The Teflon Hero

Think back to the original STAR TREK.  Captain Kirk fell in love and lost the girl to some horrific fate, and he was sad, but in the next week’s episode, he was the same Jim Kirk as he was at the beginning of the last episode.  He lost battles and friends, but the next week, he was the same Jim Kirk.  He remained the same Jim Kirk throughout the whole series.  He was a Teflon hero.  Life experience slid right off him, and he remained the same.  

But that was okay because all TV heroes were much the same back then.  Each had a Teflon coating so experience wouldn’t change him.  TV series were episodic rather than linear, and each episode was an emotional reset to the original characters.

Today, the series characters do change on TV with the more linear story-telling, but, even then, they don’t change that much because the series itself would change.  The detective driven by a family member’s murder who has moved past that anger will be a flatter character.  

In genre fiction single titles like romance, characters do change as events affect them, and they tend to stay changed through the book.  In a series, however, the changes in the character tend to reflect the type of story being told.  

Urban fantasy usually has a main character who changes as the series progresses.  Harry Dresden and Kate Daniels have grown emotionally.  One series that I’ve admired for the changes in the main character is Darynda Jones’ “Grim Reaper” series.  Charley has even dealt with PTSD after she was almost tortured to death, and it took over a book for her to deal with it and come out on the other side changed.

Action/adventure of the Clive Cussler variety continues the tradition of the manly man Teflon hero.  

In your own books, you must decide if your main characters are Teflon or not.  Part of that decision is based on genre and audience expectations.  What do readers of the types of book you are writing expect?  The other part is author decision.  What kind of character do you want to write?

But consider the problem with Teflon and the reader.  The reader is much less likely to stick around without character change and growth.  

The Chaos Character

A character type I’ve noticed a lot in recent months of reading is what I call the chaos character.  Not only does the character create chaos around him by his actions, he fills many pages as he flounders about the main character or characters as they try to move forward toward their plot goal for the book.

Last night, the novel I read was peppered with the antics of a chaos character— an elderly uncle who kept appearing where he shouldn’t be so the other characters would have to stop what they were doing to keep him safe, or he would bring in new characters who might be involved in the mystery so he was making things more complicated and tainting the investigation.  

Did his almost constant presence improve the novel?  No, the plot turned into chaos to the point that no one was moving forward, and the plot had to solve itself.  A slight dose of this character could have been used for humor.  Instead, he proved to be nothing more than page filler which destroyed the mystery.  

Can a secondary chaos character work? As I said, in a small dose, yes.  In my TIME AFTER TIME about reincarnation, my hero and heroine are visiting a powerful psychic who is trying to help the hero convince the heroine that reincarnation is a real thing.  Everything is going positively until a medium friend of the psychic wanders in and blurts out information about the heroine’s mother that emotionally destroys the heroine. 

I use this chaos character, not only to mess up the hero’s plan, but, more importantly, to allow the hero to finally discover why the heroine is so reluctant to accept reincarnation.  After her mother’s sudden death, she was preyed on and badly hurt by a fake medium so that anything remotely resembling spiritual explanations or events freaks her out.  The main characters must move past this to find their happy ending.

A chaos character can be used as an important character, mostly as a villain.  The Joker from BATMAN is a chaos character as well as a psychotic killer. Loki from THE AVENGERS is also chaotic.  As a comic character, both can be over the top in a way that a novel character can’t so care must be taken in how this type of character is used.

A bit of chaos can add humor, danger, or misdirection, but too much creates a mess of a novel.  

Stupid in a Sea of Smart

“Idjits!” —Bobby Singer, SUPERNATURAL.

In the last week, I’ve read three books that depended on stupid main characters surrounded by people in the know.  I’m not talking characters who were mentally impaired in some way.  These characters were intelligent enough, but they were in situations where they were totally ignorant and everyone else knew and understood what was going on.  Heck, one book’s pet cat was smarter than its humans.  Sometimes, the main characters even refused to accept what the knowlegable characters knew despite evidence to the contrary.   

I’ve always preferred intelligent characters, but these characters bothered me beyond their behavior.  In each book, the constant need for explanations, protection by the more knowledgable characters, and the utter incompetence sucked the forward motion and interest right out of the book.  

Your main character should be active, not passive, in personality, plot choices, and forward motion, and stupid will suck the active right out of every element of the book.  

This doesn’t mean you should write a good-at-everything “Mary Sue” or a Sherlock Holmes character who understands everything, but you should have a character who has enough knowledge to move forward to gain more knowledge or information as the plot moves forward.  And, by no means, should you ever use stupidity as a major plot device through a book.  

New Year, Same Problems

Here are some important links about the business of being a writer.  If you have books with a small publisher or an e-publisher, be sure to read about bankruptcy clauses in your contracts.  Any author who has had to deal with publisher bankruptcy will tell you that it’s a very difficult situation to be in, and knowledge is power. 

Professional Links of Interest

COPYRIGHT CONCERNS AND PUBLISHING SCAMS LINKS (Pay particular attention to the bankruptcy clause article):

https://accrispin.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-best-of-writer-beware-2018-in-review.html

AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN BIG PUBLISHING AND SELF-PUBLISHING:

Part 1: 

https://kriswrites.com/2018/12/26/business-musings-the-current-state-of-disruption-planning-for-2019-part-1/

Part 2:

https://kriswrites.com/2019/01/02/business-musings-sales-planning-for-2019-part-2/

PROMOTION SITE LINKS:

https://the-digital-reader.com/2018/01/21/nates-big-list-free-paid-book-promotion-websites/

AMAZON INSIGHTS INTO PROMO (Offers some suggestions even if you aren’t a Kindle author) :

https://amazonauthorinsights.com/tagged/market

HOW TO SET UP YOUR AMAZON AUTHOR PROFILE:

https://the-digital-reader.com/2019/01/06/how-to-set-up-and-edit-your-amazon-com-author-profile/

A Very Vampire Christmas

With the traditional vampire, writers know vampires’ relationship to Christianity.  Crosses and Holy Water make them shriek and back away because vampires are demonic evil.  

These days, that’s not necessarily always true.  In Tanya Huff’s series about vampire Henry Fitzroy, he pals around with priests, carries a crucifix, and is the most religious of all the characters because he has seen true evil and wants to protect others from it.  

Charlaine Harris’ Stookie Stackhouse stories tosses in a bit of religion, mainly Stookie’s, in with the vampires and werewolves.  One of Harris’ short stories shares the name with this article as Viking vampire Eric tries to figure out Christmas so he can please his human girl friend.

Fictional monsters come in all shapes and kinds with a moral spectrum from light to dark and everywhere in between as it fits the story and the genre, and readers and writers are fine with that.

Then there’s stories based on the Greek and Norse mythologies.  Here’s where things have been getting weird with some writers.  Most of the Greek myth-based stories I’ve read have ignored Christianity and focused on the secular aspects of the characters. 

Or, in the case of Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson series, people go to the afterlife they believe in.

However, some writers using the Norse stories have been making some strange choices.  I just finished a contemporary paranormal story where Norse gods were Catholic and celebrated Christmas!  

Then there’s a story where every warrior or strong soul, no matter their religion or ethnicity, are taken to Valhalla when they die so they can fight at Ragnorak which is the Norse Apocalypse.  This essentially denies the truth of any other religion.  

Does this mixing or ignoring of the most prominent current religions work?  Not for me because it was so shocking that it knocked me out of the story.  Your tolerance may vary.

But it does pose a serious question you should ask in your worldbuilding.  How does contemporary religion and readers’ faith affect your story?  

What Christmas Songs Can Teach a Writer

"You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch."  The only character more interesting than a villain is a villain who is redeemed.

"Oh, Holy Night.”  A powerful story is often best told simply.

"I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”  Sometimes, something innocent can become creepy.

"The Twelve Days of Christmas.”  A one-sided romantic relationship is boring.

"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”  The underdog with a reviled talent makes a great hero.  

"Frosty the Snowman.”  A great character often deserves a sequel.  ("I'll be back again, some day." ) 

"Carol of the Bells.”  Driving rhythm can pull the reader forward.  

"Do You Hear What I Hear?"  You can tell a story through dialogue.

"Silent Night.”  A few simple images can create powerful emotions.

“Let It Snow, Let It Snow.”  The quiet, homey moments are often filled with the greatest emotions and memory.

"The Christmas Song.”  ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…." )  Setting alone can show strong emotion and story.

“I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas.”  A fantasy plot makes much more sense with lots of details.  (“There's lots of room for him in our two-car garage.  I'd feed him there and wash him there and give him his massage.”)  NOTE: Best Christmas novelty song ever!

"Good King Wenceslas.”  Sometimes, a character is remembered more for kindness than power or glory.

"I'll Be Home For Christmas.”  Home and family are two of the most powerful goals within the human heart.  

"Baby, It's Cold Outside."  "This is for your good, not mine" is a great seduction.

“Is that You, Santa Claus?”  Every good thing may disguise a bad thing.

"Jingle Bells" and "Jingle Bell Rock.”  The times and tempo may change, but the story remains the same.  

"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”  Sometimes, the character's emotions and the message aren't the same.  

"Santa Baby.”  With the right voice, even Santa and a chimney can be made into a double entendre.

“All I Want for Christmas Is You.”  Love is the greatest gift.  

Paragraph Lengths

QUESTION: I have trouble trying to figure out when to begin and end paragraphs and when to have dialogue included in the paragraph and when to have it stand on its own as an independent paragraph. 

Unlike nonfiction, there are no hard and fast rules for paragraphing in fiction.  Much of this is the writer's choice which is informed by experience as well as their need to emphasize certain things or break between actions.

And, surprisingly, some choices are as much visual as mental.  Most readers, these days, don't like long paragraphs so many writers paragraph more frequently than did past writers.  

Here are some good rules of thumb, though.

When you start with narrative followed by dialogue, the narrative should be about the person who will speak.

Adam studied the book's page then glanced back up at his friend.  "Pete, we have a problem here."

If the narrative was about Pete, Adam's line would be in a new paragraph.

Pete watched his friend anxiously as he read the rule book.

"We have a problem here,” Adam said.

If you have a long bit of narrative, it's usually a good stylistic choice to paragraph before the character's lines.  This breaks up the lines visually, and it also emphasizes the dialogue.

When you are writing a long speech by a character, you paragraph to emphasize subject, changes in subject, and the rhythm of the scene.

If you aren't sure about any of the above, read the dialogue aloud as the character would speak it.  Notice when you have natural pauses.  That's a good place for a paragraph break.

Dialogue shouldn't be too long, though.  Break it up with a bit of narrative. 

Adam shook his head in disgust and continued,

Or have other characters react or comment.  

"I can't believe Pete said that.  It doesn't sound like him."

For straight narrative with no dialogue, you should paragraph when the action shifts to another character.

Pete tripped but caught himself before falling flat on his face.  

Behind him, the sound of Adam's running feet moved toward him, then his friend stopped at his side. 

On the whole issue of paragraphing, don't be too uptight about it.

As long as the reader is clear about what is happening and the page isn't covered by long paragraphs, he won't even notice when you paragraph.