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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| External Writerings Jan 2025 Not as many this month. Itâs just been one of those months! But some of these are really fine collections⌠My favourite 10 Wrestling PPVs from the second half of 2024. These wrestling lists are getting me some hate mail because I donât put every WWE show on them. Wrestling tribalism is insane⌠and totally unwarranted. Some wrestling fans are just douchebags.My favourite original songs of 2024. Boy, I got more hate for who I put on than who I left off!My favourite cover songs of 2024! And the hate here came from my focus on Australian artists and the fact Taylor Swift covers appear everywhere. Whingers, grow up!Songs about sweat. Well, it has been insanely hot here in Australia.Some songs with âAustraliaâ in the title. My mandatory Australia Day song list.A dozen of my favourite songs by Marianne Faithfull. This was to commemorate her passing.And thatâs this monthâs writerings! Remember, a click on each one pays me, so youâre supporting me by listening to some great music or reading some weird opinions. The way it works is: one click per article per ISP, no ad blockers. I get a very small amount, but it is an amount. Of course, donât feel obligated. Just if you want to listen to music. |
| Mythological Or Legendary Creatures As ClichĂŠ So, regular readers will know that I have been writing a book for many, many, many years, a book that will apparently never be finished, listing and giving some account of every single legendary creature in the world. Not those from fiction, but from belief. Anyway, this rather weird obsession that I have developed has meant I look at many stories that involve these creatures with a slightly more critical eye. So, what I will do is look at some of the most commonly used creatures here and offer some alternatives. But 2 creatures will not be here. First is vampires, as popular culture has so diluted and changed the original legends that Meyerâs sparkling vampires are just the end of a long list of changes made for books and film that are just there. Second is therianthropes â people who can turn into animals. Popular culture has diluted the stories, and many ancient legends have been completely corrupted by Christianity and its adherents. So, with these creatures, have at them. You canât do worse than whatâs already been done. On the other hand, hereâs six that I feel can be replaced by some other more interesting beings, before they become clichĂŠs themselves. 1) Dragon Letâs start with the grand-daddy, a creature that has ancient stories on every continent except Australia (though that is an argument I am currently having with an anthropologist). Starting as just huge, winged lizards, they developed intelligence and gold-lust and fire-breath, and then certain weaknesses through the years so that the creature evolved⌠and yet the one we often picture nowadays has not changed much since the medieval period. However, it is something of a clichĂŠ now. Dragon-riders, dragon-tamers, telepathic dragons⌠all been there, done that for years. Alternate?How about a wyvern? They are not as intelligent, and actually make more sense scientifically, being tetrapods (hind legs and forelimbs are wings). Most tales do not mention fire, but extremely tough hides. Some even have a scorpion tail, so they have that as well. In fact, this ended up being the creature I used in Invasive Species . Spoiler!2) Unicorn The unicorn is depicted nowadays as a white horse with a single long horn on its forehead, a paragon of virtue. Of course, it started as a nasty creature that did avoid humans, who hunted it for its cure-all horn. In the Middle Ages, it was incorporated into the Noahâs Ark myth and the added story was that a beautiful female virgin could seduce one. Last unicorns are a common trope of human hubris. Alternate?Maricorn. This is a unicorn that lives in the water, with the lower body of a fish or dolphin, like a horned Hippocampus. There is also the Almaricorn, which was a Maricorn with the wings of an eagle. Having the added element of water could make for some interesting tales. 3) Griffon The griffon, the eagle-lion hybrid creature, was a guardian of gold to the ancient Greeks, and became the symbol of strength and bravery to medieval people. My own family crest features a griffon (also spelt griffin, gryphon or gryps). Normally depicted as steadfast guardians nowadays, they have not changed much in centuries. Alternate? Heliodromos could be interesting. Picture a griffon, but with the bird parts those of a vulture, and with the tendency to scavenge and hoard, like a vulture, and you have this medieval creature. There is more scope for a nasty creature here, and the legends about it are scant, so adding to the story is simple and wonât step on toes. 4) Giant These larger than normal humans are just that â larger than normal humans. How large is larger than normal? Depends on the culture. These creatures do appear on all continents. Australian and North American giants tend towards mountain-sized; European ones twice the height of a human, South American and African giants tend to be simply larger than humans, but not by a lot, while Asian giants run the gamut from a little larger to mountain-sized. They are a simple thing, and appear as generally stupid beings, no matter the culture (Norse being quite the outlier here). They have changed very little over the centuries. Alternate? Danish Trolls. Trolls from Norse legend were a form of ugly, really nasty giant, but those from Denmark lived underground and had cities that were very similar to human habitations. They were not stupid, but were nasty and were often depicted as wanting to eat humans. The fact the tribes could not get along kept their numbers down, as troll battles would kill many. They were said to be ugly by human standards, and used simple weapons as swords were too expensive for them to create, and dwarves would not give them metal. Could be a greater threat if they can work together. 5) Centaur A centaur is a man to the waist, then a horse from there down. In ancient Greece, they were seen as drunken louts who ravished human women (or men) and fought battles, with the only exception being Chiron, who was the teacher of many Greek heroes. Over time, centaurs have come to be seen as more guardians of nature, though this is a post-Middle Ages interpretation of the myth. Alternate? Hereâs one â Uridimmus. From ancient Mesopotamia, particularly Sumer and Akkad (where he was called Samas), he was a man to the waist, and a lion from there down â a lion-centaur. Depicted as a guardian creature, he was very loyal and strong, and as fierce as any lion. That is all that is really known about it, so is another creature that could well be adapted and adopted without really intruding on the original myth or legend. 6) Mermaid The mermaid of nowadays is an interesting legendary creature. They were depicted as people to the waist, and fish from there down. In Europe, they come from the Greek god Triton; in Australia and the Pacific, they tended towards more shark-like; in Japan, there was a definite dolphin-like quality. In the Americas, they seem to have been introduced with Europeans. In some cultures in Europe, they took over the original creatures, who were more like Sirens. It is a muddled and confused history, made worse by the fact that sailors thought they were real, mistaking (it is believed) manatees for women. You had to be at sea for a long time, in my opinion, for that to happen! But they have become a clichĂŠ, made more confused by Walt Disney and the house of Mouseâs corrupting influence on popular culture. Alternate? Why not go for the siren? This ancient Greek creature that spread across Europe )where it was called Sirin, Syren, etc.) was another water-based being. They were birds with the faces and breasts of women. They were also the ones who were first renowned for singing; original mermaid myths had no singing, but the two were joined together in medieval times. In some tellings of the myth, the women were old and ugly, in others they were young and beautiful. The young depiction does appear to be later, but both are still from ancient Greek legend. Still, a woman-animal hybrid living on or near the water, with a beautiful singing voice, and already showing signs of having been changed by ancient cultures. Sounds perfect. So, there we are, 6 mythological or legendary creatures that have been over-used in modern pop culture and an alternative for each that could still make your story an interesting one, and giving some love to lesser known creatures of yore. It is worth thinking about doing. Why stick with the old? Why not extend yourself and give something else a go? And, of course, if it doesnât work, go back to the clichĂŠd creature. No-oneâs stopping you. This is just a suggestion, after all. |
| Songs For Year Of The Snake So, itâs the Year of the Snake in the Chinese New Year. Many years ago, I did a column on it, but the videos have all been removed, so hereâs the column with songs! (All are in my personal music collection, by the way.) âThe Viperâ by Freddie And The Dreamers (1963) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUCeLxLCY58 A novelty song, a B-side from a four-track single, this is a weird song, so unlike most of the other songs recorded by this band. I have always liked it, though, probably because it is so odd. âSnake In The Grassâ by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick And Tich (1969) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie_9VvF2DFY A song I only have on a greatest hits album, and one I have not heard away from said disc, this is a fun little track that, while not their best, is certainly a decent song about some-one acting like the proverbial snake in the grass. âCrawling King Snakeâ by The Doors (1971) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dV0buYqrRo4 From my favourite Doors album L.A. Woman, this cover version of an old blues track is really made by the music behind Jim Morrisonâs vocals. In an album of great tracks, this song stands out as different and wonderful. âThe Serpent Is Risingâ by Styx (1973) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r49u63AgjfI The title track from this album is very prog rock sounding, with lyrics about some cosmic serpentine entity rising up. The album is a weird one, but this is one of the better tracks from it. âSnake Charmerâ by Rainbow (1975) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coZVchUjb64 From Rainbowâs first album, the guitar playing is superb and the lyrics are odd, but this is a great rock track from the greatest era of classic rock. An album cut that not many actually know about, which is a shame. âTube Snake Boogieâ by ZZ Top (1981) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5_lpQqfiy8 From the El Loco album, when they first started to experiment with some electronic sounds in their music, this is the definite highlight of that still quite good record. ZZ Top had a great way with the 12-bar boogie blues rock style, and that is on show here so strongly. âUnion Of The Snakeâ by Duran Duran (1983) [[Embed over limit (5).]] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6p5Q6_JBes Though, even now, almost 40 years later, I am not completely sure what the lyrics are about, this song from the really strong Seven And The Ragged Tiger album is still a good one. Itâs just that perfect mix of rock and pop that Duran Duran straddled so well at this point in their careers. âBig Snakeâ by Lloyd Cole And the Commotions (1987) [[Embed over limit (5).]] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ishqYL4Jos8 Slow and punctuated by some fine guitar work and Coleâs always impressive voice, this song is almost threatening in tone, but is still a glorious piece of music. âSnakebiteâ by Alice Cooper (1991) [[Embed over limit (5).]] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agC3lIfPuQU Alice Cooper has continuously released great music for decades, and this song from the under-rated Hey, Stoopid album is amongst the wonderful. I was under the impression it had been released as a single, but Iâm not sure. Still, I remember hearing this at the time and it was great then as it is now. âViperâ by Mike Oldfield (2002) [[Embed over limit (5).]] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1ICitSTFNA A beautiful instrumental from one of Oldfieldâs lesser-known recent albums, but one which I really quite liked, Tres Lunas. Itâs a little more electronic than most of his earlier stuff, but I think that difference was what made this album stand out to me. âSnakes And Laddersâ by Kim Wilde (2010) [[Embed over limit (5).]] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0zEE53B170 Regular readers will know of my love for Ms Wilde and her music, and this song about the eponymous game (so probably pushing the limits of the theme here) is a great song that I have as a CD Single extra track. It deserves more than that, though, as it is a great little pop song. So, to celebrate a new Chinese year, some songs about snakes! The original list had 15 songs, but this only allows me 10 embedded videos, so I cut 5. Sorry. |
| List Of Bad Tropes And I will continue to dump on some tropes because I am having fun doing it. These, though, are just in list form, things I hate in writing, be that books, films or TV. 1) The very attractive, rather smart, hard-working, physically fit woman married to an ignorant man-child who canât even remember birthdays. And do we ever see this reversed? No! Because TV writers are men and this is their Gary Stu insert! 2) A detective who doesnât play by the rules but is tolerated because he solves crimes and never gets pinged for his bad behaviour by ethics people/ HR or taken to court or sees convictions over-turned. 3) Minimum wage workers who can afford mortgages on large houses or rent on huge apartments. Plus food, kids, holidays, a couple of cars⌠4) The father who encourages his son to be a stereotypical frat-boy with no regard for the rules, especially with regards to the opposite sex, but pulls a shotgun on any male who so much as looks at his daughter. 5) Bad guys with a British accent, always dressed immaculately. 6) Mental illness (depression et al.) being seen as sexy and being fixed by the love of a beautiful member of the opposite sex. 7) Villains who donât appear until the Third Act. Especially egregious when the person we thought was the villain was barely a lackey. 8) Kissing in the rain after a fight or as a first kiss. Kissing in the rain, full stop. Itâs cold and unsexy. 9) Everything is a simulation. Yeah, I saw Tron, too⌠oh, and The Matrix. 10) Bad girls with a Russian accent, always dressed sexily, with slicked-back hair. 11) The characters who need rescuing are female. Always female. No matter how strong, they still need rescuing. Males? Let âem die, I guess. 12) A woman cutting her long hair off indicates becoming powerful and self-assured⌠not having a hairstyle that will now get in the way all the time. 13) âThe nerdy guy loser falls in love with the manic pixie dream girl, and she soon falls for him as well.â (Stole this one, but I agree.) 14) The apparently senile person saying something so profound the story hinges on it (see Parenthood). Everything else they say is insane, by the way. But one moment of lucidity and they are Socrates incarnate. 15) Feminist women who fall in love with misogynistic arseholes. This is just an extension of number 1, but it really grates on me. And these are some of my personal gripes in writing. Sure, some might be based too much in realty, and some of them might even work in one or two cases, but most⌠donât. And I am sure abuse is to follow. |
| Three Character Trope Issues More trope dumping! Because I can! These are three character tropes that just annoy me. More in visual media than books (they rarely occur in what I read), these characters tell me that I am probably not going to enjoy the work in question. I mean, they appear often and so there are clearly fans. I just ainât one oâ âem. I could do 6, but have already mentioned the chosen one, the know-it-all kid, and the evil for the sake of being evil bad guy in other posts. These are three new ones⌠for this blog. 1) The Reluctant Hero I blame Tolkien for this one, and I know Campbellâs Heroâs Journey is based on this trope. But that does not mean it hasnât become tedious. Nowadays, it seems every second hero is reluctant to save the world, either because of selfishness, fear, or some other convenient excuse. But then something happens, and the reluctance disappears, and they set about heroing as they were destined to. Blergh. It is all the same, and it has become boring. Not every hero needs to be reluctant at first! No, really â some people will just go into things, or do things before they realise they are actually being the hero, and by then it is too late. Or they take on the mantle without questioning it. Bonnie Tyler was right, maybe we donât need another hero, especially a reluctant one. 2) The Grumpy Smart-arse Some will say this was Sherlock Holmes or Batman, but I disagree. Holmes was not grumpy, but confident; Batman was not grumpy, but cautious (he had a secret identity, after all). No, this is House the Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock, most lead detectives in CSI orNCIS shows⌠and so on. Most are detectives, though some are doctors, and some are teachers/professors. But they are smart, they know everything, they can work things out in a one-hour episode (plus commercials) and they are grumpy as anything and often just plain rude. I know a lot of smart-arses. I am a smart-arse. And if youâre grumpy, people donât listen to you. You need to have at least a little bit of interpersonal skill or else you will be ignored. No matter how smart you are, you will not be taken seriously or at face value if you are just a grumpy old man. I would also add âquirkyâ here (see Monk); still annoying, still diminishing your gravitas. 3) The Ugly Duckling You know, the one who will turn out to be beautiful in the end. This is o-o-old! The original fairy-tale dates back to ancient Greece. But it has persisted. Beauty And the Beast is the most obvious example. But there are others. How many films have the âdorkâ girl take off her glasses, get anew hairstyle and suddenly, sheâs a prom queen? Or have the boy take off his glasses, get a new hairstyle and have some âcoolâ clothes, and suddenly, heâs the prom king? It is not only unrealistic, but also plays to stereotypes⌠the main one being beauty is everything. Beautiful women are wonderful people, not the bitches who treat everyone like crap. Handsome guys are wonderful people, not douchebags who treat women like objects. Or is that just many of the people Iâve met and seen in real life? And, truth be told, many modern standards of beauty I find about as attractive as a pus-filled boil. And I know Iâm not the only one. This surface level trope about beauty being the be-all and end-all just annoys me. There we are, three (well, 6, including the others already whinged about) character tropes that just tell me your story is going to be crap before Iâve finished it. And if you like them, wonderful! I mean, those TV shows and films have audiences. But, to me, these suck. |
| Romance Tropes That Annoy Me Letâs keep talking about tropes! I started reading romance books about 15 years ago to get an idea of how to write relationships. It must have worked, considering how much Iâve sold since then, and the fact my characters (so Iâve been told) seem more realistic. However, there are a few romance tropes that just annoy me. And here they are! 1) The âFakeâ Relationship She needs to get married to stay in the country! He needs a wife to shut his mother up, despite being gay. So, as a matter of convenience, they get married! But someone doesnât believe them and so follows them to prove itâs fake! Shenanigans ensue! Comedy! And none of it makes any sense. The fake relationship is real â I know of a few â but why anyone would care is beyond me. And some rogue agent going after them⌠donât they have real work to do? It does not seem to be anything that makes sense in terms of it being a decent story. And I have seen a few films and read a few books, and they all just grate. 2) Constant Sex Differences This is one where there is such a huge gender disparity it makes no sense. A male character sleeps with a lot of women and is seen as a stud and manly, but then he meets the one love of his life and the behaviour of a lifetime just stops. He is no longer a sleeze and will remain monogamous because, you know, love. A female character sleeps with a lot of men and is seen as a slut and is irredeemable and can never be rehabilitated, and when the hero finds out, he dumps her for the âniceâ girl staying at home and pining for him. Normally after the hero has slept with the âslut.â A gay character sleeps around until they meet the love of their life, because they are searching, and then itâs all normal. Sorry, but⌠no. Why the differences? Why âslut-shameâ a female character and celebrate a James Bond style character? It makes no sense⌠Psychologically, male or female, a habit of sleeping around is hard to overcome. Monogamy is not for every person. Hand in hand with this is the forgiving partner⌠which seems a lot like wish fulfilment or a version of the start of an abusive relationship. 3) Fixing The Bad Boy This does follow on from the previous one a little. A guy with bad behaviours ingrained is not going to be âfixedâ by the love of a good woman, no matter how much that seemed to be the idea behind 50 Shades Of VomitGray and similar books. No. Abusive jerks tend to keep being abusive jerks unless they have constant and thorough psychological or psychiatric counselling. Males who have been involved as an abuser in a relationship tend to carry that abuse over to a new relationship, down to the kids. Itâs unfortunate, but without help, that is the way it goes. What about abusive females? Well, unfortunately, the research hasnât been done because until recently too many denied they even existed. But I would think without professional help, it would be the same. The love of a good woman is not going to fix someone. It might calm them down briefly, but he is still going to be an abusive jerk because it is an ingrained psychological issue. But fictionâs gotta fiction, I guess, even if it makes no sense. 4) Opposites Attract Paula Abdul got it wrong. Sorry. Yes, I have known some âflingsâ that have been opposites attracting, but long-term relationships actually need things in common for the relationship to last. And, yes, people can grow apart as their likes change and become further apart. But in books, especially YA, the opposites attract trope paints an unrealistic version of a relationship. Opposites might have some attraction in a âwonder what thatâs likeâ sort of thing, but a full-on relationship does not survive without something in common for the relationship to be based on. To the credit of most movies, if this is a starting position, the characters do tend to find they have more in common than separates them, and so, yes, that can work, but in books⌠not so much. 5) The Love Triangle Now, I have known some relationships that have featured this, but it does not last very long because the single gendered person will find one of the other gendered people more attractive. Or maybe it will end up being a polyamorous relationship, and some of them do work, but then where is the conflict? I think it was fine years ago, but it is so over-used, again especially in YA fiction, that it just feels like something to add conflict where there shouldnât be any, and we get stupid Team v Team debates by fans, and one group always ends up disappointed, and⌠who cares? Generally, it is a false means of creating a conflict when the rest of the story is failing. At least, nearly every example I have read comes across that way. If a person in a relationship is attracted to a third person, then maybe the first relationship was not built on an exactly firm foundation? There has to be a reason the eye wanders. And if someone else is trying to impose themselves into an already happy relationship, then are they really a decent person? Or is this another form of abuse? Just askinâ⌠6)Enemies To Lovers And this is the one I dislike most. Most of the time, they have no real reason to be enemies. And, if they do, the way this is overcome so they become lovers feel more convenient than realistic. Everything about this trope feels forced. And, no, coming from opposing backgrounds is not âenemies to lovers.â A Palestinian and an Israeli falling in love despite their countries trying to obliterate one another is an example of love conquering all. But if they were on opposing armies and tried to kill one another, then fell in love⌠I call bullshit. Enemies to friends (see the book Enemy Mine), yes. Circumstances can do that. But to lovers? To go to that level of a relationship where a deep emotional connection is gained. Nope. To me, this is a worse fantasy than a dragon and unicorn bonking. So, six writing tropes in romance that annoy me. Of course, your mileage may vary, and, again, you might disagree and find them all perfectly fine. Great. But, to me, these do tend to draw me out of a story. |
| Utilising Peterâs Evil Overlord List After my last post ("20250117 My Most Hated Tropes" ), I had a thought â how could you use the infamous Peterâs Evil Overlord list to help write a story about a, well, Evil Overlord?This, then, is an example of a scene I wrote using some of the elements of the list. And, yes, the character names mean something ("20250108 Naming Characters" ). It does make it more difficult for a writer to kill the bad guy, but letâs use our imaginations!So, yeah, here is a brief scene of the Evil Overlord and his brother, and some troops. âSo whatâs one more death?â âWell, considering that one more death is mine, I think it warrants some serious discussion.â âOh.â The tall man in the impressive red robes pondered this briefly. âOkay. Fine. What would you like to discuss?â The younger, much more handsome man currently shackled to a large wooden structure covered in spikes and dried blood looked thoughtful. âIâm your younger brother, Sceleratus. What would our mother say?â âOne, brother or not, Bonitus, you led a rebellion against me. Two, I had our mother executed when I had our father executed, so the only way to find out what our mother is thinking would be through the use of a Ouija board.â âYou know what I mean.â The older man smiled in his strangely disarming way. âYes. Yes I do,â he nodded. âBut it doesnât change anything.â The younger man glowered at him with all the glowering he could summon to his eyes. âNow!â he suddenly cried. The three soldiers in the room with them suddenly turned their weapons on Sceleratus. He looked at them and then bowed his head a little, but still maintained eye contact â the perfect teacher pose. âReally?â he asked. The soldiers looked angry, but their eyes caught sight of one another. One started to giggle and before long all three were barely containing guffaws. âWh-What?â Bonitus asked from his chained position. âOh you guys,â the robed man said. âYou almost had me going there.â âWh-What?â Bonitus repeated. âGo on, what did he offer you?â Sceleratusâ smile was wide and almost avuncular. âWell, Your Lordship, Sir,â the first soldier said, âhe promised us riches if we killed you.â âAnd Your Lordship, Sir, he promised us positions in his royal army,â the second added. âBut Your Lordship, Sir,â the third finished, âthis is a job for life, and while you are in charge thereâs few problems for us, and you pay well. If you were to be deposed, Your Lordship, Sir, imagine the chaos.â The other two muttered their agreement. âWh-What?â Bonitus asked yet again. Sceleratus now looked his brother in the eye. âSorry, baby brother. Didnât work.â He paused, really only for effect. âKill him.â âHang onâŚâ But that was all that escaped Bonitusâ lips before the burst of three laser pistols ripped through his head and chest, and then the spiked wooden contraption was allowed to fall, skewering the dying body quite effectively in a multitude of sprays of blood. The robed man waited a few minutes and then checked the body for any signs of life. He nodded to himself and touched a button on his shoulder. âCaptain Thorvald?â he asked. âYes, Your Lordship, Sir,â came the response. âI have three soldiers here who were offered money to kill me. Deal with them, please.â The three looked at one another uneasily as a large man dressed in nice, form-fitting leather entered the room. âRight!â he barked. âYou have three days of leave. Expense accounts will be forwarded to you within the hour.â âThank-you, Captain Thorvald,â Sceleratus said, bending to once more check on his dead brother. The rebellion should be over now. Bonitus was his last living relative. But he could never be really sure, and so he would double the guards on the royal palace starting right now. He didnât get to be the despot he was by being stupid about things. Where to from here? No idea, but my head is telling me clones of Bonitus, or an unknown son. Still, this is just taking the Evil Overlord List and using its suggestions to create a more realistic and fun story. Of course, you might hate it. Thatâs fine. I donât think itâs that bad for 15 minutesâ work.  |
| My Most Hated Tropes So, last time I looked at the Chosen One Trope ("20250115 Current Writing Trend Issue (The Chosen One Trope)" ), a trope that is over-used and can be really tedious. But considering it stretches back to ancient mythologies, and I like me some good mythology, it is not a trope I hate. Nope.These are the three tropes I really do not like. 1) The Bad Guy Who Is Just Bad This is one I have always disliked â the bad guy who is just evil. Even in mythology, that is rarely the case (Abrahamic mythology is the worst for this). But it was not until I read the infamous Peterâs Evil Overlord list that I realised just how stupid this whole evil overlord thing really is.Even if the person does evil things, in the real world, every evil person thinks they are doing the right thing. In a story, this will make the bad guy characters more human and add an extra dimension. The only people who just want to be evil are sociopaths, and even then, for them, it is a matter of dominance because sociopaths gotta sociopath. People donât like to hear this, but Hitler thought he was doing the right thing at first. He went about it all wrong, and he did many, many truly horrendous things, but at the start, his reasons were understandable. It is why so many Germans followed him. So, yeah, bad guys who are bad for the sake of bad are boring and unrealistic. 2) Communication Issues This is just insane. People hear part of a conversation and leap to a bad conclusion. People think they are talking about something but it is something else. People assume knowledge and talk as if that assumption is valid. Yes, they make for alleged comedy and are the bricks upon which many a rom-com is built, but as a trope, it is annoying. Why canât characters just talk it over? In the real world, a relationship that is healthy will involve communication. Real people ask questions to clarify. Real people will not just accept a one-sided conversation as they hear it. A real relationship will not fall apart at the drop of a mis-heard conversation fragment. Truth be told, the misunderstanding comedy trope is one I find about as funny as an ingrown toenail. It is part of the humour of cringe. It is just awful. I know soap operas wouldnât exist without it, but canât it just stay there â in the soaps and bad romantic comedies? 3) The Special Stereotype This is when the âmagical Negroâ, âmanic pixie dream girlâ, âfabulous gay best friendâ, âsuper-deep in-tune-with-nature Indigenous personâ, âhyper-intelligent neurodivergentâ (ânext stage of evolutionâ trope), or even âmartial arts master Asianâ comes in. To avoid making the minority character be just a stereotypical minority character, they are made into something special, almost magical or mystical. And this just reinforced the stereotypes in the first place! Want to know how to write these characters? As people. Thatâs all. Just as people. I have mentioned in the past I use beta readers who match the people in my stories. This is so they come across as people. Yes, the âSpecialâ person is a positive depiction, but they are not real people, and so come across as just another form of stereotype⌠and they are nearly always in a position below the protagonist anyway. If they are the main protagonist, then it can come across as pandering. Want to know how to make them people? Donât have them be the first one killed. Donât have them say constantly, âIâm gay/black/ Indigenous/ not like other girls.â In the real world, people donât do that; why should characters? Have their âdifferencesâ not matter a whole lot. How others react to them might be different, but that is others, not the character themselves. And, yes, people who are constantly harassed will have some additional behaviours, as will those who are neurodivergent, but that is not their personality. That is just a behaviour. Anyway, those are the three writing tropes I really struggle with as a reader. You might disagree and find them all perfectly fine. Great. But, to me, these do tend to harm a story. |
| Current Writing Trend Issue (The Chosen One Trope) This came up in a discussion about films and books with my daughter. Not many of her friends go to the movies â statistics indicate that in Australia less and less younger people are going to the movies all up â and the books she and her friends have started reading are older, not as many new releases. Which made me ask the question: Why? She struggled to put it into words, but then she sent me a copy of a message from Instagram she found. YA Book Premise: I used to be a no-friends loser dork, until I discovered I had a sixth finger on my foot and that gave me the power to be the coolest person ever! What this means is that recently every single YA â and nearly every single fantasy â hero/heroine is a âchosen oneâ who is a special snowflake who the world revolves around. They have special powers, a special destiny, and are ânot like other girls/boys.â My daughter said she asked her friends and the wider social media circle, and, yes, that is why they are sick of it. She says it was fine with Harry Potter because he might have been special, but he was also not the only powerful one, and he had to learn how to use his power, but now every single character is powerful from birth and that separates them from normal people. So, after some discussion, I saw where she was coming from, and, I have to say, I agree. Let me explain. Lord Of the Rings by Tolkien has spoken to readers (and latterly, movie go-ers) for a few generations. The main character, the one who destroys the ring and really brings an end to the evil, is a hobbit, an ordinary being, nothing special. No Chosen One. He just destroys the ring because it is the right thing to do. It was not his âdestinyâ. It was not foretold that a hobbit would do it. He had no special hobbit-magic. One ordinary being going against the odds and succeeding. The âEverymanâ character. Why did Batman resonate with readers and continue to do so? Because he is an ordinary man. Yes, heâs rich, but he has no super-powers. He is just really smart â he is the modern day version of Sherlock Holmes. People got bored with Superman because he just felt over-powered, and so they had to kill him and then bring him back, and then split him in two (the 1990s were weird); Batman was a rich guy who got trained and decided to dress as a bat and belt the bejeezus out of bad guys. No magic rings, no super-strength, nothing else. In the Justice League film, Flash asks him what his super-power is. âIâm rich,â he replies. Thatâs it. That whole thing can be translated to Iron Man. It was why that character managed to strike a chord with viewers, and was an ideal first MCU hero â he was just a rich, smart guy. He was one of us. And then we have The Hunger Games. Katniss was not a Chosen One. In fact, she volunteered to enter the Games in order to save her sister. Yes, she had some skill, but was not destined to bring down the government or anything else. Right person, right time, and a character that readers could relate to. In other cases, the main character had to learn what to do, by reading or learning, and not just have these powers bestowed upon them. This is where Harry Potter comes in â he might have been the Chosen One, but he had to learn, and we, the reader, watched him learn and get his powers. And what do we have now? The Fourth Wing, Lightlark, Rey PalpatineSkywalker⌠Modern popular media is populated by main characters who are born special and the stories revolve around them being special snowflakes. There are very few stakes because the main character is Chosen and special. Even the MCU. Captain Marvel is over-powered to a Superman level, but without the humanity; she was given her power, and didnât have to work for it at all. The Eternals are OP, born with magic earth-changing power. Echo might have some disabilities, but she was born with powers that make her disabilities a moot point. It is boring and it is tedious and it seems younger media consumers are moving away from these characters. Readers, it seems, just want characters who are ordinary, but then find a strange book in a library and read it and learn some powers that they cannot automatically control and master, or who are put in a situation that they are not really ready to cope with, but have to. Picking up a sword and becoming the greatest swords-person as a teenager is the sort of thing being rejected by YA readers (not adults who read YA, who are a different kettle of fish); kids understand how much b/s that is. And too many people do not write children realistically as it is ("20241218 Children Characters" ).A lot of this is down to more and more Mary Sue("20240215 Mary Sue/Marty Stu (Gary Stu)" ) and self-insert ("20241009 Self-Insert Characters" ) characters appearing. It is now regarded that Rey PalpatineSkywalker is a Mary Sue for Kathleen Kennedy, who is in charge of the Lucasfilm division, imposing her will upon those beneath her. A woman greater than the men, and especially the men who came before her (Luke Skywalker/ George Lucas). Why is it happening? It depends on who you ask. Some say it is DEI gone mad, some say it is because of a lack of representation, some say it is because fan-fiction is becoming mainstream, and some say it is because of lazy writing (I am more inclined towards that last one).The Chosen One trope is over-used and is being more and more over-used. Give the hero a book or a magic amulet or something to give them power, and then it would only be temporary. Or, better yet, just make them have to use their own resources to cope and survive. Write interesting characters! It seems to be what readers/viewers want. |
| Vocabulary Matters A few people on WdC will know of my love for weird and rare words and etymology. This has resulted in my having a slightly larger vocabulary than many people, and also an understanding of when a word is being used incorrectly. Sometimes there is a subtle difference. A thesaurus will tell you arid and parched are synonyms, but, if weâre being technical, arid means something has no water, whereas parched means something has no water, but it used to have water. Little things like that. But that is not what this post is about. I recently wrote about the rare words I have been regaling WdC with this year and if they are any use to a writer ("20240826 Using Rare Words" ). Can a writer realistically use these words? Well, there is an issue â most people do not know what these words mean. That means, unless the context is clear, the word is going to bring the story to a halt. Having said that⌠in a novel I try to use one or two little-used words. That is in a whole novel. Just because I can. But that is not why weâre here today.This post is about using words properly. I could say, âHis mouth was arid,â or, âHis mouth was parched.â The second is more correct and I would think most writers would recognise that even if they didnât completely understand why. And when it comes to our vocabulary, we need to make sure that the words we are using mean what we think they mean. If in doubt, use a dictionary. I would recommend one of those paper ones; while there are some online that are reasonable, I am a stickler for using the OED. Still the best. So, feel free to pop in random long words, but do make sure they mean the right thing for your story. Then we have random foreign words. You need to make sure that they mean exactly what you think they mean. And, more to the point, you need to ensure grammar is correct. Hereâs an example from a work I read here at WdC. âEgo occidere meus filius.â Latin. Sort of. It means, âI my son to be killed.â I think the writer was going for âI killed my son.â That would be, âEgo filium meum necavi.â What the writer did was plug each word into a translator. But Latin is declined and conjugated, and the writer had no idea how that worked. If you are having a supposedly native speaker make such fundamental errors, it just feels pedestrian at best. It is worse with Japanese. We see a lot of Japanese and unless you speak the language and know the difference between idiomatic Japanese and formal Japanese, you could well make some huge errors. Do not trust online translators; ask someone who speaks the language. They are easy enough to find in this day and age. âBut no-one speaks Latin!â you cry. Wrong! I do! And I am not the only one â Latin is still the official language of Vatican City, for example. Vatican radio is broadcast in Latin. If itâs a language, there is a speaker. Except ancient Egyptian. We donât know how that sounds⌠but we do know how to write in it. And remember, just because a word is spelt correctly, it does not mean it is the right word. Or is that write word? Maybe rite word? Beak oars⌠or because. Dessert or desert. Homophones are the bane of many a writer. Make sure you use the right one! The homophones most commonly messed up that I see are: to, too, two there, their, theyâre weather, whether, wether right, rite, write course, coarse your, youâre by, buy, bye stationary, stationery compliment, complement brake, break here, hear peace, piece whole, hole stare, stair know, no higher, hire then, than its, itâs There are many more, but these seem to be the ones I have seen mixed up the most often. So when using any word, foreign or English, make sure you know that what you are writing is correct in context, meaning and situation. Ask people. Read a dictionary. Make sure you know what is going on. It will make your story the best it can be. |
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Not directed at you. But it's mind-boggling how many strangers still call it 'brave' or ask 'why did you do that?'
