The Write Motive

Anonymous asked: Hi! I was wondering if you had any tips on how to make the reader feel emotion in the right places when reading your novel? I’ve felt so many emotions whilst reading and even cried quite a lot, but I want people to feel that way when reading my novel. I want my story to make an impression!

We all need to do our writing apprenticeships. We all have to make a living while we write our books. Have you considered trying one of these writing jobs?

I started the preparation for a novel and wondered what kind of things I should ask my most important characters. So I looked around on the net and put this list together.

1. What is your full name?

2. Date and place of birth?

3. Tell me about your parents?

4. Brothers? Sisters?

Writer Beware makes posts on which publishing houses to avoid at all costs, which words to look for and which words to watch out for in contracts, and several other things that will keep you in control and knowledgeable about the publishing process.  I’d suggest reading through the website if you want to avoid getting ripped off, cheated, or scammed.

Here are some of the most common openings I see, as they’re almost always a rejection:

Waking Up: Avoid the first moments of the day, especially if your character is being snapped out of a dream.

School Showcase: A character introducing the requisite best friend and the school bully

Family Showcase: Introductions of parents, siblings, pets

Room Tour: A character sitting in her room, thinking, looking over her stuff

Emo Kid: A character sitting and thinking about all his problems

Normal No More: A character lamenting how normal, average, and/or lame her life is, which is the writer setting us up for the big change that’s about to happen

Moving Van: A character in the car, driving to his new house, hating every minute of it

Mirror Catalogue: Looking at oneself and describing one’s flaws, usually with a self-deprecating voice

Summer of Torture: A character lamenting how she has to do something that she doesn’t want to do (live in a haunted house, go visit Grandma, work at the nursery) all summer long

New Kid: A character worrying about being the new kid on his first day of school or wizard training or the vampire academy

RIP Parents: One or both parental units kicking the bucket suddenly and tragically

Dystopian Selection: In the dystopian genre, it’s the day of choosing jobs, getting selected for something awful, being paired with a soul mate, etc.

In the constant battle of ‘showing vs telling’, describing your character’s emotions is one place that telling can sneak into your writing.

Think about the physical effects of emotions in order to show how your character is feeling.

Anonymous asked:

I really enjoy your So You Want To Write A Fantasy posts. Do you have any recommendations of good examples of fantasy/sci-fi books or movies that I can check out?

I’m going to preface this by saying: Yes, I do. I have not read everything, but there’s plenty of things out there that have been recommended to me, or read by others or places that have good recommendations. I like to be upfront with people - I am half White (Mayflower) and Half Hispanic (Mexican American/Yaqui descent). It has been infinitely easier for me to connect in the Fantasy realms of my WASP American heritage than my Mexican American heritage. I think I’m hyper aware of how race is portrayed in Fantasy because I only have half of myself represented in the media. My mother (Mexican American) grew up reading and watching White Fantasy and Sci-Fantasy, which in turn, is what I read/watched.

My knowledge is limited, but I think I can give you some ideas; mostly resources that come up with these such lists plus some links to Authors of Color and a Few Specific Books:

Black Science Fiction Society

Mind Blowing Sci-Fi by POC

TOR’s Mindblowing SF by Women and POC

ColorLines: The Ultimate 21st Century POC SF List 

SF/Fantasy by POC

50 Books by Queer People of Color

50 Books POC DeLiCious Lists

Feminist SF Net

SF Bookswap

Dead Bro Walking (likely to have lists and commentary somewhere…)

ABW - Media SF + Fantasy tag

50 Books POC Lists

50 Books Community Recs

American Indians in Children’s Lit

A reflection on the 50_POC Challenge + List

Tu Books (A SF/Fantasy Imprint for Children’s & YA Novels)

African American Science Fiction

Speculative & SF in Color (comments are Recs)

SF Works by People of Color

So Long Been Dreaming: Post-Colonial SF & Fantasy (an Anthology)

AFRO Sci-Fi

The Carl Brandon Society (Spec. Fiction)

SBattle AFRO Futurism/SF

Ursula K Le Guin

Laurence Yep (Asian Children’s/YA Fantasy & Historic Fiction)

Diversity Rollcall: SF/Fantasy

Color Online

SFF YA POC list

Fantasy Magazine’s Recommended Reading List: Characters of Color

Cosmos Latinos: A SciFi Anthology

Dark Matter: Reading the Bones (an Anthology)

YA Fantasy of Color

Fangs for the Fantasy: Reviews from a SJ perspective

Seeking Avalon’s POC Carnival

Animation in Asia

DesiLit Magazine

Metempsychosis of the Machine: Science Fiction in the Halls of Karma.

Secret Identities Graphic Anthology of Asian American Superheroes

Also check out these Asian Indie Comic Creators: Bryan Lee O’Malley, Kean Soo, E.J. Su, Amy Kim Ganter, Kazu Kabuishi, Gene Yang

Seriously check out Gene Yang’s American Born Chinese

AfriComics

Khmer Comics (Cambodian Comic Reads)

Magical Realism is Fantasy written in Spanish.

Stealth (Comic)

Race in American Science Fiction  

Black Space: Imagining Race in Sci-Fi Film

Tropes of Women of Color in Sci-Fi

Race & Reality in TV and SciFi

Race in Space: The Representation of Ethnicity in “Star Trek” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

Star Trek and History: Race-ing toward a White Future

Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek: Allegories of Desire in the Television Series and Films

Decoding Gender in Science Fiction

Native American Author Project

On Eurocentricity in Fantasy Fiction

YA Fantasy Diversity

Black & Brown Characters in Anime & Manga

East of Elvendom: POC in SF/F Art

5 Sci-Fi movies really about Racism

10 Reasons why Steampunk Fans should watch Avatar: The Last Airbender

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood (for the portrayal of the Ishvalans as parallel to the Japanese Ainu people and for the Buddhist undertones). Race is important in this series.

Dr. Who (specifically 10th Doctor for Martha Jones. Frankly she’s the only reason why I continued watching.)

Misfits (TV Series)

Attack the Block (Urban Zombie Sci-fi)

Star Trek (different series for different characters of color as well as the movies)

Read Racialicious for POC in pop culture. (they watch a lot of True Blood)…

Heroes before the show went downhill

Fringe, especially for Astrid

Sailor Moon for an all Japanese cast of badass girls.

Miyazaki anything but I insist you watch Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke

John Woo’s Red Cliff (the international version. It’s not quite fantasy, it’s more like a Chinese 300/Troy. Badass anyways.)

 Aida | One By One

Mulan (Disney version AND the Chinese film from 2009)

Steam Boy

Hulu by genre

Netflix - > Foreign -> Fantasy & Sci-Fi

Eon & Eona (which I have not finished reading but started, and liked.) The white author goes into the books she read for research on her webpage here.

Whew.

But wait, we’re not done. Here’s some more things to get you started. This links focus on Myth, Legend, History, and Folktales:

Warriors: Asian Women

Warriors: African Women

The Rest of ColorQ’s Articles which include: Same-sex/Female history and culture

The Beautiful Way of the Samurai: Same-sex love

Gay Tales of the Samurai

Comrade Loves of the Samurai

The Pillowbook of Sei Shonagun

Tales of Genji

Monkey: Folktale of China

Male Colors: The Construction of Homosexuality in Tokugawa Japan 

Passions of the Cut Sleeve: Homosexuality in China

The 3 Kingdoms (China)

Journey to the West (China)

The Ramayana (India)

The Epic of Giglamesh

Eskimo Folktales

Favorite Folktales Around the World

Myths and Legends of the Sioux

Tibetan Buddhist Folktales

Joseph Campbell’s Mythology books

Myths and myth-makers: Old Tales and Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology 

The Mythologies Of Ancient Mexico And Peru

The Popol Vuh (Mayan)

Egyptian Mythology

African American Folktales: Stories from Black Traditions in the New World (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library)

Diné Bahane’: The Navajo Creation Story

An Illustrated Dictionary of Gods & Symbols (Ancient Mexico and the Maya)

Inanna: From the Myths of Ancient Sumer 

African Folktales (The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

Encyclopedia Mythica

Useful Notes

Obakemono

“Pantheon” Myths Legend Collections.

That’s a small sample. Read. Read everything. You probably had to read Shakespeare or Beowulf or Chaucer. Now read the Tales of Genji or Popol Vuh. Read books on religion - read Buddhist Scripture or Hindu tales. Find the Mythology section of your local library or bookstore and park yourself there. Read stories. Many myths or folk tales are only a page or two long, and you can read them in short bursts, putting the book back when you’re done. Open up a book on Daoist philosophy or Confucianism or read about the Aztecs. Explore the Fertile Crescent. Read about the Mongolians, examine Art that isn’t western, isn’t European, and then figure out why the very core Philosophies of art were different. Discover perspective. Read about Africa, and not just Egypt. Study Archaeology or Anthropology or History. Take Art History. Read Non-western Literature Canon. File away everything for later use.

If you live in the US, go to a local Native Reservation and buy out their folktale book section. Or their history section. (Always patron Natives rather than buying rip off works! Boycott Urban Outfitters. You know the drill!) Hell, go to any culturally specific place, and buy their books. Chinatown, Little Mexico, the neighborhoods have books and libraries and they cling to them, because keeping this identity and cultural connection alive can be hard sometimes.

Walk into a Comic Convention. Tell yourself you cannot buy anything that doesn’t:

A.) Have a Protagonist of Color and/or

B.) Was written by a POC.

See how much you can buy besides a whole lot of manga or anime. (If you buy Manga or anime, buy the kind that contains specific cultural narratives.)

Actually, if you’re curious, I encourage the buying of Manga and Anime over American mainstream comics in general. Buy the hell out of Indie comics that feature POC/LGBTQ/etc. But be forewarned about DC/Marvel and their imprints: they will fuck your favorite characters over. Frequently. The fandom will not welcome you as a POC/Woman/WOC/LGBTQ unless you only hang out with those folks. The rest of them? They’re privileged assholes who will question your right to play in their sandbox or critique their toys. They’re rude, and they’re also in charge of the companies. Finding an American DC/Marvel comic written, inked, and colored by women is like finding gold lying on the sidewalk. It’s really rare. Finding that in Manga or Anime? Some of the most popular series are written by women. At least half the series on any given shelf are by women. You’ll find more LGBTQ stories in Manga/Anime than you will in any American comic. They may not all be portrayed in the best or most thoughtful light but you’re talking about having maybe one or two characters versus having entire ‘genre’ sections dedicated to these kinds of characters. Yes, Yaoi/Yuri can be fetishizing. There are also lots of really good romances within those genres or within the regular mainstream stories that are just presented as part of the story. (Hello Sailor Moon.)

If you don’t want to say, read a Buddhist scripture, pick up Tezuka’s Buddha. Look for the dozens of adaptions of different popular myths and legends into Fantasy series. Watch Wuxia films. Enjoy Toku live action. Find a place to see Bollywood films. Watch Nollywood films. Search for Novellas that have Fantasy elements or Korean Dramas or Japanese Dramas or Mandarin Chinese Dramas. Take advantage of Hulu’s Anime and Korean Dramas. Watch Generator Rex (he’s half Mexican.) Watch shows with subtitles. Movies with Subtitles. Steal away in the pages of History books. Read critical literature of your favorite series: read Harry Potter Critiques or Lord of the Rings Critiques or A Game of Throne Critiques. Read TVtropes and critique them.

Writers can use these 12 Archetypes to create characters

The 12 Common Archetypes by Carl Golden

The twelve archetypes are divided into ego types, self types, and soul types. 

1) The Four Ego Types   1. The Innocent Motto: Free to be you and me Core desire: to get to paradise Goal: to be happy Greatest fear: to be punished for doing something bad or wrong Strategy: to do things right Weakness: boring for all their naive innocence Talent: faith and optimism The Innocent is also known as: Utopian, traditionalist, naive, mystic, saint, romantic, dreamer.   2. The Orphan/Regular Guy or Gal Motto: All men and women are created equal Core Desire: connecting with others Goal: to belong Greatest fear: to be left out or to stand out from the crowd Strategy: develop ordinary solid virtues, be down to earth, the common touch Weakness: losing one’s own self in an effort to blend in or for the sake of superficial relationships Talent: realism, empathy, lack of pretence The Regular Person is also known as: The good old boy, everyman, the person next door, the realist, the working stiff, the solid citizen, the good neighbour, the silent majority.   3. The Hero Motto: Where there’s a will, there’s a way Core desire: to prove one’s worth through courageous acts Goal: expert mastery in a way that improves the world Greatest fear: weakness, vulnerability, being a “chicken” Strategy: to be as strong and competent as possible Weakness: arrogance, always needing another battle to fight Talent: competence and courage The Hero is also known as: The warrior, crusader, rescuer, superhero, the soldier, dragon slayer, the winner and the team player.   4. The Caregiver Motto: Love your neighbour as yourself Core desire: to protect and care for others Goal: to help others Greatest fear: selfishness and ingratitude Strategy: doing things for others Weakness: martyrdom and being exploited Talent: compassion, generosity The Caregiver is also known as: The saint, altruist, parent, helper, supporter.   2) The Four Soul Types           5. The Explorer Motto: Don’t fence me in Core desire: the freedom to find out who you are through exploring the world Goal: to experience a better, more authentic, more fulfilling life Biggest fear: getting trapped, conformity, and inner emptiness Strategy: journey, seeking out and experiencing new things, escape from boredom Weakness: aimless wandering, becoming a misfit Talent: autonomy, ambition, being true to one’s soul The explorer is also known as: The seeker, iconoclast, wanderer, individualist, pilgrim.   6. The Rebel Motto: Rules are made to be broken Core desire: revenge or revolution Goal: to overturn what isn’t working Greatest fear: to be powerless or ineffectual Strategy: disrupt, destroy, or shock Weakness: crossing over to the dark side, crime Talent: outrageousness, radical freedom The Outlaw is also known as: The rebel, revolutionary, wild man, the misfit, or iconoclast.   7. The Lover Motto: You’re the only one Core desire: intimacy and experience Goal: being in a relationship with the people, work and surroundings they love Greatest fear: being alone, a wallflower, unwanted, unloved Strategy: to become more and more physically and emotionally attractive Weakness: outward-directed desire to please others at risk of losing own identity Talent: passion, gratitude, appreciation, and commitment The Lover is also known as: The partner, friend, intimate, enthusiast, sensualist, spouse, team-builder.   8. The Creator Motto: If you can imagine it, it can be done Core desire: to create things of enduring value Goal: to realize a vision Greatest fear: mediocre vision or execution Strategy: develop artistic control and skill Task: to create culture, express own vision Weakness: perfectionism, bad solutions Talent: creativity and imagination The Creator is also known as: The artist, inventor, innovator, musician, writer or dreamer.   3) The Four Self Types   9. The Jester Motto: You only live once Core desire: to live in the moment with full enjoyment Goal: to have a great time and lighten up the world Greatest fear: being bored or boring others Strategy: play, make jokes, be funny Weakness: frivolity, wasting time Talent: joy The Jester is also known as: The fool, trickster, joker, practical joker or comedian.   10. The Sage Motto: The truth will set you free Core desire: to find the truth. Goal: to use intelligence and analysis to understand the world. Biggest fear: being duped, misled—or ignorance. Strategy: seeking out information and knowledge; self-reflection and understanding thought processes. Weakness: can study details forever and never act. Talent: wisdom, intelligence. The Sage is also known as: The expert, scholar, detective, advisor, thinker, philosopher, academic, researcher, thinker, planner, professional, mentor, teacher, contemplative.   11. The Magician Motto: I make things happen. Core desire: understanding the fundamental laws of the universe Goal: to make dreams come true Greatest fear: unintended negative consequences Strategy: develop a vision and live by it Weakness: becoming manipulative Talent: finding win-win solutions The Magician is also known as: The visionary, catalyst, inventor, charismatic leader, shaman, healer, medicine man.   12. The Ruler Motto: Power isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Core desire: control Goal: create a prosperous, successful family or community Strategy: exercise power Greatest fear: chaos, being overthrown Weakness: being authoritarian, unable to delegate Talent: responsibility, leadership The Ruler is also known as: The boss, leader, aristocrat, king, queen, politician, role model, manager or administrator.

Note: There are four cardinal orientations: freedom, social, ego, order. The types have a place on these orientations.

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