Excuses to Edit

One of the benefits (and disadvantages) to putting a draft aside is that, unless you've kept effective enough notes as you go (which is akin to writing the same thing twice over, so I don't often do), time away from it makes a preemptive edit a necessity.

I suppose some might have the willpower not to poke at the draft as they go (aside from glaring spelling and grammar mistakes, which must always be nipped when caught), but I am not such a person.

Today, I started to reread UnHeard's NaNo draft and I've barely cleared the first few scenes after a couple hours of reading because I've already begun to add and fidget with what I'm coming across. Nothing too lofty, a sentence here and there with any uncertainty being shoved onto the Notes section to be refined later. All the same, while the idea of editing was not thrilling, as usual I find that it is a very rewarding experience to have to refresh my memory once more.

Even though rereading any of my books evokes the same feeling, I can't help but feel what I am working on more truly reflects my aspirations for the story. Whether or not that's true, it's very much a feeling that drives me to keep writing, to keep looking for my truest voice, to keep believing my potential is never met, always growing, but not unattainable either.

I also feel as if I'm being more honest about my themes. Although the beginning of this current story starts with what seems to be a budding romance, I'm not handing this one to the reader so easily. Or myself, for that matter. Have you heard a long-married couple arguing in public and been intrigued to know what they were like as children or early in their marriage? Do you hear the odd mix of resentment mixed with adoration and wonder what combination of absence and being attached at the hip kept them from abandoning ship? Did everyone around them think they were destined to be together or was there no way in hell they seemed compatible, either in personality or station in life?

Even though romantic themes tend to be a 'sure thing' from the perspective of planning (not always the case since I sometimes find the story to take some pretty hard lefts), I spend a lot of time picturing them as both perfect for each other and absolutely hating each other's guts, building organically from a place where it truly seems it could go either way. Do I dive into dysfunction and being together for the 'wrong reasons' (being afraid to be alone, for one) or is theirs a 'healthy' relationship? How does outside perception interfere with those interpersonal feelings, if at all? 

Despite the depth I go to to tie in all themes, no matter how swallowed they are in their own conflicting or adoring feelings, how do I assure that it is secondary or even a distant third to a much bigger plot? Well, the same way we stumble through life, able to care about more than one thing at a time. Writing in scenes and short stories before I had the confidence to call them novels was a great stepping stone. Learning how to sew stories together, to create those transitions and plant those seeds of foreshadowing, was no small task. It often involves hiding things in plain sight, to draw some readers so far into an emotional subplot that they likely shove a detail aside, but... not so much that it can't be pulled up like an epiphany later.

The trick is to also distance myself as if the emotion is not effective. For some people, that will be the case. What makes one reader shocked or warm and tingly won't be the same for everyone, so this also means that emotion can not be relied on to carry the story indefinitely. It doesn't damage the raw heart of a story to invite other tactics into the mix. In fact, as a writer, I look forward to the very different perspectives evoked from my words. Having once been an avid user of social media, I've learned to take the aggravation of purposely twisted words as a useful strategy for purposely hiding meaning in my own stories.

What's more karmic justice than turning bitterness into something useful? Let your haters be the fertilizer for your growth, rather than salt the earth.

In any case, back to the enjoyment of refamiliarizing myself with the draft before proceeding. This story is somewhere between planning and free-writing, but with this series, I find that the best parts often arise from just playing around in its build before buckling down on the details.

Ooo, but I do have a couple of things to add before I get back to it.

It's not at all obvious, but I originally planned the relationship between UnNamed's mercenary and brat to be lovers. While they bantered early in the story, I realized that there was something to the way the child was bonding to him like a father since they never had one and he, the furthest thing from what you'd consider a good parent, had a soft spot for the kid. After a while, I definitely couldn't see the original plan of a romantic relationship, but instead found the strongest bond in a familial type bond instead. lol I wish I could be more exact about it, but I'm still new and unknown enough that I'd really hate to spoil it so easily in a blog. Nevertheless, it does align perfectly with the idea that even an original plan can evolve into a different concept altogether. In fact, it was this epiphany that gave me a great idea for one of the plots that spans all four books.

Until the book is published, it's more accurate to say that nothing is actually a 'sure thing'. Some plans just latch on more stubbornly, others are wrested free by the larger needs of the story.

Letting It Go

I've never claimed to be an expert at anything, but there's one question I've been asked that I can answer more easily now.

How do you know when it's time to 'let go' of your work and put it out there?

I don't think I've ever seen a definitive answer and anyone who claims otherwise is driving on full ego. However, I've learned to combine an educated guess with a gut feeling.

How many drafts? How many edits? How many times did I pass that error before I finally caught it? If so, can I be sure I haven't missed more? Should I shave my head bald or risk ripping it out in handfuls?

First things first, it's less knowing and more... Resignation. Despite the way that word sounds like a weakness or a way to surrender in defeat, you must realize that you will always catch a mistake, whether it's grammar or just not liking something about it. I can tell you that I typically make at least three full passes, but on occasion, I'll suspect something missing in one scene while correcting another and scoot back to pore over it again.

In one of Neil Gaiman's Twitter posts, he answered in response to the question of how to write plot:

"Write down everything that happens in the story, and then in your second draft make it look like you knew what you were doing all along."

It sounds easy, but it resonates with a lot of writers. Some writers can actually shit out gold on paper, others crouch with Hemingway's iceberg, under the belief that the best stories are mostly beneath the surface and must slowly melt and rise to the surface. Yet, you can't rely on advice here, to trust any advice that tells you one or the other is best or that you should strive for a timeframe in between. Some of my favorite authors tend to release one book a year, but that doesn't speak of the quality I find in the ones that release four a year or one every four years.

You can edit too much. You can edit too little. Too much and it's possible to make an incomprehensible mess as you shove in more and more detail. Too little and people will be frustrated by grammar and plot errors. Your voice can suffer too. Either you end up utilizing it too little or you get so invested in it, your ego overpowers the actual story. Possibilities, not inevitabilities, but worth considering. There are many times when editing, I think I need to add, add, add, but once I add something, I realize I over encumbered it. I entertained myself, but lost sight of the plot.

Since I started publishing, there is very little I've tossed aside. Some have fallen out of WIP status so I could challenge myself to focus on a single story, but I tend to throw my unfinished self-amusing writing onto WattPad. I don't like leaving things unfinished, but not actively working on everything is not the same thing. Essentially, everything unfinished is still a WIP. There's always the hope that I will come back to it, that it might grow into some form of completion.

It's never easy to put out that final draft into a published work. While you could change self published work if you chose, it's generally not a good idea to post altered editions just because you couldn't let it go. If you want to publish but poke at something as much as you like, non-fiction is perfect for that, especially for ebooks. Manuals, especially concerning topics that change constantly like technology, often need updating and reconsideration. Also a great way to drum up more sales over a much longer period of time than most fiction can enjoy.

Nitpicking doesn't guarantee a good story. Rushing to show off your prolific binges does not guarantee a good story. Enjoying it for yourself does not guarantee a good story.

Do the market and your own reputation a favor though; don't put out anything for sale just for the sake of completion or accomplishment. The minute you attach work to your tax information, a traditional publisher can find it. If you care to go that route, it could make it harder. Either way, you still don't want to drag your name through something you knew was crap. I've lost admiration for actors who threw away performances, musicians that put out rushed garbage. Put it up in forums, anonymously if you're concerned, but don't ruin the wonderful opportunity for writers to enjoy publishing without gatekeepers so you can impress someone in a bar. Indie can be a much harder road with all of the attacks on its integrity, so when you do decide to let your work go, believe it's your best.

No shame in tucking it away until your muse lures you back.

From Shallow to Deep

Now, this is going to be a very general bit of advice, if only because there are some methods I've learned along the way work rather well in many ways, but we're not always conscious of how simple it can be to access it.

Blurbs, hooks, basic ideas-- they all have one particular common thread and that's the fact that are deeper than you think as long as you chain them right.

Ideally, we would all hook readers with as little telling information as possible, but sometimes, we just have to dangle a juicy spoiler to stand any chance of doing so. It's always been this way, but there might have been a time where you didn't set out to be an author where you probably selected at least a book or two based on some curiosity sparked with a back-cover blurb.

Maybe you've wanted to be an author for so long that you overlooked how much of a draw that is for some readers. I certainly follow the sentiment that a blind read can be the best experience, but this is also a time where fiction is so full of choice that we can't ignore that people will often skip over our work based on what we don't do to market it, so it may be worth it to cover all the bases.

The first time I wrote a blurb, I didn't even want to give away names. Or plots. It felt like everything was taking away from the grand ideas I'd protected for some big reveal. Yet over time, I would look at that blurb and think, well, there was nothing about it that made me care so why should anyone else? 

If anything, you need to mention at least one character by name or occupation (I have to make an exception here because UnNamed had no named characters at first). Tell the reader what the character wants (or think they want) more than anything. The way your readers may connect can come from many directions-- maybe they relate or don't and want to learn, maybe it enhances the kind of mood they're in, maybe it's just well-written enough that they're willing to take a chance. While you might be able to get away with it, there's often no connection with a vague or generic reference to the 'hero' nor their catch-all purpose of saving the world. Don't be afraid to mention those, but still give it a spin that lets the reader know there's depth. For example, the reader should at least know that the billionaire playboy Tidus is thrust into a world where his charms are useless and those idle fencing lessons in prep school are no match for a full-armored knight with a great sword who is in no mood for his crap.

I get that you probably want any evolution of this 'annoying' character to be a total surprise, but if you ever gain any popularity, people are going to happily spoil everything on social media the minute they read it anyway. Instead, you have to understand that no matter how specific you are with the frame of your story, the part of your skills that make them want to read will only be satisfied in the meat of your story. You can still hide your juiciest twists and plots, but give away some of those early bits in order to entice them into a sense of something different.

Really, how many times in life did you simply trust someone that something works or it's good, only to feel cheated when it's anything but? You may think that someone can take a few dollar gamble, but there are plenty of readers that frequent libraries or borrow from friends because what little they can spend is something they want to reserve for some guarantee that it won't be a wasted investment. Some people would just rather fill their shelves with hard cover masterpieces or their digital libraries with quality choices, so simply insisting it will be worth it and guarding it too carefully will probably not work in your favor.

Start always by answering the simplest questions with any idea. Who is the main character? What do they want? What stands in their way of getting it? What are they going to do about it? Those may not be the exact questions that drive your blurb, but don't get too complex at first. My own best ideas often came from shallow and deep passes, alternating them alike. 

With the Tidus example, I gave you who he is in the beginning, the problem he faces (his own useless skills in another situation), and the antagonist that stands in his way. However, it can grow from there.

Really, since you are the expert, this is where playing can be fun. As the writer, you already know that the mysterious beauty that sends Tidus up against a world he doesn't fit in that the so-called woman is actually the sword-wielding knight and not a woman at all. From there, you can even make it more interesting by asserting for the knight why he's moonlighting as a woman. Perhaps he is undercover, looking for his sister, and it's an extreme annoyance that he has a lovesick man bungling things for him. This is also the best place to assert a niche that may draw an audience or repel the ones who wouldn't like it. The protagonist and antagonist, drawn together time and again, develop romantic feelings for each other. Perhaps in this case, Tidus's feelings don't change when he discovers the woman in biologically male and seeing him masculine might only at first be a point of contention. Not everyone is going to enjoy a story where men are lovers and that's fine. Thinking you can write enough up to that point to make them forgive it just isn't realistic.

Sexuality is a place where people have preferences. Pansexual utopias are... eh, sorry, guys, doesn't sound very open-minded, just boring. There's great debate as to whether people should disclose their sex/sexuality when courting someone they're attracted to (and to weigh in-- yes, you should disclose that because deceiving or withholding a preference that may be important to their identity shouldn't be denied so the pursuer can protect only their own interests. You can't assume love will conquer all. It's fucking absurd). In books, well, it's your call. You may want that to be left to discovery. Ultimately, free speech is something I protect and that includes the right to decide whether or not to use trigger warnings. Although if written words can trigger someone that much, I'm also of a mind to say that reading isn't a risk they should take. In my own experience, facing my fears is an important part of life and hiding from them never did me any good. Guarantees are just not literature's friend either. It's one of those products where even if it doesn't work for me, it's due to taste not malfunction. I can't be mad if I take the risk and it doesn't pan out. Heh, pan...

lol Super late trigger warning: I do tackle homosexuality at least briefly in my second trilogy. True to life, I just happen to have characters that go there. In all honesty, I hadn't planned it that way, but I ran with it. I do try not to 'sneak' that sort of thing into later books. Sometimes you just don't want people homing in on it like it's a prevalent focus, other times, you want it to be a selling point. Some people want to skip past all sexual scenes, some people won't touch a book that even has them. To each their own, but I never wanted to place emphasis on the short sexual encounters in my fantasy stories. They served their purpose which was never central to the plot, just the character development.

Yeah, yeah, I'm swerving off the track but what separates shallow and deep isn't really measurable. I made plenty of mistakes with it because I was unsure and I never wanted the answer to be easy. I became a writer to fill a personal need, but I became an author to learn how to share it. It's not the end of the world if you fumble a bit. Just try not to end up seeming vapid or coy or too protective by being too vague. If you've ever queried, you're close to what it takes to write a decent blurb. For a query, the agent wants to know your story beginning to end in as few words as possible. Take that spoiler filled beauty and reduce it to a general concept. It's going to look... vague. Take the vague words like 'hero' or 'a kingdom' and pop in the names. Usually, the first two sentences of your query contain a great introduction. You may want to delve into later events and even pose them as a question to entice the reader. When the ground shakes and the Black Serpents arise, will Tidus be able to face the one who betrayed him among their ranks?

Maybe said Black Serpents were supposed to be a surprise. Maybe they still are, to someone who isn't you. Throw out their aim in some form even. Maybe they're a secret society of orphans who hate people who have parents. There's probably a lot more to it than that, but it's curious enough that a reader might wonder why.

Giving something of value for free is often where the author starts to draw people in. Though this advice usually applies to things like bookmarks or giveaways, giving someone enough details to make the work irresistible can be just as important.

One of these days, I'm taking that advice for myself. The sad fact is that just accomplishing hard work isn't immediately useful. As an author, I may have to gamble and pay out a lot of money for the mere hope of a return. I knew what I signed up for. I also know where I'm at, so I'm at peace with my situation. Either way, it might be worth it to wait to publish until you're ready to plug into marketing and spending. If you're a lone ranger who just wants to write, well... you can't expect a miracle. DO what you can and enjoy it for what it's worth!

Map Making

I am not what you would call a master cartographer. Topography and scale are usually absent from my maps yet sometimes, a map is almost a necessity. In cases where location and direction are mentioned, or if you make it a point to mention which direction sunlight comes in through a window, you'll need some way of tracking these details.

In some cases, style sheets work great. If you're great at spreadsheets or itemized lists and just as good at finding this info quickly, then words, words, and more words can be the way to go! Other times, a visual element is quicker or more effective. Let's say you happen to have five provinces on wiggly bit of a peninsula. A good map can be a much quicker way to figure out where the character will go if they travel east or west.

Really, I use a little of both. Since I'm a freak for cooking shows these days, you're going to see a theme in this example:

Continent: MASCARPONE 

     Province: TARTAR

          Cities (capital first): SHORTCAKE, SALAD, BISCUIT, WAFFLE

     Province: MARSHMALLOW

          Cities (capital first): CREMA, CUCUMBER, BROTH, SIZZLE

This is usually where my planning starts. Determine land masses, determine natural obstacles. How are continents divided? States, countries, counties, provinces, townships, etc. Do the mountains and rivers determine borders? How does the geography affect how cities run and thrive? How does greed and stubbornness factor into nonsensical choices for domains (I have everything inside this mountain range... oh, and that little island I can't govern, but can't part with precious resources...).

If you think every fantasy story needs this, relax-- a great deal do not. Even if it grows to the point that you do think you might, it's very simple to use whatever crude map you come up with to sort out your draft. Sticks, circles and that questionable handwriting, have at it! As much as I admire people who are amazing at making maps, this is absolutely optional. If you want to focus solely on writing, do that. This is just an aid for those who might be overwhelmed with specific directional concerns. Much like my post on floor plans, I'm not showing off some advanced level skill here. 

Now, the verbal list, it's plenty clean and works well, but the more details you add, the more cluttered that tidy list gets. It makes no mention of whether you're ordering them from left to right, top to bottom or whether they're wrapping around a mountain. Add in rivers or landmarks or elevations and at some point, it's better to refer to some visual aids than clutter your short lists.

Remember that not every map needs every detail. You can do a world overview that just has land and oceans. Zoom in for a continent map that may include rivers, mountains, forest, cities. Zoom in for roads, ponds, landmarks, cave entrances. You can even go underground, above ground-- do some layered maps! What makes a map effective is how well you can find everything. A map is only as useful as your ability to read it.

Want a free and easy cheat? Sign up for a free Inkarnate account and you can render simple maps with nice graphics. If you're just looking for a visual aid that doesn't hold up the writing process, it's one of the best quick fixes you can aim for. If you do want to shell out for a great personalized map, writing groups are FULL of people you can commission for this. There are a ton of great options for turning descriptions into helpful visuals.

Well, back to mine... I'm currently using Illustrator (vector drawing is a skill you might want to consider). Happy mapping, or not mapping. It's all good.

NaNoWriMo Doesn't Have a Difficulty Level

I'd like to sincerely apologize if, at any time, I made what I do seem easy. In the spirit of sharing Kryptonite, here's the reality. Other than being a queen of symptoms and few working treatments (the physical and mental concerns will always be playing a role), there are a lot of factors that come in between me and superhuman awesomeness. So many factors can make one story harder than another, no matter where you are as a writer. Maybe you changed genres or you're aiming for a novel when you usually write short stories. Maybe you're finally ready to work on something you hope to publish.

People will perceive that you're more experienced or successful based on preconceived notions of what you've done so far, but writing is one place where we're all not that much different. We want to shout it from the rooftops when we're doing well, but any momentum is something we may exaggerate because we know we could hit a block of some sort or life will just make it impossible to get to those ideas we're itching to nail down.

Like most people, I battle with tons of ideas with no sure-fire way of communicating them and struggle to find my strengths and weaknesses. I also believe in setting clear boundaries, which means I don't trust total strangers with my unpublished work, always building cautious friendships and talking about personal issues with a measure of earnesty and reservation. For every milestone, there's another unknown looming and at no point did what it behind us make it that much easier to take the next step or repeat something we've done before.

As much as my blog is about introspection at times, I'm terrible at keeping in the first person tense when writing because my mental headspace keeps panning outside of the character and ends up in third. No one wins baseball going from first to third. I have some odd preferences in writing as well. I try not to start paragraphs using the same first word of the one before it. I have a tendency to use the British 'grey' and 'glamour' while every other word follows American English. It's not something I do to stand out, but one of those things I've done as long as I could remember. My English teachers always wanted the double space after every sentence. That took a lot of work to kill that habit (and I still use Find to locate any, just to be sure). Given, these are small things and nothing that would shatter the story. However, you may have noticed, I'm an impulsive thinker. I do often have to put my story back on track when I start chasing shiny objects that don't need to be there. I spend a lot of time editing because there can be a lot to clean up.

Showing a few of my obstacles shouldn't give you grounds to compare. Oh fuck, if it's hard for her and she's done this much, then what hope do the rest of us have? (I've heard this a few times directly and it's mortifying to be regarded too loftily.) If you want to know the truth...

Exactly as much as everyone else. Call it being unable to take a compliment but you can call me amazing and I'll find some way to make myself seem ordinary. Even though I might know I'm amazing, it's a hollow victory if I give the impression it's au-naturale and you either have it or you don't. I had a lot of things working for me, but just as much working against me. Just like you. There are insecurities and egos-- the perceived good and bad can flip around, but you know what? Taking note of the way things slip away from you are nothing to be paralyzed about. Those are the key to your unique insight, where people will start to find you relatable.

I struggled a lot the first time I did NaNo but not because of the word count. I tried to write a book that an agent might look at. I looked at it the wrong way and even though I was satisfied enough to release it, I wish I had stretched it out more, let those characters shine more. Its sequel UnSung was where I resolved to ditch word count concerns and just write the story as broad as I needed the characters to be. It took eight months to draft because I needed to plot, plan and unify the details. Since I originally planned UnNamed as a standalone, I didn't bother styling it to continue. UnSung was born of what I wanted UnNamed to be. UnHeard will continue on the same way. If I thought for  one moment that the next book in a series would be worse than the one before because of forcing it, I wouldn't write it until I felt it could be better. Yet UnSung will wait to be completed because I wanted to see if leaving it open might benefit it as I continue. My first series was one I wouldn't release until they were done. It gave me so much room to go back and change things. While I didn't want to do the UnQuadrilogy the same way, I think that between UnSung and UnHeard, mutual contemplation might benefit them both. So I set UnSung aside to throw in a new approach for NaNo.

The first time I neglected the free-writing part. Don't edit as you go, don't stop to plan, just wing it and learn to clean up the mess later. I was curious if I could not only wing it on a complex fantasy but do it on a third book when the second was still in edit. Not only is it freeing, I don't feel tethered to notes or plans that I can always work in later if I like the original plan better.

I'm going to cut into the fat here-- I used attitude and mentality to create the hurdles of difficulty. If headbutting the challenge was working against me, I could change tact. It's not the same as quitting or admitting defeat. Writing isn't factory work. It requires very volatile things that demand only flexibility. The only failure is killing your drive by slaughtering your talent. You do not enjoy your favorite things because you think you should. It doesn't matter if writing falls under work or play, you are ultimately in control. Even if your characters run amuck, you get to grab the reins of the story and the edit and the vision. It's not censoring them or watering them down; it's bringing them to harmony with the elements.

(This is especially true when I've written something too quickly because of a great mood and momentum. You think it's untouchable but it's actually where you really want to dig in.)

Every character doesn't need to be wise or quirky or fucked-up or deep. Loving them too much will squeeze them flat. It's probably hard to face your own mortality, especially when you superimpose yourself on to a character. But...

Read the 3 Faces of Eve. Do yourself a favor and read an account of a woman who had to kill aspects of herself to assimilate them. Killing your poster child can be a sign of metamorphosis, not self-loathing. If your writing suffers from overloved characters, understand that killing them, either literally or figuratively, is about growth. I didn't die when my mom did. When I die, I won't be around to care that I did. Even the Death card in a tarot deck is about change, the end of something and the birth of another. It doesn't matter if you tend to be hypersensitive and empathetic (guilty of both, believe it or not), if your characters are really independent entities meant to show off their humanity, making them superhuman does both you and them a disservice. No one expects you to extol the virtue of your beliefs through every character.

Whether life or change or NaNoWriMo is difficult is up to how you learn to adjust it. Even in the throes of a panic attack, I once stopped it by thinking "you gonna cry, Barbie?". Hyperventilation turned to laughter and I like to believe I forced a chemical I lacked to release and counter it. No, depression doesn't disappear with happy thoughts. While I know how to trick a lot of moods now, some are still dangerous and stubborn. I have a mental medicine cabinet that must be tried every time, but until I do try everything I can think of, I can't give up. Don't say you can't until you've tried all of the things you can.

You don't get to always decide when to be happy, when to write, how much to work. Americans have been groomed to think we should do things anyway, even if that path is a long walk off a short pier. No. Just no. There are choices and consequences. Don't let people shame you into being who aren't you. You know you'll be the one to deal with it so weigh it as only you can. Tell the Captain Obviouses to fuck off.

I'm gonna be a tireless cheerleader this month. As much as possible. I know what it's like to be low. Doesn't matter if anyone reciprocates it on my low days. I always find a way to crawl out and fight. What matters to me is people finding the joy of writing. People often get lost in that when demanding something from it that isn't guaranteed no matter how much you suffer. It's never a more important time in history for people to learn to reconnect with purpose and one another.

It's easy. It's hard. It's up to you. Whatever you do, do it with an open mind.

Clichés and Tropes: Roll With It

It's entirely possible to avoid all clichés and tropes. Yeah. Totally. But I really don't want to read whatever you come up with if you manage it. 

First off, let me throw the definitions of cliché and trope at you:

Cliché: a phrase or opinion that is overused and betrays a lack of original thought

Trope: a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression

First, 'overused' is subjective. Longtime fans are the ones who usually decide this is a burden for sheer volume of books under their belt but, for some readers, this may actually be their first experience with the subject. The problem with clichés is that we often assume everyone is in on the usage to some extent. However, it's often how we use the cliché that can determine whether it's confusing, overdone or morphing into something refreshing and original. Yes, I know; cliché is, by definition unoriginal and overused, but it is ALSO comfortable and revisited for a reason-- it is popular and can save you a lot of explanation. Ideas can be born from clichés and decide not to adhere to them, just serve as a solid base for your new take on it.

To expand on what a trope is, I'll use fantasy examples. "Chosen One" "Prophecy" "Dragon Slayer" "Damsel in Distress" Each of these usually gives you a basic understanding for what to expect from the character or the story, but again, you can take the 'expected' and change it up to defy expectation. What if your Chosen One is not the protagonist or you focus on who people assume is the Chosen One, but isn't? What if the details of a prophecy come true but it fizzles out, completely wrong at the end? What if the Dragon Slayer is just a knight that pretends to kill the dragon, but they're really in cahoots-- at least until the dragon decides his partner isn't useful, makes him lunch, then looks for a new knight to help him build his hoard of gold? What if the Damsel in Distress is a straight man who just likes wearing women's clothing, but really bad at staying out of trouble?

(I'm sure authors may have actually done these, but they're not the normal take on the formation of the original trope.)

You can see why it's completely useless, if not tedious, to attempt to avoid these. Some authors, even outside of fanfiction, are often inspired to explore a beloved theme and they may even choose to use some colloquialisms or familiar expressions. They may even use puns and other vilified strategies. Focusing on doing what hasn't been done does not promise that it will even be interesting. One of my favorite scenes from Alice Through the Looking Glass was where they torment Time with time puns. If you were to take out this scene based on its sin of unoriginal thought, then you'd miss out on how effective it is because of its willingness to make fun of itself. One of the real challenges of being a writer isn't finding 'original' ideas. It's how you maneuver existing ideas, how you use your voice, your style, your insight, your humor-- you get the gist, but use what you have at your disposal to make it different. Dissect why the moods in scenes from your favorite media work. Look at comedy, drama, sadness, anger, suspense, and you'll start to see that it's not being original that endeared you to it-- it's the way it was approached and handled.

People throw words like 'unoriginal' into the mix without understanding it is simply a concept to maneuver into a lower position on the list. You're not going to make it disappear altogether but if you can strengthen its mood, dialogue, plot and interest to a place where that word doesn't make the top ten to describe it, count it a success. 

It's okay and even impossible to not be unoriginal, but endeavor to not be boring. That's the real crime in storytelling. 

Be aware of your usage; another strategy before I tie this up. If you use a groan-worthy pun, immediately make fun of it or prepare a good reaction. Pretending it isn't there or shrugging it off is often a missed opportunity. If you're a fantasy writer, you might consider using your own vocabulary with the mythos you're building. Tread carefully though. In one of my groups, a writer threw out a sci-fi piece where the character kept using 'what the supernova...' and it was horribly distracting and cheesy. The problem with word substitution is that it can completely ruin immersion if it's just thrown in willy-nilly and overdone. However, it can be organic if you introduce these idioms or substitutions after you establish a basis for why. Just... don't do it from the onset and pretend it's completely natural or even serious. A wise and bitchy chick once said, don't try to make 'fetch' happen. Even in worlds where you build the logic, your reader is the newborn you're trying to keep from kicking and screaming. Sure, some fantasies roll right into piling on the nonsense, so there's no rule here, but if you're getting a lot of resistance for your ideas, lack of awareness might be your main culprit.

What is an 'aware' story? It's one that understands the potential audience and the logic of fiction simultaneously, for one. It's one that shows a knowledge for the characters and the world, but also in the biases or general reactions from many angles. When a comedian tries a new joke and it bombs, they usually prepare for the reaction with their own brand of self-deprecation or adjust what they say next to that reaction. If they see that their audience reacts badly, then they are aware that this was a possibility and adjust accordingly. They don't back away from controversy, but they do often change presentation to achieve what they want out of their routine. A novelist has to use different tactics-- beta readers, research-- once published, we're locked into those decisions, so our tactics depend on our medium. Awareness means we add consideration and dimension to what we use.

So don't waste time trying to avoid what's already been done. The best work is often just an improvement of something already done. Just make sure you're not delving into the territory of plagiarism. Borrowing or inspired by is one thing, but tread carefully with how much direct source material you're lifting. Another thing to be aware of.

You and Me on the Ceiling

Choosing a topic can be difficult at times; not because there's nothing to talk about but because of the sheer number of possibilities. Rambling is fun too, but on occasion, I've thought it might be even more fun to grab-bag some topics, tackle them with my own perspective.

Pulling from a list of possible 'writerly' topics, I came across: how do you come up with characters for your stories?

The simplest answer is in the heading: one-on-one conversations with a best friend, staring at my ceiling. I have sloped ceilings in my bedroom. I'm not fond of bright light or too much blank space. I don't really do much eye contact when talking, so I usually end up talking while staring off in the direction of my ceiling. When I'm doing some of that rambling, I'm not exactly talking about my characters or my story at all, but often, it's the act of doing nothing related to thinking about my story that makes them as real as the life I want them to have.

Sure, I guess sometimes, we tend to borrow snippets of people we know, observe, idealize, loathe. Maybe even pets or a favorite character in our consumerism becomes the inspiration. 

Brainstorming can be a ripe pain in the ass for me. If it wasn't such a spoiler, I'd take a snapshot of the word vomit I just made of a couple pages in a notebook. There are some things clearly labeled, things like ADD TO SCENE or CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT or PLOT, (all caps because my inner muse screams at me in a German accent) but most are squeezed in scribbles of an 'oh, yeah, put this somewhere too.'

And my Scrivener notes on characters? Never to see the light of day. I end up really yanking a character from their ideal to a more organic development once they breathe the air of the world I put them in.

Sometimes I draw them, sure, but I'm really not a big fan of always defining what the reader sees. Granted, I did do that with my first series, but magical humans and hybrid creatures are not something I wanted to throw away with 'whoa, dude, there was like this big venus flytrap only it's blue and eats people! RAWR!' I see a lot with the young ones, this insecurity about providing fan art, maps, visual references that are supposed to enhance the reader experience. While I certainly use such things for expression and the writing process, let's not forget that book readers are there for the words. When you see popular series with their artbooks, maps, etc. these were often done later, so it's also entirely possible to just focus on the writing and worry about dressing it up for fans later.

When it comes to aids for character design, I often end up with folders with images of fashion types, hairstyles, bits and pieces rather than just the picture of an actor or model. I use these specifically for when their clothing becomes part of the plot-- a raincoat, a half cape, a corset with loose laces, etc. While head to toe, I'm usually mentally dressing them for their appearances, this is only a practice for me because my focus is still on keeping it interesting to read. If I mention them wearing a hat, there's always that place in mind that makes sure that, unless it's pinned firmly, it might be falling off or getting wet or burnt or otherwise assaulted by its environment, so do I really want it there?

More often than not, even though I do play with planning and deliberation, the dynamics of conversation and development are more likely built in cracking jokes, heart-to-hearts, emotional or light talks with someone who doesn't mind my brain dumping.

With my feet on my sloped ceiling, looking at and talking about nothing in particular.