We’re Moving!!!
Hey all, we have come to the decision to move our bonus content and newsletter over to Patreon. As we’ve continued to develop what the Write Away Caravan of Many Things looks like, we’ve come to decide that Patreon will be the better platform for what we are looking to share. We have a way to better manage the new bonuses over there as well as the extras yet to come.
This will be the last of the Weekend Reads on Substack. We hope to see you over at Patreon - Write Away Podcast. Thank you for supporting us!
Learning
JP: For the past two weeks I have been having a fun time in second revisions for book 2. I have to say the analysis I did after the first revisions really shed light on where the story needed support, and it has made this pass all the easier.
Other than revision land, I have been diving into serials and figuring out if it is a venue I want to pursue…short answer…yes. I have two ideas jumbling around in my noggin that I think may bode well for serial fiction. I’ve been reading How to Write Light Novels and Webnovels by R.A. Paterson via a recommendation by Crys and I am enjoying it so far. It really has me thinking about how to hook readers with such short and quick snippets of a longer story. I can’t say that I will take every idea out of this book, but I enjoy the idea of leaning into some tropes that I may have otherwise steered clear of with longer fiction.
Crys: My head is quite full with thoughts on branding right now, because of the upcoming Book Club episode for Your Brand Should Be Gay Even if You Are Not, but I want to hold those comments back for the update after it goes live!
But one of the things I’ve been pondering a lot in real life are choices.
In Three Story Method, the Choice is the moment on which every scene hangs. Without a choice, is there a story? (Possibly, but only a rare and unique written by a master and that is not me.)
In life, we make choices all the time, but to varying degrees of consciousness. I’ve been having a lot of conversations about conscious choice lately, and (as always) I turned to think about how conscious choice, or the lack of it, applies to my fiction.
Some characters will always be aware of their irreconcilable good or best bad choice. They weigh the pros and cons, even if for a split second, before making their choice.
Some characters will never (or rarely) be aware of a conscious choice. This is actually the harder kind of character to frame as a POV character, because they lack agency. They feel forced into every choice they make, thinking they have no choice. Often, we slot villains into this kind of pattern, reflecting the difference with the protagonist who is very aware of their choices.
One of my challenges to myself this week, and in turn you, is to pay attention to how consciously your characters make their decisions, whether they are the POV character or not, and what that says about them.
Thinking
Additional thoughts on Episode 41: How Many Ways Can We Deliver Stories AND Episode 42: How to Write Villains
JP: Two very different, and very enjoyable episodes.
I think Crys and I are just brushing the surface of what is possible for expanding the way that we deliver stories, and I love filing away the ideas until the time comes. One thing I can’t get enough of is the idea of NFTs. I really think blockchain and digital assets in the form of these tokens are one of the myriad of ways that authors and creatives will truly benefit from. I’m definitely considering how I can sell my co-authored book with some additional content or special behind the scenes extras as a digital limited edition.
And then, villainy. I loved this episode, and I think Crys and I are really starting to dig into what it means to be a villain. Ultimately for me, its all about perspective, and discovering how the villain believes they are doing the right thing.
The part that still gets tricky for me is turning a villain into a protagonist, because it forms a fine line in my head between making the reader hate them, and portraying their actions as justifiable. Maybe part of it is that I use Wicked and Maleficent as a frame of reference, which are two pieces of media that take the villain of one bit of fiction and force you to see through their perspective, which doesn’t make them villain protagonists, but makes them the heroes of their own story.
Perhaps scrapping those two, and considering shows like Hannibal and Dexter might form a better idea in my head of villain protagonists.
Crys: I agree with JP that we’re still digging deep into both these topics. Also, can I have a Time Turner so I can get a couple more days a week to tell all the stories in all the ways? Kay thanks bye.
But also, with my earlier thoughts about conscious choice and villainy, I’m curious, which is more terrifying: a villain who consciously chooses his path, or one who feels thrust into it?
I don’t have an answer for that. They both have elements of horror for me (depending on the level of villain, of course). But I’m curious how others feel.
Planning
JP: Well, as much as last minutes go, I need to write my villain short. I’ve been slow to do this, but the time is now. I will be using onestopforwriters.com to flesh out characters and then get to working. I highly recommend checking out this site, since it takes all the knowledge from the Writers Helping Writers Series and more, and links everything together to make a robust and well crafted character.
Crys: Next week I’m back home for my last week of no-kiddo time, and I plan to be either hunkered down in work land or at the beach, focusing on a lot of me-energy things. I’m also digging deeper into my brand definition as I plan to revamp my website.