I Have No Idea What I’m Talking About

For this I would like you to direct yourattention towards the Fire Nation from Avatar:The Last Airbender. I know I reference this show a lot, but that’s merelybecause it has such amazing writing. If you haven’t watched it, I would recommendit if only to admire the writing of the characters, places, and people.

On that vein, here are some thing that canmake your empire both believable and terrifying.

Make it Good at One Point

Noteverything starts off just evil. Sure, some people set out to directly opposethe good of the world, but sometimes they startoff at the good in the world. Sometimes the things they begin doing is goodbut turns bad at some point.

It’seasy, really easy, for good intentions to turn bad. And perhaps their citizens,or at least their soldiers, don’t know that others consider them evil. They believethat after all this time, they’re still doing good—and on that vein, make themdo bad will still believing they’re good.

Have the Leader Charismatic

Thereare a lot of Evil Empires where the leader is a clear madman. Take EmperorPalpatine—the man is straight crazy once he drops is façade. There’s no gettingaround that. But before he does, he’s a trusted man. People put their faith inhim and believed in him—he seems like a very nice man.

Have yourEvil Emperor be like that: nice, kind, loving in a twisted way that’s hard tosee is manipulative. Straight up insane is fun to write no doubt, but havingyour leader be influential can lead to some very interesting scenarios. Charismaticpeople can change the minds of even the toughest of heroes if they’re given theopportunity.

Start at the Beginning

As I saidearlier, they don’t always start off bad. However, sometimes they do. Understandinghow it go its start, how it grew to be what it is the heroes know it to be whenthey’re opposing it, can make it interesting. And on that, understanding howthe one(s) in power became the way they are can be interesting as well. Knowingwhy they’re doing what they’re doing and knowing motive could be key to whatthe hero(es) need to defeat them.

All of that being said, there’s no right wayto do it, just interesting ways. You can play off of things that you know, ormix them up, or try something completely different. It’s entirely up to you. Inthe meantime,

The simple answer? No. Writing isn’t an innateskill. It’s not a talent some people are born with and others are forsaken. That’sjust not how skills work.

The longer answer? Still starts with a no, butI’ll explain why. Writing is somethingthat’s cultivated over time. Like drawing or skating or running. People didn’tbecome amazing at these things because one day they got into a race a beat theother person like it was nothing. It’s something they practiced over a longtime.

Personally, I’m only good at writing because I’vebeen writing for a long time. I’m only nineteen, but I’ve been writing since I wasten. That’s nine years I’ve been nurturingthis skill and I’ve still got a long ways to go.

I didn’t start writing because it wassomething I was just good at. I’ve read over some of my earlier work and let metell you—it’s definitely something I won’t let see the light of day again. But it’sbecause I was so bad and strived to get better that I’m where I am now.

And if you’re struggling, it’s because you’retrying to get better and you’re in a weird in between stage of knowing what youwant to write, and not being able to do it—andthat’s more than okay. It’s normal to struggle as you continue to grow yourskill. It’s normal to want to set it down and walk away. Any writer can tellyou that they’ve been there—and some are still there and continue to writeanyway.

Writing is like any other skill—it needs time and energyand effort for it to grow the way you want it to and anyone, including you, iscut out for it. Andwith that, I’ll leave you with this, an animated short about drawing thatcontains one of my favorite quotes about skill.

In the meantime,

Making The™ Chosen™ One™ not cliché can bedifficult. For one, they’re meant to be this powerful, important person whosaves the day, right? What flaws are they supposed to have if they’re meant tosave everyone, you know? Well, here’s a few things I have learned.

Flaws, Flaws, FLAWS

No oneis free of flaws! Absolutely no one. Something important is to make sure yourcharacter has flaws. Are they too aggressive? Do they have problems saying no? Arethey just not mature enough? Their flaw could be a number of things and justone isn’t enough. Give them more!

Not onlyare they going to have flaws, they’re going to be things that get in the way ofthem doing things. If killing is something that needs to be done, but they canbe brought to hurt anything, that can be a problem—a big problem if thecircumstances are right.

On apersonal level, I know I’m moody, irritable, and have a hard time lettingthings go—among other things. And that leads me right to my next point.

Draw from Real Life

I saythis a lot when people ask about making believable characters, but that’s becauseit’s so, so important (to me at least).

In reallife, you meet a lot of different people. A lot. If you’ve ever been inWal-Mart for more than five minutes, I’m sure you’ve ran into a plethora of personalitiesand appearances. All of these are useable in the story you’re crafting.

Ran intosomeone obnoxious in the checkout line? Boom, character flaw for The ChosenOne. Happened to overhear a conversation about how they really need to cut downon TV? Another character flaw. I’m not saying to pile them on, I’m just sayingthat they are a person like you an me. The only thing that makes them differentis fate and even then, that might be pushing it.

MAKE Them the Chosen One

I’m notsaying to make a character that is TheChosen One and nothing else. I’m saying to make is clear in the story why they’rethe one who was chosen. Come up with ways for them to prove themselves and growinto the role that was thrust upon them. They don’t have to want it at first. Theydon’t even have to accept it as truth. Hell, they could even reject it. Butthat the end of the day, they are TheChosen One. Make them into the hero they can be.

And thetrials that they face don’t have to be death defying. They don’t have to begrand. They can be small victories that mean a lot to them as a person. They canbe breaking their moral code because theirright thing to do isn’t what’s right for everyone else.

Like I said before, they’re a person like therest of us. Define what makes them The ChosenOne, while at the same time not forgetting that no matter we grow, there islikely still room to improve. In the meantime,

The motivation of a character doesn’t necessarilyhave to be complex. Something as simple as staying alive can work just fine.But there another problem your plot brings up: his mother does not seem quitesound of mind. Perhaps she’s in a self-fulfilling prophecy and thus her son is definitelygoing to dethrone her. Here are two motivations I can see your characterhaving:

Save his Country

So,with his mother being the way she is, staying alive is probably going to be histop priority. However, this scenario brings into question his mother’s sanityand, perhaps, her ability to correctly rule the people. His motivation could bethat he will dethrone her, if only sohe can make sure his people aren’t being ruled by someone very willing to killtheir son. People like that typically aren’t fit to sit on the throne.

Save his Mother

Again, hismother doesn’t seem to be the best at the moment. Although, there is likely away to help his mother. If she wasn’t always like this, if she was a goodmother and person, then perhaps there’s way a get her back to the way she wasbefore the prophecy. Perhaps there’s a reason she became so murderous afterhearing the prophecy.

There are more, of course, but hopefully thiswill get you a bit of a start to finding character motivation. If you needanything, feel free to shoot me another ask. In the meantime,

Aliens are much like any group of beings. They’re strange, diverse, and uniquely their own. If you want to know about making them a believable species, look at this post where I list the things I think are needed to make a culture.

If you’re asking about physical appearances, then think about the things around you. Human are descended from apes or monkeys or what have you. What if there was a race the descended from bees? Or even bears? The races doesn’t even have to be a fully actualized version like humans are (that is, if humans are the last version). It could be some in between ones. 

And more than anything, look at the ones around you. Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who—all of these shows have aliens in them. It doesn’t have to be a copy of what you see, but drawing inspiration from the world around is part of being an artist. If that means taking a few ideas from existing mediums, then that’s what it means.

I, of course, am by no means an expert, but this is what I know from my experience. In the meantime,

A list of a few self-publishing companies that will print copies of your book, whether you want one or thirty:

Lulu.com

Blurb.com

Createspace.com

Kobo.com

I’ve used Lulu a lot and I really liked it. Easy to use and it gives you templates to format your work. Not only that, you can choose if you want one of their covers or make your own. All very easy.