writingwithfolklore

[writingwithfolklore]

Writing Advice

If you don't have whipped cream, a little dollop of vanilla yogurt on your stack of pancakes is just as good. I used greek but I'm sure other yogurts would work as well.

#writing #creative writing #writers #writing community #screenwriting #writing inspiration #books #filmmaking #film #writing advice #pancakes

[writingwithfolklore]

Thanks for the tag! <3

5 Things I Like Writing About

Imperfect friend groups

Subtle magic

Powerful + dangerous women

Isolated settings

Food <3

Open to anyone!

Thanks for the tag @elsie-writes!

5 Things I Like Writing About

Bitchy characters

Dnd-esque magic

Waterside trade cities

Characters with close platonic bonds

Milf villains

I'll tag @echowritesstuff @writingwithfolklore @bargainbincheese @bard-coded and anyone else who wants in :)

#writing #writerscommunity #writblr #5 things I Like Writing About #open tag #tag game

[writingwithfolklore]

So I’m not going to give you too much of an info dump but real quick context-

I’m working on possibly a vampire book that I plan to either be an anthology of different PoVs or have multiple POVs per book(think ASOIAF although that isn’t really the inspo tonally). And in developing my characters there are lot of ideas I have for their past detail, potential plot future points, inciting incidents depending on what period of history the first book will be.

And I like a lot of what I have but think that I’ve created too many ideas and I don’t know the best way to narrowing things down/pin point my ideas to what I can realistically work on without overworking myself.

So TLDR: do you have any suggestions for once you have a lot of ideas knowing which ones to focus on?

Hi! I know exactly what you mean and I have the same problem all the time. I think the most important part is to figure out who is carrying the story, really.

While you may have several characters with POVs, there's probably only like one or two that are carrying the meat of the story--the big overarching change to the world. Consider your big inciting incident, the change the world goes through, and who is directly impacted by it and looking to solve that change? Those are your key players.

Now that we have that, we know who to spend the most time on, and who to explore the most details of. Other characters can definitely still be explored and have moments to shine of course, but they shouldn't be the focus.

Reminder that any and all backstory should be revealed when it is necessary in the moment (not before to set up the moment) and action carries character. In just knowing this, you'll be bogged down a lot less by all these ideas and details to get onto the page. If it doesn't come up naturally through action and in the moment it needs to, then it might be unnecessary to include overall, y'know?

I think the last thing to keep in mind is to plan it one book at a time and build from there. You can narrow down your ideas by categorizing things by what you need right now, what you'll need next, and what you'll need at the end of all of this. Develop the main characters you'll need in the first book, figure out their story, create a really solid book on its own before you start on figuring out the next, and the next.

I hope that helps! Let me know if you need more help.

#writing #creative writing #writers #writing community #ask box #anon ask #ask and answer #writing advice

[writingwithfolklore]

Writing Fictional News

              Eee this is one of my biggest pet peeves in movies, games, stories, anything… As someone who reads and edits a lot of news articles for my job, I can tell soo instantly when fictional news articles or broadcasts were written by someone who has never written news before. I’m constantly saying, “hmm, they’d never publish that.”

              So here’s what you gotta know about writing (fictional) news stories.

1. They’re to the point… but not like that

This is the biggest thing I see in fiction that has news in it. People tend to write headlines that have the worst, gory details. For example,

“Student Sadie Walker murdered by 50 stabbings last night.”

While dramatic (and informative), I don’t see this as a news headline. The same situation (Sorry Sadie) may actually be reported as,

“Young woman passed away after involvement in stabbing late last night.”

              While news articles are to the point and informative, remember that they’re written for the general public. We often don’t get the super gory details (at least, not in the headline).

2. They have a pretty specific voice

While most journalism is meant to be free of bias, news is the most importantly objective. This tends to result in articles written in a more formal tone. They also follow a structure: the most specific details to the most general.

              Imagine you’re writing a piece that you’re expecting the reader to drop out at any moment. The headline is the attention grabber so your first line has the most important details of the story, so that someone can read it and know the jist.

Following our example, the first paragraph might be,

“Last night in June County a young woman was found unconscious, having suffered severe injuries. The woman was identified as Sadie Walker, a 21-year-old student attending June County University nearby. According to police reports, Walker had been walking between campus and the student dorms around midnight when she was struck and stabbed 30-50 times in the chest and back. Walker was found by a peer returning home an estimated hour after the attack and taken straight to Red Mill General hospital, where she passed away shortly after. The perpetrator is still unknown at this time.”

       Remember the 5 W’s and 1 H. Your first few lines should inform the reader of Who, What happened, Where did it happen, When did it happen, how it happened, and maybe why if you know—though since news is so timely, often the answer isn’t known right away.

3. Where the article is found in the news is telling

While a story like our example might make the front page of the paper (especially if nothing else is really going on in June County), only one story can make this top spot. Some papers are divided between the top and bottom of the page, known as “above the fold” and “below the fold”. It’s a bit more traditional format, but the ‘above the fold’ spot is the best one, because that’s the story people see when they’re passing by the newsstand, while ‘below the fold’ is another important story making the front page, but one would have to pick up the paper and unfold it to read it.

Not to mention all the stories found inside the paper. Consider how important your article is--not to your characters/plot, but to the general society your fictional newspaper is serving. Would your MC’s win at the local dog competition make the front page of big city news?

Any other news writers on here? What did I miss?

#creative writing #writing #writers #writing community #screenwriting #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #writing news #writing fictional news #news writing

[writingwithfolklore]

I want to write a book called “your character dies in the woods” that details all the pitfalls and dangers of being out on the road & in the wild for people without outdoors/wilderness experience bc I cannot keep reading narratives brush over life threatening conditions like nothing is happening.

I just read a book by one of my favorite authors whose plots are essentially airtight, but the MC was walking on a country road on a cold winter night and she was knocked down and fell into a drainage ditch covered in ice, broke through and got covered in icy mud and water.

Then she had a “miserable” 3 more miles to walk to the inn.

Babes she would not MAKE it to that inn.

#this is super interesting! #I'd like to maybe do a post on this some day #If I end up reading the book I'll come back and share the knowledge with you all #writing #creative writing #writers #writing community #screenwriting #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice

[writingwithfolklore]

Character Agency

Your characters should have agency. That means they have the power to influence what’s happening around them. We talked a bit about agency last time, revolving around how many female characters get agency stripped away from them. But overall, agency is important for any character to make them active participants in their own stories and feel necessary to the plot.

              So here’s how you enable your characters agency:

1. They make active decisions

Okay this is the obvious one in theory, but still manages to sneak by in stories undetected. An active character with agency makes things happen through their decisions, instead of just their reactions. Take these two examples of a scene plan:

John is walking home when he is caught by a sudden storm. Looking to hide from the rain, he ducks under the cover of a bus shelter. Inside is Mya, and they strike up a conversation about their shared sucky situation.

Vs.

John is walking home when he is caught by a sudden storm. Luckily he brought an umbrella in his bag, and draws it out. Then, he sees Mya getting drenched by the rain ahead of him. He jogs to her, offering to share the umbrella. They strike up a conversation.

In the second example John isn’t just reacting but making a choice that’s changed something in the world. He may just happen to run into Mya, but it was his decision to run up to her, to offer her his umbrella. This action is a great indicator of his personality—he’s kind, trusting, and thoughtful even towards strangers.

That’s the most important part. A character who just reacts to everything doesn’t show off any personality, whereas action lets you demonstrate who your character is at their core (especially in difficult situations that call for difficult decisions).

2. Their actions have consequences

Similarly, the decisions your active character makes aren’t really decisions if they don’t impact any part of their world. For good or for bad, every decision your character makes should have a consequence. This could be shown through their relationships with others, their environment, or even their own mental, physical, or spiritual state.

If we’re going from the example above, John sharing his umbrella with Mya maybe starts their friendship, but her jealous, toxic boyfriend sees them through his window, making her and now his life difficult.

It’s a decision that has multiple consequences throughout his life—a new friendship, and also a new enemy. And Mya is also facing consequences—from her decision to walk with him, and his decision to offer her the umbrella.

Make sense? How do you ensure your character has agency?

#writing #creative writing #writers #writing community #screenwriting #writing inspiration #books #filmmaking #film #writing advice #character agency #main characters #side characters #active characters #active vs passive characters

[writingwithfolklore]

Do well by your female characters

              Back in film school you wouldn't believe the amount of scripts I read from my (mostly male) classmates that featured the same character; a kind, helpful woman reflective of the male protagonist who showed up when he needed her to offer warm words and support, allowing him to overcome obstacles and go for what he needs.

              I hope she doesn’t sound familiar to you.

              One of them was a coworker, another a train station attendant, another the best friend who lived next door—it didn’t matter, they were all the same character, uninvolved in their own lives, created to help a man get to his goal. Let’s be wary of this trope, and stop robbing our female characters of their own agency. We can do this in a few ways:

1. They aren’t convenient

One confusing fault of the female characters I read in my peers’ scripts was that she was always around right where the protagonist needed her to be. It didn’t matter if he was having a crisis in the alleyway, or by the museum, or in his own house, she’d show up like she’d been summoned.

She needed a place to be—a life outside of him. A job, school, hobbies. Sometimes when he needs her—she shouldn’t be there.

2. They have an actual personality

While being warm, kind, supportive, and empathetic are all admirable traits people do have, I’ve never met a real person where that’s all they were. Like building any character, she needs flaws, interests, something to her that isn’t just for other people’s benefit. Consider what traits she has that aren’t just ways she serves others.

Allow her something just for her. Something selfish.

3. They have and work towards a goal

Related to her not being convenient—she’s got her own thing going on. Like any other character, she has goals and objectives, motivations, something to work towards. As much as she supports the protagonist, she also takes from him to fulfill her own goal.

Give her wins, disappointments, a little something going on. Something to gain from her interactions with him.

              What else bothers you about common female character tropes? Or what did I miss?

#writing #creative writing #writers #writing community #screenwriting #writing inspiration #books #filmmaking #film #writing advice #female characters #writing female characters #mary sue trope #character agency

[writingwithfolklore]

When to Cut a Character

Last time we talked about getting rid of what’s not serving your story, but sometimes it can be hard to tell when something just needs a bit of adjusting to work, or needs to be cut entirely. This is a very case-by-case occurrence, but there are a few tell-tale signs for when a character just isn’t necessary.

1. You struggle to remember to include them in scenes or dialogue

If you often feel like you’re adding your character into a scene just because we haven’t seen them in a while, or even find yourself forgetting they exist at all—they are just as, if not more forgettable to the readers. This is a big sign you can cut them out, and save yourself the effort of including them in random scenes.

2. Their dialogue/purpose could be given to someone else

The best way to check if someone (or something) is necessary is to try to take them out. If you find that you can give a character’s plot importance and dialogue to someone else (or split across multiple characters), you can cut the character. By trying this with all your characters, you’ll find that only the absolute necessary ones remain. Besides, a smaller cast of characters is often easier to develop and juggle, allowing them all to shine throughout the story.

3. They only really show up as a plot device

While maybe not necessary to cut out completely, characters who only show up at the most convenient times to provide some plot device or deus ex machina tend to land flat. When I catch these in my own work, I cut them out to force my main characters to solve their own problems.

One big example of this (and spoilers for the movie Passenger (2016)!) is when the characters, who are the only ones awake on the ship, need access to a certain room they don’t have the clearance for. This door proves an obstacle for the entire movie. Then, we reach the third act and need to end the movie so one of the other passengers who has access to that door wakes up because of a sudden malfunction, helps them through the door, and then dies soon after.

Given that was in a blockbuster movie, I’m sure you could get away with doing this, but I personally would have cut out that character and figured out a way for them to solve the problem on their own. (I think even if they had woken him up intentionally, giving them action and agency to solve this problem, it would have been better, but I digress).

There are tons of purposes for characters which is what makes this so case by case. If you’re unsure about a character being necessary, try taking them out and evaluate what is lost. If nothing is lost, or whatever’s lost can be made up by someone else, maybe the cut should be permanent.

                Any other signs a character is worth writing out of the story?

#writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #when to cut a character #kill your darlings

[writingwithfolklore]

Kill Your Darlings

                This is another one of those common pieces of advice that gets traded so often it’s somewhat lost its meaning, similar to “write what you know”. Kill your darlings doesn’t mean ‘kill your favourite characters’, or even ‘take away what your characters love most’ (though that’s good advice for your midpoint.)

                Kill your darlings means ‘get rid of what’s not serving you’. That may be a character you like but ultimately adds nothing to the plot (or adds something another character could easily also add), a plot point that is exciting and fun but takes the story off the rails, or even as specific as a line of dialogue you love but just doesn’t fit into the conversation anywhere.

                It means, even if you love it, if it isn’t serving your story it’s gotta go. Cut out the fluff. Kill your darlings. In work that’s intended to be professional, this is incredibly important (fanfic writers and people just writing for yourself, you get to do whatever you want haha).

                To make this easier, I keep a separate document I call the “graveyard” where I put everything I cut out of my draft. Scenes, lines of dialogue, or even ideas I had to strike all end up in the graveyard where they’re safe. This way, if I ever want to use them in another project (or they end up working out after all), they’re somewhere I can find them again.

                What’s another piece of advice you find gets taken out of context or misunderstood?

#writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #film #books #writing advice #kill your darlings #writing foundations: kill your darlings #novel writing #common writing advice #graveyard #grave tending

[writingwithfolklore]

Happy St. Paddy's day everyone! Throw back to my old Folklore Friday series :,)

Folklore Friday: Leprechaun

Happy April Fools day! I don’t have a trick up my sleeve for you, but I do have a trickster. Today we’re talking about Ireland’s most mischievous little creature, the Leprechaun.

Leprechauns are said to be fairies who look like tiny old men, standing around two to three feet tall. They often wear little pointy hats and aprons. In traditional folklore they work as cobblers—making shoes with tiny hammers.

And of course, everyone knows about the leprechaun’s hidden treasure. Often stored and hidden in a golden pot at the ‘end’ of the rainbow, leprechauns are known to hoard gold and treasure. If you find and catch a leprechaun, it’s said he has to tell you his hiding place—as long as you keep him in your sights. If the leprechaun can trick you into looking away, he’ll disappear without telling you anything.

I’ve also read that the leprechaun may grant wishes if caught, though it’s unsure if this is a ‘genie’ situation or not, as they’re known for being mischievous and playing pranks. Though it should be noted they aren’t said to be wholly good or evil, they’re just only loyal to themselves (I’d probably place them around chaotic neutral for you D&D fans). They’re also very smart, and will do almost anything to prevent being captured by a human, so those who do should be very cautious when trying to talk to the slippery little guys.

While we often associate the leprechaun with green, before the 20thcentury it’s said that they were depicted wearing red! Some theories suggest the style and colour of clothing may depend on where the leprechaun is from. Either way, they usually have the same pointy shoes, buckles, and buttons. It’s also said there have never been a report of a female leprechaun—one theory being leprechauns are actually just discarded children of fairies.

Leprechauns are said to live in underground caves or in hollow trees. They love Irish music and dancing, and are expert musicians as well as shoemakers. I’ve heard they needed to become shoemakers out of necessity as they dance so much. The word leprechaun comes from an old Irish word that means “little body.” These guys are just packed with Irish culture and pride—they’re hard not to love!

Today of all days you should be especially cautious of these guys. Their pranks are beyond human detection, and you definitely don’t want to get caught in a lifetime of bad luck.

Don’t just take my word for it!

leprechaun | Irish folklore | Britannica

Leprechaun | Myths and Folklore Wiki | Fandom

Irish Leprechaun Facts & Myths - Irish Folklore Stories From Ireland (yourirish.com)

Myth of the Leprechaun (celtic-weddingrings.com)

Folklore Friday: The Leprechaun Is Ireland’s Biggest Little Fairy - Shamrock Craic (shamrockgift.com) (Very in-depth source!)

#writing #writers #creative writing #writing inspiration #writing community #books #film #screenwriting #filmmaking #folklore Friday #Folklore #magic #myth #leprechaun #ireland #irish #st. patricks day #st. paddys day

[writingwithfolklore]

Bringing this back this year. Happy Ides of March everyone!

Writing Prophesy (Ides of March)

All you classic lit fans out there know what yesterday was! That’s right, it’s the ides of March, the day Julius Caesar was betrayed by his closest friends—if only he had listened to his wife’s prophetic dream…

And that’s what we’ll be talking about today--writing prophesy into your stories, and how to use it in a way that feels earned and exciting. If you’ve ever tried to write a prophesy into your story, you probably already understand why it can be really difficult. While stories don’t survive off surprise, a certain amount of the unknown keeps us interested—which can be hard if someone has prophesized all the events.

However, having your prophesy not coming true at all—unless some amount of lore or intention can explain it, feels incredibly cheap. Can we really claim it’s prophesy if it doesn’t come true?

So here’s how I’ve gotten around this issue (you have a couple options).

Option 1. Make the prophesy so unbelievable that it’s surprising it actually comes true.

My last project started with a very simple promise, that someone was going to die. The story revolved around his friends attempting to find a way to save his life, with an amount of success that it felt hopeful, believable that they were all going to get through it okay. So of course, when the prophesy comes true at the end… it’s still surprising, still a satisfying ending, and allows the prophet some integrity.

There was a certain amount of mythology behind it. How do you save someone from their fate without muddling a bit with the universe? So consider how you can make readers believe that the prophesy can be circumvented. Is it through gods? Magic? Powerful beings? Wishes? Otherworldly creatures? In your world, what has power over fate, over prophesy? Make it believable, and we’ll have hope, only for the big reveal at the end, that prophesy always comes true.

Option 2. The prophesy comes true, but not in the way you think it will.

I also mixed in a little bit of this in my last project, and I’d recommend that you do combine your options to maximize the effect. This one is pretty obvious, you say the donut is going to get eaten, you assume by the main character, instead it’s by the goat. Encanto does a lot of this with Bruno’s gift, we see a vague prophesy and assume it comes true in one way, but instead it comes true in another.

Think about how you can create assumptions by the readers, and set up an expectation that seems so obvious until something alternative happens.

I would caution against choosing to be super vague in order to do this. If it’s vague, it’s not very surprising because really anything could happen—you’re setting up the expectation for anything to happen rather than controlling the narrative. So, make it specific, but leave room for something surprising. In Julius Caesar we know he will meet his end on the Ides of March, but he never would have guessed it was by his closest friends.

As well, to have prophesy you need a prophet. This is the character that foretells the future, or senses the omens to come. Consider what gives the prophet their gift. Were they born with it? Cursed? Gifted? Was it a sort of sacrifice? The one thing I’ll caution against is the “blind prophet” stereotype—there’s a great video about stereotypes surrounding disabled characters I’d recommend watching HERE if you’ve never heard of this.

What does prophesy add to your narrative? Does it create suspense? Tension? Mystery? Sometimes it’s an added component to the narrative, sometimes it’s the center stage.

Prophesy can be a really clever story element if you use it well and create expectation without spoiling the rest of the story. Good luck! And happy Ides of March!

#writing #writers #writing tips #writing advice #writing inspiration #creative writing #writing community #books #film #filmmaking #screenwriting #creative #ides of march #classic literature #prophecy #prophets #writing prophesy

[writingwithfolklore]

Failing with Momentum

                Last time we talked about antagonists so this time we’re talking about conflict. Sometimes I think writers are afraid to allow their characters to fail. Trust me, there’s a big difference between characters making poor decisions that seemed good in the moment (or failing), and being the protagonists in slasher horror movies. Your characters can be a bit stupid, and fail often, without ruining your plot or characterization.

1. Fail Forward

                One way we do this is by allowing them to fail forward. This means that your plot actually relies on their failure, rather than just on their successes. They get totally rejected for the school dance, but that leaves them out in the hall to witness something they weren’t meant to see. They get caught sneaking around in the bad guy’s lair, but now they know their accomplice is actually on the other side.

                This takes reworking of your entire plot, so consider while crafting your outline how a failure can get the character to where they need to be rather than a success.

2. Everything comes with consequences

Another way to allow your character to fail is to not reveal that they’ve failed right away. Most decisions we (and characters) make aren’t so black and white—right or wrong. It shouldn’t be obvious right away when a character has done something stupid—we reveal that it was stupid later on, when consequences come back to haunt them.

So another way to say “let your characters fail” is just “let your characters face consequences.” Maybe a decision isn’t necessary stupid, or ‘bad’. Maybe it allows them to achieve something they really needed to. However, it should also come with unintended consequences—a negative to the positive.

3. Failing is a chance to show their strengths

When something (usually caused by the antagonist) stands in their way, it’s just another chance for them to demonstrate what they’re strong at. Say the antagonist kills the person who has all the answers before the protagonist gets to talk to them, now they have to pivot—maybe they dig up the information through research, or find someone related to talk to, or reach out via medium to the spirit realm, whatever.

This pivoting is the kind of challenge that allows your character to grow. Their path isn’t a straight-shot, easy romp through a meadow but one filled with twists and disappointments and frustrations and challenges. They are forced to do things they maybe never would have, and this leads to them thinking about themselves or their worlds differently.

What other ways are there to fail forward?

#writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #failing with momentum #conflict #writing conflict #antagonists

[writingwithfolklore]

When your Antagonist is Also your Protagonist

                If there’s one thing humans are all really good at, it’s getting in our own way. Most stories have at least some element of protagonist against themselves—we create this block between our protagonist and what they want when we create their flaw.

                However, stories that rely on this conflict with self have to do a bit extra work. Internal motivations and antagonists are a bit more challenging, but still a valid way to introduce conflict into a story. Here’s three considerations for when your antagonist is also your protagonist:

1. What is preventing them from what they want?

This is the same question we ask ourselves when creating character flaws, but I think it deserves repeating here. There has to be something you can name that is standing in the way of your character, or this won’t work. It must be deeply ingrained, difficult to overcome, and effective in preventing them from getting what they want.

Maybe what they want is to ask out their crush, but they’re horribly shy. Or they want to take down their evil ruler, but they’re secretly in love with them. It’s important these are traits they can’t just snap their fingers and fix. Like, if your character really wants to win a weightlifting contest, the thing standing in their way can’t be that they’re just too weak, because people can work out and become stronger—that doesn’t make for a very compelling story, and it also doesn’t explain why they couldn’t have just done that sooner.

There’s a reason your character doesn’t already have what they want.

2. How will you use that to introduce conflict?

In order to be effective, this trait has to act as the antagonist, which means at every turn, they have to be thwarted by themselves. Maybe your character comes face to face with their crush and physically can’t talk and it comes off as awkward and weird. Or they’re approaching their evil ruler and can’t seem to pull the trigger.

Their inability to get over their trait should be frustrating and challenging for them. If it helps, think of it like a little invisible guy hovering over their shoulder and forcing them to do the opposite of what they want to do.

3. Other ways of standing in their own way

Characters can also be thwarted by their own minds in other ways. Some stories take the route of reality being unreliable, whether through drugs, mental illness, or a magical/fictional reason. Memento, the movie, is sort of an example of this, where because of Leonard’s memory condition, he’s unable to know who to trust or what the truth is, and what's a lie.

One of my favourite video games is Fran Bow, where the distorting of reality is both the problem and sometimes the answer.

                What are some other ways the protagonist can act as their own antagonist?

#when your antagonist is also your protagonist #writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #antagonists #writing antagonists

[writingwithfolklore]

When Your Antagonist Isn't a Person

Last time I talked about how to character create an antagonist (check it out here if you missed it!) but what happens when your antagonist isn’t a person?

                Antagonists don’t necessarily have to be another character (or even one singular character). Rather, an antagonist is anything that raises the stakes and creates conflict for your protagonist. You will likely find this antagonist in your worldbuilding.

1. What your world may say about your antagonist

                In a survival story, your protagonist will likely be out in the wilderness alone—thus, their antagonist may be creatures, starvation, dehydration, exposure (freezing, sunburn). Or something like a giant storm, or other natural phenomenon/disaster.

                In an urban setting, the antagonist may be the ‘system’ itself; politics, institutions, a way they’ve been disadvantaged or otherwise put down by their world. (Often these systems can be represented by a person, if you so choose).

                And a futuristic world opens up to technology being an antagonist; things aren’t working as they’re meant to, AI has gone wrong, or it’s gone too right—the technology is taking away from what the protagonist wants.

2. Goals and Motivations

Your non-human antagonist may not have goals or motivations, or very basic ones. Does a nasty storm exist to destroy humans? Probably not, it just is as it is. A creature’s goal may be to eat, it’s motivation being that it’s hungry.

However, a system or institution may have deeper goals/motivations. For example, Amazon is a company built to make Jeff Bezos money. Your institution may have a goal it presents to the public, and a true goal (usually monetary, but could also be religiously or politically motivated).

3. Additional sources of conflict

Sometimes non-human antagonists need some extra support to make your character’s life suck. A dangerous storm brewing in the distance is great, but you may also need some additional sources of conflict to keep your character moving until it reaches them.

If your character is taking down Amazon, they may be targeted by police, or drones with guns, or people who live off an Amazon salary, or require the convenience of it.

Often stories without one human antagonist tend to have multiple little antagonists. Survival stories are great for the amount of different conflicts you can throw at a character. You may even introduce small conflicts between other characters, even if those characters aren’t fully antagonists.

Next time I’ll talk about character vs. self, what do you do when your antagonist is also your protagonist?

#writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #antagonists #when your antagonist isn't a person

[writingwithfolklore]

5 Tips for Creating Intimidating Antagonists

Antagonists, whether people, the world, an object, or something else are integral to giving your story stakes and enough conflict to challenge your character enough to change them. Today I’m just going to focus on people antagonists because they are the easiest to do this with!

1. Your antagonist is still a character

While sure, antagonists exist in the story to combat your MC and make their lives and quest difficult, they are still characters in the story—they are still people in the world.

Antagonists lacking in this humanity may land flat or uninteresting, and it’s more likely they’ll fall into trope territory.

You should treat your antagonists like any other character. They should have goals, objectives, flaws, backstories, etc. (check out my character creation stuff here). They may even go through their own character arc, even if that doesn’t necessarily lead them to the ‘good’ side.

Really effective antagonists are human enough for us to see ourselves in them—in another universe, we could even be them.

2. They’re… antagonistic

There’s two types of antagonist. Type A and Type B. Type A antagonist’s have a goal that is opposite the MC’s. Type B’s goal is the same as the MC’s, but their objectives contradict each other.

For example, in Type A, your MC wants to win the contest, your antagonist wants them to lose.

In Type B, your MC wants to win the contest, and your antagonist wants to win the same contest. They can’t both win, so the way they get to their goal goes against each other.

A is where you get your Draco Malfoy’s, other school bullies, or President Snow’s (they don’t necessarily want what the MC does, they just don’t want them to have it.)

B is where you get the other Hunger Games contestants, or any adventure movie where the villain wants the secret treasure that the MCs are also hunting down. They want the same thing.

3. They have well-formed motivations

While we as the writers know that your antagonist was conceptualized to get in the way of the MC, they don’t know that. To them, they exist separate from the MC, and have their own reasons for doing what they do.

In Type A antagonists, whatever the MC wants would be bad for them in some way—so they can’t let them have it. For example, your MC wants to destroy Amazon, Jeff Bezos wants them not to do that. Why not? He wants to continue making money. To him, the MC getting what they want would take away something he has.

Other motivations could be: MC’s success would take away an opportunity they want, lose them power or fame or money or love, it could reveal something harmful about them—harming their reputation. It could even, in some cases, cause them physical harm.

This doesn’t necessarily have to be true, but the antagonist has to believe it’s true. Such as, if MC wins the competition, my wife will leave me for them. Maybe she absolutely wouldn’t, but your antagonist isn’t going to take that chance anyway.

In Type B antagonists, they want the same thing as the MC. In this case, their motivations could be literally anything. They want to win the competition to have enough money to save their family farm, or to prove to their family that they can succeed at something, or to bring them fame so that they won’t die a ‘nobody’.

They have a motivation separate from the MC, but that pesky protagonist keeps getting in their way.

4. They have power over the MC

Antagonists that aren’t able to combat the MC very well aren’t very interesting. Their job is to set the MC back, so they should be able to impact their journey and lives. They need some sort of advantage, privilege, or power over the MC.

President Snow has armies and the force of his system to squash Katniss. She’s able to survive through political tension and her own army of rebels, but he looms an incredibly formidable foe.

Your antagonist may be more wealthy, powerful, influential, intelligent, or skilled. They may have more people on their side. They are superior in some way to the protagonist.

5. And sometimes they win

Leading from the last point, your antagonists need wins. They need to get their way sometimes, which means your protagonist has to lose. You can do a bit of a trade off that allows your protagonist to lose enough to make a formidable foe out of their antagonist, but still allows them some progress using Fortunately, Unfortunately.

It goes like… Fortunately, MC gets accepted into the competition. Unfortunately, the antagonist convinces the rest of the competitors to hate them. Fortunately, they make one friend. Unfortunately, their first entry into the competition gets sabotaged. Fortunately, they make it through the first round anyway, etc. etc.

An antagonist that doesn’t do any antagonizing isn’t very interesting, and is completely pointless in their purpose to heighten stakes and create conflict for your protagonist to overcome. We’ll probably be talking about antagonists more soon!

Anything I missed?

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[writingwithfolklore]

When to Reject Feedback

              Last post I talked about taking suggestions from editors, so today I'm talking about when not to take their (or other readers') suggestions. While your readers may have a lot of experience and wisdom, ultimately you know your story best and you know what you want it to be.

This is also the first step, know your work, know exactly what you want it to be before you reach out for feedback. This way, you know what suggestions are helpful, and which are leading your story to a place you don't like.

                I’ll start with a story. I wrote a short creative non-fiction in one of my creative writing classes about grappling with my family dynamic before and after my Grandma (and our matriarch) was hospitalized. I intentionally left parts of it vague—how was I supposed to distill all my thoughts and feelings and the history of my family in a simple enough way for others outside of my family to understand, when I was in my family and hardly understood it? I thought the vagueness gave room for a conflict of love and rejection. Alienation and belonging. I didn’t want to force the reader to feel anything concrete or specific about my grandma, I hardly knew how I felt about her.

                I took this piece to my prof, and she advised me that it would benefit from more specific details. Some things she suggested adding were histories I wasn’t privy to—either I hadn’t been born yet, or I hinted to knowing but only really from context; I wasn’t in the room.

                I took her advice and rewrote it with these more specific details. I had to make up some stuff, which I didn’t really like, but she loved it.

                Next semester, I took the same (edited) piece to a different creative writing prof in a different class. She read it, told me she liked it, but that it could benefit from a bit more room for interpretation—from some vagueness.

                I laughed and told her that I agreed, and pulled up my original draft. She was in far favour of the original.

                TL;DR, this is all to say that I don’t believe in taking all advice as gospel. Some people will absolutely love the way you’ve written it, others will think it needs changing. These two profs were both incredibly experienced, published authors who had won awards, gone through masters degrees, etc. etc. They were both very credible people to go to for advice.

                But they had slightly different sensibilities when it came to writing, and while I didn’t agree with everything my second prof said, I did err more towards her way of writing than the first. Emphasis on the ‘not agreeing on everything’, that little part of me that disagreed is my unique writing sensibility.

                So seriously, reach out to people for feedback and advice, but that by no stretch means you have to take all of it. If there’s a part of your writing that you really love, that you did intentionally, and that you feel is integral to your work you’re allowed to keep it. There will be readers who like it as it is.

#writing #creative writing #writers #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #taking writing advice #writing feedback #taking writing feedback

[writingwithfolklore]

Taking Notes from Editors

I did a post on giving and receiving feedback, but now that I’ve been an editor for a little longer, I’d like to do a follow up on taking feedback specifically from professional editors.

                While ultimately writers are the rulers of their work and can make the final decisions on it, there's a lot of growth in your manuscript to be found by trusting your editor and taking their notes. As an editor, it’s my job to make your work as good as it can possibly be. It’s also my job to maintain your style and voice and make sure everything you do best shines the brightest.

                We’ve studied and practiced this goal. So the biggest thing I want to impart on you is:

1. Trust your editor

Go into the process with the mindset that you'll accept at least 85% of the edits your editor suggests. When another editor works on my writing, I accept about 95% of it, sometimes %100 (for shorter pieces).

Writers sometimes get hung up on the smallest changes an editor tries to make. Be careful not to be too precious, allow your work to be explored from a different perspective and lens.

You can always keep a separate doc that has your original piece, it doesn’t go away or get ruined when an editor works on it. While it's your work in the end, it's helpful to go into it with an open mind. Often feedback you may have never considered is the key to really elevating your piece. Make some room for your editor's opinion and expertise, trust your editor.

2. Choose your battles

If you are going to reject a suggestion, I recommend it be something really worth going to bat for. Choose your battles, and choose only the biggest ones. You ultimately know your work best, so fight only for the stuff you believe is integral to keeping the same.

This will be an easier battle to win if you’ve already accepted the vast majority of other suggestions. Does it really matter if your main character’s name is Jolene or Veronica? Maybe not, so take that suggestion so you can afford to keep her queerness, or the subplot about her mother, etc.

But going back to the trust your editor idea, don’t think about it as a battle. We are not on opposite sides, we’re both fighting for the same thing—to make your work the best it can be. Respectfully acknowledge a suggestion you don’t like, give it a day or two to think on it, and then decide if that’s something you’d really like to advocate for.

As an editor, when a writer has a solid justification for rejecting a suggestion it helps me understand their work better, and builds trust between us.

3. It’s okay you’re not perfect

Sometimes as a writer receiving feedback, my impulse is to be embarrassed I’ve done something ‘wrong’. Then, of course, I go to defend myself or justify it or attack. We don’t like feeling threatened, and it can cause some high tempers and nasty disagreements in the editing world.

It’s really important that you recognize that impulse to defend yourself, and choose not to react to it.

By that I mean, if you feel yourself getting defensive over a piece of feedback—take a deep breath, don’t answer it right away. You don’t need to explain yourself. Think on it for a bit, just try it out. See what happens when you make that change. If you still hate it, think about why. If you’re just rejecting it on impulse, you’re probably in that “defend” state.

                You’re not being attacked, and you’re not a bad writer. It’s okay if you’ve made a decision that didn’t land, or a mistake that’s kind of embarrassing.

                As an editor, I can assure you that I don’t judge my writers. Ever. When I make suggestions, it’s from a pure ‘just trying to help’ standpoint, and I really appreciate when my writers are open to my suggestions and ideas and accept or reject my suggestions with friendliness and grace.

                I’m not a super experienced editor in any way, but if anyone has any questions about the editing process, the job, or anything else about it, I will do my best to answer!

Next post we're going to talk about when to reject a suggestion or feedback because the editor/reader isn't always right. Follow to catch that when it's out!

#writing #writers #creative writing #screenwriting #writing community #writing inspiration #filmmaking #books #film #writing advice #editor ama #taking notes from editors #editing #receiving feedback #feedback #ama