A Writer's Thoughts, part 1:

Many people in the world today think it is inappropriate for writers to create certain types of characters, simply because they are offensive.

For Example: The Flamboyant Gay Tailor.

He/She makes us laugh, smile, and generally breaks up any tension that may have formed during our reading/viewing experience. However, there are those that consider the creation of such a character to be offensive. Why, you ask?

Common answers are usually centered around the belief that homosexuals are like African Americans, and thus the gay tailor should not be portrayed as such, because their "lifestyle, culture and people are not a toy for your creative process, or for the benefit of making a buck off of their culture."

I was once told that because I create such characters in my works occasionally, I am a bigot. I never once advocated hatred of homosexuals in my works, nor do I ever. If I create a homosexual, it is either because I intended the character to be homosexual, or because they were an appropriate foil to the otherwise grim realities of the story.
Basically: I make the stereotypical gay male as a way to ease the tension.

On the other hand, when I create a character who is homosexual in a serious work, they are portrayed with logical, normal human emotions. 

Why, then, is this so offensive? Because, despite my open-minded approach to life, my views do not line up with what most "open minded" folks consider to be "right." 

Perception is reality, and I perceive, conceive, and portray according to how I want my books to be, not in a way that limits my creativity for fear of upsetting the apple cart.

To you who wish to make great works, remember this lesson:

Nothing is Sacred.  Nothing is Taboo.  Nothing is bad for your writing but bad spelling, grammar, and fearing to test to boundaries of human thought.

All My Love,

Timothy Bryan Keen

Being Webster: Spelling and Grammar

Being Webster

Good Spelling and Grammar Attracts Buyers

You have most likely seen it on the net millions of times:  

Fanfiction and Original Content that are well written where the concept is concerned, but the grammar and spelling makes you want to run headlong into the monitor in a blind fury, while screaming profanities in the tongue of the elves.  A lot of potentially great writers often make common spelling mistakes because they DON'T know how to spell certain common words.  

It happens, but you must remember this:  As the writer, it's your responsibility to make sure that you spell-check your work constantly, as tiny mistakes like spelling words like "Baseball" incorrectly, or using improper grammar, outside of dialogue, can send the more harsh reviewers into a frenzy, in which they will TYPE IN ALL CAPS WHILE ANGRILY REVIEWING YOUR WORK, THINKING THAT ALL CAPS MAKES THEIR OPINION VALID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simple steps can be taken to ensure that you are insured against bad reviews:

KNOW THY DICTIONARY AND THESAURUS

Make Merrium-Websters Dictionary a part of your reading list, as well as any K-12 Grammar Prompters, even if you have already graduated.  I've seen too many instances where very intelligent people, whom I graduated with STILL didn't understand the basics of the English language when they were sending emails to me.  I want to say something, but I just don't have the heart, so I hope that by doing this, I can guarantee you safety against people who are jerks about this kind of thing.

STUDY, PRACTICE, BE

You have most likely heard the expression: "Practice Makes Perfect" before, and in no instance is this truer than if you are a writer.  The more you study proper usage, the more you will know, and the more you practice proper usage, the better you will be at proper usage of the English language.

More specifically: you should study the most common spelling mistakes, and the most common grammatical errors.

GOOD NOTE-TAKING SKILLS

Practicing good English usage is always a good thing, but when studying, nothing will help you practice proper usage than taking good notes while you study. Just remember this:  You will never be the best for longer than it takes for the next great writer to steal your spotlight, so keep studying to ensure that what you ARE capable of writing will help you STAY in the spotlight as long as you have still have ideas running through your head.  Complacency destroys a good writing career.

Cliches

Cliches: Friend or Foe?

Now, you might be wondering:  Why even cover Cliches if they are so... cliche?  

The truth is this:  You can't escape using a cliche or two, no matter how clever you think you are, or however clever you ACTUALLY are.  So, here are a few tips to help you cleverly ninja around the eye-rolling, groan-inducing things that people absolutely despise.

Common Fantasy Cliches:

Elves

Dwarves

Anthropomorphic Creatures

Dragons

Magic requires a wand

Kid with dead mom and dad (since Harry Potter, anyways)

No sacrifice or exchange needed for magic

Over-sized swords being wielded by tiny people with the wrong build

Sword can kill a dragon (which is a bunch of shite.  Spears are for killing dragons).

Pretty much anything that Tolkien wrote about is now cliche in fantasy.

How to "avoid cliches":

The truth of the matter is that to "avoid" a cliche, you have to put a twist on an existing convention.  Avoiding a cliche is almost like trying to avoid being assimilated by the Borg: Resistance is futile.

In short, this is how you essentially take and break the cliche like a bad habit:

Elves = Magic = Ultimate Power = Overused

to solve this:

Elves are normal, yet don't have the legendary power of the gods like humans give them credit for.  Instead, why not try making them EXTREMELY INTELLIGENT, but non magical?

I don't, as a general rule, use full-blown elves.  Half-elves don't get enough usage in fantasy, I notice, thus, I use them in my book.

Now you may be thinking: "Oh, so he uses this, so, logically, I can't do that."

Wrong!  Ideas are like pancakes.  Easy to make, and are good with the right "toppings".


Experiment at will.  Cliches are only a base for the greater formula known as originality.

Creative Writing: The Inner Workings of a Good Story

Creative Writing

The Inner Workings Of A Good Story

Now, as I said in the previous blog, there is no wrong way to write your story, because it's your story.  But, there are a few things that must be explained, should you wish to make your story interesting and readable.




1. Know your setting


Now, whether you are making fan-fiction or an original piece, one rule must be observed when writing:  Know your settings.  When a character in a particular place, what does he/she see?  Is there grass?  How tall is that grass?  What time of the year is it?  What is the weather like on that day?  Is it daytime, or in the middle of the night?  Little details like this may not seem important, but they can make the best story in the world turn into bottom-of-the-bin refuse.  In order to know your character's surroundings, put yourself in their shoes... if they are wearing any, that is.  Walk around outside, and look around.  Take in the sights, sounds, and emotions that you felt, then when you are finished experiencing nature, go write what you felt.  That will be your practice for generating believable settings in your book.  If your audience experiences everything your character experiences, it will be much easier for them to empathize with the character at that place and in that moment in the character's life.




2. Elaborating:  How much is too much?


It's important to describe your characters, and how they typically dress, but there is such a thing as too much detail.  So, when does it become too much?


Usually, an acceptable description of a person would go like this:


A young black man walked into the bar that day.  His attire wasn't what one would call normal, however.  His khaki pants and flannel shirt, with it's short sleeves, buttoned up to the top, exposed thin arms, the likes of which one would normally find in photos of anorexic people, but this young man was far from anorexic.  His pants were too short, though it became apparent that this was on purpose, because we all noticed that he was wearing suspenders to hold his pants up.  On his face were black, thick-rimmed glasses, the kind that looked as though they should have been part of a Halloween costume.


See there?  I just described Steve Urkel.  This is what a well-constructed paragraph, with just the right kind of details, can do.  Now, notice that I used comparative language, such as "the kind that looked as though they should have been part of a Halloween costume."
This is called a simile, and they should be your best friend from here on out.  The better someone understands how ridiculous Urkel's glasses are, the more prone to laughter that someone would be if you're writing about Steve Urkel.


Now...


On the other side of this is what too much detail is.  Imagine you're talking to someone about ice cream.  The person who you're talking to begins to ramble, telling you the history of ice cream, what it's made from, how they make it, and how children in China benefit from it, and then goes off on a complete and utterly irrelevant tangent.


Annoyingly boring, isn't it?  That is what too much detail is.  When readers pick up your book, they don't want to be put to sleep with you telling them so much that they forget what the story was about.  It's a sure-fire way to make sure your book becomes fireplace fodder.




3.  Plot:  What is your story about?


It's always important to inform your readers early on what they are in for.  Will this book be full of action, adventure, mystery or intrigue?  If you let them know up front with proper exposition, and the right set-up, then this will be an easy thing to establish.


When I was writing "Chronicles", I knew I wanted it to be a jack-of-all-trades novel, but with a serious story to it.  In the opening, my character is introduced as an arrogant little boy, but when trouble strikes, he puts on his hat, and bravely steps out into the storm to confront the source of the trouble, which is a giant, squid-like monster.  Upon realizing that he can't use fire magic (which is the spell he was most proficient with), he begins to get creative, and find another way to fight the huge creature.


Right then and there, you get the message:  It's an action-adventure-fantasy novel.  It's all in the little details.




4. Make spell-check your BEST FRIEND!


Their's nothing I hate more than to strain my eyes trying to read something that looks like someone posted it in such a rage that they forgot to check their spelling or their grammar.


ALSO...


The average reader despises the use of internet shorthand, so, another thing you must master is use of full thoughts and words.  To help you improve, I would suggest joining a Literate Role Play forum site, and train yourself to NOT use shorthand.  Also, it helps to improve your story-telling ability when you assume your role, and are serious about said role.


Thank you for reading.  I will post more eventually.  If there are any questions or suggestions regarding anything on this blog, please comment below.

Introduction to Creative Writing

Hi there!

In this Blog, I hope to answer some crucial questions that amateur writers may have about writing original fiction.  A lot of amateurs think you have to be as good as J.K. Rowling, or Tolkien, Christopher Paolini to come up with amazing, breathtaking, reality warping works of fiction.  Wrong!

All you have to have to be the next (insert your favorite author here) is to understand a few simple things:

1. Setting:  Where does this story take place?
Is it in downtown L.A., or upstate New York, or on a little farm in Kansas?  Or, perhaps it's not even on this planet!  For all we know, your world involves a race of blue people on Alpha Centauri far in the future!  Everything is location, location, location in the world of books.

2. People:  Who are your characters?
What do they do?  Are they human, or otherwise?  Are they good, or evil?  This will help your readers understand WHO your heroes and villains are, why they are who they are/have become, and what they care about.

3. Plot:  What is happening, has happened, and will happen in this story?
Nothing is more grinding on my patience than an amateur story where the writer doesn't seem to know what he wants to happen in his story.  I'm guilty of confusing myself, sometimes, but I go back and rewrite whatever does not makes sense so that my story will be the most likely thing people will read.  Make it interesting... AFTER the rough draft.  That's where the awesomeness of the whole process comes into play.

4. Have the patience of Jesus:  When writing, just relax, and let it come.
A common mistake that a lot of young writers make is expecting to sit down and start writing, and it will magically happen or be perfect.  Sorry to burst your bubble, Mary Sue, but writing takes a lot of planning, so while your waiting, I suggest opening a tablet (made of paper), and start jotting down character notes, world notes, character back stories, and just anything that comes to mind.  You are going to have the patience of Jesus to pull off the world's greatest novel.

At this point, you may wonder: What are the cliches to avoid?

Stephen King once said that there was no such thing as a bad story.  I'm here to say that there is no such thing as a cliche to avoid, despite what a lot of so-called "experts" will tell you.  A cliche is nothing more than an easy way to advance the story, and how you modify that cliche determines how many people drop your book in spite, or how many take it home with them.  Sure, some are still going to roll their eyes at your book, but only because they feel that they can do better, and that's fine--competition is what you need as a writer.
More than cliches, avoid spelling errors.  Those stick out like a drop of blood on a white linen towel.
I will discuss this in detail in my third blog on this subject.

Let's look at cliches like this:  

As with movies, books also have a sort of "Stock Footage" that is available for everyone to use.  That is what cliches are.  They are mental stock footage ripe for use.  HOW you use them is more important than the fact that you used a cliche.  Don't let anyone tell you that cliches are the most hated thing in the world, because I have written the most cliched piece known to man, and people reading it absolutely adored it.  Why?  I did something that fantasy purists tend to not do:  Make the characters easier to identify with.

This is all the information I can come up with at this point, but if you have anything you wish to add, be my guest.