Posts Tagged ‘novel’

Kindle Worlds: Genius Idea or Bad For Fiction?

Posted: June 9, 2013 in Living and Life, Reflections, Writing
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If you haven’t heard, then here’s a news piece that’ll at least raise an eyebrow on your forehead: Amazon has announced their intentions to create a new publishing platform for Kindle called Kindle Worlds. The exact nature of this platform is for authors to publish fan-fiction and make money off of it. Yes, you read that right. People can now make money off of fan-fiction.

Naturally, this has set off a storm in the publishing and literary worlds, and a whole lot of discussion across blogs and Internet boards. Fan fiction is, by definition, fans of franchises making up their own stories based on these franchises and display it online or in writing groups for all to see. For many years, fan-fiction, or fanfics for short, have been hidden in the Internet closet. But with this announcement, fanfic writers can now post their stories–some trying to stay true to the original franchises they are based on, some showing unexplored romantic connections between characters, and some of those downright erotic in nature–on the Internet and make money on them.

Of course, there are a few catches. There’s no exact date as to when this platform will be available, and at this moment only certain franchises–The Vampire Diaries, Pretty Little Liars, etc.–are confirmed as allowing their work to be used by Kindle Worlds. In other words, unless the creators give the okay, you can’t publish a short story or novel based on a franchise unless the franchise owners are okay with it. The ones that are confirmed as allowed are franchises with already-large fan bases who write their work regularly in secret and in the Internet version of public. In addition, the owner of the original franchise gets a cut of the money, so they stand to gain too.

However, many authors are seething. Anne Rice is famous for being against fanfics of her work, and the same goes with George R.R. Martin (sorry GoT fans). I’m of this camp, simply because I feel that my stories and the characters within are like my babies, and I don’t want people taking my baby away and telling it what it should or shouldn’t do like it was theirs.

Yeah, he’s not allowing fanfic of his work. I’m not surprised.

Other authors however, have outwardly allowed fanfics of their work. Sci-fi franchises such as Star Trek and Star Wars have always had fanfics, the former at one point having an official fanfic magazine, and the latter creating a specific set of guidelines for fanfics based on the galaxy far, far away. JK Rowling was quoted as saying she was “flattered” that people wanted to write stories based on Harry Potter, while Stephanie Meyer has set up links from her website to fanfic websites where Twilight-esque works are featured.

There are arguments for both camps that each have valid points. For the sake of this post, I’m going to list a few points from both camps. For the pro-fanfic group, here is why they say fanfics are okay:

1. Fanfics encourage reading and writing and imagination. In this digital age when attention spans are short and people are reading less, fanfics allow people to return to reading and writing by giving them the opportunity to read and write things they already love, be it books, TV shows, or movies. If this is encouraging people to guess at what might happen if so-and-so happens to such-and-such character and they read about it or write it down, why should it be discouraged?
2. Good stories can evolve from fanfics. The famous (or infamous) 50 Shades of Grey started out as a BDSM Twilight fanfic. If such a crazy bestseller can result from fanfic, why can’t a best-selling YA series result from a kid in Omaha doing a Naruto fanfic, or a woman in Cardiff create a new type of espionage novel when she has James Bond take on villains with codenames based on The Wizard of Oz, or a new literary novel that has reviewers crying at the end arise from a teen in Johannesburg imagining himself having conversations with Captain Kirk, Darth Vader, and the Doctor and then writing them down?
3. Fanfics could be good source ideas. It is entirely possible–particularly for TV shows with ever-changing storylines and characters–that fanfics could be a source for new material. Perhaps fanfic writers will one day be commissioned to write scripts for new episodes based on a story they wrote when they were exploring a new possibility for a character in their favorite franchise. It could happen.

And now for the opposing camp:

1. Legally, this could be a crime. Many writers don’t approve of fanfics, and in the United States, you can sue a fanfic writer if they created a fanfic based on your work without permission, and the fanfic writer could pay dearly for it. And since most fanfics don’t constitute as fully original works or parodies, they can find themselves at the mercy of a very angry novelist or screenplay writer, especially if the fanfics were sold for money.
2. Fanfics may discourage writers from doing original work. There may be plenty of talent among fanfic writers, but if they spend too much time creating fanfics, how can they achieve their full potential by creating original stories? We may have the next Faulkner, Paolini, or Sparks on our hands, but they may be too busy writing stories based on Scandal or Harry Potter or Friday the 13th to create an original work. Heck, they may be too scared to do an original work, thinking no one will like a story with original characters or that fanfics are the best they can do.
3. Fanfics may create false expectations. You hear of shippers, those people who are rooting for two characters to get together on a show or in a series and talk about it online and write fanfics about it. What if by reading those fanfics, you come only to expect that somehow, some way or another, those characters will be in the relationship by the end of the show? And what if the creators of those characters have other plans? We’ve heard of how some fans were angry about how Charlaine Harris’s final Sookie Stackhouse novel ended and threatened her for it, and years ago when Books 6 and 7 of Harry Potter came out, Harry-Hermione shippers complained that JK Rowling had willfully ignored them or shot them down, particularly in that one scene with the locket Horcrux and Ron holding the Sword of Gryffindor. It’s entirely possible this could happen if fanfics become mainstream.

To do fanfics, or not to do fanfics? That is my question for you right now.

As the debate rages, we may see more and more authors joining the Kindle Worlds platform. Or we may see a retraction, as certain authors launch campaigns against Kindle Words (could happen, you know). I certainly know that I don’t want people making fanfics out of my work, but I can’t speak for other authors.

How do you feel about fanfics? Would you allow fanfics based on your work?

Getting Reacquainted with the King

Posted: June 2, 2013 in Living and Life
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I recently ran out of things to read. I had free time, so I took the bus down to the library and went on a search for books I wanted to read. Unfortunately, there were no copies of the books immediately on list, so I decided to pick up some good old Stephen King.

I first discovered the current King of Horror when I was 12 or 13 when I read It and I found myself hooked. For the next couple of years, I read a huge amount of King’s work. Unfortunately, around age 16 or 17 I started to grow tired of the King, and I stopped reading him. As sad as it is to admit, I got sick of Stephen King, and rarely picked him up unless to read one of his new books (Duma Key or Under the Dome) or read an old favorite (The Stand or It). But this trip to the library was the perfect opportunity to get friendly with His Scary Highness again.

So I picked up Carrie (read once before and needed to read again before the remake comes out in October), Misery (seen the movie, never read the book) and Cujo (never read, have to since they’re talking about remaking the movie), plus two other authors I’d heard or read good things about and I started to read. As I read Carrie, I felt all the old love come back. By the time I’d finished, I was back on loving Stephen King.

I’m looking forward to meeting this dog.

I’m now in the middle of Misery, and although I’m not that easily scared, it’s proving a good read. I also can’t wait to read Cujo, but I think afterwards I’ll take a break from the King. After all, I don’t want to get sick of him again! That would be horrible.

Have you ever gotten sick of a certain author and then rediscovered your love of them? Which author?

Different Types of Chapters

Posted: June 2, 2013 in Novel, Reflections, Writing
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In the article I wrote that was published last weekend (you can read it here if you like), I mentioned that chapters and scenes don’t always mean the same thing. Some scenes take up several chapters, while sometimes several chapters are needed for one scene. This got me thinking on the different types of chapters I’ve seen over the years and doing an examination of these sorts of chapters. Hence the post you are currently reading.

I’ve divided the chapter types into three categories. Note that the names are my own creation and if there’s a proper name for these chapter types, then they’ve escaped me. Also, feel free to add any criticism or any fourth type of chapter that I may have missed or I am unaware of by leaving a comment, and I will gladly write a second post.

The Harry Potter chapter

When I wrote Reborn City, I used this chapter format. This type of chapter I first encountered when I read the HP books, so I’ve always associated the type with Harry Potter. However it is by far the most common type of chapter out there, mostly because it is easy to write and can encompass many events within itself, such as when Mr. Dursley has a very odd day, followed by his nephew being left on his porch in the first chapter of Sorcerer’s Stone. And changes of scene within the chapter are very easy to do, as they can be accomplished by a large space between the ends and beginning of sections or a series of asterisks (I prefer using ~~~ though). When I outline this sort of chapter, it usually looks like this:

Chapter 1: Rami Ungar sits down in front of his computer. He has published several novels, but has written nothing new lately and can’t even be inspired by his trusty list of ideas. He decides to write a story about a man haunted by a muse for no reason but to write something, and when he wakes up, he finds said muse on his couch, telling him to continue to write so that she can take form in this world.

Yes, that sounds like a recent movie, but I’d probably put a more sinister twist on it.

The Alex Cross chapter

This is the chapter format I used when writing Snake. I first encountered this format when I read The Da Vinci Code, but I’ve come to associate it with the Alex Cross books since then. In this format, a scene can take up several chapters, each likely very short, and is usually best utilized in the form of a thriller or other fast-paced novel, due to the short chapters heightening the tension before stopping and leaving the tension to continue in the next chapter. When I outline this sort of chapter, it might look like this:

Chapter 1: Rami Ungar wakes up when he hears a noise in the living room. He goes down to investigate with a baseball bat, but when he looks into the mirror hanging on the study door, he sees someone behind him.
Chapter 2: Rami turns around but sees no one there. He looks back in the mirror and sees no one there. He goes back to his room when he hears someone calling his name. He goes into the kitchen and sees a face peering out of the television beckoning for him to come closer.
Chapter 3: The face in the TV tells Rami she will be his muse from now on and will bring him fortune. Rami is stunned.
Chapter 4: Rami accepts the muse’s help and she tells him his name: Melly. Rami thinks it’s a nickname and wonders what it could stand for.

I could actually use this idea if I’m smart and change some names. Don’t steal it!

The Mark Chadbourn chapter

I have yet to use this sort of chapter, but I’m sure I will at some point in the future. This type isn’t named after any sort of literary character, but is named after the fantasy author Mark Chadbourn, who used this style of chapter with his series of nine fantasy books starting with World’s End and ending with Destroyer of Worlds. This format is unique, because it uses chapters, but each chapter is like a section of the story, and it has numbered sub-sections. I find this helpful for novels where there are a lot of different characters and plotlines to follow and you want to switch between characters and plotlines as dramatically as possible without being cheesy. When outlining this sort of story, it usually looks like this:

Chapter 1: Muse Makes Contact
           I: Rami Ungar wakes up and finds a ghostly woman in his room. She calls to him before she disappears.
           II: A witch has a prophetic dream of danger to come and summons her familiar. The witch, whose names is Azzie, tells her familiar Collos to head to Columbus Ohio and investigate an author by the name of Rami Ungar.
           III: Rami goes to work and then to classes, but sees the same ghostly woman everywhere he goes. Also, he feels like he’s being followed…and is then attacked by a man with a knife.

It goes on like that, if you get my drift, and can have any number of subsections. It’s a tough sort of format to pull off, but it works best with stories like this with multiple narratives, and can leave the author the option of working with many different characters at once.

As I’ve demonstrated here, there are many different types of chapters, and probably some that I’m not even aware of. Whatever one you use though, if you use one because you’re comfortable with it or you switch it up depending on the story, it’s probably because you know the story best and therefore you know what sort of chapter is needed. And if you can give your story what is needed, including chapter, then that is one mark of a great author.

Great Stories vs Great Lines

Posted: June 1, 2013 in ideas, Novel, Reflections, Writing
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Every author wants to write a great story, one that’ll be remembered for years and years after the author has passed on from this life. It’s the reason why so many of us spend years bettering ourselves, polishing ourselves and learning from as many experts in the field as we can so we can be great at our craft.

But what about writing great lines? Every author also has a desire as the person who coined a phrase like “To be or not to be”, or “Luke, I am your father”, or “When you play the game of thrones, it’s either you win or you die” (That last one I had to find through Google to get the quote right). How do you create a line that will be remembered throughout all time and be dissected in high school and college classrooms for generations to come?

I wish I could offer a trick to creating a great line that’ll stand out in your work. Unfortunately, none exists that I know of. In my experience, the most famous lines happen through accident and luck. Take Stephen King’s The Shining, arguably one of his best novels. The term Redrum has become a part of our social consciousness and is often used for creepy (or sometimes comedic) effect. I bet when King created the term though, he was just looking for something scary and strange, a device to add another layer of menace and mystery to the Overlook Hotel. I also bet that when the novel (and later the movie) became a success, King was very surprised by how popular the term Redrum was becoming.

Or how about “Live long and prosper”? Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, was drawing on his Jewish roots, as that phrase and accompanying hand symbol were used by the priests in the days of the Holy Temple to bless the nation of Israel. When they were looking for an iconic catchphrase and symbol for the Vulcan character, Nimoy suggested, “How about ‘Live long and prosper’?” It stuck, and thanks to the show’s sometimes mind-boggling fandom, the phrase entered into our culture.

(By the way, that story has been a beloved tale among Jews for decades ever since the show began, and we still get plenty of oppurtunities to tell it and sometimes educate non-Jews about its Biblical significance. L’chaim!)

I guess the best way I can say for someone to create an excellent line is to just write as great a story as you can, and hopefully someday, just by writing a great story, you’ll pen or type out a sentence or phrase or piece of dialogue that’ll really catch the reader’s eyes and resound in their consciousness. Basically, keep doing what you’re doing as a writer and someday a great line may be born.

What’s your take on creating great lines? And what constitutes as a great line in the first place?

Snake: Third Draft Done

Posted: May 28, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, Writing
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Creepy, is it not? Even if it is a cartoon.

Oh, I’m feeling good. I took the last twenty chapters (all less than ten pages, let me remind you) and edited them. I think I ended up increasing Snake‘s word count by about six-thousand or so words, but all in all the entire book will be around three-hundred and fifty pages once I format it for publication (so don’t go running off afraid to read my thriller novel. If you’re going to run away, be it for the content and not for the page count).

I like this draft. I ended up doing a lot of character development and explaining some things that I realized did not make a lot of sense. I also gave my characters more character history, and even added two full chapters. I think I also cut out some of the unnecessary words and what not, made the plot run a bit smoother.

All in all, it’s a good draft. I’m not sure if at this point I want to send it to the presses, do another draft, or if I want to send it to a beta reader again. In any case, I’ll think about it over the next few months as I take a break from the Snake and his blood-filled world. In the meantime, I’ve got two short stories to edit, one to finish writing a first draft for, and two to research. Plus my good friend and fellow author Matthew Williams is almost done reading my science fiction novel Reborn City, which means I can get ready to send it to the copyright office.

All that can wait till tomorrow though. I plan on celebrating finishing the third draft with a marathon of Doctor Who and Torchwood. Good night and thanks for all the support!

My Top Villains 2013 #5-1

Posted: May 27, 2013 in Review
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Time for the second of this series, where I list my favorite villains for the year. And once again, I’d like to remind everyone that because Judaism has a differing view of Satan than the rest of the world, he will not show up in this list. Also, no villain of mine will show up in this list.

Now for a quick recap of numbers 10-6:

10. Voldemort (Harry Potter)
9. Randall Flagg (Stephen King’s The Stand)
8. The First Evil (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
7. Lelouch Lamperouge (Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion)
6. Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th)

And now that that’s out of the way, onto the Top 5:

5. The Mayor (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

“Oh that’s swell. I love being a favorite.” He’d probably say something like that.

Properly known as Mayor Richard Wilkins III, he is the main villain of the third season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and arguably one of the best Buffy villains ever. Played by Harry Groener, he seems like a genial man with conservative values and a phobia of germs. But underneath that surface is a quasi-immortal sorcerer who has ruled Sunnydale for several decades with the end goal of becoming the reincarnation of one of the oldest demons in history (and when they’re old, that also means they’re big). To that end he manipulates much of the evil that occurs in Sunnydale and eventually turns Slayer Faith away from the side of good to his. Many writers have called him a classic villain, and he is certainly a fan favorite. If you’ve ever watched Buffy, you know why he ranks at number 5.

4. Maleficent (from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty)

Where does she get her wardrobe from? Dracula’s wives?

Although this Disney classic was a commercial and critical failure in 1959 due to slow pace and lack of character development, it gained a following and I like to think Maleficent played a huge role in that. Her name a portmanteau of “magnificent” and “malignant”, she is considered one of Disney’s most famous and most dastardly villains. It’s her reputation that won her the honor of being the main villain in the Kingdom Hearts series, where she is often Sora and Mickey’s final antagonist. The strange thing is, she’s loved most her enigmatic personality and her mysterious past. We do not know why she cursed baby Aurora with the sleeping curse, though it’s probably not anything as petty as not being invited to her christening. Perhaps this’ll be explored in the new movie with Angelina Jolie that Disney’s cooking up. I hope so, because I’d like to know more about her.

3. Hannibal Lecter (from the Thomas Harris books)

A true gentleman…until he bites your head off.

Also known as “Hannibal the Cannibal”, Lecter has been featured or starred in four of Harris’s books. A sociopathic psychiatrist who makes meals out of the people who cross him, Lecter is considered one of the most influential villains in thriller history, and has been portrayed in various adaptations. Currently he is played by Mads Mikkelsen in the NBC prequel series Hannibal, where he is portrayed as a calm but calculating killer, someone you wouldn’t think of as a serial killer if you saw him on the streets. Knowledgeable and resourceful, Dr. Lecter has a way of getting in people’s heads and a way of making things difficult for investigators such as Will Graham and Clarice Starling. I highly recommend the NBC series, because if you ask me, Mikkelsen is better than Hopkins at portraying a madness of a whole different sort.

2. Freddy Kreuger (from The Nightmare on Elm Street)

Anyone reading this post before bed?

Jason may be my favorite slasher, but Freddy is something that cannot be stopped. We can put distance between ourselves and Jason or Leatherface, but nobody can run away from sleep, and that is what Freddy uses. A serial killer/molester (depending on what version you’re watching), he was killed by vengeful parents who immolated him. Coming back as a ghost with a bladed glove, Freddy attacks the children of those same parents who killed him by entering their dreams and killing them in their dreams, causing their deaths in real life. Freddy has been played every time by Robert Englund except for the remake, when he was played by Jackie Earl Haley. Trust me, this is one guy you don’t want to dream about.

1. Dracula

I vant to scare you silly!

I don’t need to tell you where our top villain comes from, his name says it all. Based on Vlad the Impaler and in some versions the exact same person, Dracula is a centuries-old vampire who travels from Trannsylvania to England to begin a campaign of world domination by taking over the most powerful empire at the time, but is stopped by Johnathan Harker and Dr. Van Helsing as they race to stop Dracula from turning Harker’s fiancée Mina into a vampire. The character has been influential as the first instance of a vampire being aristocratic and gentlemanly, which means Lestat, Edward, and all other vampires must consider Dracula their spiritual father. He has appeared in a variety of works thanks to the novel itself belonging to the public domain, and will be getting new life (so to speak) in an NBC miniseries this fall. I personally recommend Gary Oldman in the 1992 film adaptation and Richard Roxburgh as the count in Van Helsing.

Well that’s it for this year. Check back next year when I do a new list, possibly with some new or some old faces. So Hollywood/New York/whoever, you’ve got a year to impress me. I look forward to seeing new villains on the list.

Daisy: 100 Copies Sold

Posted: May 27, 2013 in Novel, Progress Report, short story, Writing
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daisy-cover

I just went over the number of downloads on “Daisy”, the promotional short story I published for The Quiet Game: Five Tales To Chill Your Bones. Guess what? The number of downloads has passed 100 (107 to be exact)! Thank you all for downloading and for reading. I hope you continue to read and to download, and if you feel so inclined, please write a review online or spread the word among your friends. It means a lot to me if you do.

And while I have you, I’d like to let you know that on the page listing my books, I’ve added Reborn City and Snake to the list, along with projected publication dates. Take a look for descriptions and for projected dates.

My Top Villains 2013 #10-6

Posted: May 26, 2013 in Review
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Disturbing, isn’t it?

I thought I’d do an annual post of my top villains. Why? Because in horror, the villain plays such a huge role and is usually the source of most of the terror. It makes sense that I should list which ones are my favorites and which ones have an influence on me. And it might tell us all a little bit about why I’m so messed up. So I’m doing my top villains in two posts, numbers ten through six in the first post and numbers five through one in the second. And please note, none of these villains are of my creation. That just wouldn’t seem fair, especially if you haven’t read much or any of my work.

Oh, and one more thing before we begin: Satan is not on this list. Yeah, I know it’s surprising, but Judaism doesn’t view Satan like Christianity does, so I don’t include him on the list. In fact, I have a novel where Satan’s the protagonist, so if he’s on the villain’s list that’d make me a hypocrite. No thanks.

So onto numbers 10-6. Enjoy:

10. Voldemort (from the Harry Potter books).

Oh Voldy, what an ugly face you have! Why not get cosmetic surgery?

My mother may disown me for putting the villain of the HP books at the bottom of this list, but I stand by the decision. The wizarding world’s answer to Adolf Hitler, Voldemort starts out as a young boy by the name of Tom Riddle in an orphanage. As things start out for him, he seems a little off but okay nonetheless. But as time goes on, his psychopathic tendencies make themselves known and he morphs into the dark and hideous Voldemort, who manages to stay alive even after dying through dark and obscene magic (does that by any chance have anything to do with his deformed face?). Voldemort uses the wizarding version of racism–blood purity–to help in his quest for power, and is well-known for being ruthless, intelligent, and full of dark schemes. Of course, his arrogance is part of what leads to his downfall, both the first time and the second.

Have to admire his love of snakes though. I’m a sucker for snakes. Why do you think one of my novels is about one?

9. Randall Flagg (from Stephen King’s The Stand)

Randall Flagg. Don’t let his smile fool you, he’s pure evil!

Is he the devil in blue jeans, or just his cousin? Randall Flagg–also known as “The Walking Dude” and “The Dark Man”–is a creature made of hate and malice who wanders the lesser-known highways of America at night, a boogie man who enjoys causing chaos wherever and whenever he can. He appears in several Stephen King books, but is most famous for The Stand, where he attempts to make a nation around himself in the plague-ravaged United States. He is shown gaining supernatural abilities as the plague ravages America and becomes a synonym for evil in the post-plague world. He takes delight in everything evil, whether it be murder, rape, or torture, and gathers several individuals like him after the plague. He is still part human though, and that shows later on in the novel when things start to go bad for him in his new nation. Still he is scary as heck, and his film portrayal by Jamey Sheridan makes you want to go “EEEK!”

8. The First Evil (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

A manifestation of The First Evil. Good thing it’s noncorporeal, I bet its breath stinks!

The First Evil is a power, pure and simple. It existed long before the universe began, and it will exist long after the universe is dead and gone. It embodies all that is evil, and will go to great lengths to ensure that Evil prevails. It is non-corporeal and can only take the form of the dead, but it is an expert at psychological manipulation, and has an army of demon priests and super-vampires to carry out its will, along with a psychotic priest played by Nathan Fillion. The First’s initial appearance was in the third season as a monster-of-the-week, but it becomes the main antagonist in the seventh season when it finds that it can use a glitch in the Slayer line caused by Buffy’s resurrection to destroy the Slayer line forever, allowing Evil a huge victory and allowing the First to enter into the hearts of all humanity. Truly terrifying and not a creature I would want to go up against. It does show an envy for humans and their ability to engage in acts of sexuality, which I find somewhat strange. Oh well.

7. Lelouch Lamperouge (from Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion)

This is the face of a man who could challenge Moriarty…or even control him!

What to say about Lelouch? He’s hard to classify as a villain, but some of what he does is truly villainous, so he qualifies as a villain. The exiled son of the Emperor of the Holy Brittannian Empire, Lelouch hates his father for letting his mother’s murder go unsolved and for allowing his younger sister to become crippled during the murder. When he meets the mysterious immortal witch CC, Lelouch gains the power of Geass, which allows him to control people under certain conditions. Already a highly intelligent and competent strategist with loose morals, Lelouch uses his newfound power to don the disguise of the masked revolutionary Zero and begins a rebellion in the conquered nation of Japan, now a colony called Area 11 with numerous rebel and terrorist organizations within it.

Code Geass is one of my favorite anime of all time, and Lelouch is one of my favorite characters of all time. As the series goes on, we see numerous instances of him playing both villain and hero, lovable and despicable as he attempts to bring down his father and the Empire. He is capable of great good, but his twisted past and his personality often cause him to go the route of evil. His only weaknesses, besides how underwhelming he is in athletics, his probably his arrogance and his love for his younger sister. Still, I would not want to be on Lelouch’s bad side any day of the week.

6. Jason Voorhees (from the Friday the 13th film series)

Ever have trouble seeing his eyes? I think that’s intentional.

One of my favorite slasher killers, Jason is terrifying both in his brutality and in his simplicity. The son of Pamela Voorhees, Jason was born with a condition that, among other things, causes mental retardation and cranial swelling. This causes him to get horribly teased at Camp Crystal Lake, and eventually he is pushed into the water and drowns while the counselors were off having sex with each other (though there are other versions of how and why Jason got into the water). He later reemerges to be shown living, but not before his mother dies while venting a psychotic rage at the loss of her son. Jason takes up the mantle of avenger afterwards, killing anyone who comes near Camp Crystal Lake with his machete (or sometimes an axe). In later films he is shown to become a sort of Frankenstein-like creature, coming back from the dead under numerous circumstances to wreak havoc on Camp Crystal Lake. Scary as heck, especially when you consider he’s a giant, fast-moving zombie in a hockey mask.

And speaking of hockey mask, Jason didn’t appear until the second film, when he wore a sackcloth bag over his head. The hockey mask appeared in the third film to give Jason a distinctive look, and that look has terrified audiences ever since.

 

Well, that’s all for the first of these two posts. I’ll try and get to Part 2 tomorrow. Until then, if you have any questions on these villains, your own suggestions for villains, or a question on what the Jewish view of Satan is, let me know. I’d be happy to hear from you.

The Importance of Disclosure

Posted: May 26, 2013 in Writing
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There are only so many names in the world. We rarely think about it, but there are only so many names in the world. And as writers, we generally use a lot of these names. Some people will use certain names more than once (Stephen King seems to have a fondness for characters named Jack, and uses a variety of last names so that it doesn’t seem like he’s using the same character every time). There’s nothing wrong with that, just as there’s nothing wrong with not using certain names (I think the names “Jack” or “John” are too commonly used, so I rarely use them, and there’s a certain girl’s name that I’m saving because if I ever have a daughter I want her to have it).

However, as it occasionally happens, there are certain names that our friends share, or that random people we meet on the street have. You could write a novel about a guy named Jason Colbert and then some guy will come up to you and say his name is Jason Colbert. This is the reason why the page in the novel that has the copyright info on it says “All names, places and groups are fictional and any resemblance to real people are coincidential” or something like that.

And as I know from personal experience, it’s important to disclose that. Whenever I decide to name a character a certain name and I have a friend who has a similar name, I make sure to let them know the character is not based on them. Here’s why:

1. You might inflate someone’s head. A few posts back I wrote about some of my early attempts at writing (you can read that post here). One of those attempts, a vampire novel called Mahiro, starred a vampire/vampire hunter named Daniel Axton. And one day I let slip to a friend of mine this character’s name. This friend’s name was Danny L. (I dare not disclose last names for the sake of privacy)

My friend thought that this meant I’d name the character after him, and the idea was only furthered when I mentioned the character also had brown hair. From then on, whenever the topic came up, he insisted that the character was named after him even though that this was far from the truth and that they had different last names. Good thing the vampire craze reached its peak midway through the second draft, or I may have tried to publish the novel and further inflate my friend’s ego.

2. It could get awkward. I’ve mentioned before that the female protagonist of my novel Snake is named Allison. Well, I have two friends named Allison. And although the Allison of my creation is very different from the Allisons I’m friends with, I made sure to let them know there was no resemblance between them. After all, if they read the novel and see some of the things my character gets into, it could lead to awkward conversations and lead to problems in my relationships to them if they thought the character was based on either of them. I mean, there’s a sex scene in that novel. Guess who’s in it. You can see why I would want to tell them there’s no resemblance or relationship between the fictional Allison and the real ones.

3. Angry lectures on “my character”. You ever get people asking you to put them in your novel? I used to, but I stopped doing that a long time ago. Why? I took some liberties with the characters, and my friends were upset about those liberties. After reading pieces of the manuscript they would tell me they didn’t think a character based on them would act that way or would say such a thing or “why is my character a ginger?” or “why did you kill my character off?” Even if I don’t base characters on my friends anymore, I make sure to tell anyone with a similar sounding name there’s no connection just to avoid these little lectures.

4. Someone may try to capitalize on the name. I don’t think anyone I know are particularly greedy or untrustworthy. I generally keep good company. However if someone came to me for money as payment for using “their name” in the novel, I’d tell them there was no relationship. Heck, during the writing phases I’d let them know this. It’s not that I don’t trust them, it’s just that if the novel does well, the scent of money may bring about something dark and usually kept locked away. It’s just better to nip that in the bud than let it blossom.

So that’s why I disclose to people if there is or isn’t a connection to a character in a story. It’s just safer that way and stops any weird situations from rising up. And it’s pretty handy too.

Though someday I may create a character after someone whom I really don’t like just to spite or satire them. But only if they really annoy me (which means my sisters better watch out if they know what’s good for them).

Do you disclose to friends/family whether or not there’s a connection between them and a character you created? What happens when you do?

Doing the Same Old Dance?

Posted: May 24, 2013 in Reflections, Writing
Tags: , , , ,
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I’ve heard fiction writers say they worry that they’re writing the same story over and over, just changing the names, the locations, and the situations. They say they worry they’re becoming one-liners, that their work is unoriginal and that they might as well be using cookie-cutters to write their stories.

I’ve had these worries myself. A lot of ideas for novels I have sound very similar if you look at them from certain angles. I’ve gone on thought trains that go something like this: “Oh, this story’s heroine reminds me of this heroine from another story…and she reminds me of another heroine…and don’t their stories sound a little similar?…and what about their male counterparts?…oh my God, did I repeat myself?!” Luckily I’ve got so many ideas for stories that I’m sure I can space these similar sounding stories enough so that critics and readers can’t accuse me of being unoriginal. But even if I didn’t have so many ideas, who cares? You can tell so many of the same story and still be successful. Look at Shakespeare! Every tragedy ends up with a ton of blood, every comedy ends up with bad guys getting butts kicked and lovers falling into each others’ arms in comical fashion, and every history…well, it’s history.

But if you still worry that your work is repetitive and just looking like the same old story over again, then don’t despair. Treat it like you do writer’s block–in my case putting the story aside for a couple of weeks and then getting it out again to look it over. In the amount of time that break took up, I’ve probably done a lot of fun things, or read several awesome books and graphic novels, or watched some pretty interesting TV shows or movies. I can add all that I’ve experienced to the story as I go over it and try to find some way to improve it. And if that doesn’t work, try using a random word generator and using three nouns from that generator to help mix up your story (it’s something I learned to do in high school. Thanks Mr. Guinan).

But if you still feel that you’re only repeating yourself, look on the bright side. Most people don’t have the energy or the fortitude to write a full story, even if they are born with the talent to do so. The fact that you can write only one story, you can do a lot more than others. Perhaps you can even make the best version of that story ever written. And isn’t that worth all the repeats over the years?

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