Location, Location, Location

Alright, let's talk about setting again. I mentioned that the first part of putting together a setting is a physical location. That would be the case for about 99% of stories; there are some situations where the setting might be metaphysical, or mental (a dreamscape, for example). But most of the time, when people talk about setting, they're talking about somewhere real, a place where you can explore and interact with others.

The kind of setting depends, obviously enough, on what kind of story you're writing. Hard-boiled detective story? The mean streets of New York, LA or Chicago jump out at you. Space opera? A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... Fantasy? Thanks to Mr. Tolkien, we all have a pretty good notion of what to expect from a fantasy setting. Not that fantasy needs to copy Tolkien; there's more than enough of that out there already.

So, how to build such a setting? There are lots of guides out there for this sort of thing, but one of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned is this: Start small. You don't need to build your setting down to the tiniest detail before even writing a word of the story. Sure, it's a good idea to have some notion of what you're doing, but always remember, the story is the most important thing. The greatest, most detailed setting in the world isn't going to mean diddly-squat if the story you're writing sucks.

So, starting small can mean different things to different genres. For example, in a detective story, the setting at first might just be the detective's office. You can write the opening scene of the story right there, without ever walking out that door. What happens after that? You add to the setting as you need to.

Here's a practical example from my own writing. My upcoming far-future science fiction anthology starring ex-Marine Sergeant Bard Conley was written essentially on the fly. I wrote the first story with only the barest inkling of the setting. All I knew was that it was going to take place in a Martian city. The next story went to Venus, and once again, I wrote the story entirely from improv, developing the setting as necessary to continue the story, and no further. The entire series was written that way, and you'll get to see the results next month when I publish it.

Now, sometimes you want more setting, depending on the circumstances. For a sandbox gaming style, you need some sort of wider detail to give options for players to explore. My Meterra setting started out as a gaming setting, and the stories came later. In this case, I built the setting up first, but I didn't overdo it. The town of Everton is a dot on the map, and little else. I know where the essential features are, including the Devil's Playground (you'll get to read about that one soon, too), the forests, the mountains, etc. This was necessary for the sandbox-style of game that Meterra was originally intended for. The stories came out of the setting, and were enriched by my knowledge of the setting. However, those who have read the Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival will note that the setting doesn't overwhelm the story.

So, whatever the locale of your story, focus on that part of the setting and no more at first; don't get yourself overwhelmed by detailing the ninth-century fashions of women in the capital city when your story takes place in a backwater fishing village in the twelfth century. Nobody's going to read about it, and nobody will care.

That Escalated Quickly...

And, just like that, I'm unemployed.

Okay, it's a temporary layoff during the Kung Flu crisis. Still, it's a bit of a punch to the gut. A man who can't provide for his family isn't much of a man. Fortunately, it's temporary, so I'll be back to work...eventually. Who knows how long 'eventually' is going to last? These days, it could be weeks, months, or...never. It depends on how long the government decides to milk the crisis to their advantage.

Oh, was that too cynical? Sorry; I just read that the Democrats in the States blocked the bipartisan relief bill so they could add more pork to it. World-wide pandemic that's killed thousands of people and is going to kill thousands more? Some estimates ranging in the million-plus dead? No emergency relief bill for you until we get our donors some of that sweet taxpayer money that we're just printing in our licensed counterfeiting shop called the Federal Reserve Bank. And if you think the Canadian government is going to handle it any better, I've got some prime waterfront property in the middle of the Sahara desert you might be interested in.

Anyway, I'm not bitter about it. Much. I mean, sure, it means hitting up pogey for a while, but we're in decent shape; the bills are paid, we've got lots of food (and an adequate supply of toilet paper), and we're staying put. So, we'll weather this about as well as anyone can. It just sucks to get that call when you were expecting a different one, that's all. I thought the company would be switching over, at least temporarily, to at-home working. They still might; I just won't be a part of it.

So, I'm going to take advantage of the opportunity, get more writing done, and get caught up on my school work. Piece of cake. I also get to spend more time with my family, and more time teaching our homeschooled kids. Yes, kids; the youngest one is just about ready for his own education to begin. By the time we can actually get mail across the border again, he'll be ready to start at the bottom and work his way up to where he should be for his age.

Alright, I'm going to post more about setting tomorrow, even though no one is reading this yet. Someday, though...

Setting the Scene

Since the world is in the middle of the Beer Pandemic, there isn’t a whole heck of a lot to do other than sit around the house and talk about stuff. Or watch copious amounts of Netflix. I don’t like Netflix, so I’m going to talk about stuff that I do like. Such as role-playing games.

One of the things people like about role-playing games is the abundance of pre-existing settings for virtually every game system out there. Some games are obviously based on specific settings (Star Wars RPG, or the superhero games based on Marvel and DC products, for example). But many of them are original to various gaming campaigns. The first such settings, of course, are Blackmoor and Greyhawk for Dungeons & Dragons, going all the way back to the early 1970s.

However, the majority of RPGs don't require a specific setting to run in, and that's what makes them fun. Instead of having to follow an established canon, these games have free-form, open-ended settings. And the best games, in my ever-so-humble-opinion, don't have any established setting at all.

The three games I want to teach my son are: Dungeons & Dragons (fantasy), Traveller (far-future science fiction), and Champions (superheroes). These games all have 'official' settings, but at their core don't require anything of the sort. The mechanics are not tied to a specific setting or locale; Dungeons & Dragons can be set in Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms, sure, but a Dungeon Master can easily create his own setting from scratch using the existing ruleset. Likewise, most people associate the Traveller game with the Third Imperium setting, but it doesn't need to be a part of the game.

So, by giving him a generic, open-ended system to work with, he'll be able to let his imagination run wild and come up with a setting of his own, one that will be more impactful because it will be his.

Of course, it will be necessary to teach him how to do that, which is where my own efforts along those lines come in. Right now, there's a fantasy novel online that is influenced by my gaming experiences, TheChronicles of Meterra: Arrival. I highly recommend reading it; it's really good. Trust me, I know the author.

I hope that he'll get the opportunity to create worlds of his own, because he's an imaginative boy, and developing that skill will serve him well in his future endeavors.

So, what makes a setting?

Good question; I'm glad you asked.

Okay, I asked it. But still.

A setting has many components, whether it's a game setting, a movie setting, a book setting, or a table setting. Although the components for the last one are quite different from the others.

Settings need a few things to make them believable. A physical location, obviously, is the first thing needed. After all, there has to be a place for whatever adventure is about to take place to actually take place. This place can be as small as a single room, or as wide as a galaxy. Of course, the latter takes a lot more work to get ready.

Second, a setting needs inhabitants. After all, the hero has to interact with someone, right? Whether it's characters in a book or NPCs in a game, a world missing its people would be pretty boring. Of course, 'people' doesn't always mean 'human.' It could be faerie races in a fantasy world, or aliens in a sci-fi world. For that matter, it could be talking animals in a fairy tale world, or a combination of all three for a really entertaining world. Regardless, characters matter, whether they are allies to work with, ordinary people to pass on information or buy from, or enemies to overcome. Character matters in any setting.

Then, there's time. And by that, I mean the passage of time, as in a historicity to the setting, something that makes it feel less like something that you just invented and more like something that has existed for a while. It doesn't have to be intricately detailed; it can be something as simple as, for example, an old newspaper clipping, or a long-lost ruin. It depends on the setting, of course, but there should be a sense that something happened before.

I'll go into more detail on these in future posts; as I said, they apply to writing as well as gaming, so they're useful to various people. I have more experience with gaming than with writing, of course, but the principles will still apply.

In the meantime, if fantasy isn't your bag, try these mystery novels instead; they're just as good as the fantasy novel. Again, trust me; I know the author.

Final Exam

The Missing Magnate

Stuck at Home

Well, today didn't quite go as expected. I went to work despite the $1000 fine for breaking 'social distancing,' and then fifteen minutes after I got there, it was time to go home; the place was shut down because someone had been in contact with someone else who contracted Coronavirus, aka the Beer Plague. On the plus side, I'm home for the weekend, giving me a chance to get caught up on my delayed courses and get some extra writing done.

Since I started my job, I've found that there's been plenty of time in between calls to get some quality writing time. I've averaged over 4,000 words a day on days that I worked, in fact. But this past week, that went down the toilet with the insane amount of calls and emails we've gotten from people desperate to make sure the internet, their sole means of survival remains intact.

I know, it's a bit hypocritical of me to talk about people desperately needing the internet when I'm typing up a blog post. I feel neither guilt nor shame.

So, the workplace is now locked down like Patient Zero showed up. At least I'm getting paid. And the company is working on getting us the tools to continue our work at home, because we must keep the modems running. I shudder to think of the backlog when we get back to work; we'll be weeks getting caught up, if that. My writing time at work is likely to have come to an end, which is going to slow down my production. I've still got some exams to write, after all, and courses to finish, plus I've got family to spend time with. So, writing is going to slack off. To a point. I'm still going to write, but I'm going to concentrate on getting some of my almost-finished material completed and published. In the meantime, though, I'm going to keep writing these blog posts that no one is actually reading, because everyone needs some kind of an outlet.

Hopefully, people aren't reading these posts because they're busy reading other things, like my books, which you can find on Amazon.

Final Exam
The Missing Magnate
The Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival

How Much is Too Much?

 “Our top story for the day: Two people have been diagnosed with Coronavirus in Zimbabwe. In other news, a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania just suffered a meltdown, and two million people are either dead, dying of radiation poisoning, or displaced from their homes due to the fallout. Now, back to the latest on the virus.”

That’s where we’re heading, people. The CBC might as well rename themselves to the Corona Broadcasting Corporation. And now, I just learned that the Ontario government is now going to fine people $1,000 for not following ‘social distancing’ guidelines. So, as of now, shaking hands with someone is illegal. So is hanging out at the mall (if there’s one open). So, apparently, is shopping, since it’s tough to stay two metres away from the cashier at Wal-Mart if you want to pay for something.

How exactly is a society supposed to function without human contact? Sure, there are the folks like myself who don’t make much of a habit of social interaction anyway, but come on, people! This is getting ridiculous! And most of us don’t want to spend that much time with our families in the first place!

And businesses are going to get hit even harder, apparently. Great; let’s just shut down the economy altogether, because that will really solve the problem of Coronavirus. I work in tech support for a major internet provider, and we’re not set up for work-at-home. How exactly is that going to work, if the government shuts us down? We’re three days behind as it is on all the customer requests; shut the building, and watch people’s freak-outs get even bigger as the internet doesn’t work, and nobody’s around to fix it for them.

Now, I admit I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But I’m not an idiot, and the levels of panic we’re seeing are just way, way over the top now. People are upset that parents have the nerve to let their children play outside now! How dare you give your child fresh air at the park? Give me a break. You can’t find a roll of toilet paper in any store on the planet right now. Grocery stores are completely screwed for the next few months, since there isn’t enough stuff in the warehouses to restock every grocery store in North America. But everyone is stocking up on stuff they’ll never use, because heaven forbid you run out of pie filling and taco sauce.

It’s frustrating to see society breaking down like this. And we’ve largely lost the ability to function without the massive technological infrastructure that’s been created. So, what are we going to do? Because things are changing in a big way; I doubt we’ll see the death rates that people are hysterically repeating every time the news cycle starts over, but society isn’t going to be the same. We’ve coasted for too long on a wave of ever-increasing debt spending and financial unsustainability, and we’re now finding out just how vulnerable we really are.

Buckle up, people; it’s going to get worse before it gets better, and the people in charge are finding new ways to show how unsuited they are to leading us in this situation. In the meantime, however, why not take your mind off the social chaos and read a book? I have a few recommendations below.

Final Exam

The Missing Magnate

The Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival

Corona-Mania

So, everyone is sitting at home, stuck in limbo as we wait to find out if civilization is coming to an end. If it is, then it's been a heck of a ride, but it really seems that this whole situation is very overblown.

That's not to say that people aren't suffering and dying; obviously, that's not the case. But people have been suffering and dying for centuries, even millennia, and we don't have a major crisis every time it happens. I remember the SARS scare, of course, which turned out to be much ado about not very much. And I grew up during the origins of the AIDS panic, which turned out to be largely restricted to a particular sub-set of the population. To this day, I've still not met anyone who suffered from AIDS. SARS, either. But now, Coronavirus is the great leveler, the one that is bringing down the mighty and the small all together.

Now, for someone like me, there's really not much of a difference. I work in an industry that has basically become an essential service (internet tech support), so I'm still going to work every day while my family sits at home and waits for the all-clear. It's like everyone is in a miniature bomb-shelter in the Cold War, waiting for word that the fallout has cleared.

I'm sure that there are people reading this who think that I'm being ridiculous, that it's a global pandemic and that I'm an insensitive jerk (or worse) who doesn't care that people are suffering. That's not true; I do care that people are suffering. What I find hard toa ccept is that this is so much worse than the last seven or eight of these 'epidemics' that have come down the pipe. Covid-19 has become the new Black Plague, except with a lot less dead people.

So, how do we survive Corona-chan aside from avoiding all human contact? Which, by the way, is the preferred method of dealing with most situations for a growing percentage of the population. The internet has replaced human contact for a lot of people, so this is just an extension of that. However, according to the vast majority of the population, toilet paper is an essential component to surviving this mini-plague.

By the time anyone reads this, the virus panic is likely to be over, so it doesn't really matter what I say. I can make jokes, I can provide silly advice, who really cares? It's complete freedom!

So, in no particular order, here are my recommendations for overcoming the odds and surviving the deadly plague that is sweeping the globe.

First, don't be old. The latest numbers indicate that in Italy, one of the hardest-hit locales in the Western world, the average age of the deceased is over 80 years of age. So, clearly, the most important factor in surviving this is to be younger than that. The younger, the better. Now, this isn't a 'state of mind' thing; you can't pretend you're only thirty when you're pushing seventy-five. No one's going to believe you, for one thing, no matter how much Oil of Olay you're using. Mentally regressing to your childhood won't help, either.

Second, don't be sick. The virus itself isn't killing people; again, going to Italy, the deceased are elderly people who have pre-existing conditions, especially lung problems. If you've got COPD or recurring pneumonia, stay away from everyone. Seriously, stay away. Nothing good will come of human contact for you. If you're old and have lung issues, lock the doors, hide in the basement, and send out drones to scope out the landscape before you poke your head above ground again.

Third, don't be stupid. This one is the most difficult to overcome, because people have a pronounced tendency to demonstrate gross stupidity in times of crisis. So, what qualifies as 'stupid' in this case? Things like licking a toilet seat, like someone did on Youtube, calling it the 'Corona challenge.' Actually, if you're that stupid, by all means, hang out by the emergency rooms of the hospital and take deep breaths; we'll all be better off once you're eliminated from the gene pool.

All seriousness aside, just stay home, unless you absolutely can't. And use less squares of TP; they'll last longer, and you won't have to run all over town trying to find that elusive hidden 4-pack. Because it won't be there, believe me.

Aside from that, there's not much else to say. Upgrade your internet speed to counter the inevitable slow-downs coming from the increased usage everywhere, and get a good book to read while you're hunkering down and hiding from the Kung Flu. I recommend the following:

Final Exam

The Missing Magnate

The Chronicles ofMeterra: Arrival

Starting Out with the Basics

The idea of teaching my son to play D&D is an exciting one. It's an opportunity for me to continue doing things with him now that my body is having a harder time with the stuff we did before. I still love the sports, but a fifty-year-old body doesn't handle back-catching or goaltending very well anymore. But the stuff we do with our brains? That is still good to go.

So, assuming that my wife finally gives in to the opportunity, I've decided to start him with the grand-daddy of them all, the D&D Basic Set. The Mentzer 1983 version, that is; it incorporates a great introduction to RPGs and their mechanics in a fun, choose-your-own-adventure style. It's perfect for kids of that age, even thirty-seven years later.

So, I found my dice and the Basic Set and grabbed my copy of B1, In Search of the Unknown as well. Together, these are going to provide an excellent foundation for a beginning role-player, and give him a springboard for his imagination to really fly.

So, in the spirit of preparing him for this grand adventure, I've got him reading some of the true classics of the adventure genre: Tarzan of the Apes and Call of the Wild. Sure, neither of them is fantasy per se in the mold of Tolkein or Howard, but they're great, imaginative stories that will give him an opportunity to visualize some exciting scenes and settings. He's already gotten a taste of Edgar Rice Burroughs after reading the first two Mars books (Princess of Mars and Gods of Mars). Now, he's reading about Burroughs' most famous creation. Get him off to a good start, that's the motto.

He's very excited about designing a character of his own, and I'm sure he's going to have a lot of fun. He's also going to go through the power-gaming, munchkin phase at some point; hopefully, we can minimize that phase, or at least shorten it. But, we shall see.

Gaming, especially right now amidst Corona-mania, is a good alternative to the relentless assault of video games and internet stuff we're dealing with. Right now, in my home, I have enough material that we could keep ourselves entertained for the next few years if necessary, and that's not including the stuff I've got on my computer. I doubt it will get to that point, and it doesn't have to; there's plenty of adventure to be found. Let's hope he gets the opportunity to experience it himself.

The Greatest Game Ever Created

I know this will be an unpopular topic with certain members of my household (specifically, the one who sleeps in the bed with me), but it's something I have a lot to say about.

Our middle son, who is eleven, has an active imagination. He also has a lot of restlessness developed from the electronic obsession he has. When he doesn't get to use whatever electronic device he wants during the day, he has a tendency to sneak it at night and pull all-nighters, watching videos about other people playing video games.

I'm looking to channel that imagination and restlessness into something else. And I have that channel in our basement; it survived the flood intact, being far enough away from the danger zone. It's a nearly-complete collection of Dungeons & Dragons books. The classic BECMI version, that is. I haven't played in years, and haven't even looked at them, because my wife has a firm prejudice against the game. But I broached the subject with her yesterday about allowing me to play it with our son. Of course, she had an immediate visceral reaction to it, but I'm not giving up, and she's at least considering the idea. Here's why she should agree.

First, I'm tired of hiding my love for the game and pretending it has no influence on me. I write fantasy novels, for Pete's sake! Of course it influences me to this day. It would insane to think it doesn't. Just because I don't get to play it anymore doesn't mean I don't think about it. I have a very, very good memory for stuff I did when I was a kid.

But that's about me; here's why it would be good for our son.

First, imagination. He has a great, active imagination, and this game is entirely about imagination and creating something new. Sure, there are rules, but that's fine; every writer has to follow rules, even if he's pantsing it (a term that means writing on the fly without an outline or a plan). If you're creating a fantasy world, you have to make that world consistent with its own laws of nature. This game just formalizes those rules for a particular situation, but they can be altered as required (again, as long as it's consistent).

Second, reading. Every old-school gamer is a voracious reader, and they read good books by the old masters that I've talked about: Burroughs, Howard, Lovecraft, Merritt, Dunsany, C.A. Smith., etc. And that's before getting to the Tolkeins and the Eddingses. We want him to read, and we want him to imagine the stories he's reading. Reading these books will help him develop his vocabulary and spelling, key skills for any homeschooled child.

Third, problem-solving. Any old-school gamer will tell you that the best games involve figuring out how to overcome obstacles. Usually, it's in a team of multiple players, brainstorming to figure out how to get around that pit in the floor, or how to crack the code on the chest that's holding the Crown of the God-Emperor that's worth a fortune. And learning how to solve those problems in a game will develop the skills necessary to solve those problems in real life.

Fourth, morality. Yes, you can learn morality in a game about going into dark places, killing things and taking their stuff. Because in a D&D game, your character is a hero, who has to do heroic things and stop vile, nasty monsters from doing villainous things. Rescue the princess from the dragon, save the village from the marauding ogres, stop the necromancer from raising an army of the dead...these are all noble and heroic deeds, and we should want our kids to think about how doing good deeds can affect the lives of others. Sure, I don't expect him to run out of the house and go slaughter a troll living under the bridge, but he can certainly stand up to the bullies of the world on behalf of others. Would he do that? I don't know, but the odds are better that he would if he were to play a game that encourages that sort of behavior.

Finally, bonding and companionship. In a world now afflicted with Corona-chan, people are already becoming isolated; the store shelves are bare, sports are shut down, swimming pools and libraries are closing, and communities are turning into ghost towns as people huddle in their homes, afraid of human contact in a world that desperately needs more, not less of such contact. Playing a game that encourages such contact and is, in fact, built around it, will give him the opportunity to learn these skills without costing him in the real world. If he acts like a jerk in the game, there will be consequences, and eventually he'll learn that those consequences will have effects in the real world if he doesn't change his behavior.

I know, it's just a game. But D&D is a great game, because it is a game without limits. Unlike chess or Uno or Monopoly, it's open-ended. It's not limited to what you can program into a computer, either. Anything can happen, and often does. In a well-played game, magic can and does happen.

I'll talk more about this in future posts, but for now, I'll just remind you that fantasy isn't the only thing that I write: You can find examples of that here, in my Cameron Vail mysteries:

Final Exam
The Missing Magnate

Lost Treasures

One of the benefits of having a flooded crawlspace is that you get to find all that stuff you lost or forgot about years ago. Sometimes, that stuff is soaked and ruined, but not all of it. I was fortunate enough to find some of my long-lost music in the piles of boxes. Not CDs (although it was nice to find some of those), but sheet music that I wrote years and years ago.

I once wrote a musical play. I was young and foolish, but it was fun. It was short, only one act at first. But it grew over time; it's still not fully fleshed out, but it's better than it was. But it had been so long since I'd worked on it, or even thought about it, that when I found the manuscript, I was missing some of the songs that had not yet been integrated into the music. And it had been so long that I couldn't remember the tunes, let alone the lyrics.

But I found them. Just the lyrics, but that was enough.

I immediately ran to the piano to test my memory, and sure enough, I had it back. The play was rusty, since it was so long ago, but I got it. Oh, what a wonderful feeling that was! I also found some of my other sheet music, songs that I had written for Mass, including the lost verse of my Christmas song, Seek the Child. It was glorious.

Now, there's still a lot of stuff to go through, including all the stuff that was taken away to be dried to see if it can be salvaged. I still expect there will be a lot of stuff that really is lost, including a crap-ton of books, but we'll see what comes out of it. Maybe some of it can still be saved.

I have some other treasures, of course, that aren't so lost. You can look them up on Amazon. They are:

Final Exam
The Missing Magnate
Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival

One of Those Days

You know that feeling you get when you wake up in the morning and hear the shower running, but you quickly find out no one is actually in the shower? And then you're wondering why someone's running the shower underneath your stairs instead? I hadn't either, until yesterday morning.

Turns out, the boiler tank on the hot water heater in the crawlspace popped a seam the night before, and was spewing water out like a fire hose directly at the back of the basement stairs. Which, not so incidentally, also gave us a small pool that covered two-thirds of the crawlspace and caused quite a bit of damage.

My wife and I have wanted to clear out the crawlspace every summer for at least the past five years; we just never seemed to get around to doing it. We even said we'd pay our son and his buddies to do it...but it never got done. Well, it's getting done now, and the insurance company is paying for it.

Thankfully, the water didn't get out of the crawlspace very much. A little bit leaked out through the bottom of the stairs, but it wasn't that much compared to what was under the house. We had to replace the carpet anyway, so it wasn't a big deal getting rid of that.

But there is a lot, and I mean a LOT of stuff in the crawlspace. And a good chunk of it actually didn't get soaked; stuff that was on top of the stuff that did get soaked, for example, escaped unscathed. And for that, we are grateful, because there was a lot of it. Not to mention the far walls away from the boiler, which thanks to the uneven floors didn't get wet either.

Unfortunately, there's quite a bit that is going to be ruined, some of it quite valuable, like the thousands of dollars’ worth of books that were stored under there. Some of it is priceless, such as photos and scrapbooking memories. The clean-up team is going through it all, and hopefully the loss won't be as bad as we feared.

But at least the crawlspace is getting cleared out. It's like God had finally had enough of our procrastinating and said, 'If you won't do it, I will.' Well, whatever works.

We've agreed that this is a sign that we should get ready to move. We've been in this house together for thirteen years now, and we've talked about moving for as long as we've been talking about clearing out the crawlspace. Of course, with this stupid virus running around and scaring everyone to death, we're going to wait that out before making any concrete plans such as looking at gorgeous properties that will exactly suit our needs.

So, we're going to finish emptying the crawlspace this weekend while the emergency people get all the damaged stuff out. After that, we'll see what we can salvage, what we want to get rid of and sell, and what few things we'll actually keep. And then, we'll put it back in the crawlspace away from the boiler, just because we don't actually have anywhere else to put this stuff anyway.

So, be grateful for contents insurance, because you might get an unexpected windfall (or waterfall) when you least expect it.

Not all of my books were in the pool, of course; you can find some of them on Amazon at my page, where you'll find mystery and fantasy (for now) stories to wet (ahem) your appetite for more.

Hero vs. Protagonist

The terms 'hero' and 'protagonist' have become interchangeable in modern fiction, with the latter seeing far more usage than the former. The protagonist is the main character, the person who is the focus of the story and who drives the action. The hero, on the other hand, is usually a morally good person who is trying to make the world a better place, often by conflict with the antagonist, or villain.

But in today's writing, the protagonist doesn't have to actually be a good guy; in fact, it's considered passé and gauche to have an actual hero. After all, the thinking goes, the real world doesn't have people like that, and it sets an impossible expectation on the reader to suspend their disbelief so much that they would accept such a character. 'Shades of grey' is the phrase, because black-and-white isn't 'realistic.'

Heroes and villains often don't even exist in the minds of many modern writers. Look at Game of Thrones; can anyone in that story honestly be described as a hero? Even the best of them have serious moral deficiencies. Not just flaws; flaws aren't at all the same thing. But these characters have no moral center, and their motivations are almost entirely selfish. And these are the people we are told are the role-models we need.

Call me crazy, but I don't want to take my life-cues from someone who is only slightly less horrible than the serial killer they're chasing. And I most definitely don't want my kids doing the same.

Heroes have always been important to us. Heroes give us something to aspire to, to emulate. People don't read Greek Mythology because Hercules was a wife-beater or Zeus is a womanizer. They read it because Hercules fought terrible monsters and beat them. He is a hero, in the classical sense of the word.

And for those who insist that heroes are unrealistic, I suggest they start looking at some of the real-life heroes in the world. Firefighters, for example. What kind of personal and selfless courage is required to run into a burning building to pull out an unconscious person before they suffocate and die?

Children need heroes; those heroes are people who can help those children feel safe. Not because the heroes fight off the monsters, but because they teach the children that they, too, can fight off the monsters and win. And it's not just the men who do the fighting, for all the feminists demanding equal representation. Read the legends of Bradamante and Atalanta, ladies. If you're looking for a real-life person, St. Joan of Arc fits the bill. A more modern story? Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore is a great example. Or, if space opera is more your jam, check out the incomparable David Weber and his Honor Harrington series.

What links these women to the heroic tradition is not their biology, but their attitude. They do what is right BECAUSE it's the right thing to do, often without expectation of reward. Just like the men. Congratulations, we have achieved equality.

Alright, so what about the boys? Well, one of the biggest complaints we hear about today's boys is that they don't have good role-models. Too many absentee dads, athletes with feet of clay, and television shows that show men as wimpy and constantly using them as the butt of jokes.

Where are their heroes, the men they can look up to?

Heroes, not protagonists, are the missing ingredient in so much of today's writing. Compare Jon Snow from Game of Thrones to John Carter of Mars; it's night and day. Compare Luke Skywalker from the original trilogy to what he became in the newest iteration of Star Wars; if they weren't played by the same actor, you would not believe they were the same character. Young Luke was heroic, brave, and took action when it was required, whether it was behind the controls of an X-wing or standing before Darth Vader, fighting to save his friends.

In the new Star Wars trilogy, Old Luke is a hermit, a failure, hidden from the galaxy he fought to free from tyranny. Cynical and weary, he burns away everything he once believed in. What message does that send to the young man watching the entire Star Wars trilogy? "It doesn't matter how hard you fight, because in the end nothing matters and you're going to lose in the most humiliating way possible." What young boy wants that message resonating in his mind?

More importantly, though, what kind of person wants that message resonating in a young boy's mind?

Civilization has had heroes since there was civilization. The heroic tradition goes back to the earliest writings; Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions and Sumerian tablets bear witness to the heroic deeds of Gilgamesh and Enkidu, or pharaohs like Menes and Khufu. These men were flawed; they weren't perfect, but they strove to be the ideal of their civilization, and were held up as being those ideals for generations.

Unfortunately, civilization today has abandoned this heroic tradition in favor of 'protagonists' who have the moral fiber of Josef Stalin or Jack the Ripper. All in the name of 'realism.' Well, if that's realism, I'll take the fantasy, thanks.

We need heroes today more than ever. Whether it's bringing back the heroes of old, such as the great mythologies or the fairy tales, whether it's the pulp heroes like John Carter and Conan or movie heroes like young Luke Skywalker or Indiana Jones, we need these heroes to remind us of what we can be, who inspire us to rise up to greater heights instead of dragging us down into the mud. We're already in the mud; it's time to soar instead.

If you're interested in heroes instead of protagonists, check out my Chronicles of Meterra: Arrival, available now on Amazon.

Inspiration

I've had people ask me (at work and elsewhere, but not here, since no one's commenting yet) how I write as much as I do. It's a combination of things; persistence and consistency is a big part of it; if you don't keep your butt stapled to the chair, you aren't going to write.
But that explains production, not inspiration. After all, if you're going to write heavily, you need to keep yourself inspired with new material to write about. And that's what I'm going to talk about today.
One of the most obvious forms of inspiration is reading other books. I've been reading a lot of Edgar Rice Burroughs lately, as well as Lord Dunsany. I've started reading some Clark Ashton Smith, Abraham Merritt, and recently my first-ever H.P. Lovecraft story. It's a lot of fun, reading the masters of an earlier age and getting a sense of how they put together not only great stories, but exciting action or haunting weirdness. Frankly, most modern stuff just doesn't compare. There are a few, but there's too much message fiction out there now, and that's not at all inspiring.
Another form of inspiration is music. A well-crafted piece of classical music can bring out some amazing ideas. So can movie soundtracks, especially ones from the genre you're considering. Go ahead and listen to the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack (the original one, not the remake) and try not to feel the stirring of your primitive lizard-brain wanting to hit things with sharp, pointy objects.
Oh, it's just me? Yeah, I didn't think so.
But there's another source that people don't think of: Video game soundtracks. These are great, especially if you haven't played the game the soundtrack comes from. I mean, listen to the Diablo soundtrack. That is some creepy music, perfect for that scene where some impending horror is about to jump out at your hero.
And here's one that has just grabbed me this week. I've listened to this piece of music almost two dozen times in the past few days. It is just that good, an earworm that grabs on tight and won't let go of your brain. I absolutely love it. It's the theme from Civilization VI, I'm listening to it as I type this, as a matter of fact. It just screams exploration, wonder and majesty with every delicious note. I've never played the game, but that is some seriously inspired music.
Video game soundtracks are great for inspiring genre writers, because they're written specifically to put us in an adventurous mood. Like movie soundtracks, they put you into the scene, and your imagination can't help but flare up, especially if it's a game you don't know. When you don't know it, you're letting your own mind match the music to scenes, whether they be action, romance, fantasy, science fiction, horror, whatever.
If you'd like to see what has resulted from my inspiration, check out my Amazon page. There are only a few books there right now, but it will be growing. Come along, and enjoy the ride.