Insecure Writers Support Group - Character Descriptions II

A little while ago I posted a number of character descriptions and in continuation of the theme I'd like to present you with a few more.  As before the images are all taken from Dragon Magazine online and hopefully they inspire someone out there.

 DRAMATIS PERSONAE 

The old man cut a battered figure as he moved slowly through the taverns crowd towards his accustomed spot The regulars got out of the way quickly enough, they'd seen the results of getting caught in his bad eye many times before and likely would do so many times since. It throbbed painfully but everyone knew that a scar remembered the weapon that made it, even so his seemed to be putting extra feeling into the job. “Evening Boss” for once he made no attempt to hide his educated tones that betrayed a noble ancestry unmatched by anyone else in this rat infested fleapit “Yer late” the overseer grumbled as he always did. “I had some business to take care of” His employer spun on his heal, a graceful movement for one so fat “You work for me you don't got no business less I say you do!” “You forget who I am” he kept his tone respectful “I forget nothing! It's you who forget your place” his heavy hand swung through the air but the old man caught it with a skill that hadn't been his since his youth and with a single movement he cast the overseer down amongst the rabble “The rules have changed I think” the old man settled into the comfortable chair that had served as the overseers throne and looked out upon his new kingdom.

IWSG: I ain't got no job singing the blues:

First Wednesday of the month don'tchaknow and that means its again time for the Insecure Writers Support Group.

It isn't much about writing this month but instead it is something that has been on my mind for a little while now.

See I quit my job this year. so that I could go on a graphics course which, don't get me wrong, I'm still super excited about but it's just that for the past five years I've been employed as a security guard and now, relatily speaking, I'm not.

There's a part of my brain that can't accept this. “You've got a good job” it pleads “you're getting older. You're not good enough, not smart enough. Not. NOT NOT”

I've been wrestling with this part of me every time I'm filling out another form and my heart was in my throat until I finally got the courage up to hand in my application.

Why? 
I think that it's less the fear of the unknown and more the part of me that's comfortable where I am. Job, real life friends, internet friends [1] all the things that a body could want in life [2]

The absolute worst case scenario is that I fail everything and wind up collecting the unemployment benefit forever but since I'm going to put everything that I have into my work on the course I am pretty certain that this isn't going to happen but there's still that little niggly naggly seed of doubt there.

I detest the unemployment benefit because its money that hasn't been earned and some people see it as a right, doing everything they can to stay on the lists for as long as they can [3] however it's a sweeping generalization to say that everyone collecting the benefit is like that because once you're in the clutches of Work and Income it can be very difficult to get out again.

Sit down and let me spin you a tale.

Once upon a time I went on my OE and returned to NZ healthy in mind and body. I signed up at the unemployment offices with bright eyes and high hopes.

“Find me a job merry receptionist” I said, and swept my hair back for effect “for I've no wish to collect the benefit and I'm motivated enough to try anything”

“That's the attitude” she smiled and handed me the job list

I went through the job list and applied for anything that I was remotely qualified for [4] and made a point of going in each day to apply for something new or to check on my applications.

Well days turned into weeks and my own pavement pounding had netted me nothing but holes in my shoes and a new understanding of the phrase “Don't call us, we'll call you” Eventually I moved into into Petone and received a new case officer who called me in for a meeting to discuss how things were going.

I didn't have a good feeling for this meeting because I'd more or less become one of the no hopers who didn't care that they don't have a job as long as they have money for whatever they need.

When the meeting came around we had a bit of a talk about this and that. I let him know about my own work seeking efforts which were, at this stage, sadly lacking and also the jobs that I had applied for over previously.

He tapped away on the computer to bring up my file.

“That's funny” his brow furrowed

“What is it?”

“You don't go by any other names do you?”

“No. None at all”

“According to this you haven't been registered with us since May of 2002. It says you cancelled your benefit because you found work?”

“Yes I'd started working at the Woolworths Supermarket. Look I've been getting the benefit regular as clockwork, what about all those jobs I applied for?”

He shook his head “I'm not seeing them anywhere in the system”

It's a testament to the power of words that I remember those words as clearly as anything. It's been 5 years and I remember them so very clearly.

I couldn't believe it, all that time and effort had been totally wasted and it felt exactly like someone had slammed a large tree branch into my chest [5]

“Well, do you have any jobs available?” I finally asked with tears in my eyes

Yes, tears, it was that much of a blow. I had been able to accept that nobody wanted to hire me but to learn that I hadn't even been on the list? Yeah, there were tears.

He retrieved my old friend the job list and I didn't even bother to look at it before handing it back.

“All of them”

“I can't just put your name forward for everything. Give it a proper read through”

“It's just that I really need a job. I'm sick of this benefit and want to work”

He tapped away at the computer again “I can get you a cleaning job at Mcdonalds”

“I have to take it”

“It's in Porirua”

“I'll take the bus”

“You haven't got a car?”

“No” I wondered if he'd listened to a thing I'd told him “I'm poor”

“Wait there” he went off and talked to a few people before returning “how do you feel about security?”

“Alot better than I do about cleaning Mcdonalds” [6]

To cut a long story short I had a quick interview over the phone and a proper one was soon scheduled.

That day I left those offices on the biggest high ever. Birds sang just for me and the sun shone down with a smile on his face. If there had been more people around we would have broken out into spontaneous choreography. I was that level of happy.

But now I'm leaving a steady job in a thriving industry to go and do what? Paint some pictures?

In part. It is a graphic design course after all and this is a field that I've wanted to explore for quite some time, I was going to do it last year but thanks to another guard quitting at the same time and the schedules suddenly being changed every week I decided to put the studies on hold until now.

I end this badly written angst fest of a post by saying that the silver lining in all of this is that the hours of the course are 0900 – 1500 monday – thursday with fridays set aside for study.

After 5 years of 12 hour shifts this is going to feel like luxury and it means that I'll still have time to do the blog! play computer games! write the book!

Look for work naturally

Notes:

1. Who are like real life friends only with more lol's it's all in the accent I understand.
2. No girlfriend, in real life or on the internet. I am le sigh
3. The technical name for this kind of person is bludger
4. As you do.
5. Which is something else that I know from experience
6. Apologies to any Mcdonalds workers who are reading this but I've put in the hard yards under the golden arches and have no desire to return.
   
   

Insecure Writers Support Group

Well I promised a big posting for this one and here it is. 


On those days when the muse decides to sleep in I scribble up backgrounds for random characters.  Sometimes they go somewhere and sometimes they don't but it does help to give the creativity neurons a bit of a jump start.


The images all come from old issues of  Dragon Magazine and there are many, many more waiting behind that link.  I've had masses of character portraits since forever ago, at first they were scanned from my comics, ensuring that everyone looked suprisingly like Superman and The Hulk.  Since I've had the Internet the collection has quickly reached extreme proportions.
Sorcerers Net has a very nice collection from all sorts of sources.


So here are a few starters, if they inspire you to write an epic 5 novel saga then all I ask is 10% of the gross and if anybody asks where you got the idea please don't say "This blog had a whole bunch of them, silly fool was just giving them away" 
I'm quite sure that I'll already be kicking myself hard enough thank you.

Insecure Writers Support Group Post Day

Sometimes, sometimes you just don't feel like writing at all.  You've got no ideas and even if you do their either rubbish or totally stolen from somewhere else. [1]  

It's the season I suppose.  Work is piling up, everyone seems to either be on your back or in your face for no reason at all.  You can't escape it because no matter where you turn it's all mountains.

Eventually they all just run together into one big blob of negative and the only thing that you can do is to make soothing go away type noises in the vain hope that it will do any good.

Then they turn around and expect you to write something worth reading? [2]

But you start scribbling anyway and you aren't paying attention to what your doing, it's all just random.  Eventually you look it over and, sure it's rambling, angry, incoherrant and illegable but there's some good stuff in the mess as well.

What's my point?  It isn't enough to tell the reader that your main character is angry or sad or in love or whatever you've got to show them through their actions and their interactions with others.

Someone who's angry isn't going to listen to anyone else.  They'll rant to anyone within listening distance and if there is nobody in listening distance then they shout towards the heavens [3] or perhaps they won't, it might be that they are the type of person to keep things on a slow burn, staying silent and just turning it all over in their mind.  If they speak at all it will just be a repeating of a single word or phrase over and over. [4]

Think about the posture of a person as well.  No eye contact, not speaking, moving away when someone gets close are clear signs that they don't want to talk.

It won't always go the way you plan it.  I know the cast of Harts Change are becoming notorious for choosing option C when I could only see options A and B.

There was supposed to be more to this but I lost half my notes and work is killing me.

Also I'm listening to a really big fight that has flared up between the guy and his girlfriend who live in the house.

This is an epic level meltdown and by that I mean that they were a block away and we could clearly hear them in the kitchen [5].  Everyone went back to their rooms just now.  This is one of those fights that will stop for neither man nor beast.

Ok, she's just slammed the door in his face and he's gone around to shout at the window.  Hasn't tried to break anything yet.

He's walked round the house twice and now he's back inside inside and banging on the door.  Still shouting although it's pretty incoherent at the moment.  I'll let you know if anything comes of this [6]

Update:

10 minutes later:  There were some more door slams.  I think he did it twice for extra effect, now she's crying in the kitchen with his mum.  I don't know what the story is and I don't know them well enough to pry.  All I'm going to be doing is observing the actions of these two until they patch things up. [7]

Notes:

1. Very much like this post.  It's taken me days to get even this much down on paper
2. Although who exactly "they" are I'm sure I don't know
3. At which point the boss is looking down saying "Oh me!  Not this guy again"
4. It doesn't have to make sense except to them.
5. While part of me is hoping that they sort it out another part of me is doing the whole Jerry Springer experience
6. if anything comes of this....incredibly convenient fight that you have no way of verifying for those of us playing along at home.
7. which, of course, I hope that they do.  Greek tragedy is very much overrated.

Insecure Writers Support Group. - Negative People

As contradictory as it sounds there are good negative and bad negative people out there in the world and the ones that you want to hang around with are the positive-negative people as they will make the best walls to bounce your ideas off and critique your work honestly.  If they don't like something then they'll speak up and let the chips fall where they may.
At the other end of the scale are the negative-negative people and these are the ones that you want to stay away from, A double negative is the kind of person who, upon hearing of your dreams of becoming a published author and knocking King and Rowling out of the best sellers list forever, will attempt to try and burst the bubble.

It may begin with a series of quick jabs to the ego "But you can't write a story, you can't even tell a joke properly"  "What's the point?  nobody reads anymore" "Doesn't sound like anything I would ever look at, though I suppose it's all right for some"
But they won't stop until you throw away your work and never again take up the pen for anything more exciting than a shopping list, a boring shopping list.  This is the only time that they'll be happy because a double negative is an emotional vampire who feeds on anguish. [1]

Once upon a time I used to work with a double negative, for the purposes of this story I'll call her Impedimenta.
If someone took time off she disaproved of it because it meant more work for everyone else, but especially her.
When another worker went on a course she spoke badly about it because it wasn't going to teach them anything important.  When she was informed that it was a first aid course she replied "So?  he'll never need it"
My turn came when I was drafted into teaching a computer course that was very far from work and the two jobs would overlap.  Clearly this meant that I would be late for this, my real job.  Besides, what were those people doing on a course?  Why didn't they go out and get jobs?"

It wasn't an ego, why aren't they talking about me?, thing at all.  She just didn't seem to want anyone to succeed at anything, ever.  Eventually the rest of us stopped talking to her which is exactly what she didn't want since it meant that she had nothing to disaprove of and that's when she sent her flying monkeys, as we called her minions, out to gather intelligence. [2]

Using them in writing:
I know I've just said stay away from the more extreme negative person if you can but unless you spend some time around these people then your characters are going to be living in a sacherine sweet world with a big purple dinosaur for company.
Life dictates that you must rub shoulders with these people and since we're writers it is an opportunity to take notes of the human condition and use them in your work. [3]
Perhaps your own Impedimenta becomes a major antogonist for your characters, who set out on their quest in order to prove her wrong.  Or it may be that she is relegated to the chorus and her voice is lost in the crowd that cheers for the rightful king.

Take it all in but, and this is the important bit, remember to get it all out as well.  Remember that their ultimate goal is to turn you into a double negative so be wary of the amount of time you spend in their presence and then go to a lake and feed the ducks, because it's impossible not to smile when your feeding ducks. [4]

Notes:
1: with some nice metaphor for afters.
2: dun Dun DUN!
3: possibly my most pretentious sentence ever.
4: unless you get chased by the swan mafia who are desperate to get whats in the bag.

Insecure Writers Support Group Day Post

Introduction:
So I've put my blog down for the Insecure Writers Support Group and by a major coincidence it just happens to be posting day today. But since I'm not very well practiced in this as yet it is more than likely that this will end up as a huge angst fest. That's why the second part of this post is for those of you out there in Internet land who don't want to read my whining (1)

Doubts:
I started writing to get the huge thoughts from out of my head and allow them to make way for education which was considered to be more important at the time.(2) and have managed to knock heads with many different genres, but Fantasy seems to be my niche and for this I blame David Eddings, Terry Pratchet and, naturally, JRR Tolkien among others.

The fact that I haven't had a television in a very long time has helped a lot. When I began flatting I was so broke that I couldn't have paid for the remote, let alone the whole TV and so I did without. Eventually I did look at buying one but passed it over when I read what was on and realized how little any of it was worth watching or even mattered. If there was anything that I desperately wanted to see then the video store was going to be my best friend.

Moan Moan Moan. Plug the book already!:
Harts Change is the first in the Hart Trilogy, with the second being Harts Blood and the third being Harts War, is an epic fantasy of loves lost, found and war! All of it set against the backdrop of a world gone mad!

However at its heart, as with all stories worth the reading, it is about people, the choices that they make and the consequences which leads to another choice.
It deals with the return of magic to a world that had long ago given it up and when the magic happens it changes the face of humanity with everyone being transformed into centaurs (3) for reasons that remain classified at this time.
Suffice to say that the death toll is immense and every aspect of society is affected in some way. The barons fight amongst each other and much scheming (4) is done because there are always those eager to seize power through any means.
The Beggar King sits uneasy on his throne as he discovers that not everyone under his rule is as loyal as he had thought.

But the story doesn't start with The Beggar King. It starts in a dungeon cell with an ex thief who is about to become an ex person. Evelyn Oneeye is the personal guard of one of the barons and for a personal guard to be caught spying on another baron is a very bad thing indeed.

Especially when that Baron has allied himself with the Ambian Invaders. 

Especially especially when that baron just happens to be your ex husband. 

Especially especially especially when you and your lover drove him through the streets on your wedding night.

Through circumstances too numerous (5) to recount here she manages to be elevated to the Tinkers (6), who are an elite group with unquestioning loyalty to The Beggar King.

Evelyn and Toryan:
I'm working on introducing the romantic interest through the novel, Evelyn lost Tobias, her lover, about 5 years ago and with the great change taking her son she is very much alone in the world, save for Horrible a dog that she rescued from the fighting pits.
But Captain Toryan is an Ambian and they are the enemy. Still their journeys together bring them closer and eventually they come together (7), I'm toying with the idea of allowing them to live happily ever after at the end of the series but I don't think it's going to happen because Happy Ever After is just a way of saying “I don't know what happened next.  Everyone was happy forever  now go to sleep”

But certain schemers in the church are busy blackening their names up and down the country because they want to get their hands on the weapons of the ancient champions. Loves Regret and Shapers Bane because people understand the power of symbols such as these so it's only a matter of time before everything kicks off there.

The Church:
For a long time the church was simply a quick organisation that I had put in place with a few vague guidelines simply because, in earlier versions it wasn't that important, then I glossed over it by saying it's an evil organisation. Then it became the big bad of the series until I actually sat down and thought about it. To say the organization itself is evil was wrong. Like anything else in life there are a wide range of priests and acolytes ranging from the good to the bad. The problem is figuring out exactly who is who.

The New Moon: (8)
Something that has been on the forefront in everyones mind is the appearance of a second moon in the night sky. So far it has done nothing except sit there freaking everyone out but that's only because I haven't thought of anything to do with it yet. Because of the immense global effects this will have it needs to be researched throughly which is only another argument against the damn thing.

But here is my current list of Moon questions.

The Hard Science:

• Orbit of the new moon in relation to the old one
• Phases of the moons
• Length of Days/Months/Seasons

Global Effects:

• Ocean Tides
• Plant and Animal life - How do they adjust to the new schedule?
• The New Moon = more light = shorter days and longer nights (which are not as dark as they used to be)
• Affect on seasons

Social:

• Astrology
• Star Signs
• Horoscopes
• Divinations

Religion:

• How do people explain the new moon?
• What do people call the new moon and the new seasons and the frequent eclipses?
• Old Beliefs - Moon Child born in full moons light. How does the new moon affect this?
• Worshippers of the new moon perhaps suppressed by the church
• Would the suppression give rise to an inquisition?
• Would the suppression be used to crack down on anything the church considers heretical?

Art:

• How are songs dances and poetry etc affected?

Conclusion:
So what have I learned from all this?
For one thing I've learned that I really hate this question. It makes everything feel like a sitcom ending with everyone waiting around for the laugh track.
But for what it's worth here's what I know. If you are dreaming up epic battles, torn hearts, plans, plots, schemes, the rise and eventual downfall of ultimate evil then don't worry about being neat and tidy. Don't buy into the image of a lone writer tapping away on his ancient typewriter because, seriously have you ever used those things? I have a great respect for those that had to use them.

Where was I?
Oh yeah, the image, that whole typewriter thing is what a writer does but it isn't what a writer is. All you need is something to write with and something to write on. Scribble down your ideas and get them down because I guarantee that if you tell yourself you'll remember it then you'll be left with a punchline and no setup.

So here's my refrain.  Take lots of notes and do the research, even if it means making it up but stick to the rules of the universe that you've created.

Notes:

1. Strictly speaking you're in the wrong place for whining anyway. We  Bloggers are supercool,  It's the LiveJournal writers that are the whiny ones.
2. The jury is still out.
3. Ensuring that the only people that come out of this with a smile are ten year old girls.
4. With requisite moustache twirling and evil laughter.  I would have included a bad guy musical number but we're not doing the Disney version
5. not to mention implausable
6. Up until recently I was calling them Kingsmen. Now thanks to the power of Greyskull they have become Tinkers for reasons that I hope will, eventually, become clear. For now just roll with it.
7. Said with raised eyebrows over a cup of tea.  THAT kind of together.
8. Nothing to do with Twilight although I had my doubts about that as well (ba dum psh!)

Part Two:

The following is from the dusty archives of Harts Change. This is the stuff that has either been rewritten or chopped out entirely. I don't like to throw stuff away so it all goes in here on the basis that it will be useful, in one form or another.

These were written in a much earlier draft back when Tobias, Evelyns husband, was going to be alive, thus making a perfect lovers triangle between him, Toryan and Evelyn. Ultimately though I pretty much merged his character with Toryans and he survives as a fond memory of true love.

The first meeting between Tobias and Evelyn.

Scene: In which we find out exactly how a common guard managed to catch the eye of a Knight Baronial's daughter.

The court buzzed around her and about her, only natural of course as she was presented to the king himself tonight. But now the air inside the court is stifling and her father is looking the other way. Stepping out into the night gardens is a tiny act of defiance in the face of conformity.

Inside her father jokes with someone that she should have been introduced to but she doesn't care. The night gardens are a much talked about feature of the royal city and not one that she intends to miss. Here and there she passes couples, whose world does not include her.

“Are you lost lady?” although his clothing was obvious quality they were quite untidy

“Not at all. I was simply admiring the flowers”
“It's a fine place for lovers” his leer is most ungentlemanly “if you'd like I could take you walking through the gardens”
“No that's, that's fine” her attempt to mimic the commanding tone of her father fail miserably “I should get back to the court”

As she turns to leave the man, who is certainly no gentleman, grabs at her wrist roughly “You're not going anywhere girly”
“Let me go!” this time it comes out as a command but he only laughs
“Let me go! Oh let me go”

“You should do what the lady asks” a new voice cuts in and the owner stteps out of the shadows
“Go to hell” he says belligerently
“As you wish” her hero quickly snatches at the ruffians own arm and soon has him on the ground with his arm twisted around the mans neck [note: the full nelson, while effective in real life isn't going to leave Toryan with a hand free. The one I'm thinking of is a judo hold Tome pomtiddly something.  This is only going to come into play if he needs his hands free for something.  Have a headbutt in there somewhere because headbutts mean action!]

The man manages to get free somehow

“You bastard!” he pants “do you know who I am?”
The guardsman advances and the man gives way “unless I miss my guess you're the one thats been bribing the old guards to turn a blind eye to your activities and it is my distinct pleasure to arrest you” They scuffle again but the ruffian again gets the worst of it and this time there is no question of escape “are you unharmed lady...”
“Esteele, Evelyn Esteele, I'm fine...” she returned his own pause [note: no she didn't that's stupid]

“Captain Tobias” he glances down at the man who has begun struggling again “now I've no doubt that you've got friends”
“I do!” the man squeaks “powerful and influential ones! You can kiss goodbye to your career good captain”
Tobias rolled his eyes “My apologies lady it's best to get this speech out of the way before they start giving out any useful information. Now as I was saying. I've no doubt that you've got friends, as you say, of power and influence, who will no doubt help you escape justice in some clever way so think on this. If anything happens to the Lady Esteele then it will mean a duel between the pair of us and I guarantee that on your best day you are not going to be as good as I am on my worst day”
“You can't threaten me like that!” the man yelps

“I don't think I threatened you” Captain Tobias said
“I didn't hear anything” confirmed Evelyn
“I'm certain that I would never threaten a prisoner who's going the right way to getting a damn good kicking if he doesn't stop wriggling around” [note: don't use this I've pinched it from somewhere]

“Will he really get away with it?” she asked as the man was led away by a pair of trustworthy guardsmen
“He'll get a rap over the knuckles” Tobias confirmed “the nobles have a way of looking after their own”

“Yes. They do. Have you finished with my daughter captain?” the coldness of her fathers disapproval suggested very much that he shouldn't have started with her

“I am Sir Knight” Tobias bowed slightly stiffly owing to a few bruises and if he were nervous at all he didn't show it.

“Then continue with your work guardsman. Daughter come with me and don't go wandering off again”
As she meekly followed her father she looked over her shoulder and waved to the captain who returned it hesitantly.

End

Evelyn and Tobias part two

Scene: Time passed as time is wont to do and the pair found that their unlikely friendship had blossomed into the tree of love [note: aww] they are forced to sneak around her chaperones in order to see each other but like all lovers they fail to notice that people have been talking. In the middle of a visit her brothers kicked down the door and, holding Tobias off at the point of a blade they brought Evelyn back to her father, Sor Esteele. He gives her the news that Cole Trailin, the kings newest baron, has requested her hand in marriage

Heavy rains lashed the stable walls, lightening and thunder spooked the horses but the people inside took no notice.

“Why can't you understand that I love him father!” she'd asked the same question before and just as before he gave the same response

“You're too young!” his fist slammed against the stall “too damn young to know what love is!”
“You're too old to remember” she counters harshly “if ever you felt it then you've forgotten long ago

Sor slapped her face “there's not a day that goes by that I don't remember your mother. But this! Sneaking around behind my back”

“We had to!” her tears have never failed to melt his heart before today “you wouldn't give him the time of day because he's not noble born. But he's a good man”

This time he remained a stony cliff “good man he may be. But he's not good enough for my daughter”

“Mum would have welcomed him”

He shook his head and turned away. “ Your mother was a remarkable woman but she had strange ideas”

“Like giving people a chance?” [note: could we lay it on any thicker? Not without special equipment]

“You'll soon forget your Captain. The Baron Trailin has agreed to overlook your wild streak and has presented himself as your husband”

“I don't love him! I love Tobias”

“Come now, what happened to giving people a chance? At any rate you'll be joined with Trailin come the full moon” he gestured over his shoulder to her sycophantic brothers, afraid to offer any opinion that would not be approved of “take her to her rooms and see that she stays there this time”

End