A writing query for you all
Dec. 17th, 2012 10:28 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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lkh_lashoutsHiya. Long time lurker, infrequent commenter. I have a question poking around on the squishy grey shelves of my brain that I'd like hear some answers to that relate to our shark-jumping heroine and the deterioration of her storyline.
What lessons have the post-Narcissus in Chains novels taught you all?
I ask because I am a novelist and I've written four novels so far, working on getting them published, which is hard. I've heard bits here and there that suggest some of you are also writers and so I wanted to know if you too have been taking notes on what to do and what not to do based on the crap that Hamilton pulls with Anita.
For the interest of brevity, I'll toss my lessons into a list. Feel free to add yours below if my post strikes your fancy.
1) Avoid a sausagefest. This one was a bit difficult considering my novels have to do with pre-established characters (the archangels of Heaven, who are almost all male), but I've made sure that my main character has a healthy spread of supporting female characters. None of them are crazed judgmental bitches or jealous haters. Anita's vendetta against feminine women has taught me to make sure to show all sides of each woman's personality, from the sweet to the vengeful to the tomboy to the girly girl.
2) Do not force in extraneous love interests. I admit there's a love triangle going on in my first novel series, but I've made it clear that it's just two guys. No one else in my main character's life is in love with her, they do not worship the ground she walks on, and they don't compliment her every single time she walks in a room. Unlike Ms. Blake, who must be worshiped by the opposite sex pretty much all the time in the post NiC novels, to my continual disdain.
3) Keep the main character humble and grounded. Anita's got the worst case of high horse syndrome I've seen in a long, long time. I hate how up her own ass she is sometimes, so I've made a point to have other characters point out my girl's flaws and call her out on things when she's being unreasonable.
4) Conflict needs to be in every single scene. Whether it's internal or external, conflict is absolutely necessary in every scene. This does not fly in the post-NiC novels. A particularly horrific example is Cerulean Sins, where there are literally chapters and chapters of nothing but exposition and info dumps that are boring and have absolutely no conflict whatsoever. If you don't believe me, read the first three chapters. You'll probably gawk at the unabashed lack of conflict there.
5) Everything is not about her. There are other characters who have problems, desires, and inner turmoil, and I try my best to allow them to develop throughout the course of the story. Anita's complete lack of sympathy for her poor sex slaves astounds me sometimes. Consider Nathaniel's background. Or hell, Asher's. Both of them should be receiving oodles of love and support and should have character arcs, but Anita and her magical vagina are clearly more important so they just keep getting kicked off screen like red-headed stepchildren.
6) Try to stay modern and do research to keep the details realistic. Many of you brilliant folks have pointed out how behind the times Anita is, especially when it comes to long term birth control and keeping herself clean before and after sex sessions. I've made sure to pull my glasses on and research everything that I possibly can to avoid the dreaded "Did Not Do the Research" label that other writers and readers will be happy to slap on my work otherwise.
Those are the most obvious ones for me. I hope to hear from you guys because I'm genuinely interested and I'd love to talk shop with other writers. Tchau.
What lessons have the post-Narcissus in Chains novels taught you all?
I ask because I am a novelist and I've written four novels so far, working on getting them published, which is hard. I've heard bits here and there that suggest some of you are also writers and so I wanted to know if you too have been taking notes on what to do and what not to do based on the crap that Hamilton pulls with Anita.
For the interest of brevity, I'll toss my lessons into a list. Feel free to add yours below if my post strikes your fancy.
1) Avoid a sausagefest. This one was a bit difficult considering my novels have to do with pre-established characters (the archangels of Heaven, who are almost all male), but I've made sure that my main character has a healthy spread of supporting female characters. None of them are crazed judgmental bitches or jealous haters. Anita's vendetta against feminine women has taught me to make sure to show all sides of each woman's personality, from the sweet to the vengeful to the tomboy to the girly girl.
2) Do not force in extraneous love interests. I admit there's a love triangle going on in my first novel series, but I've made it clear that it's just two guys. No one else in my main character's life is in love with her, they do not worship the ground she walks on, and they don't compliment her every single time she walks in a room. Unlike Ms. Blake, who must be worshiped by the opposite sex pretty much all the time in the post NiC novels, to my continual disdain.
3) Keep the main character humble and grounded. Anita's got the worst case of high horse syndrome I've seen in a long, long time. I hate how up her own ass she is sometimes, so I've made a point to have other characters point out my girl's flaws and call her out on things when she's being unreasonable.
4) Conflict needs to be in every single scene. Whether it's internal or external, conflict is absolutely necessary in every scene. This does not fly in the post-NiC novels. A particularly horrific example is Cerulean Sins, where there are literally chapters and chapters of nothing but exposition and info dumps that are boring and have absolutely no conflict whatsoever. If you don't believe me, read the first three chapters. You'll probably gawk at the unabashed lack of conflict there.
5) Everything is not about her. There are other characters who have problems, desires, and inner turmoil, and I try my best to allow them to develop throughout the course of the story. Anita's complete lack of sympathy for her poor sex slaves astounds me sometimes. Consider Nathaniel's background. Or hell, Asher's. Both of them should be receiving oodles of love and support and should have character arcs, but Anita and her magical vagina are clearly more important so they just keep getting kicked off screen like red-headed stepchildren.
6) Try to stay modern and do research to keep the details realistic. Many of you brilliant folks have pointed out how behind the times Anita is, especially when it comes to long term birth control and keeping herself clean before and after sex sessions. I've made sure to pull my glasses on and research everything that I possibly can to avoid the dreaded "Did Not Do the Research" label that other writers and readers will be happy to slap on my work otherwise.
Those are the most obvious ones for me. I hope to hear from you guys because I'm genuinely interested and I'd love to talk shop with other writers. Tchau.
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Date: 2012-12-18 02:35 pm (UTC)- Character flaws that are really flaws. I get tired of the usual 'hot temper, rebels against authority, too honest, cares about her friends too much, etc.' that a lot of novels have. They can be really good flaws if used to their fullest potential to bite the character in the ass (like when Sirius died coming to save Harry from a trap Harry walked into that exploited his 'needs to save people' thing) but they're usually not. Usually they're there to make the character seem more noble and cool. Such is the case with Anita's snappiness--it's technically a flaw, but it's meant to make her look clever and snarky, and she never gets in trouble with her boss or the cops (or, if she does get in trouble with cops, they're the bad guy and it's really because they're jealous bigots)
- Character flaws that are ACKNOWLEDGED as flaws. Anita has SO many things wrong with her, but LKH doesn't seem to realize it, and the narrative doesn't treat any of these traits or actions as wrong, and anytime another character does, they're shown as in the wrong for it. Which brings me to...
- Other characters can be in the right, including ones that disagree with your character or dislike your character or vice versa. And even if they are in the wrong, they are not horrible people for it. They also have their own reasons that probably should not include 'just jealous of your character' or 'is a close-minded bigot' most of the time, because those are reasons that the are designed to pit the reader against them. Making their reasons understandable is a lot better in my book, especially if you're writing for an adult audience that should be ready to see a world that isn't just black and white.
- Your protagonist does not have to be a likeable or good person, but they should be a likeable and good character, or at least fun/interesting to read about. Anita is not. She is not interesting, fun, or enjoyable to read about or from the POV from at all anymore. Probably the BEST example of nailing this that I've ever encountered is Humbert Humbert from Lolita by Nabokov. Written from the POV of a vain pedophile who kidnaps a twelve year old after marrying her mother to get close to her, and said pedophile is an immensely likeable character for most readers and interesting as hell to read about. And his story? Doesn't have zombies or werebeasts or metaphysical powers. But it has him and Lolita. The world is really only as interesting in practice as the characters make it, and Anita's world is amazing in theory, but she's doing zip in it anymore, no exploring and expanding like there used to be beyond the bare minimum for an asspull to give her a new power or lover.