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This week: Oh, the Humanity! Edited by: Storm Machine  
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Especially in fantasy, sometimes we choose a mythological creature, an alien, or a robot to become our eyes and ears through the story. Their goals are not always the same as a human's, and it can be difficult for the reader to relate to the character.
The overall goals of the character matter. We might not understand them, but we have to be able to relate to whatever the goal is. If it comes to protecting brethren, getting enough food, or finding a safe place to sleep- we do pretty well.
But what about those characters that aren't able to be understood? The ones who blink to change the weather on different continents? The ones who squash worlds under their toes because it was time?
The character who cannot be easily conveyed to readers may not the best to take over the narrative. What if your dragon isn't about to explain why all the butterflies in the world had to be attracted to its scales at noon on the solar eclipse? Perhaps it doesn't understand any gender or attraction or meals as we know them. Holding the reader at arm's length and intentionally hiding something that the character would know and be considering can make the character feeling unrelatable.
This is the perfect time to show the action through someone else. Get those ideas into the character who is seeing it happen, someone more human, might give the reader the gel they need to get to that point.
We talk about the protagonist and the antagonist, and sometimes it seems we get that confused with the good guy and the bad guy. There are no good guys and no bad guys. It's about the one you root for versus whoever or whatever is standing in the way of the goal. So think about this during that scene with the unrelatable character: Who hurts the most? Who is this going to bother that is going to bring that hurt home to the reader?
If it's my dragon covered in butterflies- the dragon is totally blissed out. But the girl who rode that dragon from the sea to the mountains is bereft, lonely, and doesn't understand why she couldn't share that moment. It might be her scene.
The same happens with magic or cybernetic abilities or anything else we can and do dream up for our characters: whoever hurts the most owns the narrative. At times we can make the bad guys relatable and pull some deep story to bring that out and make it seem like they didn't have choices. We all have choices, even the writers who choose to place that narrative in that particular character's head. |
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Shadowstalker-- Covid free
While I will admit, I have used the whole DEM approach in stories (usually going the route of explaining things after ala Dumbledore style), Sometimes, that is just how the character and world take you. Many times i have this idea of where I want the story to go, or end at least. But as I write, the words take a life of their own and go in unexpected directions. Sometimes when this happens, those Deus Ex moments pop up because that is what "feels" natural at the moment. In the end, sometimes those DEM moments can spark yet more story or stories. I wrote a novella on here that ended with one of those Deus Ex moments, but because of that, my entire story world evolved and I have ended up making 4 more novels based entirely off of that single moment.
Nice! Sounds like that might keep you out of trouble a while.
shaara
True, yet, we get attacked day and night by something unexpected -- a letter from the IRS saying we're being audited, a pink slip from our employer, a document from a law firm saying we've just inherited from great, great aunt somebody, lottery numbers that miraculously win, our daughter telling us she's engaged.
Aren't those all examples of Deus ex Machina if we tweak them into becoming the solution to whatever problem the characters have acquired?
They could be. I didn't say using Deus ex Machina was wrong, but are those examples going to steal from a satisfying end or the character's growth? Or lead to new stories instead?
Quick-Quill 
This was a very informative NL. I had to read it a couple of times to let it all sink in. There is a concept in the Bible, "God always provides a way of escape." If you think about this as you write, Each character faces situations, but do they take the escape or choose too late and suffer the consequences. In LOTR at the end when the eagles picked up Sam and Frodo, they had to go through the trial even their escape was almost cut off by the lava. Yet, in the end they were saved and we all heaved a sigh of relief. We saw the eagles earlier so they weren't a surprise. Checkov's gun in reverse. If you need a rescuer in the end, you'd better have seen it somewhere before hand or heard of it.
That is one way to look at it.
brom21 
I just read the second book in a trilogy called The Dragon King Trilogy by Stephen Lawhead. At the end the doomed and outnumbered good warriors are suddenly saved by the possessor of the Shining Sword, a weapon that was forged by a magical ore that delivered them from the antagonists. The author did a good job and not making it seem the savior came out of the blue. There were lots of dialog and buildup from the search for the ore and the forging of the blade. Anyway, I totally get what you’re saying and sometimes I find myself coming pop-up occurrences and characters, but I usually try to develop curiosity and mystery for the introduction of those circumstances and characters. Thanks for the newsletter!
Great idea. It can be difficult to dig deeper and develop those characters.
BIG BAD WOLF is Howling 
What do you call a coincidence then?
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Fantasy: August 06, 2014 Issue [#6471]
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