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Subgenres, Microgenres, & Series (Mark H. Phillips)

Like many readers of genre fiction, I am a full-bore biblioholic, constantly desperate for my next story fix. And though I’ve read my share of literary fiction, once I got a taste of the black tar heroin that is pulp fiction, there was no going back. I want plot, suspense, action, adventure, and wonder. And when I read something that gives me what I crave, it’s like a Dorito chip. What I want most after eating one chip is more. I want the next bite to be exactly as delicious as the last. I’m loyal to the writer who can supply me with a fully replicable, reliably enjoyable experience far into the future.

Genre fiction attempts to satisfy a particular need. Having read a book I intensely enjoy, I want more of the same. I want it to be new and different, but I want it to push all the same buttons. How do I find the right product? Word of mouth from like-minded individuals on social media, Amazon’s AI recommendations, Goodreads’ Listopia, The What Should I Read Next website, and the Literature Map.

Let’s suppose the book I’ve just read is Storm Warning, the first in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. The genre and subgenre of this work is fantasy, specifically urban fantasy, particularly occult detective urban fantasy. Genre, subgenre, and series all operate to get me more of what I need. I know that the next in the series is going to give me more of the wise-cracking cynicism of a tarnished hero, the intrigue, the action, the magic, and the world-building I crave. All seventeen entries in the series will be recognizably and reliably similar; all approximating to a formula, yet not so formulaic as to bore me. There will be narrative twists, shocking revelations, and cliffhangers to keep me reading the next and the next. All follow pretty much the same rules; all push pretty much the same buttons deep in my psyche that addicted me in the first place.

The problem is that if I read one Dresden book a week and start on January 1st, I’m going to be in serious withdrawal by the end of April. Readers of subgenre fiction are often addicted to the subgenre. If I’ve devoured the Dresden Files, I’m not going to shrug and move on to psychic animal cozies or romantic westerns. While Jim Butcher goofs off taking another year or two writing the next Dresden novel, I will probably read six more urban fantasy series. There are 451 books listed in Listopia’s category “Best Occult Detective Fiction,” though if you reduce that to just the different series or authors, it’s considerably less. Go on, Butcher, take another year or two to crank out the next installment of The Dresden Files; I’ve got other suppliers. I need my fix. And I’m not alone. Because writers write so damned slowly, there’s plenty of room for multiple purveyors of similar products to share the market. And all these authors are targeting the same basic core audience.

Each year about four million new books are published, more than half of those self-published. But the average book sells about two hundred copies per year and about a thousand copies over its lifetime. Why? Because the average reader of genre fiction doesn’t sort through four million titles looking for something to read. Almost all those books are about things they have absolutely no interest in. By Sturgeon’s Law, 90% of what’s out there is crap anyway. Most readers of genre fiction sift through a relatively minuscule selection of books almost identical to a handful of books they really liked, and they rely on a very small tribe of like-minded individuals (or their AI simulacra) who restrict their attention to a tiny subgenre of fiction.

As a genre writer, how do you get your book on the radar of the reader most interested in purchasing your new novel? Understanding the function of subgenres, microgenres, and series can vastly increase your chances of reaching full market saturation. One way is to concentrate your marketing on just those readers most likely to want your book. You must find, join, and positively interact with your tribe. Find the reviewers of your latest favorite subgenre book on Goodreads, join their communities, enter discussions, and post reviews. Go to the websites and blogs covering the subgenre and post comments. Bond with your tribe. There are maybe a thousand people you must make aware of your book. Out of all the millions of readers in the U.S., you have to get the word out to a town about half the size of Kemah, TX.

For most authors who aren’t Stephen King, there are optimistically between two hundred and a thousand potential readers out there who would buy your book this year, if they only realized it existed. Jim Butcher’s last full novel in the Dresden Files series sold about 3,084 copies (both paperback and e-book) this last year. Here are the numbers for the most recent novels in similar series in the same subgenre:

o The Nightside series by Simon R. Green—552
o The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch—936
o The Laundry Files by Charles Stross—324
o The Sandman Slim books by Richard Kadrey—600
o The Repairman Jack series by F. Paul Wilson—96
o The Greywalker series by Kat Richardson—120

The important thing: many readers who bought one of these series have bought some or all the other series. And all of that is for a subgenre as popular as urban fantasy/occult detective. If you can focus on an even more specific sub-sub-genre, or microgenre, with comparable addiction among its core devotees, the competition for market share is greatly reduced. I recently became interested in horror novels featuring lost or cursed movies. On Goodreads’ Listopia, this microgenre is listed as “Lost Films and Cursed Movies.” Here’s a representative subset:

o Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia—2,724
o Experimental Film by Gemma Files—204
o Night Film by Marisha Pessl—744
o Midnight Movie by Tobe Hooper & Alan Golsher—24
o Ancient Images by Ramsey Campbell—120
o Ring by Koji Suzuki—118
o Horror Show by Greg Kihn—60

There were 451 items on the “Best Occult Detective Fiction” subgenre list on Listopia. There are only thirty-one items on the “Lost Films and Cursed Movies” list. If a connoisseur of this microgenre reads one of these books per week starting on January 1st, they will be jonesing for your similar masterpiece of terror by early August. There just aren’t that many books of this specific type out there, and my tribe really wants to read more. Some people belong to multiple tribes, while others are addicted to just that one subgenre. I’m currently addicted to New Pulp, classic pulp, steampunk, dieselpunk, atompunk, capepunk, cyberpunk, retrofuturism, hard SF, alternate history, Cthulhu Mythos, noir, hardboiled detective, disaster, spy, technothriller, weird western, and Pynchonesque maximalist novels. But most readers are quite focused on just one or two tribes.

What are your favorite subgenres and microgenres? How do you go about finding more of what you like? If you are a genre writer, what are you doing to connect to your similarly addicted tribe? My latest genre stories are “Gutshot Straight”, a classic pulp noir, and “The Dybbuk vs. The Crime Cartel”, a New Pulp costumed crime-fighter tale. Look for them both in The Final Twist’s newest anthology We Were Warned, is now on sale.

Hook Your Reader by Regina Olson

How many times have we heard that the first line of your story or novel needs to hook the reader? What does it mean and what makes for a great opening line?

I attended a class once where the instructor said the best opening line she’d ever read was, “I knew it was time for him to die.” Wow! That was a story I wanted to read.  I was hooked. Why? Because all sorts of questions and scenarios were firing off in the synapses of my brain. My imagination ran off to the races and required I came along.

What makes that line a great beginning? It has the power to cause the reader to ask questions – lots of questions. Why does he need to die? Is he sick and suffering? Is he rich and she wants his money? Is he inherently bad and the world would be better off without him? Did he wrong the protagonist and revenge is required? Did he commit some atrocity? Does he abuse her and she’s taken a beating for the last time? Why does he need to die?

If you asked any of these questions, you were hooked – or at least curious. A brief analysis of the opening line reveals why this is, and what makes it a great first sentence.

1. This sentence created immediacy. His death hasn’t happened, but it needs to. The death isn’t scheduled for some far-off future time that requires you to wade through pages to start the story. The story starts here because the protagonist said it needed to happen now (implied). Still, we don’t know when now is. Where in the coming paragraphs or pages will we arrive at now? To find out, we must read on.
2. There is suspense. What happened that she came to such a brutal decision? How does she intend to carry out his death? If it needs to happen soon, what’s the plan? Will there be a plot involved? Will his death be subtle, as in a poisoning, or is she angry and the death will be raw and messy. Will she make him suffer first, or will it be quick? There is suspense in the why and how of this man’s death. That suspense is partially created when we wonder if she gets away with his murder or will be caught. Will his demise be carefully planned or carelessly carried out in a chaotic rage?
3. The reason is nonspecific. There are no details supplied, no trail of evidence leading to his crime. All we know is that he’s male and she wants him dead. When we consider this fatal decision, we don’t know what circumstances drew her to this dire conclusion. There are no facts stated in this opening line that we can use to judge her wrong or right. How can we form our own opinion? We don’t know if we would feel so distraught that his death presented itself as the only solution. Would we, could we, follow a different path and a less egregious form of justice?
4. It’s a surprise and a shock. Plotting someone’s demise is not normal. We might be angry with our spouse, boss, friend, the rude person in the store, or the guy who cut us off in traffic; but murder isn’t an option. We might scream, yell, cuss, kick something, or do a middle finger salute – but how bad does it have to be to plot someone’s demise? Maybe we’ve secretly thought about it, even dreamt about it, but sanity brings us back to the reality that we can’t follow through with these thoughts.
5. Emotions have been raised. Should I feel sorry for him, or does he deserve this fate? Should I feel sorry for her, or will a world with him no longer in it bring her peace. Are there others suffering because of him and will they find solace? Who, if anyone will cry at his funeral, or even attend? Will her actions be viewed as heroic or cowardly? Can there possibly be a happy ending for her or will she be forever tormented by what she did?
6. The mood has been set. The opening line sets the reader up for the conflict that’s on the horizon. Will the remaining paragraphs, or pages, be filled with romance, be a coming-of-age story, or an adventure filled with intrigue and gut-wrenching decisions. We need, must, read on to peel back the layers and discover if we would make the same decisions, or tread in a different direction. Her conflict becomes ours, as we are drawn into her conflict and ensuing drama.

This is a lot to ask of an opening line, a single sentence designed to hook the reader. A good opening doesn’t need to give away your plot, but it does need to tease the reader. In the example given above, we have no idea when this thought entered the protagonist’s mind, why, or what circumstances led to this deadly decision?

So, when you draft your opening line, design it to draw the reader into the story – before the story even begins. Make your readers so curious that they can’t resist reading the next sentence, paragraph, page, or chapter. Make it so your readers can’t help themselves, they have to seek the answers.

Regina Olson grew up as the oldest in a family of seven. In this sometimes-chaotic life, she found refuge in books and became an avid reader. As a teenager, she had several poems published in a Christian periodical and this success led her to start writing short stories. She is published in books available on Amazon: Every Beast Has a Secret, Released from Reality, With Music as Our Muse, and We Were Warned. This latest book, We Were Warned, is now available on Amazon in paperback or as a Kindle download.

ChatGPT as a Fiction Writer’s Tool by Mark H. Phillips

ChatGPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) is a chatbot AI that mimics human conversation. It has been trained by reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF). The AIs are learning to respond intelligently by having millions of humans check their output to weed out the ridiculous or unsatisfactory. Millions of low-paid workers in places like Kenya and Nepal are grading routine output. Trained experts all over the world can make a lot of money grading ChatGPT’s answers to medical, legal, and creative writing prompts.

As it relates to creative writing, another way ChatGPT learns is by absorbing billions of writing samples. Margaret Atwood was one of 8,000 authors who signed a recent open letter demanding that the major AI developers stop training their bots using her work without permission or compensation. That should fix that problem.

A year ago, a company called OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public. Its free version is based on ChatGPT 3.5. ChatGPT Plus is based on the more powerful ChatGPT 4 and costs $20/month. ChatGPT is currently being used by 140 million users and brings in about $80 million/month. OpenAI is about to sell shares in an IPO for an expected valuation of $80-$90 billion. It has several competitors: Google’s Bard, Microsoft’s Bing Chat, and Meta’s LLaMA. The People’s Republic of China has banned ChatGPT, citing it as an attempt at propaganda by the U.S., and rushed its own version, Baidu’s Ernie Bot, to market in order to present the unvarnished truth to the world. The PRC is also spending a lot of effort in developing military AI. To counter that effort, Scale is developing Donovan for our military, to analyze classified data, pilot autonomous combat robots, ships, planes, and drones, as well as give tactical advice to commanders during battle. Donovan sounds so much more friendly than Skynet.

Today I want to talk about how ChatGPT might affect the profession of creative writing. Kindle has instituted a limit on the number of books an individual can publish in a single day. The limit is now three. Who is publishing more than three books per day such that this rule was thought necessary? Individuals who use AIs such as ChatGPT to generate novels and non-fiction books from their prompts. There are now hundreds of books listed on Amazon that have ChatGPT as a coauthor, and an unknown number more that have concealed the AI contribution. Using art-generating AIs such as DALL-E 3 (also from OpenAI) or Midjourney coupled with text generated by ChatGPT, an author can generate an illustrated children’s book and get it up on Amazon as a Kindle offering in just a few hours. There are more than a few YouTube videos that will talk you through the process of generating an entire novel with ChatGPT’s assistance.

How easy is it to generate a story? Here is my very first interaction with ChatGPT:

Prompt: Write a story of 1000 words about a superhero fighting off an alien invasion.

ChatGPT

In the darkest hours of the night, the city of Metropolis stood bathed in an eerie, silver glow. The moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows that seemed to stretch into infinity. But it wasn’t the moon causing this unearthly illumination. It was the arrival of an alien armada, descending upon the city with a menacing grace.

The citizens of Metropolis awoke to an otherworldly spectacle. Spaceships of varying sizes and shapes hovered ominously above the city, their lights casting an eerie radiance over the buildings and streets. Panic swept through the city like wildfire as people rushed to their windows and streets, staring up in awe and fear.

Amid the chaos, a figure stood undaunted on a rooftop, surveying the alien fleet. He was a hero, a beacon of hope in these dire times. He was known as Stellarion, a man with powers beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals. He possessed the ability to harness the energy of the stars, granting him incredible strength, agility, and a mastery of celestial forces. Tonight, Metropolis needed him more than ever.

Stellarion leaped into action, soaring into the sky with a graceful burst of energy. He made his way toward the largest alien vessel, a colossal metallic monstrosity that crackled with energy. As he neared it, he unleashed a beam of starlight from his fingertips, cutting through the alien hull with ease. The vessel shuddered and exploded, showering the city with fiery debris.

But the aliens were relentless. Their smaller craft swarmed around Stellarion, firing laser beams and energy projectiles. He deftly dodged and weaved through their attacks, countering with bursts of celestial power that disintegrated their ships one by one. The city’s skyline became a battlefield, with the hero fighting to keep Metropolis safe from the invaders.

Down below, the citizens watched in awe and gratitude as Stellarion’s powers blazed across the night sky. The people found strength in his unwavering resolve, and they began to rally together, forming makeshift shelters and aiding those in need. The hero’s actions were a symbol of hope in a city teetering on the brink of despair.

However, as the battle raged on, Stellarion realized that these aliens were not like any he had encountered before. They were not driven by conquest but by desperation. He saw the fear in their strange, otherworldly eyes. They weren’t invaders; they were refugees fleeing from a dying world.

Stellarion paused, hovering in the midst of the chaos. He reached out with his mind, seeking a way to communicate. Through the power of the stars, he projected a message into the minds of the alien beings. “I am Stellarion. I mean you no harm. We can find a way to coexist peacefully. Please, cease this aggression.”

The alien fleet hesitated, their weapons lowering. They communicated amongst themselves, their strange language resonating with an ethereal beauty. After a tense moment, the leader of the aliens, a tall, elegant figure with bioluminescent skin, responded in kind. “We came seeking refuge, but we feared your kind would reject us. Our planet is dying. We only wish to find a new home.”

Stellarion, with compassion in his heart, extended an olive branch. “Metropolis has always been a city of refuge. We can help you find a new home. But violence is not the way. Let’s work together to find a peaceful solution.”

The alien leader nodded, and with that, the battle came to an abrupt halt. Stellarion used his powers to communicate with the city’s leaders and the United Nations, forging a plan to accommodate the alien refugees while ensuring the safety of Metropolis. The city came together, demonstrating the resilience and compassion that defined it in times of crisis.

Over the following weeks, the aliens were provided shelter and resources, and scientists collaborated to find a suitable planet for their resettlement. Metropolis, with Stellarion as its guiding light, proved that unity and compassion could prevail even in the face of unimaginable challenges.

In the end, the alien refugees found a new home among the stars, and Metropolis remained a shining beacon of hope. Stellarion, once a symbol of strength and power, now stood as a symbol of peace and compassion, a reminder that even in the darkest of times, the human spirit could prevail.

As the alien fleet departed, the citizens of Metropolis watched with a sense of fulfillment. The night sky was no longer filled with fear and dread but with hope and a renewed sense of unity. Stellarion, the hero who had once fought off an alien invasion, had now ushered in an era of interstellar cooperation, proving that even in the face of the unknown, humanity’s capacity for empathy and understanding could triumph over all.

Here is another early attempt:

Prompt: Write a scene in which a mother, Anna, and a daughter, Kim, are arguing in a kitchen about the traditional recipe for chicken salad that has been handed down through the generations. Kim wants to modify it. The mother resists change. But the subtext of the argument is that Anna is angry that Kim has rejected her husband’s pleas to start a family. Kim thinks children would hamper her career as a lawyer. Unknown to the mother, Kim has come home to recover from an abortion. Once Kim’s husband finds out about the abortion, Kim knows that her husband will divorce her. Unaware of all this background, the mother still hopes for a traditional happy family, including grandchildren.

ChatGPT

In the warm, sunlit kitchen of their family home, Anna and Kim stood on opposite sides of the worn, maple wood table. The scent of fresh herbs and simmering soup filled the air, mixing with the tension that hung between them. Anna, her silver-streaked hair pulled back in a tight bun, clutched a faded recipe card in her hand. Kim, her eyes determined and dark hair pulled into a hasty ponytail, looked resolute.

Anna sighed and glanced down at the cherished piece of paper in her hand, the delicate handwriting worn from years of use. “Kim, you can’t just change our family’s chicken salad recipe. This has been passed down through generations. It’s tradition.”

Kim crossed her arms and leaned against the counter, her voice soft but firm. “Mom, I love tradition, but sometimes it needs a little update. I’m a lawyer, for heaven’s sake. I can’t bring this bland, old-fashioned dish to the potluck and expect people to be impressed. I’ve got to make it my own.”

Anna’s eyes flashed with a mix of frustration and disappointment. “Kim, it’s not just about the salad. It’s about the values and the memories it carries. It’s a piece of our family history.”

Kim’s jaw clenched, her voice carrying an edge of frustration. “And what about my future, Mom? This recipe is a relic from a time when women were expected to just cook and have kids. You know I don’t want children right now. I have a career to build.”

Anna’s eyes clouded with an unspoken sorrow. She had longed for grandchildren, and the truth of Kim’s feelings stung more than her insistence on altering the recipe. “Kim, your father and I have been waiting for you and Dan to start a family for so long. It’s only natural.”

Kim’s eyes met her mother’s, and there was a moment of silence that carried the weight of unspoken secrets. Kim looked away, her voice barely above a whisper. “Mom, I don’t want kids.”

Anna’s eyes searched her daughter’s face, seeing something deeper there, a hidden pain she couldn’t quite decipher. “Kim, I thought you and Dan were trying to conceive. Your father was so excited.”

Kim turned her gaze to the floor, unable to meet her mother’s eyes. “We were, but I… I had a miscarriage, Mom. It was tough, and I realized I’m not ready for this. I need to focus on my career.”

Anna’s face softened with empathy as she reached across the table to touch Kim’s hand. “Oh, sweetheart, I had no idea. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”

Kim’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, her voice breaking. “There’s something else, Mom. I… I had an abortion. I couldn’t tell Dan. I knew he’d be devastated.”

Anna gasped, her hand flying to her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. Her world, filled with hopes of grandchildren and a traditional family, crumbled in an instant.

Kim took a shuddering breath, her voice trembling. “Mom, you have to understand, I’m not ready for this. Dan can’t know, or he’ll divorce me.”

Anna, still in a state of shock, reached for her daughter, pulling her into a tight embrace. The ancient recipe card slipped from her fingers and floated gently to the kitchen floor, a symbol of traditions that were rapidly changing, and secrets that were unfolding.

In the background, the soup continued to simmer, its aroma mingling with the tears and unspoken fears of a family in transition.

ChatGPT can give the story in any format you want:

Prompt: As a Hollywood screenwriter expert at adapting prose fiction for the screen, rewrite this scene as the opening scene of a screenplay.

ChatGPT

INT. FAMILY KITCHEN – MORNING

A cozy, sunlit kitchen with dappled light streaming through lace curtains. The aroma of simmering soup and fresh herbs fills the air. ANNA (early sixties, silver-streaked hair pulled back in a tight bun) clutches a faded recipe card in her hand. KIM (late twenties, determined eyes, hasty ponytail) stands on the opposite side of the worn, maple wood table.

Anna’s eyes are fixed on the cherished recipe card, frustration evident in her voice.

ANNA (With frustration) You can’t just change our family’s chicken salad recipe, Kim. This has been passed down through generations. It’s tradition.

Kim crosses her arms, leaning against the counter, her voice just as resolute.

KIM (Defiant) Mom, I love tradition, but sometimes it needs a little update. I’m a lawyer, for heaven’s sake. I can’t bring this bland, old-fashioned dish to the potluck and expect people to be impressed. I’ve got to make it my own.

Anna sighs, her eyes revealing a mix of frustration and disappointment.

ANNA (With disappointment) Kim, it’s not just about the salad. It’s about the values and the memories it carries. It’s a piece of our family history.

Kim’s jaw clenches, her voice filled with frustration.

KIM (Frustrated) And what about my future, Mom? This recipe is a relic from a time when women were expected to just cook and have kids. You know I don’t want children right now. I have a career to build.

Anna’s eyes cloud with unspoken sorrow.

ANNA (Sorrowful) Kim, your father and I have been waiting for you and Dan to start a family for so long. It’s only natural.

Kim’s gaze falls to the floor, her voice barely above a whisper.

KIM (Whispering) Mom, I don’t want kids.

Anna’s eyes search her daughter’s face, sensing a hidden pain.

ANNA (Sympathetic) Kim, I thought you and Dan were trying to conceive. Your father was so excited.

Kim avoids her mother’s eyes, her voice breaking.

KIM (Tears welling) We were, but I… I had a miscarriage, Mom. It was tough, and I realized I’m not ready for this. I need to focus on my career.

Anna’s face softens with empathy. She reaches across the table to touch Kim’s hand.

ANNA (Emotional) Oh, sweetheart, I had no idea. I’m so sorry you had to go through that.

Kim’s eyes glisten with unshed tears, her voice trembling.

KIM (Tearful) There’s something else, Mom. I… I had an abortion. I couldn’t tell Dan. I knew he’d be devastated.

Anna gasps, her hand covering her mouth, her eyes wide with shock. Her dreams of grandchildren and a traditional family shatter.

Kim takes a shuddering breath. Her voice quivers.

KIM (Confessing) Mom, you have to understand, I’m not ready for this. Dan can’t know, or he’ll divorce me.

Anna, still in shock, pulls her daughter into a tight embrace. The ancient recipe card slips from her fingers and falls gently to the kitchen floor. It’s a symbol of traditions in flux and secrets unraveling.

In the background, the soup continues to simmer, its aroma mingling with the tears and unspoken fears of a family in transition.

FADE OUT.

The quality of the writing isn’t quite up to that of a professional writer, yet. But the AI is getting better with each use. In ChatGPT Plus the user can give up or down ratings of the output which is used by the developers to continuously refine the model.

Of more immediate use is ChatGPT’s potential role as a writer’s assistant. It will, for instance, take a sample of your writing and proofread it. It can offer suggestions for how to introduce dramatic twists, deepen character motivations, or resolve plot holes. It can sift through immense amounts of background data to help you with research or detect anachronisms in your historical writing. Let’s illustrate this capability:

Prompt: Here is a passage from a story set during the American Civil War, “The private shivered in his tent unable to sleep thinking about the upcoming battle. He thought of phoning his mother and telling her how much he loved her, but worried that he would only betray his own fear and cause her to worry. He thought of getting up and cleaning his rifle, but he knew that his M-16 was already in perfect condition. He tried to find some soothing music on the radio, but the signal was too weak. He hoped his leaders knew what was best and would do everything in their power to keep him safe. He trusted General Caesar and President Carter. His last thought before falling asleep was that he hoped there wouldn’t be any mustard gas used in the upcoming battle.” As an expert editor skilled in the history of the Civil War analyze this passage to find any historical anachronisms or factual mistakes. List them for the author in the order in which they occur in the text.

ChatGPT

There are several historical anachronisms and factual mistakes in the passage you provided, which is set during the American Civil War. Here they are, listed in the order they appear in the text:

1. “phoning his mother”: The term “phoning” suggests the use of a telephone, which did not exist during the American Civil War. Communication during that time was primarily through letters or in-person.
2. “M-16”: The M-16 rifle did not exist during the American Civil War. The M-16 is a modern firearm developed in the 20th century.
3. “radio”: Radio technology also did not exist during the Civil War. It wasn’t invented until the late 19th century and wasn’t widely used until the 20th century.
4. “General Caesar and President Carter”: General Julius Caesar and President Jimmy Carter did not exist during the American Civil War. General namesakes like Julius Caesar are from a different era (ancient Rome), and Jimmy Carter served as the President of the United States in the late 20th century.
5. “mustard gas”: Mustard gas is a chemical weapon that was used during World War I, which occurred decades after the American Civil War. There was no use of mustard gas during the Civil War.

These anachronisms and factual mistakes significantly disrupt the historical accuracy of the passage, as they refer to technologies, people, and events that are far removed from the Civil War era.

ChatGPT can pattern your outlines according to popular paradigms such as Blake Snyder’s “Save the Cat” structure, showing all of the beats at their proper places. It can also help prepare character backstories. Let’s see an example of this last task:

Prompt: As preparation for a literary novel, design character backstories for each of the Myers-Briggs personality profiles. Make sure to randomly assign characters’ genders and ethnicities in the same demographic distribution as the last census.

ChatGPT

Creating character backstories for each of the Myers-Briggs personality profiles with diverse gender and ethnic representation is a complex task, as it requires the development of 16 unique characters. Additionally, it’s important to note that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a personality assessment, and people of any gender or ethnicity can belong to any of the 16 personality types. Here, I’ll create a brief character sketch for each personality type, randomly assigning gender and ethnicity while aiming for a diverse representation:

ISTJ – The Inspector

• Character: Alex Patel (Indian-American)
• Occupation: Attorney
• Background: Born and raised in Chicago, Alex is a meticulous and responsible individual who comes from a close-knit family of Indian immigrants. Their commitment to law and order stems from a desire to create a stable and secure life.

ISFJ – The Protector

• Character: Maria González (Mexican-American)
• Occupation: School Nurse
• Background: Maria grew up in a bilingual household in Los Angeles. Her nurturing and empathetic nature led her to a career in healthcare, where she is dedicated to the well-being of the students at her school.

INFJ – The Advocate

• Character: Ethan Kim (Korean-American)
• Occupation: Social Worker
• Background: Ethan’s deep sense of empathy and desire to make the world a better place were influenced by his upbringing in a tight-knit Korean community in New York City.

INTJ – The Architect

• Character: Sarah Johnson (African-American)
• Occupation: Software Engineer
• Background: Growing up in Detroit, Sarah is a visionary thinker with a passion for technology. Her determination and innovative mind have led her to a successful career in the tech industry.

ISTP – The Craftsman

• Character: Javier Rodriguez (Mexican-American)
• Occupation: Mechanic
• Background: Javier hails from a family of skilled mechanics in San Antonio. His hands-on, practical nature and mechanical aptitude make him a respected member of his community.

ISFP – The Composer

• Character: Chloe Brown (Caucasian)
• Occupation: Musician
• Background: Chloe, a native of Seattle, is a free-spirited musician. Her love for art and music was nurtured by her artist parents and a diverse group of friends in the city.

INFP – The Healer

1. Character: Aiden Patel (Indian-American)
2. Occupation: Psychologist
3. Background: Aiden, Alex’s cousin, chose a path of understanding and healing. Raised in Chicago, their compassionate and creative nature led them to a career in psychology.

INTP – The Thinker

• Character: Andrei Petrov (Russian-American)
• Occupation: Research Scientist
• Background: Andrei immigrated to the United States from Russia as a child. His logical and analytical mind has driven him to excel in the world of scientific research.

ESTJ – The Supervisor

• Character: Karen Washington (African-American)
• Occupation: Business Executive
• Background: Karen, raised in Atlanta, is a natural leader with a strong sense of duty. Her ambition and organizational skills have propelled her into a prominent corporate career.

ESFJ – The Provider

• Character: Carlos Ramirez (Mexican-American)
• Occupation: Elementary School Principal
• Background: Carlos, born and raised in Texas, has a natural ability to connect with people. He is dedicated to providing a safe and nurturing environment for the students in his school.

ENFJ – The Teacher

• Character: Priya Patel (Indian-American)
• Occupation: Non-profit Director
• Background: Priya, Alex’s sister, is a charismatic and compassionate leader. Growing up in Chicago, she is committed to making a positive impact through her non-profit work.

ENTJ – The Commander

• Character: Robert Davis (Caucasian)
• Occupation: CEO
• Background: Robert, from a small town in Ohio, is a natural strategist and leader. His determination and strong-willed personality have propelled him to the top of his industry.

ESTP – The Dynamo

• Character: Jamal Smith (African-American)
• Occupation: Professional Athlete
• Background: Jamal’s athletic prowess and competitive spirit, nurtured in his hometown of New Orleans, led him to a successful career as a professional athlete.

ESFP – The Performer

• Character: Isabella Martinez (Hispanic)
• Occupation: Actress
• Background: Isabella, a talented actress from Los Angeles, is known for her vivacious and expressive personality. Her love for the arts was fostered by her artistic family.

ENFP – The Champion

• Character: Lucas Chang (Chinese-American)
• Occupation: Environmental Activist
• Background: Lucas, growing up in San Francisco, is a passionate advocate for environmental causes. His enthusiastic and imaginative nature fuels his commitment to making a difference.

ENTP – The Visionary

• Character: Grace Johnson (African-American)
• Occupation: Tech Entrepreneur
• Background: Grace is a dynamic entrepreneur from Detroit. Her inventive and strategic mind has driven her to create successful tech startups and mentor aspiring innovators.

These character sketches encompass a wide range of personalities, backgrounds, and occupations, reflecting the diversity of the Myers-Briggs personality types in a contemporary, multicultural context.

Prompt: Take profile number sixteen and expand the character backstory to include education history, reading preferences, type of romantic relationships she has engaged in, family history, quirks of personality, TV watching preferences, clothing preferences, preferred pets, attitude towards future children, attitudes towards marriage versus casual affairs, moral attitudes, political attitudes, and give a detailed physical description. Remember to keep all details consistent with her ENTP Myers-Briggs profile.

ChatGPT

Character: Grace Johnson

Education History: Grace attended a prestigious Ivy League university where she majored in computer science and economics. Her insatiable curiosity and innovative thinking made her an exceptional student, and she graduated with honors. After completing her undergraduate degree, she pursued a master’s in entrepreneurship to further develop her business acumen.

Reading Preferences: Grace’s bookshelf is a mix of non-fiction, business strategy, and science fiction novels. She enjoys reading about cutting-edge technology, innovative startups, and mind-bending science concepts. Her favorite authors include Isaac Asimov and Malcolm Gladwell.

Romantic Relationships: Grace has engaged in a few serious, long-term romantic relationships. She values partners who challenge her intellectually and share her enthusiasm for innovation. While she appreciates deep connections, she tends to prioritize her career and personal growth.

Family History: Grace comes from a family of accomplished engineers and entrepreneurs. Her parents, both engineers, encouraged her to explore her interests and supported her educational pursuits. They instilled in her a strong work ethic and a passion for problem-solving.

Quirks of Personality:

• Grace is a natural debater and loves engaging in intellectual discussions.
• She’s known for her witty and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor.
• Grace has a tendency to start side projects and business ideas on a whim.
• She thrives in high-pressure situations and often seeks out challenges to test her abilities.

TV Watching Preferences: Grace enjoys thought-provoking shows like “Black Mirror” and “Westworld” that explore the intersection of technology and humanity. She’s also a fan of documentaries, especially those related to emerging technologies.

Clothing Preferences: Her style is a mix of professional and casual. She often opts for well-tailored blazers, statement t-shirts, and comfortable sneakers. Grace’s wardrobe is minimalistic and practical, emphasizing versatility and comfort.

Preferred Pets: Grace is a cat person. She finds the independence and mysterious nature of cats appealing. Her sleek, modern apartment is often graced by the presence of her two feline companions, Tesla and Edison.

Attitude Towards Future Children: While Grace is open to the idea of having children in the future, she acknowledges that her career and pursuits may delay this decision. She believes that, when the time is right, her children will benefit from her innovative mindset and strong values.

Attitudes Towards Marriage vs. Casual Affairs: Grace is not against the idea of marriage, but she believes that it should be a partnership of equals. She values her independence and prefers casual dating until she meets someone who truly matches her ambitions and complements her intellectually.

Moral Attitudes: Grace has a strong sense of social responsibility and believes in using her skills and resources to make a positive impact. She supports causes related to technology education and sustainable development.

Political Attitudes: She tends to lean towards progressive and forward-thinking policies. Grace advocates for government support of innovation, environmental protection, and equal access to education and technology.

Physical Description: Grace is a striking figure with a tall, athletic build. She has a warm, caramel-toned complexion that pairs beautifully with her expressive, deep brown eyes. Her straight, jet-black hair frames her face and falls just past her shoulders. Grace has an air of confidence in her movements, and her signature accessory is a pair of sleek, modern glasses that complement her strong, intellectual presence. Her style is polished but comfortable, often choosing attire in shades of black, white, and gray, with the occasional pop of color from a statement accessory or piece of jewelry.

Prompt: As a casting director for a major Hollywood film studio, give me three suggestions for actresses who would be best suited to play Grace Johnson in a movie adaptation.

ChatGPT

To cast an actress who would be best suited to play the role of Grace Johnson in a movie adaptation, you would want someone who can embody the character’s intelligence, charisma, and entrepreneurial spirit. Here are three actresses who would be strong contenders for the role:

1. Emma Stone: Emma Stone is known for her versatility and her ability to tackle a wide range of roles. She has a charismatic presence and can convincingly portray strong, intelligent characters. Her performance in movies like “La La Land” and “Easy A” demonstrates her capacity to bring wit and depth to her characters, making her a strong candidate for the role of Grace Johnson.
2. Natalie Portman: Natalie Portman is a talented actress with a strong background in both dramatic and intellectual roles. She has played complex, intelligent characters in films like “Black Swan” and “V for Vendetta.” Portman’s ability to convey Grace’s intellectual curiosity and charisma would make her a compelling choice for the role.
3. Rooney Mara: Rooney Mara is known for her enigmatic and intellectual performances. Her roles in movies like “The Social Network” and “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” showcase her ability to embody characters with depth and intelligence. Mara’s captivating on-screen presence and her talent for conveying complex emotions make her a strong contender for the character of Grace Johnson.

All three of these actresses have the acting range and charisma to bring Grace Johnson’s character to life on the big screen, making them excellent choices for the role in a Hollywood film adaptation.

Prompt: Revise your movie casting suggestions to reflect the requirement that the character be played by an African-American actress.

ChatGPT

Certainly, taking into account the requirement for the character of Grace Johnson to be portrayed by an African-American actress, here are three talented actresses who would be well-suited for the role:

1. Zoe Kravitz: Zoe Kravitz is a highly regarded African-American actress known for her diverse and captivating performances. Her work in movies like “Big Little Lies” and “Divergent” showcases her ability to bring depth and intelligence to her characters. Kravitz’s natural charm and on-screen presence make her a strong candidate to play the character of Grace Johnson.
2. Tessa Thompson: Tessa Thompson is a talented African-American actress with a remarkable range. She has portrayed strong, intelligent characters in films such as “Westworld” and “Thor: Ragnarok.” Thompson’s charisma and ability to convey complex emotions would make her a compelling choice for the role of Grace Johnson.
3. Amandla Stenberg: Amandla Stenberg is a rising African-American actress known for her powerful and thought-provoking performances. Her role in “The Hate U Give” demonstrated her ability to tackle complex and socially relevant characters. Stenberg’s intelligence and authenticity on screen would make her a strong contender for the character of Grace Johnson.

These three talented African-American actresses have the skill, charisma, and range necessary to bring the character of Grace Johnson to life on the big screen in a Hollywood film adaptation.

Check out Tony Walker’s YouTube presentation “How to Write a Novel with Chat GPT and Illustrate It with Midjourney (2)” for a taste of how to refine this process using prompt engineering.

The ethical issues generated by the use of ChatGPT are complex. Apple TV just canceled Jon Stewart’s talk show because it didn’t want to air his comments on AI (as well as on China). Part of that is how criticism of AI might seriously impact the company’s profits given the ongoing negotiations between the studios and producers on the one hand and both writers’ and actors’ guilds on the other. The Hollywood writer’s strike was resolved after fierce battles over how AI would be used in generating scripts. There had been speculation that instead of hiring screenwriters, the studios were more interested in prompt writers. The actors are still trying to work out a compromise. Both segments of the creative community can envision a world where corporations can edit humans out of the creative process altogether and not have to share any of their profits with bothersome creatives. It is possible that no humans will be involved in any aspect of professional creative writing within the next decade. The same is true for most white-collar skill jobs. Enrollments in college bookkeeping programs have fallen dramatically. Doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, architects, etc. could all see their professions completely automated. A small few may be retained as prompters and annotators, but the rest will be caught in a tsunami of creative destruction.

But I won’t bother going through any more of these complex ethical issues myself. I’ll let ChatGPT do it for me:

Prompt: Write a fictional discussion between Margaret and Kurt about the dangers and ethical questions raised by ChatGPT writing novels. What will this new method of writing fiction mean for human writers and for literature?

ChatGPT

Margaret: Good evening, Kurt. It’s a pleasure to be here to discuss the fascinating topic of ChatGPT and its impact on the world of literature and human writers.

Kurt: Good evening, Margaret. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation. It’s an intriguing subject, indeed.

Margaret: To kick things off, I believe we should first address the incredible capabilities of ChatGPT when it comes to writing fiction. This AI can generate coherent narratives, complex characters, and even mimic different writing styles. What do you make of this, Kurt?

Kurt: Well, Margaret, it’s a double-edged sword. On one hand, it’s remarkable how far technology has come in enabling AI to create stories that are, to some extent, indistinguishable from those written by humans. But on the other hand, it raises questions about the future of human creativity and the role of the writer in the creative process.

Margaret: Absolutely. One concern that immediately comes to mind is the potential erosion of human creativity and the devaluation of the writer’s craft. With ChatGPT being able to churn out novels at a pace and consistency that no human can match, how can we ensure that the art of writing doesn’t become mechanical and sterile?

Kurt: That’s a valid point. Writing has always been an expression of human thought, emotion, and individuality. When machines start doing it, we risk losing the human touch and the uniqueness that comes with each author’s voice. It’s like a world of copies without originals.

Margaret: I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, Kurt. The beauty of literature lies in its diversity and the myriad perspectives and voices that contribute to it. But ChatGPT and other AI tools can homogenize this landscape. And it’s not just about the writing process; it’s also about the opportunities for emerging authors and marginalized voices. Will AI make it even harder for them to break through in the literary world?

Kurt: You’re absolutely right. The publishing world can be competitive and biased as it is. If AI-generated content starts to dominate the market, it could potentially make it even more challenging for new and underrepresented authors to find their place. Diversity and originality are essential to literature, and we need to ensure they’re not lost in the AI shuffle.

Margaret: On the flip side, though, AI could be a valuable tool for aspiring writers. It can help with brainstorming, providing inspiration, or even editing. It can serve as a collaborator, a creative partner, so to speak. What do you think about this potential for AI to assist and empower writers?

Kurt: You make a good point, Margaret. AI can be a valuable resource for writers, providing them with inspiration, suggestions, and even helping them refine their work. It’s like having an infinite well of knowledge and ideas to draw from. However, the danger is in over-reliance. Writers should use AI as a tool, not a crutch. The unique human perspective should always shine through.

Margaret: And there’s also the ethical question of authorship and ownership. If an AI helps generate ideas or even complete works, who should be credited as the author? The programmer who created the AI, the person who pushed the button, or both? It’s a thorny issue.

Kurt: That’s a fascinating ethical dilemma. It blurs the lines of authorship and intellectual property. If the creative process is a joint effort between humans and machines, do we need to redefine how we attribute authorship? It’s a question that’s only going to become more pressing as AI continues to advance.

Margaret: Indeed, and I think it’s essential to have clear guidelines and regulations in place. We need to protect the rights of both human writers and those who create these AI systems. It’s a matter of ensuring that the balance between human creativity and technological advancement is maintained.

Kurt: Well, I agree, but I also fear that once Pandora’s box is open, it’s tough to control its contents. There will always be people pushing the boundaries, using AI in ways that could be detrimental to literature or society as a whole.

Margaret: True. We’ve already seen instances of AI-generated content being used for malicious purposes, like deepfake videos and misinformation. The potential for AI to create fake news or propaganda in the form of novels or stories is concerning. It’s a matter of safeguarding the integrity of literature and ensuring that fiction doesn’t blur with reality in harmful ways.

Kurt: It reminds me of the power of literature to influence society. Novels have been used to spark change, provoke thought, and inspire generations. But if AI starts producing literature that’s manipulative or malicious, what does that mean for the moral and ethical impact of fiction?

Margaret: I’m glad you brought that up, Kurt. Literature has the power to shape our perspectives, challenge our beliefs, and bring about positive change. When AI is harnessed for manipulation or propaganda, it undermines the very essence of what literature stands for. We need to be vigilant in guarding against such misuse.

Kurt: And, you know, Margaret, while there are concerns about AI-generated fiction, there’s also the potential for AI to explore new frontiers in storytelling. It can help us break free from conventional narrative structures and genres. Perhaps it’s a tool to inspire experimentation and innovation in literature.

Margaret: I’m glad you brought that up, Kurt. AI can help us push the boundaries of storytelling, creating narratives that might not be achievable through conventional means. It can be a source of creative inspiration, challenging writers to think beyond their usual constraints. But the key is for authors to use AI as a tool to enhance their creativity, not as a replacement for their unique voice.

Kurt: Right, we don’t want to end up in a world where every story sounds the same because it’s been filtered through an AI’s notion of what’s “marketable” or “popular.” Literature should be diverse, unpredictable, and reflective of the human experience.

Margaret: I couldn’t agree more. Literature is a reflection of our culture, our history, and our emotions. It’s a record of the human condition, and it should continue to evolve and capture the essence of the ever-changing world we live in.

Kurt: So, Margaret, what do you think about the responsibility of writers and publishers in this new landscape? How can they navigate the AI era while preserving the authenticity of literature?

Margaret: That’s a crucial question, Kurt. Writers and publishers have a significant role to play in shaping the future of literature in the AI era. For writers, it’s about maintaining their unique voice and not allowing AI to overshadow their creativity. It’s also about setting clear boundaries for the use of AI as a tool rather than a replacement.

Kurt: I couldn’t agree more. Writers need to remember that they are the architects of their stories. AI can be a helpful assistant, but it should never become the primary author. As for publishers, they must ensure that the proliferation of AI-generated content doesn’t crowd out the diverse voices that make literature vibrant and meaningful.

Margaret: Yes, and publishers also need to establish ethical guidelines for the use of AI in literature. They should take measures to verify the authenticity of human-authored works, preventing the spread of misleading or harmful content. The publishing industry has a responsibility to maintain the integrity of literature.

Kurt: I think it’s also important for educational institutions and writing programs to adapt to the changing landscape. They should teach aspiring writers how to navigate the world of AI, use it as a creative tool, and maintain their individuality. We need to prepare the next generation of authors to thrive in this new literary environment.

Margaret: That’s an excellent point, Kurt. The education of writers must evolve to reflect the technological advancements in the field. Aspiring authors should be equipped with the knowledge and skills to harness the potential of AI while preserving the art and craft of storytelling.

Kurt: Speaking of craft, Margaret, do you think that AI could ever truly replicate the deep emotional and intellectual understanding that human authors bring to their work? Can it write stories that resonate on a profound level?

Margaret: It’s a challenging question. AI can mimic the appearance of depth and emotion in writing, but it lacks the genuine human experience and understanding that authors bring to their work. The complexities of human emotions, relationships, and the human condition are not easily replicated by algorithms. While AI can produce compelling stories, there’s a depth that only human authors can provide.

Kurt: That depth is what makes literature so powerful and enduring. It’s the ability of writers to capture the complexities of the human experience and convey them in a way that resonates with readers. AI may create engaging stories, but it may not touch the soul in the same way.

Margaret: Exactly, Kurt. Literature has the power to move us, to make us think, to challenge our beliefs, and to bring about social change. It’s a reflection of our shared human experiences and emotions. AI can certainly entertain and inform, but it may not be able to inspire the same level of introspection and empathy that human-authored literature can.

Kurt: You know, Margaret, there’s something else that concerns me. As AI continues to advance, there’s a risk that it could be used to perpetuate existing biases and inequalities, whether consciously or unconsciously. We’ve seen this in other applications of AI, such as in hiring and criminal justice. How do we ensure that AI-generated literature doesn’t reinforce harmful stereotypes or biases?

Margaret: That’s a crucial point, Kurt. AI systems can inherit biases from the data they are trained on, which is often drawn from historical sources that reflect societal biases. To prevent AI-generated literature from perpetuating these biases, it’s essential to rigorously scrutinize the data and algorithms used. Writers, publishers, and AI developers should be committed to promoting diversity, inclusivity, and ethical content.

Kurt: It’s not just about avoiding bias in content, but also in the way AI-generated content is promoted and disseminated. We need to be vigilant against the concentration of power in the hands of a few who might use AI-generated literature for their own agendas. It’s a question of ensuring that the literary world remains open and democratic.

Margaret: That’s an excellent point, Kurt. We should be cautious about the concentration of power and the potential for AI-generated literature to be used for propaganda or manipulation. The literary world should remain a place where diverse voices are heard, where ideas are freely exchanged, and where the power of storytelling is a force for good.

Kurt: It’s a challenge, Margaret, but it’s also an opportunity. AI can help us reach wider audiences, break down language barriers, and make literature more accessible. We just need to harness its potential while being mindful of its limitations and ethical considerations.

Margaret: Indeed, Kurt. AI can be a tool for democratizing literature and expanding its reach. It can help us bridge cultural and linguistic gaps, making literature a truly global and inclusive endeavor. But, as with any powerful tool, its use must be guided by a sense of responsibility and ethics.

Kurt: As we look to the future, Margaret, what do you think are the most critical considerations for the literary world as it navigates the age of AI? How can we ensure that literature continues to evolve and thrive while preserving its unique human essence?

Margaret: One of the most critical considerations is the responsible and ethical use of AI in literature. We need guidelines and regulations to protect the integrity of the craft and ensure that diverse voices continue to be heard. We must also educate the next generation of writers to harness the potential of AI while preserving the art of storytelling.

Kurt: I agree, Margaret. Education and ethical guidelines are key. Additionally, we need to encourage experimentation and innovation in literature, using AI as a tool to explore new frontiers while preserving the authenticity of human creativity. Literature should continue to be a source of inspiration, challenge, and reflection for generations to come.

Margaret: And we must always be vigilant against the misuse of AI-generated literature for propaganda or manipulation. The literary world should be a place where truth and creativity are valued above all else, where the power of storytelling is a force for good.

Kurt: Well, Margaret, it’s been a fascinating discussion. The future of literature is certainly at a crossroads, and it will be interesting to see how it unfolds in the age of AI.

Margaret: It has been a pleasure, Kurt. The literary world is ever-evolving, and it’s up to us and future generations to ensure that it remains a vibrant and authentic reflection of the human experience. Thank you for this insightful conversation. Kurt: Thank you, Margaret. Here’s to a future where literature and AI coexist in harmony, pushing the boundaries of creativity while preserving the essence of human storytelling.

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Learn how Flash Fiction became a hot area of writing, how to put the punch into your writing as you gain expertise, and resources for publication and specialized Flash Fiction groups. It isn’t just about a few words, it’s an experience in identifying the meaning and impact of each word, much as you identify each life experience. Topping this off is a writer’s prompt exercise followed by edits from Iona McAvoy, Tasha Storfer, Becky Hogeland, Cash Anthony, and Leif Brehmer.

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THE SHAPE OF YOUR STORY (Cash Anthony)

A writer sits at the keyboard with a great idea for a story. The characters live in his imagination. The world of the story has become clear. The opening hook is perfect. The core narrative’s basic conflict has been decided, though the sequences of action may not be fully in mind; but the writer knows how it’s going to end, and he’s certain that the part in the middle will spring onto the page as his fingers move and the words appear, phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence. He may even have put together an outline to guide him.

The one thing that he may not have created is—a doodle.

A simple doodle, a drawing that represents the story, is a tool most writers haven’t been taught to use. The most common story shape doesn’t need it—that’s why drawing it may sound ridiculous. A story that progresses in a straight line is easy enough to envision. Putting a vertical line, or a horizontal line if you prefer, on paper to connect A to B to C (by causality) isn’t especially valuable.

But stories don’t have to be told like that. A simple doodle is one way to get out of the box, to open the writer’s mind so that a reader has a unique, entertaining experience on this particular journey through fictional time.

What other shape might a story take, if it’s not told in a straight line? Here are a few. It might be a spiral. It might be a circle. It could be a series of boxes, each one attached to the previous one and getting bigger or smaller as they go. It could be a number of boxes inside each other like Russian Matryoshka dolls. Concentric circles would have that same shape. It could start on a flat plain and rise to a mountain peak before it suddenly falls, dropping precipitously back to where it began. It could be crenelated, like the wall of an ancient castle, with segments that are high alternating with ones that are lower, the highs contrasting with the lower again and again. It could look like a spoon falling into a dish of pudding! Yes, the story starts when the spoon hits the surface and ends when the bowl has been scraped clean. Turn the dish of pudding on its side, and it becomes a locked door. The main character runs into it full tilt and falls flat. Now he must seek another way past it. The straight line might have branches that split off and then meet again to continue in a single line. The circle might have smaller circles that grow out of it with each one fixed at its base, like petals on a daisy.

Really? Yes, these are all available to a writer. Let’s see what each one has to offer to enlarge the writer’s mental constructs before he starts writing.

The spiral: the story starts on the outer edge, at a distance from the central conflict. The main character identifies and responds to the essential problem without solving it. But it arises at more and more frequent intervals, with greater severity and increased tension. Each time around, that pattern is emphasized more. Hamlet’s obsessive self-doubt grows with each setback, each failure to act until he succumbs characteristically to the tragic circumstances of his life.

The circle: the main character starts out on a journey, meets obstacles and opportunities as he goes, experiences a kind of ultimate test or brush with death, and comes back to the starting point—changed in some essential way, yes, but victorious. He brings the lessons he’s learned home to the waiting community he left. This is the basic warrior’s story—the hero’s journey.

The progressively larger or smaller boxes: the main character struggles to escape from one “locked room” of problems but immediately finds himself in another one in a different environment. The way he succeeded in the previous one provides clues about what he must do in the next one, but the problems are not the same. One early computer game, Myst, was designed this way.

The mountain climb: the first part of the story shows the main character’s weaknesses or flaws, but at each stage of higher tension, those characteristics turn out to be assets until he reaches the highest peak. These stories rarely end positively, though—they often end with a great fall back to the starting point. Many TV series are designed this way so that by the last episode, it becomes obvious that nothing’s really changed.

The concentric circles:  the main character meets someone who once faced the same problem and who tells his own story of how he solved it, based on a story he was told by someone else who had faced that same problem, and so on. A story-within-a-story structure, these embedded tales center around the same idea or theme. The Canterbury Tales and Watership Down are examples of this.

The crenelated wall:  one thought is presented, followed by its contrast. Then a second idea is introduced and contrasted with its opposite. A series of these proposals takes the reader’s emotions from low to high, from despair to hope, again and again. The “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King, Jr. illustrates how this works.

The bowl of pudding: the narrative starts when a problem or opportunity is dropped into the ordinary world of the main character “out of the blue.” From that point on, he must swim out of the situation until he reaches a safe harbor or perishes. The story of the disaster on Mount McKinley in 1967 is an example, told most recently in Denali’s Howl: The Deadliest Climbing Disaster on America’s Wildest Peak. This is sometimes called in media res (in the middle of things).[A college student invites unrelated mountain climbers to undertake the ascent of the country’s highest mountain with him. Six men accept, believing they have adequate experience and equipment. They begin the ascent expecting clear weather throughout the expedition, but most start to suffer from altitude sickness, which leads them to make poor decisions. They split up into smaller groups trying to climb to the peak, some succeeding, others turning back. They lose contact with each other. Then a blizzard hits, and descent is impossible in the whiteout. Winds near the summit were later estimated to have reached 300 mph…and they all freeze to death. The remains of only three were located the next year, but they were left because no equipment existed to bring them down. Eventually, an attempt was made to find them and bury them, but by then they had disappeared. None of the seven climbers’ remains were ever recovered.]

The straight line with branches that join the line again: a straight-line story doesn’t have to stay straight. Middle branches that go off in different directions represent a problem with several potential solutions. All the characters try to find their own at the same time, then re-assemble and decide on a path forward. The story of Steve Jobs’ role at Apple is an example of this. By the time he’d been fired and returned to Apple to become its CEO, he knew the value of collaboration, but he personally determined the company’s direction with complete confidence. He focused on what he was good at while team members like Tim Cook took the then-current problem to their own divisions. When they had worked out their separate solutions, they met again and synthesized what they had learned.

The line that smacks into a door:  Actors and singers, athletes and writers—among others—know what it’s like to start in one direction and run into an insurmountable problem. Instead of beating their heads against a locked door, they back up and study the problem from another angle, then figure out how to go around it. They may decide that getting through that door isn’t even desirable anymore, because the path they really want to follow is a different one altogether, or they may find a parallel path that takes them to the same destination. In story terms, this is sometimes called a “false start.” It gets the audience’s attention quickly and goes in a seemingly predictable direction, but suddenly their expectations are disrupted. The challenge to their sense of security keeps them engaged to see what’s going to happen next.  F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote One Hundred False Starts about his own process of creating fiction. Your characters may find themselves in the same situation.

The flower petal: Here, a series of mini-stories or scenarios are each complete in themselves but end with the same conclusion. They have multiple characters who meet similar obstacles and challenges, but each story is told to the end before another one starts. (The “petals” may overlap by having one story introduce the next.) This is useful if several stories are unconnected but relate to the same theme. This gives weight to the theme by repeatedly showing how important it is.

If the writer intends only to produce a short story, the straight-line method may be the most efficient technique to use, as the opportunity to choose a different shape may not arise in that format. But before starting a longer work, drawing a doodle can help you decide the best way to write it—and serves as a reminder if the story begins to go off-track.

Visualizing these ten classic storytelling shapes is one technique that can spur a writer’s creativity. Many resources are available online to show how to use each one.

WRITE A BELIEVABLE VILLAIN(Regina Olson)

We are all familiar with villains. Most of the time they are easy to spot, especially in comic books and movies that feature super-heroes. They laugh gleefully as they deliberately create problems over which the hero must triumph in order to save the day, the world, or even the universe. They know exactly what their goal is: beat the good guy.

But not all villains are this bipolar. Some are even likable until you cross them. So how do you hide a villain in plain sight?

Examine yourself for a minute. What do you like about your friends or the people you interact with? Let’s say they are friendly, helpful, and supportive. So, give your villain these qualities–with a twist. The villain is friendly, so he can lure you in. He is lovable and easy-going, so what’s not to like about him? He is helpful, so you are indebted and obligated to him. He is supportive, not because he likes you, but because he is accumulating a fan base. And he exudes these positive traits as long as you play nice and don’t question or disagree with him. Cross this villain and he will turn on your main character faster than a glass of milk left outside on a hot day. His curdled personality reveals his sour nature as he works to shatter your main character’s sense of well-being and turn him or her into the villain.

Consider the narcissist. People with this personality type do not believe they are doing anything wrong; they feel justified in pointing out all your main character’s flaws and mistakes—to everyone. Constantly critical “for your own good,” the narcissist is masterful as a villain. His destructive acts and character assassinations are expertly disguised in a smile. The narcissist truly believes he is always in the right, and nothing can convince him otherwise. He is egotistical, over-confident, and never wrong.

At the first hint of trouble, the narcissist goes on the offensive. He preemptively makes your main character, or your main character’s actions, look bad. Then, that character is left to defend her- or himself, thus appearing weak. The more your protagonist tries to mitigate the damage, the more negative publicity is generated, and the worse it gets. Your main character can’t negotiate with or reason with a narcissist; it only makes the narcissist renew his efforts to prove that character wrong. The character arc for your protagonist begins at the point of a normal existence and moves in a perpetual downward spiral from which he can’t recover. Every attempt to defend himself is met with a twisted attack that condemns or hurts him personally. And behind the scenes, to friends and family, the narcissist claims he did nothing wrong and doesn’t understand why your main character is persecuting him.

That leaves plenty of room for tension, conflict, and anguish. You can almost literally drag your main character through Hades as he is abandoned by friends and possibly by family. You can unjustly ruin his career, his reputation, and his self-esteem. As an author, you can take him to the brink of suicide through bullying, isolation, and character assassination. Your main character will reach that brink of self-destruction and become as broken as Humpty Dumpty… except that there are no King’s men to put him back together again. There are only more cracks in his self-confidence and self-esteem. Make his or her plight as miserable as possible to gain the reader’s sympathy.

Then the main character grapples with the realization of what he has lost: friends, social standing, and perhaps a bit of his sanity. There must be no win for your protagonist, only more perceived loss. As an author, you must help him see the futility of the situation and thus make the tough choice to walk away, sever relationships, and start a new life. Your protagonist can do this on his own or have a secondary, undervalued character who rises to the occasion. Or perhaps a hero, someone who finally believes in that character, can walk into his life and rescue him. But whatever you do, in the end, you must give your main character hope for a happily ever after, so you do not disappoint your reader. Sometimes a character with a warm and friendly or even a loving and nurturing face can make the best villain, working behind the scenes to destroy reputations. This is a villain your protagonist won’t see coming until it’s too late, but one that is all too believable.

Author Bio:
Regina Olson grew up as the oldest sister in a family of seven. In this sometimes-chaotic life she escaped to books and poetry. As a teenager, she had several poems published in a Christian periodical. This small success encouraged her. She married, raised two children, and worked as the Operations Manager for a major university while finishing her MBA, then spent two years in a PhD program. Nowretired and enjoying life with her husband and three dogs, she has the time to indulge in her passion. Regina is a past member of the Write Minded critique group as well as a present member of the L. Gwinn Writers critique group, The Houston Writers Guild, and The Final Twist Writers Society. Her short stories are included in Every Beast has A Secret and Released from Reality.

Growing Your *Literary* Garden (Tasha Storfer)

When you write often…

Not every story will come out the way you envision or hope. That’s just life. There are many stories the world never sees because they were vetoed by the author, publisher, or market. Now that more people are self-publishing, authors are put in the “gate-keeper” position that historically went to agents and editors.

A side note about Branding

Before I get into too much detail. I want to mention that a lot of this information is based on an author that is interested in branding themselves. If you don’t have an interest in branding, then this information may not work for you. The other audience that might have an interest is writers that have a goal of an agent/publisher. The market is changing, and it helps to have more than a book to pitch. But then you delve into deciding to keep a platform/brand you create yourself or sell it, and that’s a whole new can of worms and a different fishing hole.

Weed it

You’ve written something. It’s been edited and taken to a critique group. Edited it again. Sent it out for beta reading. Edited it again. You have heard from a group of people you trust to tell you if it’s gold or brass. You’ve sent it to agents and publishers. If you adore it, but the overwhelming feedback is a resounding “meh” –  not just from agents and publishers but from your critique group and beta readers – weed it.

That does not make it unmeaningful. Those words helped you grow as a writer. Look at them. Be your own critic to unlock the puzzle of your best writing and move on. And if you love it, you might discover the key to unlocking its potential. Shelf it, and its time might come later.

Personally, I like short stories for writing growth. The end result is quicker and I can repeat the process and learn at a faster pace than when writing a novel. I can explore and develop characters, refine the setting, and expand the world in small parts before diving into a longer project. But I have a lot left to learn and grow. I expect a lot of weeding before my garden is the way I envision it.

or Feed it?..

What if you don’t hear back from agents and publishers, but you saw your critique group cry when you read chapter 3? Did they glow when they finished reading the last chapter? Did your beta reader call back after binge-reading it with a list of their favorite parts and a manuscript full of smiley faces? – then you have something worth feeding.

Did you love writing it? Do you want to write in a similar way over and over and over? Not the same plot, but the same genre or a series with the same characters and location. Then you might think about establishing a brand as an author based on that story.

When we pick up books by certain authors, we have expectations based on their prior writing. This is something true across the arts. It is linked to voice. But it’s more. It can be writing in a certain genre or style. Creating a brand as an author sets a foundation of expectation. If it is a style of story that you would like to explore multiple times, consider the option of turning one story into a garden.

I hope your writing blooms into something magnificent!

Tasha

Interested in more? My safehouse for book junkies everywhere is found at www.tashastorfer.wordpress.com

Use Constraints to Structure Your Fiction (Mark H. Phillips)

Pantsers need structure too. Constraint is the rigid steel pistol. Creativity is the explosion. Together they produce aimed power and dramatic results. In the tension between unpredictable innovation and self-imposed limitation arises the structure pantsers need. You have something you need to say. Staring at an empty page does no good. Where to start?

Start with constraints:

1. Bind your story within the margins of a detailed historical event. A Gestapo agent with a pathetic remnant of a prewar conscience barely flickering in his breast, suspects that an SS officer is murdering his colleagues and making it look like the work of partisans. Weave your story into the fabric of the final days of the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto with a three-way dénouement between the killer, the doomed but heroic militant Polish Jews, and the Gestapo agent in the sewers beneath the city. Thorough research will provide most of the structure you need.
2. Bind your story within the biographical details of real people. My short story, “Conduct Unbecoming,” uses the teenage Bernard Hermann (future composer of cinematic scores such as Psycho) and his friend Abraham Polonsky (future blacklisted film noir director) in a murder mystery at Carnegie Hall. The story relies on getting their distinctive personalities, characters, and foreshadowed destinies to drive the plot.
3. Bind your story within the formulas and tropes of genre and pastiche (I use “pastiche” to mean a faithful attempt to duplicate the style of the original rather than a disrespectful parody of the original). Andrew Kahn defines genre fiction as that which, “offers readers more or less what they would expect upon the basis of having read similar books before.” The same definition applies to genuine pastiches. To get a story going, you could choose the subgenre of the inverted detective story; you start knowing who done it, with the crime laid out in detail, then watch the detective try to detect the villain’s inevitable tiny mistake. Every Colombo follows this pattern.

Pastiche is even more constrained and therefore yields more structural guidance. To successfully write a Star Trek novel you must follow a detailed “bible” provided by Paramount and Pocket Books. The active supervision by a fiercely protective franchise overseer will make sure you do no harm to their valuable franchise. You must weave your story into a future history that
includes every detail of the TV shows, movies, cartoons, and several hundred other novels by dozens of other writers. You are expected to make your characters conform to the speech patterns of the actors who played those characters, know those characters’ entire life stories, and not cause continuity issues with dozens of ongoing and future works. You must abide by all the established scientific norms already in place. All stories have to be in third person with the inner thoughts of the main characters revealed. You must write a classic A, B, C interleaved plot where each thread is thematically linked. The novel must conform to Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic and moral vision.

Want to write a new Perry Mason novel? Better use Erle Stanley Gardner’s invariable formula for all 84 of his novels: Mason takes the case of an innocent accused of a crime. The cops and DA build a devastating case. Mason, his detective, Paul Drake, and his secretary, Della Street, investigate. Mason usually risks his career and/or his life in finding, or manufacturing, an alternate explanation. During the trial, Mason flips the damning evidence into a new configuration, often prompting the real culprit to confess.

What happens when you fail to follow the formulas or change the personalities of the characters from established canon? You anger and alienate your most devoted audience. No genuine Dark Shadows fan will ever forgive Timothy Burton for spitting on their desire for a serious film. The major plot twist of the first Mission Impossible movie still pisses me off.

4. Bind your story with what Joss Whedon calls backshadowing. Put a plot teaser in just because it’s cool, play with it a little more over time, and then, if it becomes interesting enough, work it into the main plot. In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode, “The Wish,” Cordelia wishes for a world without Buffy. In this evil alternate reality, Willow confronts a vicious vampire version of herself who is also unambiguously gay. This was well in advance of Whedon’s decision to make Willow a lesbian. In retrospect, it makes Whedon look like a long-range plotter and master of foreshadowing, when in fact it was a bit of backshadowing.

Other examples of this kind of constraint would be Erle Stanley Gardner’s famous four cardboard spin wheels: a wheel of complicating circumstances, a wheel of false trails, a wheel of hostile minor characters, and a wheel of solutions. To keep things varied, Gardner would just spin a wheel; the card constrained what came next. Here’s the wheel of false trails:

1. Witness lies.
2. A document is forged.
3. A witness is planted.
4. A client conceals something.
5. A client misrepresents something.
6. A friend pretends to betray the hero.
7. The villains assistant pretends to betray the hero.
8. A vital witness refuses to talk.
9. False confessions.
10. Genuine mistakes.
11. A witness takes flight.
12. A witness is kidnapped.
13. A witness commits suicide.
14. A witness sells out.
15. Planted clues.
16. Impossible statements.

In the golden age of pulp, the cover art of a magazine was often produced before the stories were written. It wasn’t unusual for an editor to hand a picture of a BEM (Bug-Eyed Monster) attacking a scantily clad space babe to a writer and tell him to write up a story to fit the image by next Tuesday. Our writing group has done something similar to this with our fantasy image writing prompt sessions.

I often write under the constraint of a set piece confrontation I’ve dreamed up, and then I must figure out how to plausibly get there. This can take the form of another kind of backshadowing- as-extreme-in-media-res as with the famous opening scene of Sunset Boulevard when the protagonist is shot dead and falls into a swimming pool; the rest of the story explains how he came to such an end.

Constraint is the focusing mechanism that gets your story going in a given direction. It structures the story, aims it, forces it along. But there has to be the initial impetus. Constraints without the exploding core of the story is like an unloaded revolver. The powder in this simile is theme. You have to want to actually say something. It doesn’t have to be earth-shakingly profound. It can be
as simple as, “The world’s a better place if a dedicated lawyer prevents a miscarriage of justice and exposes the real criminal.” It can be as complex as Tolkein’s theme in The Lord of the Rings: To fight evil requires power, but accepting power risks corrupting oneself into the next evil.

Of course, too much constraint can be bad. Many writers constrain themselves so effectively that they write themselves into a corner. The protagonist’s options dwindle to none, the story becomes impossible to maintain without internal contradiction, and the writer has to resort to desperate deus ex machina solutions. Characters are forced to act in ways contrary to everything that has previously occurred. I refer you to Lost, X-Files, and How to Get Away with Murder. There are two solutions to this pitfall: give up being a pantser and plan things seven years in advance like a Joss Whedon (aside from whimsical acts of backshadowing), or stay a pantser but go back in revision and insert foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is the safety valve for over- constraint. If you later have to have your prim librarian protagonist escape a prison cell by expertly picking the lock, you’re going to have to go back and slip in clues that she has acquired such a skill well in advance of her needing it. Suppose the Gestapo agent discovers that the serial
killer he’s been tracking is actually a Jewish imposter, assassinating those officers bent on the destruction of his people. Suppose the Gestapo agent ends up helping the Jews escape the ghetto and ends up teaming with the serial killer to kill yet another fellow German officer to aid in that escape. We need to have examples of his conscience struggling to throw off the brutal confines of his role and undermine his patriotism well in advance of his apparent volte-face, or it will seem completely improbable. The right foreshadowing can make a sudden turn seem, in 20-20 hindsight is almost inevitable.

Following a formula too rigidly could make your narrative formulaic or cliché-ridden. A reader of new Star Trek, Mike Hammer, or Doc Savage novels wants both a product indistinguishable from a canonic entry by the original creators and to be surprised with something completely new. Impossible task or difficult challenge worthy of your best efforts? I’ve been immersed for the last several months in reading Star Trek novels, and I’m amazed at the quality of the writing, the respect for the integrity of Roddenberry’s vision, and the new depths of characterization brought to supposedly familiar characters.

Although I don’t want to ruin anyone’s experience of any films through revealing spoilers, I heartily recommend watching She-Hulk, Attorney at Law. Shakespeare it’s not, but by breaking the fourth wall, by treating the sometimes rabidly misogynistic Marvel fanboys as integral to the storyline, and the self-referential criticism of the MCU’s (Marvel Cinematic Universe) reliance
on overdone plot clichés, the writers have come up with something relatively new and fresh. As for the possibility of being overly constrained by strict adherence to historical facts, I refer you to Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Tarantino uses historical constraint for the structure he wants, and then blithely ignores it when he chooses to.

Poets and fiction writers have been subjecting themselves to severe constraints for millennia as a way to focus creativity with structure. Writing haiku or sonnets uses syllabic or metric constraints to impose a structure. Writing a novel that never uses the letter “e,” such as Ernest Vincent Wright’s Gadsby or George Perec’s La Disparition are extreme cases of self- imposed constraint. For the pantser looking for an organizing structure without a formal outline, I suggest using historical context, biographical detail, genre and pastiche formulas, and various kinds of backshadowing to channel your inchoate creativity into powerful, structurally coherent works.

Sources:
Karen Woodward: https://blog.karenwoodward.org/2013/10/nanowrimo-erle-stanley-gardner-
perry-mason-plot-
wheels.html#:~:text=Erle%20Stanley%20Gardner’s%20Plot%20Wheels,the%20wheel%20of%2
0complicating%20circumstances.
K. B. Owen: https://kbowenmysteries.com/posts/mystery-monday-a-plot-wheel-for-perry-mason/
Jay Sennett: https://authorselectric.blogspot.com/2018/11/erle-stanley-gardner-or-how-to-write-
12.html
Crusoe: https://www.crusoe.la/structure-your-plot-a-b-and-c-stories/
Eric Diaz: https://nerdist.com/article/star-trek-series-bibles-tng-ds9-voyager-enterprise-available-
read/
Jeff Greenwald: https://www.wired.com/1996/01/trek-script/
Trek Writers’ Guild: http://www.twguild.com/resources/starting3.html

https://www.bu.edu/clarion/guides/Star_Trek_Writers_Guide.pdf
Slap Happy Larry: https://www.slaphappylarry.com/types-of-literary-shadowing/
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constrained_writing
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Mason
Dale Andrews: https://www.sleuthsayers.org/2013/02/constrained-writing.html
Jeremey Thomas Fuller: http://www.jeremythomasfuller.com/backshadowing-foreshadowing-in-
reverse/
TV Tropes: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Foreshadowing/BuffyTheVampireSlayer

Character Profiling—How Much is Enough?

By Jack Strandburg

Many fiction writing “experts” stress the need to know your characters (at least the protagonist
and antagonist and perhaps one or two other major characters) as good as you know yourself.
The question arises—when do you get to know your characters? Before or during the writing of
the story. Some say before, some say during, others insist it’s a “mix.”

So goes the elusive topic of profiling.

If you Google “character profiles” you’ll get over 500,000 hits.
– What’s an author to do?
– How do you decide which one works for you?
– Do you look at a few and come up with your own template?
– What form of template do you use for character profiling? A questionnaire, perhaps using the
Marcel Proust model of 35 questions on character?

If you endeavor to fill out a comprehensive character profile template, it’s easy to become
overwhelmed.

Consider the components of a character profile:
– Name
– Physical description
– Birth and birthplace
– Wants and goals
– Family background
– Manner of speaking, laughing, eating, etc.
– Real property assets
– Education
– Hobbies
– Occupation
– Favorites (newspaper, color, food, etc.)
– Friends
– Enemies
– Co-workers
– Geographical data
– Sociological data
– Psychological data
– Military service
– Positive traits
– Negative traits

Years ago, I compiled a template (which I no longer use) based on the above categories. The
result was a spreadsheet containing over 250 rows of data. (which is precisely why I don’t use it
anymore)

Given this process, one could spend literally months answering the questions, and become
frustrated and get bogged down and feel as though the story will never get started, let alone
finished.

The question becomes (and I’m sure most of you have asked) is—what is necessary for a
workable character profile before you can start writing the story?

I submitted a survey to members of The Final Twist Writer’s Society for insight into their
character profiling process, using the following questions as a guide. For the sake of clarity, I
italicized their responses.

* Do you have your own profiling template / process, or do you use an existing template?

Most members either use a bare minimum profile, figuring out character as the story
progresses, or use no template at all.

* Do you use the Archetype and / or Enneagram template?
The members use these tools for major works (novels) only.

*How much detail do you feel is necessary for a major character before you can start
writing the story? Is there a standard or do you just “sense” it’s time to write the story?
Does it vary between stories? Is it different for a pantser, plotter, or plantser?

The members were generally in agreement here and offered good advice.
I want to know the physical description as a minimum to describe how their hair falls,
how their eyes change when the sun hits them, and their height as compared to objects or
other characters. Knowing every detail of a character is too confining, and to quote
Stephen King, “if I know how the story ends, what’s the fun in writing it?”
Knowing the key traits of the character should facilitate that character to undergo a
change at the end of the story. Too many traits can cause the reader to lose focus and
prevent them from emotionally engaging with the character.
Physical description, what they want, and obstacles in their way to getting what they
want—ergo, the conflict. This normally pertains only to the protagonist and antagonist.

*How do you decide on a character trait—whether they are agreeable or argumentative? Is
it based on their wants and goals? Do the events and the situations in the story dictate
their actions and reactions?

Use traits from other people, (actors / actresses) then throw their characters into
situations that challenge who they are and what they believe in. If, during the story, they
decide they want to head west instead of east, let them go.
Traits are based on wants and goals, and the events in the story will shape them into the
person they’ll become at the end.
Deciding what will create the most conflict in the story helps to define a character, and at
least two traits should contradict in order to create a complex character—someone the
reader will become engaged with.

*Does the amount of detail for characters differ whether it’s a novel or a short story?

Yes, for obvious reasons. Short stories are more in the moment, whereas in longer works
more details and interplay occur between characters. Also, in longer works, it might be
advisable or even necessary to keep track of character details for consistency. For
instance, to ensure age is in line with the story timeline and physical description doesn’t
change significantly, at least without a reason.

*How do you determine character background? Can you decide your protagonist is from
the Midwest and was abused as opposed to just being a spoiled brat from the West Coast?

The context of the events and the conflict / action between characters will often dictate
the character’s background. For instance, a protagonist who is a tough and grizzled
character might have grown up on a farm and worked with his hands, and maybe got into
several scrapes during his young adult years.

*Do pantsers, who write “from the seat of their pants” bother with a character profile?

Even pantsers need enough of a character profile in order to ensure the key
characteristics come to light when they confront their obstacles and engage in conflict.

In fact, if a pantser has only a vague idea of who their character is, how that character
reacts when faced with their first conflict will say a lot about them and give the writer
clues about how to use them in the story—or give the writer insight into what kind of
character they need to use in their place. Sometimes a minor character will steal the
show from a major character, which is always hilarious and/or surprising. Even the
narrator can talk their way into a minor part in the story.

Giving Back

The Final Twist is a Houston-based writers group dedicated to supporting our authors, promoting reading, and giving back to the community at large. 

That last part is something we don’t crow about, we just do it. Usually. Historically, our giving has tended to be live events in support of writing, reading, or literacy, such as hosting NaNoWriMo write-ins and providing sustenance and awards for participants. These last two years have tossed our program to the winds. It’s difficult to hold in-person events in the midst of a pandemic.

In November, 2021, we found a different way to promote English literacy in our community and want to share what we found.

First, we learned one of the groups working to resettle Afghan refugees in Houston created a library for the Afghan community. How perfect is that for a group looking to support reading and literacy? While we were discussing how we could help with donations to the library, one of our members mentioned a company that publishes bi-lingual children’s books. What were the chances they’d have English and Pashto or English and Dari? We checked. They had both! While this meant we could do our small part by donating some bi-lingual books to the new library, the real purpose of this post is to share information about Houston Welcomes Refugees and Language Lizard.

Language Lizard is a for-profit business with a unique niche. They offer bi-lingual children’s products in 50 languages. 50! If you check out their website and blog, you’ll see they have a rather nice community outreach program of their own, including free multicultural lesson plans.

Houston Welcomes Refugees is a a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with a stated purpose of “Mobilizing our city to welcome refugees with compassion, hope, and honor as they resettle and start a new life in Houston.” They have a wonderful program that welcomes Afghan refugees, helps to get each family settled in an apartment, and most importantly, teams up the family with a welcome committee that helps with the move-in and stays in touch for six months.

Houston Welcomes Refugees provides many ways for all interested parties to help resettle our brave Afghan friends who aided U.S. soldiers during our time in Afghanistan. Whether you prefer to give of your time or donate from afar, there is something for everyone. If you’ve been wondering about how to help our newest residents, check out Houston Welcomes Refugees.