It's only April and already this year is an incredibly busy one. I barely have time to think while moving from one project to the next.
Please understand, I'm not complaining. I make my living as an attorney and the health of my legal practice can be measured by how busy I am. And, yes, the fact that I must make my living as an attorney means I'm unable to depend on the sales of my writing as a true income. I would hope to see that change. Hope being the operative word. But, I know that only the most successful writers (Stephen King, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling) can live off their writing alone. (And for those I named, deservedly so.)
Anyway, I simply mean to inform you of how busy things are in the hope that you'll excuse my long lapse in posting anything new to this blog.
Please understand, I'm not complaining. I make my living as an attorney and the health of my legal practice can be measured by how busy I am. And, yes, the fact that I must make my living as an attorney means I'm unable to depend on the sales of my writing as a true income. I would hope to see that change. Hope being the operative word. But, I know that only the most successful writers (Stephen King, Anne Rice, J.K. Rowling) can live off their writing alone. (And for those I named, deservedly so.)
Anyway, I simply mean to inform you of how busy things are in the hope that you'll excuse my long lapse in posting anything new to this blog.
Of course, the fact that I'm busy doesn't mean I'm not writing or working on a story. I really can't help myself. Some ideas pop in my head and I just have to jot them down or flesh them out. At the moment, there are two stories rattling around in my brain. The story I'm actively working on is a story about a demon who shadows a girl from her childhood into her young adult life. It's not as conventional as it sounds and there are plenty of twists and complications thrown in. Otherwise, this would be a short story and not a novel.
The thing is, while working on this story, I realized that I love writing stories with characters that start out as children and grow into adults. That way I can show their progression from where they started to who they are when the story ends. And that journey, hopefully, will explain why they ended up where they ended up. For a horror story, I can show why the fate that befalls my characters is fitting or tragic or sad.
The key for me though is the fact that I think of this as a character driven story. I have a hard time getting into any story if it's not character driven - anything I read or anything I watch. If the choices a character makes aren't natural and don't fit with how they've been depicted, then the story itself doesn't seem real to me and always seems forced. More often than not, when I'm reading a piece of genre fiction or watching a movie/t.v. show that falls under the sci-fi or horror label, the characters always seem to be thinly drawn and subservient to the plot itself. I don't like that, I like a plot that evolves out of the choices a character has made.
That isn't to say plot driven stories can't be good or that they have no quality. The best example of successful plot driven story-telling was on television in the form of NBC's long running television series "Law and Order." Over it's 20 year run, each episode of the series opened with a crime, which saw an ever changing roster of detectives set out to solve it. Then, in the second half of the episode, the show's team of prosecuting attorneys would see to it that the perpetrators were brought to justice by pressing criminal charges.
There is no doubt that each story told during a given episode was well written. The show was, if nothing else, a well oiled machine when it came to telling a police procedural. And each of the stories moved along quickly, with sleek efficiency. However, and this is a subjective criticism, I never really connected with the characters on the show. The characters were all portrayed by wonderfully talented actors - the late, great Jerry Orbach being among them. But, I never got to know these characters very well, other than being able to recognize some idiosyncrasies and foibles thrown in as if they were salt and pepper being added to a stew. What I saw when I watched Law and Order with my wife were characters that reminded me of some office acquaintances. I might know them and something about their backgrounds/history, but I didn't really have a sense of who they truly were as people.
Conversely, one of the greatest examples of a successful television series with a character driven plot (for the most part) is AMC's "Breaking Bad." It was perfect The story depicted the journey of Walter White, who starts out as something of a mouse and ends up an over confident drug kingpin.
The development of the character is believable because of who Walter is. Vince Gilligan, the series' creator, and his writing team, did a masterful job of showing the audience how Walter goes from being a put upon high school chemistry teacher with great technical skills, to a cold, calculating meth cook/dealer who overestimates his own genius.
The tragic turn in Walter's character is so rich because Gilligan and his crew show us Walter from the beginning, when he is struggling with debt as an under-valued teacher lacking self-esteem, bristling at perceived slights from people he considers less cerebral and less deserving of their good fortune. From this point, over five seasons, Walter uses his scientific know how and skill to build a successful criminal enterprise - one that he rules over with an unearned confidence. Of course, it is Walter's belief that he is deserving, because of his intelligence, that leads to his downfall. Walter eventually comes to believe that he is too smart for anyone to bring down and this over-confidence sees him laid low. And along the way, none of his decisions seem forced or awkward. All are true to who Walter is and the way he would naturally act. Every step Walter White took toward the conclusion of the series is a step that only Walter White could take because of his psyche, his circumstances and his hubris.
When the series ended I felt like I knew Walter White - every ugly thing about him. Breaking Bad was that kind of show, one that gives you an intimate look inside a character's mind. And, that's the kind of story that pulls me in and keeps me coming back for more.
So, when I write, I try to make sure that I focus on the characters and let the story go where it does based upon the choices they would make. I've even changed the outcome of a story because it didn't fit with the character I'd put on the page. Of course, more often than not, since I write horror stories, the choices my characters make are not always the best. And, it's not just the story's protagonist, but the villain's, too. I want them to act in a way that seems believable, that seems plausible based upon who they are.
I don't know that I'm always successful, but I try.
The thing is, while working on this story, I realized that I love writing stories with characters that start out as children and grow into adults. That way I can show their progression from where they started to who they are when the story ends. And that journey, hopefully, will explain why they ended up where they ended up. For a horror story, I can show why the fate that befalls my characters is fitting or tragic or sad.
The key for me though is the fact that I think of this as a character driven story. I have a hard time getting into any story if it's not character driven - anything I read or anything I watch. If the choices a character makes aren't natural and don't fit with how they've been depicted, then the story itself doesn't seem real to me and always seems forced. More often than not, when I'm reading a piece of genre fiction or watching a movie/t.v. show that falls under the sci-fi or horror label, the characters always seem to be thinly drawn and subservient to the plot itself. I don't like that, I like a plot that evolves out of the choices a character has made.
That isn't to say plot driven stories can't be good or that they have no quality. The best example of successful plot driven story-telling was on television in the form of NBC's long running television series "Law and Order." Over it's 20 year run, each episode of the series opened with a crime, which saw an ever changing roster of detectives set out to solve it. Then, in the second half of the episode, the show's team of prosecuting attorneys would see to it that the perpetrators were brought to justice by pressing criminal charges.
There is no doubt that each story told during a given episode was well written. The show was, if nothing else, a well oiled machine when it came to telling a police procedural. And each of the stories moved along quickly, with sleek efficiency. However, and this is a subjective criticism, I never really connected with the characters on the show. The characters were all portrayed by wonderfully talented actors - the late, great Jerry Orbach being among them. But, I never got to know these characters very well, other than being able to recognize some idiosyncrasies and foibles thrown in as if they were salt and pepper being added to a stew. What I saw when I watched Law and Order with my wife were characters that reminded me of some office acquaintances. I might know them and something about their backgrounds/history, but I didn't really have a sense of who they truly were as people.
Conversely, one of the greatest examples of a successful television series with a character driven plot (for the most part) is AMC's "Breaking Bad." It was perfect The story depicted the journey of Walter White, who starts out as something of a mouse and ends up an over confident drug kingpin. The development of the character is believable because of who Walter is. Vince Gilligan, the series' creator, and his writing team, did a masterful job of showing the audience how Walter goes from being a put upon high school chemistry teacher with great technical skills, to a cold, calculating meth cook/dealer who overestimates his own genius.
The tragic turn in Walter's character is so rich because Gilligan and his crew show us Walter from the beginning, when he is struggling with debt as an under-valued teacher lacking self-esteem, bristling at perceived slights from people he considers less cerebral and less deserving of their good fortune. From this point, over five seasons, Walter uses his scientific know how and skill to build a successful criminal enterprise - one that he rules over with an unearned confidence. Of course, it is Walter's belief that he is deserving, because of his intelligence, that leads to his downfall. Walter eventually comes to believe that he is too smart for anyone to bring down and this over-confidence sees him laid low. And along the way, none of his decisions seem forced or awkward. All are true to who Walter is and the way he would naturally act. Every step Walter White took toward the conclusion of the series is a step that only Walter White could take because of his psyche, his circumstances and his hubris.
When the series ended I felt like I knew Walter White - every ugly thing about him. Breaking Bad was that kind of show, one that gives you an intimate look inside a character's mind. And, that's the kind of story that pulls me in and keeps me coming back for more.
So, when I write, I try to make sure that I focus on the characters and let the story go where it does based upon the choices they would make. I've even changed the outcome of a story because it didn't fit with the character I'd put on the page. Of course, more often than not, since I write horror stories, the choices my characters make are not always the best. And, it's not just the story's protagonist, but the villain's, too. I want them to act in a way that seems believable, that seems plausible based upon who they are.
I don't know that I'm always successful, but I try.
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