of ideas I had come up with back in my college days, and the current stories I am working on now are ideas I had ten years ago but never did anything with.

Sometimes an idea you come up with can be literally ahead of its time, so it might need to sit and percolate for a while as you mature as a writer and as a person. Once you’ve built up skill and confidence in your craft, and acquired more knowledge and wisdom, then perhaps you might be ready to tackle that idea and give it the attention it deserves. This was the case with the manuscript I’m seeking representation for as of this post, an urban high fantasy epic with very deep political and socioeconomic themes. When I first drew up this story as a four-issue comic book series back in the year 2000, I was only scratching the surface of what I could do with this story. But 14 years later, I’ve grown a lot, learned a lot and seen a lot, and now I’m more prepared to plumb the depths necessary to truly tell this story.

So when sifting through your pile of lost ideas, how do you choose which one to dust off? It’s not an exact science. You can go by feel. Which of your old ideas is speaking most to you at that moment? Writers have a mysterious intuition for stories, where one idea or concept burrows its way into your mind and won’t leave you alone until you do something with it. Does one of your old unfinished stories do that to you? Is it begging you to come finish it and won’t get out of your head until you do? Then that is obviously the story you need to be picking up. Or your motivation could be purely financial. Which of your story ideas is the most marketable? Compare your ideas to what is popular now, or what might be popular in the future, around the time you finish your story. As of this writing, there’s a big surge in popularity for Young Adult adventure books starring white, teenage females. Before that the hot thing was Young Adult high fantasy starring white, teenage boys. If your idea fits what’s popular now and you can crank a book or three out of your idea within the window of that genre’s popularity, then go for it. Otherwise, think about the future and try to gauge what the next trend will be, and see which of your book ideas fit. Of course, some concepts are timeless (re: anything that can be easily adapted to a movie). So if that’s the way you want to go, then you might want to consider that.

Okay, so now you’ve picked your story to rehash…now what? You need to look your idea over and figure out what it was that made you abandon the story in the first place. Maybe the subject matter was too personal, or maybe the story has a character in it you can’t quite figure out. Maybe the concept was too big to wrap your head around at the time. I have one story idea in mothballs because it would involve extensive worldbuilding and research into a foreign culture – in my case, feudal China. I also would have to delve into a myriad of different kung-fu fighting techniques, and figure out how to portray them properly in prose. And that’s in addition to the usual character and plot development stuff – involving nine different protagonists (yeah, my story idea is a little on the ambitious side). I’m not ready to do all of that…not yet, at least. Regardless, once you figure out what stopped you the first time, you need to attack that issue head on and figure out a solution. Or work around it, and develop all of the other aspects of the story you are more comfortable with. For instance, if one important character is an enigma to you, then develop everybody else first. Sometimes, working on another aspect of the story will actually present you the solution to the aspect that is bothering you.

Once you open your mind and focus on that story, you will be surprised at the things you notice around you that will help you develop it. Information in the news, or in conversations with your colleagues, or stuff you see in other media, will feed your idea. There were stories I’ve found on the internet that I otherwise couldn’t have cared less about, but now that I’m in tune with my new/old story idea, those articles particularly stand out. When you think like a hammer, everything becomes a nail. So start hammering away! 

BTW, One of the best examples of successfully rehashing an unfinished story is M. Knight Shaymalan’s Unbreakable/Split/Glass trilogy. check out the Wiki on how Glass was made. It’s absolutely fascinating.

Writing Your Batman Story

I’ve been told that every halfway decent writer has at least one good Batman story in them. I agree. Batman is a beloved character, and can be placed effectively in almost any type of story.

For instance: I wrote an alternate universe treatment with the bat family as counterterrorist agents instead of superheroes. Also, I want to write a trippy, futuristic Batman story, starring a grown-up Damien Wayne (Batman’s biological son and the current Robin) wearing the cape and cowl,  based entirely on Prince’s Batman soundtrack. Have you read his lyrics? Wow. It would be Damien going up against the Sadistic, hedonistic PARTYMAN to stop him from flooding Gotham with the deadly psychadelic drug “Lemon Crush.” I probably won’t ever actually write it, but it would be pretty darned cool.

I have a few more doozies in the vault. I would divulge what my treatments are, but I’m saving them in case DC ever comes calling.

Now, I wonder what YOUR Batman story would look like…

You might wonder just exactly how you can make a Batman story if you don’t normally write superheroes. This is where Batman’s versatility comes into play. So, beyond the usual superhero fare, Batman is also the World’s Greatest Detective and a master specialist in hand-to-hand combat. So if your writing forte leans toward Crime, Detective stories or procedurals, and even thrillers, Batman is a perfect character to build a story around, even without the superhero baggage.

Is steamy romance your thing?  Batman has gone through numerous relationships. He has been romantically involved with Vicki Vale, he has a love child by his arch-enemy Talia Al Ghul (instant baby mama drama!) and was recently left at the altar when he tried to marry Catwoman. There are even stories that have him hooking up with Wonder Woman, and one particularly creepy (for all the wrong reasons) tryst with Batgirl. You can play into the conflict between Batman’s mission and his need for intimacy.

Are you a Sci-Fi or fantasy writer? Batman’s gadgets and futuretech should be right up your alley, and Bats has even thrived in fantasy settings. He has literally fought Demons, Vampires, Zombies, and Sorcerers, and has been portrayed as a literal “Dark Knight” on multiple occasions.

Wanna do Horror? What can be more terrifying for a criminal than a being stalked by a man-sized bat in the darkness? You can also play into the mental illnesses of the bad guys (Hannibal Lecter has NOTHING on Batman’s rogues gallery) or how scary it can be for victims of the bad guys. One of the Bat villains LITERALLY specializes in inducing fear, in fact.

If family drama is your thing, you can’t get more dramatic than the Batman family. He is an orphan himself, and has raised no less than four young men who all have quirky personalities and issues with each other. Everyone connected to Batman has dealt with personal and even familial trauma, from Commissioner Gordon with his vigilante daughter and sociopathic son, to Harley Quinn’s abusive relationship with The Joker, to the complicated family tree of Ras Al Ghul, Talia and Damien Wayne.

Batman is also a master of disguise and an expert intel gatherer/saboteur, so espionage and political thrillers would also be a good fit for him. You can also cover political drama and conspiracy theories via The Court of Owls, or personal stories of trauma and recovery like when Batman’s protegee Dick Grayson (Nightwing) got shot in the head and went through a total personality change in his recovery from that. And Batman’s dry wit and gallows humor could lend themselves well to comedy writing. He was even put into a Japanese Samurai story to great effect. You can put Batman into literally any story scenario and have a basis for a compelling story.

A good Batman story is no different than a good Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple story. It’s just a good detective/crime/superhero/horror/thriller story, starring Bruce Wayne. Even if you don’t ever intend on approaching DC with your Batman story, you can still make one. Just replace Batman with an original character that has similar traits, or grab one in the public domain, and voila! Instant original story you don’t have to worry about getting sued over.

A simple way to get started is to take a story or trope within a genre you enjoy writing about, and simply ask yourself what would happen if it were Batman starring in the story instead of your usual protagonist. What would be different? What can and would Batman do differently than your usual protagonist in handling the situation? How would the circumstances of the situation react to him? Would any of is allies and enemies be involved? And then you just build from there.

Just to illustrate my point, here is a story where an evil, twisted version of Batman shows the real Bats different versions of himself in other lives, where his story plays out quite differently.

Metroid and Environmental Storytelling

While reading this excellent review of the hard to find fan-made AM2R videogame, I came across a term that intrigued me. It was a term I had seen before in Mark Rosewater’s articles about designing cards for Magic: The Gathering.  That term was “environmental storytelling” and it is what makes it possible for a game like Metroid 2: Samus Returns, that has no dialogue or cutscenes, to tell a complete narrative.  With this form of storytelling, you are using details within the setting itself to provide clues as to what is or has been happening. This is independent of any dialogue or interactions from your characters. 

For instance, in Magic: The Gathering’s “Scars of Mirrodin” storyline, the land cards  for each of the three acts in the storyarc are painted to show the once pristine environment gradually deteriorating over time as the world is infected by parasitic invaders. It is even deeper in Metroid 2, where each environment showcases how and why the ancient Chozo race created the deadly Metroid creatures before the monsters turned on their creators and destroyed them all. Everything is part of the tale, from the lack of creatures in rooms where a Metroid dwells, to the darkness and desolation of the abandoned factories, to the areas near the Metroid’s central breeding ground being completely devoid of life, to even little touches like the Chozo statue towards the end being broken with an icebeam upgrade lying at its feet to show that their advanced weapons weren’t strong enough to stop the Metroids from killing them. You can gain an understanding of what happened from paying attention to the details of the environment, without nary a word being said or any cutscene handholding you through the narrative.

I did something similar in Godmode. Elijah does a lot of exploring in that story, and each level of the building he is trapped in tells its own story as he discovers details about it. That includes exploring his old office, which was evacuated in a hurry for some reason, and coming across clues which show how hat occurred, and maybe even why. I tried to make it so Elijah and the reader are able to figure out the details, connect the dots and deduce what happened at the same time. I did cheat a bit with the triggered flashbacks, but the general gist is still there.

HOW TO INCORPORATE ENVIRONMENTAL STORYTELLING INTO YOUR NARRATIVE.

So now the question becomes how can you use that in YOUR story. Here are some simple tips:

1. The Devil is in the details. The biggest need is to make sure you pay attention to the details of your environment. Everything that describes where the story is happening can offer a clue to the narrative, whether it be the sights, or sounds or even smells of the setting. A place that smells of rotting flesh will tell you something died there. A place smelling of rotting flesh and bleach will tell you that someone died there…and someone else tried to cover it up.

2. Place key artifacts in the environment. Much like setting up a mystery, you can plant clues directly into the setting that tell exactly what happened or what is going on. It could be a television, still on, showing a news reporter speaking on a related event (something movies do a lot), or a trinket from some event that happened related to that event (say your story had something to do with a circus. You can have some circus peanuts laying around in your environment to allude to that).

3. Show the environment changing over time. Perhaps every time your characters go to a certain place, the lace has subtle changes to show that something is going on. Maybe something is out of place that was in place before, or the lighting is different, or something new has been added or taken away. This can denote that something in the story itself has changed, and this can add to the impact of that change.

If you incorporate the environment into your story, you should be able to make for a fuller, more immersive experience for your reader. I advise you give it a try for your next story.

BTW, if you haven’t played Metroid 2 yet, give the game a try and pay attention to the backgrounds to see what I’m talking about…