Fiction Writing; Wishful Thinking

In this day of Political Correctness, even writers try to make sure that those who were looked down on, the cripples, the poor, the deprived, the non-white are given a place of importance in fiction so that they are the heroes, the ones of importance so we will read the book or watch the movie and say, 'how wonderful!" forgetting that even supposed privileged people endured heartbreak.

I remember reading a book by one of my favorite authors where the hero had three people helping him, three with various forms of disability and the one who was the worse off actually got transported to another Universe where the political scene had changed: In that, the Democrats won: wishful thinking.

The fact is if you decide to make those former despised people the heroes, unless it is about someone who overcame his background, you run the risk of believing those of the privileged who got shafted, lost their jobs, or were in a car accident that resulted in them loosing their limbs actually deserved it. And have you seen that the recent trend in movies, where the villain is rich and white? When someone once despised becomes a hero or a hero's companion, then the wicked one must be one who in past novels would have been the hero's friends. So the man who answered the door or worked in the field, who begged in the street is now adored, while the business owner, the upper class one is now despised unless he happens to be, perhaps, the adopted son born in India, Nigeria, etc. and whose skin is as dark as midnight.

Most people hang around with people of their own background and culture. I was born in Scotland, of German English descent so most of my friends are Western European. A woman who was born in South Carolina and of Black African descent, most of her friends would be African American. A man born in Nigeria would make friends like him. So if the hero or heroine of the story lived in Texas and was a Mexican American , his friends more than likely would be that type and the only one surviving the massacre would not be that Dutch kid they befriended on the Cattle Drive.

What did they do wrong? Surely everyone deserves a chance, but that is what they did. They did not write the story or the play as what would have happened in real life (unless the hero was the only white kid in the ghetto and he thought he was black)- , They wrote the story to even up the field, they were engaged in wishful thinking.

Fiction Writing; Who do You Kill

Sooner or later, one of your characters is going to die. Usually it is a friend of the main character or of the villain. Now in action adventure movies, it is someone the main character loves, for instance his wife and his children, but it does not matter what race or ethnic group the victim belongs to because the whole point is to get the hero so angry that he will finish off the villains in as violent manner as he can.

In other movies and in writing it is different. Race and ethnicity does matter, according to the movies I saw, and the novel I am reading. It seems that back in the nineteen seventies, even with black exploitation movies, the Black community got so angry at them being portrayed at being drug dealers, that they demanded to be portrayed as good and moral citizens even when they were bad guys. Thus many movies and some writers have followed suit. Not only did they make the African American as the one with the moral code, they made sure that his death was shown with more sorrow and regret, and if at all possible, he survived when others died. Yet this never happened to the Italians, Chinese, or Japanese. We still see movies where they are portrayed equally in a good light and a bad light and when they die, no one mourns long and hard. But this is wrong.

When writing your novel or story, forget about who will be mad and decide what is believable. If there is a massive explosion, the bombs kill indiscriminately, and do not decide what race the victims are., and it has to do with percentages. If the majority of those trapped inside were white, then the survivors are more likely to be white. If the story was about a building exploding in Harlem, the survivors are more likely to be black. So think of not what would be acceptable, think of reality and do not discriminate or make up for past discriminations. Think not of what others would want you to write, think what would be more logical.

Fiction Writing; The Necessity of Research

I am writing on a Christian fantasy novel, no no witches with super natural powers, no flying demons that can materialize as men, or anything like Obi telling Luke to "feel the Force,"— although it does have at least three monsters in it. But like most fantasy novels, one has to invent names for the characters and give them a history.

Now people assume when you write a fantasy novel, you can make up names like Feran Fainthearted or Lalia of the Limmering Light, but most fantasy are based either in the far past (like before the Flood), in the time of Conan the Barbarian, on another world, or in the far future after a nuclear explosion or other disaster has destroyed most of humankind and left the survivors, savages. These are being pursued by mutants, creatures who were made by excessive radiation — at least, that was what was assumed in the 1950s before they learned that there would be no horrible mutants, they would all have died.

Anyway depending on what era or what planet the Fantasy novel is based on, one has to make sure the character names fit. For instance, the past, you may have to go to a web site on the original Indo Aryan languages and make names that are pre-Romance and pre-German. If the character is, for instance, an English man from the Thirteenth Century who somehow was transferred to the future, you go on the website for Medieval England, and write it the way, he would, not the way we would write it. If you go into the future, you will have to make names that record the past, if they came from Earth, and if they survived a disaster, you had to marry who was left, so you mght wind up with a name like Jeavan, or a combination of Jean and Ivan. If your character lives on another planet, and is not descended from Earth people, you can get away with calling him Xerfry, or make any other alien name you want. But if you want your characters to have an Earth origin, you have to decide whether these were pre Norsemen or pre Latins, in which you have to get a book on ancient names or go to the website. The same applies if you are writing about characters who were kidnapped from ancient China before Genghis Khan or Nubians who were taken aboard a space ship before the time of Rameses the Second. In the first place, you cannot use any Mongolian names or customs and in the second case, the people will not mention Rameses the Second having trouble with the Hebrews when the great god took them into the sky.

That is why research is necessary even for fantasy and science fiction. You have to understand not only the name, but the food they eat, and the culture and any changes that you make have to reflect their origins. So go to the Library, get on the Internet, find those history books, your copies of the Illiad and get on researching.

Fiction Writing; The First Draft

According to the Soap Operas and many non-writers, we just have to write once and that is it. Well surprise we have to do this first draft or as I call it, the pre-draft and when you compare it to the finished drafts, who could have written such garbage?

But that is what you have to do, keep writing chapter after chapter without correcting to get the whole story finished. After that is done, then you go back.

Now some people may write an outline or a summation of what the story will be about, but as you go along, the characters take over the story.

Quote; "Darn it, I wanted him to go in guns blasting, but what does he do? Hides behind the bushes and finds a piece of tinfoil, then calls his superior. Why the girl could be dead by now.!'

Yes, that idiot character police detective fouls up your plans for a gun battle by being extra cautious. So you have to write a different chapter from the one you intended. That is why the first draft never is like the one you have in your head. In fact, it seems rather childish sometimes. Your characters go on in long monologues telling their stories just as they do on the Soap Operas. You all know that when Rachel said to Mac, 'Remember when---" and we hear what happened last week or the day before. Instead of showing, you tell what is happening and when you send it off to your critique group, you get remarks like "your story is quite good but your dialogs are way too long.' or translated, 'your story stinks.'

Well I am on the sixth draft of my Novel and from what I heard, I have three more to go, if I live that long.

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Fiction Writing: Writing and Finance Savings

If you have a good paying job, or are in college, you probably have enough so that when you are ready to publish your novel, you just have to go to the Post Office and buy the stamps, plunk down the parcel and it is off. If it is rejected, you merely print out another 2000 or so pages, put more stamps plus the post card with extra stamps that they will send you back if it is rejected. In fact, you may be able to send it out to twenty before at lets say, a cost of $10.00 per send out or about $220. Now this is just a guess, the stamps might be $2.50 to $5.00, but even at that, for someone who makes $7.00 or less an hour, that is quite a bit of change.

So how do you get enough money and where do you put it? If you are an American, you may only need a savings and checking account, because most publishers are in the United States. I suppose it also applies to the United Kingdom and Australia, they have lots of publishers. However if you are a Canadian, although you can send your book to a Canadian publisher, you may find the most customers would be in the States. So you also need a good US. Savings account. Many banks in Canada have American money bank accounts and if you put so much a month, your interest and balance will add up.

It is also good to put money aside for unexpected, like the computer breaking down or you need a new printer. So instead of waiting until they die, why not take about $50 to $100 and put it in a high interest savings account? I will tell you what I did. I got a high interest savings account and I put an automatic deposit out of my pension. Not only that, I decided any money I got from myLot or any other internet went to save for a new computer plus a new printer. We decided to buy our paper in bulk instead of one at a time. I also decided to correct most of my work on the computer, thus saving paper except for the first two drafts. I got a basic American account to put money aside when I got a check and that was to pay for any stamps I would order. If my printer ran out of ink, I would get a refill rather than buy a new cartridge. I also decided to perfect my craft rather than send it off and get an automatic rejection. However that is going to take time because I am also working at home. Right now I can do one hour, but I am gradually increasing. So wish me luck.

Writing and Finances

One thing people forget is that you need more than just you brilliant imagination and quick verbosity to write. You need equipment. The days of taking out a quill or fountain pen, writing on a paper, and sending it off to the printer for him to print it is gone. The editor wants to see your work typewritten or computer written. If you cannot do it yourself, you have to hire someone to do it for you. So either you get a typewriter or a computer. If you make many mistakes, and throw paper in the waste basket, you look for a computer and that is where the trouble begins.

You say you are a writer and then you get the suggestion that any computer, or rather the cheapest one will do, but you realize that if you decide to write speculative fiction or historical fiction, your computer has to do more than just words. You need graphics. If you write articles, you may need to draw diagrams. Your desk might get messy, so the computer needs a flat panel monitor, plus the desk with the bookcase, or the separate bookcase, the boxes where you store your information and magazines and so on.

You need paper, a printer and with that, cartridges, postage stamps, envelopes, etc. Now if you had a good paying job, a university education, or a trade, this is no worry. After all, you can save for the computer in no time, a year at the most, and still pay the mortgage, the car, go on a trip once a year, clothes, games, eating out once in a while, and all that stuff that life requires.

This is why if you have a low paying job, that it is essential to save. So put money aside, open a savings account, and put so much fort nightly for your writing equipment, allow so much for the stamps, and you will be on your way to financially support your writing career.

Preparing to be a Writer: Education.

Although many suggest Creative Writing Course and Journalism, the path to be a writer is often hampered not by the lack of will, but by the type of preparation. In the old days, people learned at home and those whose parents were professors or professional people had a better chance of writing down their memoirs or stories than those whose parents were farmers. So those who take the academic stream are better able to engage others with their words than those who concentrate on mechanics, vocational training, and office work. In some States and Provinces, the requirements for English are the same, but in others, the standards for those who go to University are much higher. If you happen to live in one of those not so equal states and you decide to be a writer, you will have a hard time about it unless you are writing first person stories.

Unless you cannot avoid it, take the courses that will lead to University. Grades Ten to Twelve are very important because it is there you will acquire a college vocabulary and have access to more material, as well as development of thinking skills. However, if you have to switch to the general program in Grade Ten or Eleven because of a death in the family, or the sudden loss of money, you will have to learn on your own and usually you may not get a chance until your family is grown or you have acquired enough money to take night courses.

Someone who did not go to college or did not have the proper education cannot pick the right word out of the sky. The person, will have to work harder as I did and I am one whose circumstances forced me to change from the University to the Business program. I have Word Wrap on my computer, I have a couple of online dictionaries available, and I have the dreaded Word Grammar and Spelling Checker. There are some meanings whose nuances I am not sure of, and there are some words that are not part of my normal vocabulary because I missed hearing them in Business. The reason why there are books telling one how to improve your vocabulary is because of the division of learning structures in some schools. So if this is your case, it will be harder for you to become a writer, but not impossible.