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“Mrs. Holmes!” His foot firmly in the door, John Clayborne pushes his way inside the apartment. “You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to finally speak to you in private.”
“I’m— I’m sorry, but I’ve already told you. I don’t need your services.” Her hand twitches, longing for the comfort of her scythe. If she could summon it, if she could just find the strength, she could get him out of her apartment. But it doesn’t answer her call. She knows it won’t. “I think you should leave.”
“Leave?” He tilts his head, a smile playing on his lips. “But we have so much to talk about! Especially where Caden is concerned.”
Her heart leaps into her throat, almost completely blocking her airway. She curls her hand into a fist, but still her scythe does not answer. “What do you want with Caden? His debts are clear. He has no need of your financial services, Mr. Clayborne.”
“Oh, that he doesn’t. I’ll give you that.”
He takes a step towards her. Out of habit, out of a growing fear in her gut, Ianthe matches it with one step back. The air in the room is heavier now, threatening her lungs. She has to find a way to escape; one that does not involved violence with a well-respected lawyer.
She bumps into the couch and reaches behind her, to support herself. “Then what do you want?”
“You, Mrs. Holmes! You are the one that cheated Death, that brought back a lover from beyond the grave, and you… you are living with him!” He laughs the last sentence, raising his hands to cup his cheeks. His fingers scratch at his beard. “You’ve found a way to best Death, and I need to know how.”
If his presence wasn’t making her sick, then his last words surely push her over the edge. He knows. Somehow, someway, he knows about what she’s done. Not even the police have realized that a dead man walks in New York City; they seem oblivious to the fact a murder victim is alive and well. So how can he know? How could a stranger ever discover her secret?
Her heart beats louder now, muffling her own thoughts.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh! Oh, of course. Of course, you don’t… you don’t want anyone to know! I understand that. Otherwise, everyone would be knocking on your door, demanding that you give them the secrets of life and death.” He moves forward again, effectively pinning her to the couch. “But I need to know. I need to know more than any of them, Ianthe. I need to know how you did it.”
“No, you don’t.”
His eyes flash, lips curling just slightly. “I do. More than you know. More than she knows. What. Did. You. Do.”
“Why? Let’s… Let’s just say, hypothetically, that I do know what you’re talking about.” Good. Good, Ianthe, keep talking, keep breathing. Just wait until Caden gets home, and then you don’t have to worry about your scythe or defending yourself. Not against a mortal. “Let’s say my husband did die, and that he’s back to life and living as though nothing has happened. Why do you think you deserve that knowledge?”
If anything, the question makes him step back. He scratches at his chin once again. “We’ve all lost someone, Ianthe. We’ve all lost someone very dear to them. Death is… inevitable. From the moment we are born, we die. But we don’t have to. We can stop it. I just need to know how you did it, and I… I will finally be able to bring my little girl home.”
“Oh my fuck.” She leans back, threatening to fall, to roll over the back of the couch. “Oh my Jesus fuckin’ Christ.”
“My daughter deserved better, Ianthe. She deserved to live. If your husband got that second chance, shouldn’t she?” He reaches forward, to grab her arms, and pulls her closer. “Shouldn’t she!”
But Ianthe isn’t listening anymore. She can’t. A child’s death, a need to stop Death not just as the entity she is, but as a concept. John Clayborne isn’t just any grieving father. He’s…
It’s black history month so as a black girl, I’d like to leave a few reminders for non-black people:
•Recognize the fact that many black people are a part of the LGBT community and that it’s not just white people who can be gay, bi, etc.
•Acknowledge the black men and women that have been victims of hate crimes
•Include black women in your feminism
•If a black person calls you out over something racist that you’ve said, don’t say “Well actually...” or “My black friend says...” Just don’t. If you’re getting called out for something, it’s for a reason.
•Don’t speak over us.
•Don’t act like you know better than we do about our own history and/or culture
Storyteller Saturday! 💖 First of all, love your url~ Second, if your characters were to have their dream vacation, where would it be to, and what would they do there?
Happy STS! And thank you so much!
For Mrs. and Mr. Holmes-- Caden really wants to go visit Egypt. Not just because it’s beautiful, but because he sees the way Ianthe’s eyes light up when she mentions her time there. He wants to spend time there and experience it through her eyes and the places that matter to her. And she want to show it to him.
For Samira-- She’s always wanted to be a writer and so wants to visit New York and Seattle, along with others “writers’ cities” to see if they can stir her inspiration. She’s never left her small town home, aside from her Reaper missions, and would love to see more of the world before she settles into a career.
For Josephine-- Because of her connection to the other members of her team, as well as her wife, she wants to visit each of their homelands. She hasn’t been to France since the late 1700′s and wants to spend a summer walking through the countryside. She wants to get drunk and party with Abigail, meet Samira’s parents and the twin she loves so much. For Josephine, her teammates are her family, and their homes are her home, too.
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Happy STS! If your character(s) were applying for a job, what would stand our most on their résumé?
Happy STS!
FOR IANTHE-- Probably the fact she spent time working in Egypt with her father. Father Holmes is an archaeologist who often took his daughter with him on trips before she was able to go off to college. She has first-hand knowledge with the pieces of her past and treasures them. One day, when the events of the book are long over, she hopes to eventually get a job in archival work.
FOR CADEN-- He’s worked with alcohol for longer than he was legally allowed, though he CAN’T mention that part. What he does bring up is that he used to work in a popular casino in Las Vegas before moving to New York. That reference actually landed him his current job at a burlesque club as the bar manager!
FOR JOHN-- Currently, he works as a partner in a law firm and got that job because of an internship he did in DC! Although he wanted to go into criminal law, it was much more lucrative for him to do financial. He has exceptional leadership, organizational, and persuasive skills, which benefit him both in his law practice and his position as the leader of the Order.
Hopefully by now you know that in most of your scenes you need to have a character in a setting with tension, but there is an area of writing where I don’t feel like we spend enough time talking about, which is blocking. And I’m not talking about writer’s block.
The term “blocking” is borrowed from play performances. Blocking is just about anything an actor does that isn’t dialogue: where they stand, where they look, how they interact with the setting, how they move across the stage, how close they are to what, how they interact with props. Often audiences pay little attention to blocking, or rather they don’t think about it enough to appreciate it.
But if a play has little to no blocking, well, that’s a tough play to sit through as an audience. They may not always have an eye for great blocking, but they’ll notice if it’s not there.
Blocking is just as important in fiction writing. And like with plays, it’s likely the reader won’t appreciate great blocking, but they’ll get antsy and annoyed if there is no blocking, and they’ll get confused if there is poor blocking.
If you don’t use blocking, not only does it make it difficult for the audience to imagine where your characters are relative to the setting, but you’re selling your story short by not using it to your advantage.
As an editor, I see blocking problems crop up from time to time, usually in dialogue scenes. The writer will tell me where the characters are (for example, cooking in the kitchen), but then as I read the scene, I get no sense of specifically where each character is in the room, what each one is doing, if they are standing at an island or sitting at the table, chopping lettuce for a salad, or loading the dish washer. Next thing I know, not only are they done cooking, but they are done eating and are outside getting in the suburban.
Sure, some scenes don’t require much, if any, blocking. But in most scenes, you need some sense of blocking.
Likewise, you can over-block a scene–putting so much blocking in, that it becomes unnecessary, sucks up the scene’s focus, and slows the pacing.
A great narrative hand knows how much to guide the reader and when to back off.
So let’s get to some tips about blocking:
Watch out for:
- Continuity Errors. One of the main problems I see with blocking in unpublished fiction is continuity errors. In one line, a character is sitting on a couch in the living room, and a few lines later, she’s sitting on her bed, in the same scene with no sense of motion. Often it can happen with objects characters are holding. Misty is knitting a scarf, but then a few lines later, it says she’s knitting a blanket. It can happen with food. Zack has a cup of orange juice, but later it talks about how he’s enjoying the taste of coffee.
Watch out for when characters’ hands are full or when you have them doing something they aren’t capable of. For example, say it’s been recently established that Sandra glued back together two broken figurines and she’s holding one each hand. While she’s waiting for them to dry, she doesn’t dare put them down , and then suddenly she’s buttoning up the jacket of her little boy. What happened to the figurines?
In some cases, motions can be assumed–but make sure they can be, or that you imply them somehow, so that it doesn’t read like a continuity error.
Watch out for having characters sit down, who were already sitting, or characters standing up who were already standing. Characters who put on their shoes twice, or turn off the fan twice.
- Spatial Vagueness. I’m trying to decide if I see this one more than continuity errors … and I have to say probably. Another one of the most common problems with blocking, is vagueness. This usually happens because the setting, objects, or characters’ distances from one another or other things haven’t been properly established. I might get a line that says, “Joey walked down the street”–and as the scene goes on, I get no sense of what street, what city, what it looks like, what season it is, or where or why he is walking in the first place. Sometimes I don’t get any sense of setting and only conversations and body language, and next I know, I read the line “Tiff walked inside.” What? They were outside that whole conversation? And what did she walk into?
When blocking is vague, the audience has to fill in the blanks, which can be a problem if it’s not what the author actually pictures. As an editor, this often happens to me. I’ll be picturing the characters sitting in opposite places in a living room, and then suddenly I’m reading how one put her arm around the other. In my head, they weren’t close enough to each other to do that.
Use:
- Specificity. Being specific isn’t necessarily the same as being detailed. Details can help make something be specific, but they aren’t the same thing. And with blocking, in some cases, the more detailed it is, the more it hurts the story because it slows the pacing and changes the story’s focus. In my example above, “Joey walked down the street,” the sentence can be more specific by adding and changing a few words. “Joey walked down Mulberry Street, autumn leaves crunching under his feet.”
In certain kinds of action scenes, it can be very important to be specific in word choice, and not in details. “Joey leapt for the fire escape.” “Margaret hit Lolly in the jaw.” But if you try to put too much detail into action, it can slow the moment way down.
In some cases, it’s helpful to establish the setting before the characters start interacting with it. This makes the setting or “stage” more specific in the reader’s mind. They know there is a pool table and pinball machine in the room, so when one character slams the other into the pool table, it makes sense. Be specific, not vague. How much detail you include depends on pacing and the focus of the scene.
- Blocking to contribute to or emphasize points. This is especially true for conversations. As an argument gets more intense, a character may invade the other’s personal space. If one character suddenly says something that makes the other uncomfortable, the latter may take a step back. If one character is vulnerable, whether the second draws closer or steps away can convey a lot.
Of course, you can use setting and props to do the same thing. As an argument gets intense, one character throws something at the other. If someone is uncomfortable, she might put something (an island, a couch, a car, a teeter-totter) between them. If she’s feeling vulnerable, she might “hide” or “block” herself by getting a blanket, picking up a book to look at, or turning away from the speaker to pretend interest in a rose bush.
When Sherlock gets frustrated, what does he do? He stabs the mantle. He puts a bullet in the wall.
This is blocking that emphasizes and contributes to the situation or point at hand.
Even in a scene where blocking is the primary focus (building an invention, competing in America Ninja Warrior, forging a sword, hunting), how the character interacts with the setting and objects can emphasize points–how tightly he holds a screwdriver, how sweaty her hands are against a climbing wall, the way he beats the metal, how many shots she shoots.
You can also use blocking to heighten tension. “He picked up a knife and concealed it under the table,” immediately adds tension and anticipation to a scene.
- Blocking to Convey Character. Similar, yet different from, the last section, you can use blocking to convey character, rather than just the moment at hand. The fact that Sherlock stabs the mantle whenever he gets frustrated is something specific to his character. It helps establish who he is. And actually, that fact becomes specifically important in season four–when we understand that he, someone who is supposedly not driven by emotion, sometimes manifests more raw emotion than any one else.
A character who sees litter at a park and picks it up is much different than one who adds to it. A character who comforts a crying stranger is different than one who ignores them. A character who always makes sure she’s near an exit is different than one who could care less. Blocking is great to show character and their feelings, rather than tell them.
- Blocking to give motion to still or stagnant scenes. You may sometimes have scenes where all that really matters is the conversation between two of your characters, or maybe you need to have your character delve into a moment of introspection to solve a mystery. It might not matter even where this moment takes place. A lot of beginning writers will open a story with a character sitting and thinking. One of the reasons this is a problem is because there is no motion, there is nothing happening in the present moment.
Use blocking to add motion. Instead of having your character sit and think, maybe you can have her catching insects for her bug collection while she thinks. Not only does this create more motion and interest, but also gives you material for the two bullet points before this one, so that it can actually add to the introspection and characterization. The fact she just caught a monarch butterfly might not be important to the main plot, but it tells us more about her, and in fact, you can even use that event and butterfly as a type or symbol of whatever she’s thinking about for added emphasis and tone.
With that said, some conversations are very important, interesting, have high tension, or natural draws–they may have incorporeal motion–and already carry the audience, and sometimes when you put in blocking, it actually takes away from that, instead of contributing to it, by drawing away the audience’s attention. Their attention to the conversation is competing with the blocking. So watch for that.
- Blocking for natural pauses, lulls in conversations, and for beats in dialogue. On the topic of dialogue exchanges, when there is a natural pause in dialogue or a lull in conversation, instead of saying “There was a moment of quiet,” you can put in a bit of blocking to convey that.
“Forget it,” Fred said. “I didn’t want your help anyway.”
Nancy looked down at the scarf she was crocheting and realized her hands had stopped moving. She put the scarf down on the coffee table, and flattened it out as she tried to find her words.
“You like her, don’t you?” she asked.
You can also use blocking for beats in dialogue. Rather than always using dialogue tags, you can use a beat to imply who is speaking what line.
“Cedric Diggory was murdered,” Harry said.
“Whatever you’ve been told,” Professor Umbridge said, “that. Is. A. Lie.”
Harry shot up out of his desk. “It’s not a lie!”
Happy Storyteller Saturday! — How openly does your OC show their emotions? How emotional are they typically? Are there certain emotions that they express more freely than other ones?
HELL YEAH SO.
MS. IANTHE HOLMES is very tight-lipped around people she has not yet opened up to. She prefers to be seen as stern and confident, and she is! But she also has a secret warm and silly side to her. With Caden, and later her teammates, she is known to make dry jokes, dab occasionally, and use sarcasm to lighten the mood. ANGER is a very easy emotion for her, while softer emotions (LOVE, WORRY, ETC) take a bit more of an effort.
MR. CADEN HOLMES is a fucking open book 95% of the time. He’s fun and open, a real jokester. He openly and honestly LOVES his wife. At the same time, he had a really rough life before he met Ianthe and prefers to not think or mention it, and often deflects questions about it with a shrug and a joke. His easiest emotion is LOVE, while the hardest for him (not technically an emotion) HONESTY.
BONUS ROUND:
DEATH HERSELF is probably the most open of them all. She’s warm and bubbly, but will not hesitate to let you know when you’ve done fucked up. She has been around too long to bother with secrets, though this does sometimes mean that she “forgets” to mention things. (She can’t lie, so she doesn’t see it as being dishonest, no matter what people might say.) She’s very MOTHERLY to her reapers, and to the souls she carries. All in all, she’s had a literal eternity to find herself. She’s good where she’s at.
Once again, Saturday has struck! And once again, I want to attempt to revive this lovely event! (It was a whole lot of fun last week!)
Reblog this post if you want people to send you asks about your writing, wip, or characters today! For each ask you get, try and send one back in return!
This event was originally started by @lonely-pages-of-ink and @drist-n-dither, and was a huge, incredibly fun writeblr event when I first joined this community, but has since fallen in participation and awareness. You can read the original info post here!
And don’t feel shy about sending asks to writeblrs you know nothing about—this is a wonderful way to get to know new stories, and make new friends!
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Useful things I like to do when writing Character Arcs
The obvious one is, of course, to consider your characters flaws. Are they shy, rude, arrogant, sacrifical? If so, then it will be easy to write an arc about them overcoming those flaws
Think about the characters strengths and then INVERT that. For example, if you have a character who is a natural born leader, why not give them an arc about learning to step back and allow others to take lead? If you have a naturally calm or stoic character, why not let them learn that sometimes, showing your emotions is okay, or to better empathise with others. If you have a friendly character, let them learn how to understand that some of their friends are introverts or that they themselves may want to be alone sometimes
Challenge your characters worldview. If your character is devout, then let them experience something that shakes their faith in their religion, while maybe an atheist starts to believe in religion after a certain experience. Have a pacifist? They could learn that sometimes, talking isn't going to get them out of a situation, and they have to fight, or, a bloodthirsty character who starts to see the violence isn't always the answer
When writing A Heroes Fall (hero to villain), it's important to remember that nobody just wakes up and decides to be the bad guy. It's usually a lot of bad decisions after another until they're in too deep and can't go back
Relating to the last one, just because your villain is sympathetic, doesn't mean they should be redeemed, and if they are, you should probably be creating a redeemable villain right from the start. Don't just slap on a sad back story and go 'and now they're good'. Make them WORK for it
Characters screw up all the time, as is normal, so a character arc about a character owning up and fixing one of their mess ups? Sign me up, that's good (and not exclusively for villains btw)
Finally, and most importantly, your characters, whatever the species, have emotions. No matter how stoic and unfeeling they may be portrayed they do have emotions. If something happens, something stressful or troubling, write as you or anyone else would react. Maybe they get mad, or blame others or panic or storm off. Maybe LATER they can come back and look things over with a cooler head, but then do they own up to their mistakes and apologise? Or are they too proud?
It’s all Ianthe can think as she stares up at the looming figure. As impossible as it sounds… who else could it be? A woman far taller than herself, pale as a ghost, and so terribly, horribly incomprehensible. In the face of Death itself, Ianthe does what any reasonable person would do— she falls to her knees, face pressed against the cool hardwood floor, and struggles to breathe. She is not Persephone, but She is just as terrifying.
“No, no, get up.” Death kneels in front of her, resting a hand gently upon Ianthe’s. Her skin is cool, though not cold, and smooth. It takes all Ianthe has not to tremble before her. “This is no way to behave in front of a possible employer, my dear.”
Oh.
Oh, that’s right. She offered a deal of some sort; a job, apparently.
Slowly, Ianthe pushes herself to her feet, though she cannot yet bring herself to meet the Lady’s face. Death’s hand slips down, the other accompanying it to take Ianthe’s between them. It would have been a tender moment, if she wasn’t so absolutely terrified.
“There. There, now, that’s much better.” A hand lifts, to rest against her cheek, and Death tilts her head. Despite it all, her voice is kind, tender; a mother comforting a frightened child. “Equal footing.”
There is no possible way she could ever be equal to the force of nature before her.
“Now, I believe you and I have an agreement to make.”
“Agreement?” There’s no hiding the way her voice trembles, even as she curses herself for it.
But if Death hears, she does not acknowledge; simply nods her head in agreement. “Yes. You see, my dear, the Lady heard your cries. She felt your sorrow. She knows what it means to be separated from the love of her life.”
“I, in no way, meant to compare my pain to hers. She brings life to the world. She is a Goddess, and I—” She stops when Death raises a hand, gaze falling. “My apologies. I did not mean to interrupt.”
“The Lady knows your pain, but she is not so easily wavered. It is her husband whose pity you’ve garnered, my dear, and Hades whom argued for your position. It is because of their shared love and your devotion to them both that I am here, little witch.”
“My humblest of thanks to them both. What is it that the gods have to offer a blossoming witch?”
That earns a soft laugh from Death, who finally releases Ianthe’s hands. She lifts her right hand, and a scythe materializes. Ianthe’s heart leaps into her chest.
“Employment, plain and simple. You have offered the Goddess six souls, my dear, in the name of love. It is a start.” She twirls the scythe briefly, and then offers it handle-side out to the woman. “As with the long-lost Orpheus and his doomed bride, commitment and trust are the most difficult aspects of a relationship. Anyone can act impulsively in love, but do you have the commitment to see it through? Can you walk through the dark and never look back?”
“For him?”
“For the pair of you.”
Ianthe extends a hand, fingers wrapping around the scythe’s wooden handle. It is significantly taller than her four-foot-eleven frame, somewhere in the range of six feet, with a weight that tugs at her very soul. There is death magic in its core.
“Explain your terms, my lady.”
Death releases the scythe. Now resting solely in Ianthe’s hands, it shrinks to a more bearable height, though the weight remains. The weight of death, of love, of the souls she has already sacrificed.
Death clasps her hands together, letting them rest near her waist. “The way the world turns is a delicate balance, Ianthe Holmes. Life is fleeting. War is everywhere. Poverty, hatred, love, and, eventually, death— these are factors that affect every soul that wanders this world. Some accept it. Others fight, struggle to remain even when the world has moved on. You have fought against the natural order for the love in your heart, and now you must prove you are willing to make that right.”
It isn’t hard to put two and two together.
“You want… a new reaper?”
The Lady bobs her head. “It is your price, Ianthe, though you need not worry about suffering this path alone. You are not the first to scream and beat your chest for my interference. You are not the first I have been allowed to help.”
“If I agree, then what? What becomes of Caden?”
“Take heart, child, for he will remain with you. But this is not an easy decision, I understand. The life of a Reaper is not easy; it is not just taking the ill and elderly from their beds. It—”
“I don’t care about that!” As soon as the words come from her lips, Ianthe flinches back. Her eyes fall to the scythe in her hands. Her stomach twists once more. “I do not care about the weight it brings me. I do not care what I will endure, so long as he returns to me.”
Death’s gentle fingers find Ianthe’s chin and tilt her head up. Although she cannot see her face, Ianthe can sense the sorrow in her gaze, the smile on her lips. For a woman without comprehension, she is remarkably easy to read. Is that from centuries of practice, or their proximity?
“It’s your choice.”
Though her words her kind, her tone gentle, Ianthe knows they are a lie. She begged Persephone for the chance to retrieve her husband; she wept, she fought, and she murdered to have him back by her side. To ignore the offer before her would be to spit in her goddess’ face. But more than that, it would be a betrayal of her vows. Chin lifted, Ianthe takes one step forward, and then another.
“I will tell you as I told him,” whispers the woman. Her mouth is dry, her throat tight, but still she continues, “I would tear the sky apart and hail stars down upon this world before I ever abandoned him. He is mine. And I am yours.”
She cannot see beyond that incomprehensible mask, but Ianthe could swear Death smiled by the tilt of her head. A moment later, she nods in agreement, offers out a hand.
“Very well, my child. By the Lady’s blessings and by your own will, the deal is struck.” A ghost hand extends, and, when accepted, Ianthe is surprised to find her skin warm to the touch. The tension eases from her shoulders. “A thousand souls, reaped in defense of my name, for the love of your life. Acceptable?”
“Acceptable.”
The smell of lilies wafts forth once more, and then the warmth disappears. Death is gone. Her shoulders sag, a deep breath coursing through her lungs.
The lock clicks behind her.
“Hey, darlin’, you’re home—” Caden’s words are cut off in a grunt as Ianthe wraps her arms around his middle, burying her face in his chest. He tenses within her grip, hesitating, before he returns the embrace. “Hey, hey, there. Hey there, Annie. Bad day at work?”
“Oh, you have no idea.”
Chuckling, he pries himself from her grip, only to scoop her into his arms bridal-style. She doesn’t protest, but instead simply rests her head against his shoulder. Her eyes close.
Drama within or between covens. “I’m so tired of these fake witches taking up our space and giving us a bad name.” “Stop gatekeeping, magic is for everyone!”
Hero Tier:
The wizard-warlock-sorceror distinction
Witches and psychics who are bad at explaining
Witches and psychics who hate cryptic language and will sabotage their peers who talk to clients that way
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