30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 17

17. Favorite protagonist and why!

Oh come on dude, that's way too hard! I love so many of them. I really like Ketlan a lot and he's probably my favorite protagonist, but he's not your typical heroic protagonist even if the general idea of him is to the point of being kind of cliche (long lost prince who everyone thought was dead coming back to claim his throne from his evil uncle). He's not cliche though, definately not.

I also really love the Silverstone Sisters from The Gift Bearer, because they're equal protagonists but they're all so different, there's the mothering/overprotective athlete, the crazy brilliant artsy scientist, and the sweet but shallow and ditzy teenager. Yeah, and they're obviously strange combinations of traits but it works well and they're a lot of fun to play with. And they travel through time just for fun -- how can you not like them?

Some of my favorite characters aren't actually the main focus of the story, however, and although they are definately protagonists in their own right it's not their story so they're not the protagonist. And there are some characters that just can't really be the protagonist because usually you get inside the protagonist's head and these characters just aren't as commanding or powerful when you see inside their minds - they work best as mentors or sidekicks or antogonists even if they're much more than that. Two great examples of this are Brother Robert (aka Brother Bob) from Pandora's Box and Atropos from the Curseiverse. Both characters are dynamic, wonderful, and fun to write - and Bob especially would be the protagonist if the story was about him, but it's not - he's just a recurring character.

So, yeah, I love pretty much all of my protagonists, but Ketlan and the Silverstone Sisters will always have a special place in my heart. And so will Esteban. And Zarc.

The Importance of July 4th

Today, on July 4th, we celebrate a momentous achievement in American history. No, not the signing of the Declaration of Independence, that was actually signed on July 2. I'm talking, of course, about the capture of Kaskaskia by George Rogers Clark on July 4, 1778.

Clark lead less than 200 men on a 6 day march across the hills, valleys, and swamps of Southern Illinois - and you know how Illinois summers are! They arrived at one of the biggest and most important cities in the wild frontier - Kaskaskia. Situated in and around the Mississippi River (on a island that is no longer there), Kaskaskia was the seat of French colonial power in the middle of North America in the 18th century. After the French ceded control of all provinces to the British as part of the treaty of the French and Indian Wars, the British occupied the region and one of their headquarters was Kaskaskia. Clark and his men took the town in the middle of the night while the French were partying or sleeping.

Not only did Clark capture the town of Kaskaskia and turn the French villagers into loyal Americans (not hard considering they hated the British), he did it without firing a shot!

To learn more about this remarkable man and the Capture of Kaskaskia check out these links:

George Rogers Clark on wiki

The Illinois Campaign

And the book that first introduced me to the wonderfulness of GRC:

George Rogers Clark and the War in the West

30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 16

16. Do you write romantic relationships?

How do you do withthose, and how "far"

are you willing to go in your writing? ;)

Ah, romantic relationships - such a neccesary part of many of my stories and of stories in general, but so hard to write! I have never been in a romantic relationship in real life with anything other than a costume, so writing realistic dialouge in a love scene is really hard for me. I will say that I have gotten much better at writing love scenes over the years (which is natural since I've gotten better at writing everything), but I'm still not sure how realistic it is or how well it reads. I think I've gotten good at writing the interactions between Melantha and Ketlan - considering how bad the loves scenes in the movies were written (so terrible!) but I really know the characters now and know how they interact much better than I did 15 years ago.

One of my biggest problems with romance - especially in longer story lines like multi-volume books and TV shows is that I sometimes feel the need to pair everybody up, which is not really a good thing. Not everyone has to or should be in love. Another problem is that I sometimes pair up the wrong people. Has anyone else ever done that? When you start off writing the book/movie/TV show you go into it with one pair in mind but end up with a different pair because you realized the first pairing didn't make sense. Unfortuneatly with The Gift Bearer I paired up two people in the TV Show that ended up together (sort of) who really aren't compatible in the long run and I have fixed that with the book. So the key to a good romance in a book is clearly making sure the right characters are paired up with each other and that they are definately compatible in the long run.

I think the most important key to a successful romance in a book (besides making sure the right characters are paired) is to start the romance right. I've learned from experience, and from an anti-romance tirade my brother went on that made some good points, that you can't just throw two people together and make them fall in love. They have to have a good reason, good chemistry, and have things in common. You can't just say "they're soulmates!" or "they're fated to be together!" without the romance being unbelieveable and cheesy (and occationally annoying). I've taken the soulmate route far too many times and it never works out well.

I think the best romantic pair I've ever created is actually Cat and DeCarlo from Pandora's Box. Although Ketlan and Melantha is pretty darn good too now that I've learned how to write them. And for the record -- I don't just have heterosexual couples, I have characters that are homosexual and bisexual as well. One character in particular springs to mind, but I won't tell you who it is. ;P

Oh and the second part of the question - "how far" am I willing to go? Well, when I wrote Destiny 15 years ago I was a very naive 16-17 year old. People only kissed if they were REALLY in love (and I never made the actors kiss. The first actual on screen kiss was in Pandora's Box four years later). Now I'm 32, went to college, and live with my married sister, so there are characters who have sex - a lot - and everyone knows about it. In one case I even decided to make a character get drunk so another character could seduce him because the poor guy was having a really REALLY bad week and only gets to have sex like five times in his entire life. So I was like -- you know what dude, you're getting laid now, enjoy. I'm a lot more willing to let the characters go wherever they want to. I don't write graphic sex scenes though, not out of a prudishness anymore but because I know it would be totally bad and not at all realistic. I might write some kissing n cuddling (even a little foreplay if I'm feeling daring - GASP!) but in general I just use the good old fashioned "go as far as your comfortable with then fade to black and cut to the morning after" method.

This image is from an art meme I've been working on for a LONG time

and will hopefully be done with soon.

And here's a pic of Cat and DeCarlo from Pandora's Box

(played by Margaret Olson and Chris Hutchens)

30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 15

15. Midway question!

Tell us about a writer you admire, whether professional or not!

My answer for this one is obvious: Christopher Stasheff. I admire him for many reasons, not the least of which is because he's the world's best dad. But in terms of Christopher Stasheff the writer? I am extremely impressed by his dicipline in writing. He sits down every morning, 5 days a week, and tries to write at least one-three pages, starting by going over what he wrote the day before. Sometimes he writes more, but never less than a page of new material. Growing up he would get up early to write while the family was still asleep so there were no distractions, then when we kids were at school he's write in the later morning and early afternoon. This steady pace of writing enabled him to write and publish over 40 books in the last 40 years. He pretty much always finishes what he starts and usually within the year (rewrites can take a little longer though). He has showed me that you can be a successful writer, but he's also amazingly humble (too humble actually).

And of course, not only does he write a lot -- he's really good. I'm not saying every book he ever wrote is fantastically awesome (honestly I haven't read every book, I've only read like five or six - for shame!), but there are a lot of them that are. He's a great storyteller who writes wonderful characters and is probably the best writer of fight scenes I've come across. One of my absolute favorite books of all time is A Wizard in Bedlam - and not just because he wrote but because it's one of the coolest, most awesome books I've ever read. He did an amazing job of world building. You can learn so much about him by reading his books. He is definately the person who has inspired me the most in my life, not just as a writer but as an individual as well.

For more about Christopher Stasheff visit his awesome website:

christopher.stasheff.com

30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 14

14. How do you map out locations, if needed?

Do you have any to show us?

I have a lot of trouble with mapping, but when your hero is racing all around the kingdom it's kind of important to know what the kingdom looks like and where everything is. The best maps I've done have been for Destiny (big surprise, right?). I have a book called How to Draw Maps and Charts by Pam Beasant and Alastair Smith that I got at a book sale last year and it's been quite helpful. I still am terrible at distance and scale though.

Map of Lower Illishar featuring my bad drawing skills.

(©2005)

30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 13

13. What's your favorite culture to write, fictional or not?

I like to make up my own culture, because then I can blend all the elements of different cultures that I want to. That said, I usually gravitate to American and European cultures in the 17-19th century because I like the style of fashion, design, culture, as well as the social and political upheavals caused by such things as the Age of Enlightenment, the various revolutions and civil wars, and religious and political reform, and the age of industrialization. My favorite period in history is definately 18th century France, England, and America for various reasons, mostly having to do with bitchin' cool furniture and awesome clothes.

Of the cultures I've created I probably enjoy writing about Illishar the most because the sky is the limit there. It's the center of the world economically and has incorborated a lot of styles from other kingdoms, yet it's still very unique and exotic. It's a magic land of seven deserts that has everything from magical jars to a sunkeon city at the bottom of a disappearing oasis. Totally fun place. And the pumpkins are purple there.

Actors wearing 18th century American Colonial costumes at the recreation of an 18th Century French fort in Southern Illinois. (photo taken for a documentary about George Rogers Clark who does make an appearence in one of my books. Actors are Brittany Ann Whalen, Morgan Thomas, and Russell Martin).

30 Days of Writing Questions - Day 12

12. In what story did you feel like you did the best job of worldbuilding? Any side-notes on it you'd like to share?

I feel like I kind of answered this already somehow. I've done the best job at world building with the Destiny series, although the world is no where near complete. I've created a new language (simple but it works), several kingdoms and cultures, religions, the creation myths of several cultures (including the actual creation of the universe), a detailed list of three different levels of creation, a complete history of two of the kingdoms, made maps, flags, animals, and a lot more for it. It's pretty awesome. I like it.

This is the Coat of Arms for the King of Traldon, created for the decendants of the Royal House of Arkand after the Great Civil War of Traldon.