Long-Term Monsters

What is a long-term monster and what is its use for a story? Well, what I mean when I talk about a long-term monster is a creature which has been around for a long time and might hibernate for decades, just to pop up again for a snack or two or three before going back to bed. Stephen King’s Pennywise from the novel “IT” and the Creeper from the “Jeepers Creepers” movies are examples of that type. They stay dormant, then harvest fear and, in the Creeper’s case, new body parts, and return to their dormant state for long enough so the town forgets about them again.

 

The last is an important point. Both Pennywise and the Creeper rest for more than twenty years before waking again. Twenty-five years is the time span considered a ‘generation’ today - this means within the resting time of the monster, authority figures will change, people will grow up, move away, die of natural or other non-monster-related causes. Keeping the hibernation cycle close to that (23 years for the Creeper, 27 for Pennywise) means that the monster can work longer without being spotted as a pattern in the town history.

In “IT”, the protagonists have to face Pennywise twice - once in their childhood in which they manage to survive, but not to kill the monster, and once in their adulthood when it gets more challenging for them to oppose the monster, but they also manage to kill it.

This is one useful aspect of such a creature. You can have a prologue or an early part where the monster is around and a protagonist, then young and innocent, just gets away or loses important people in their life, and then you can have the second part where the monster comes back and the now-adult protagonist can take their revenge and kill it. Of fail in doing so, of course, as such creatures are most common in horror stories where the ‘happily ever after’ might not happen. With such an old creature, the bad end is more likely, given how long it has already been around.

From a storyteller’s perspective, another good part about such an old creature is that it can be followed through time. The protagonists or a side character can find traces of the creature in the town’s history - perhaps strange disappearances every X years or a mention of murders that are X years apart, but seem similar. There can be an old character who has gone through two or more periods of the creature’s hibernation cycle and remembers the last time people died that way or children disappeared or whatever you want to use for the creature’s signature move. Like this, the fear or suspicion of the protagonists can be confirmed - there is something horrid that kills every X years and it has been there for a long time. Their loved one from the prologue (or first part) wasn’t the first victim - and now they will stop this from happening ever again!

 

When you create such a monster, you need to keep in mind that it needs to have a consistent behaviour. Whenever it comes out of hibernation, it needs to have a clear MO for its hunting - always killing the same type of person (like a serial killer), using a signature way to kill them, kill the same number of people every time, kill during the same time span in days (as the Creeper’s 23 days), something like that. It must be possible to see that all of these deaths have something in common and that this something in the monster. It’s probably not bad to consider this type of monster a supernatural serial killer - one who kills only at certain points in time, such as every X years.

The monster must also pose a direct threat to the people who go up against it. Either they are hunted by the monster or someone they love has been killed by it or someone they love is currently targeted by it. They must be involved - this is not a topic for professional monster hunters (let’s be honest: they’d make it less exciting, having much better chances). This is where a prologue or fist part come in. You can work without that, too, though, if you make them the target and let them get away the first time they meet the monster (as the first “Jeepers Creepers” movie does).

These long-lived monsters are also hard to kill and it’s quite possible that they can go into hibernation and come back (this is suggested by the end of “Jeepers Creepers 2” where the ‘bat out of hell,’ an emaciated body, is still there 23 years later and it might be possible for the Creeper to come back when the time is right). For a horror story, though, an uncertain end, an end with a ‘?,’ can be perfect.

 

Useful backgrounds for such long-lived, hibernating creatures could be eldritch monsters, demons, alien creatures, or suchlike. They are not bound by the rules of human bodies (Pennywise is probably not even humanoid in its true form) or able to regenerate them (the Creeper harvests body parts to replace those which have been damaged or worn out). They do not follow a human definition of life. They might come from a completely different plane of existence or a world somewhere in the cosmos.

This fits together well with an aspect of horror stories that is often overlooked: a horror story is one of the few types of stories where a happy ending is not expected. In most types of stories, the protagonist should be victorious, get what they want, live happily ever after. In a horror story, the monster can prove too powerful for the protagonist and kill them or drive them insane or even take them over and use them against others. This then cements the power of the monster - and can suggest a sequel at some point, if you want to have one.

 

A long-term monster can be a good antagonist for a horror story because it pits the regular human with their short life span against something that has weathered the ages and seen many humans fall. It comes with extremely high stakes and makes for a high tension during the story. Yet, it might also require a prologue or a split of the story between two times. Make sure the monster has a signature way of killing and a clear MO so the protagonists can find out how long it has been in the area already and know when it is killing again. Then have fun with your eldritch abomination, demon, or alien or whatever you make the monster out to be.

End of Year Thoughts

The end of 2021 is approaching quickly (considering how this year played out, probably not quickly enough, though…) and it’s time to look back at the year and have some thoughts about what it was like or what the next one could be like.

 

I made a big change in 2021, shifting my projects from Word (which I used for about three decades) to Scrivener this summer. It’s a change I’m fully happy with by now (I might also shift my blog posts for good). I also began to pre-plot in Scapple, which has proven very helpful as I have a skeleton of the full story by the time I get down to sorting out the scenes. I’ll definitely keep on doing this, so it’s a lasting change.

 

I didn’t write quite as much as I wanted to. While I did get my four books for next year done (more below), I didn’t put in quite as much time as I might or should have. Yet, during the year, I learned methods to pace myself and get the work done, which is good. During quite some months, I did far more than my word goal, while I missed it by quite some in others. Next year, I want to dive into my writing projects, as I have many stacked, and build up a certain amount of padding again - not having to worry whether I’ll be done with the next book in time will be good for my nerves.

 

My methods have been refined - I now work by plotted scene and have access to my plotting while I’m writing (thanks to Scriveners structure). I am using the pomodoro method, which helps me pace myself without doing too little or too much. It doesn’t pay to overdo things any more than it pays to be too lazy. Thanks to Scapple, I can throw my ideas against the wall and see what sticks.

 

These are the releases for next year (already around as first drafts):

 

·         February 2022: Theoretical Necromancy Vol. 2 (The Return of the Devil Monks, The Cursed Paintings, The Suitor)

·         May 2022: The Fourth Reich (stand-alone novel)

·         August 2022: The Haunting of Winterthorne Hall (stand-alone novel)

·         November 2022: The Necromancer’s Notebook (Isadora Goode Vol. 2; No Honour Among Villains, The Medusa Serum, The Lich’s Lair)

 

With all of the books set up, I can write in peace, knowing that my releases for next year are ready.

 

My projects are breaching out when it comes to genre. There are new stories that might become series, I have discovered the joy of interconnected short stories (the first one to be released in February 2023), and I have plotted out more stand-alone books. There will also be more stories within several of my series, although both the “Knight Agency” and the “Black Knight Agency” are on a sabbatical for the time being. Yet, John Stanton, Isadora Goode, Gabrielle Munson, and Maddie Dempsey are all set up for further stories. Gabrielle is even going to get a novel and a set of short stories. Anne Logan might join them as a series character, as might Colin Rook.

I’ve branched out into murder mysteries with several stand-alone stories in that area and there’s a tribute to Hammer Films among my projects as well (“Fallen Angel” will be more gory and more erotically suggestive than my regular books, following the principles of Hammer Film Studios to always go to the very limits of what they could get away with in those aspects). I am challenging myself a little here and I’m looking forward to the end results of those stories.

 

Other plans for next year include setting up a proper website under my internet domain quittersink.com, perhaps even a little web shop, and putting out a few book collections (like the two Loki Files in one book or the first three books of the Knight Agency and Black Knight Agency). Scrivener allows for easy work on that, but I will have to re-edit at least the early Knight Agency books (the edited files will, of course, also replace the files for the regular books you might have bought).

Further plans, which are not for the next year per se, include dipping into the ‘books on demand’ market and, perhaps, even getting successful books adapted as audio books at some point (most likely not for the next three or four years, but who knows?).

 

Have a good Christmas and a good time ‘between the years,’ as we Germans call it. May 2022 be less chaotic and less dominated by a pandemic than 2021.

Hero, Lancer, and Heart

Hero, lancer, and heart (none of them is bound to one gender, by the way) are the three basic character types of a hero group. They can be expanded into a five-man band with two more characters (big one and smart one), but work as a trio as well. What are they, though, and how do they work in the confines of a story or a plot?

 

Let’s look at all of them by themselves and at how they play together.

The hero is the main character, the lead of the story. They can have many different characteristics, depending on the type of story. The story is connected closely to the hero, they have the highest stakes in it, undergo an internal arc to develop their character as well as an external arc which is the main plot of the story. Without them, the story wouldn’t be happening that way.

The lancer is a foil to the hero, so whatever type of character the hero is, the lancer will be their opposite. If the hero is youthful and naive, the lancer will be older and more world-weary and cynical. If the hero is a wizened anti-hero, the lancer will be a youthful optimist. Often, the lancer’s plot revolves around their relationship with the hero. They might be jealous or tired of having to look after the hero or they might want to emulate them and become like them.

The heart is the emotional core of the trio and most likely to be female, but doesn’t have to be. The heart can be a love interest to hero or lancer (or both) and is usually the one most in touch with their emotions. The heart is there to ‘heal’ emotional (or regular) damage to the other characters and often is the most successful in interacting with characters the trio needs to deal with. The heart is also the one who keeps a balance between hero and lancer, keeping them from clashing too much.

Hero, lancer, and heart form a trio which can function very well for a story which demands more than one protagonist.

It can be found in stories like the “Harry Potter” series where Harry is the hero, Ron is the lancer, and Hermione is the heart (at least in the book version, the movies push Hermione in a role akin to the lancer and neglect Ron severely).

In the “Sailor Moon” stories, Sailor Moon is the hero, Sailor Mars is the lancer, and Sailor Venus is the heart (Sailor Mercury is the smart one and Sailor Jupiter is the strong one, both have less ‘screen time’ than the other three).

 

The three parts of the hero team are all separate characters with separate stories. Heart and lancer are characters of their own and have their own goals and plots to follow, even if all of the plots lead to the same climax. They shouldn’t only be seen in their relationship to the hero, although that relationship (and the one between them) is important.

While lancer and heart usually support the hero and the hero’s stakes take precedent over the others, both lancer and heart do have stakes in the situation. They might be lesser stakes, so there might be less urgency to them, but they exist. Lancer and heart are characters in their own right, they aren’t just aspects of the main hero.

To return to the Harry Potter example: Harry needs to defeat Voldemort (highest stake). Ron is seeking to distinguish himself from his older brothers (he wants recognition while Harry often seeks to flee his celebrity status - hence he’s the lancer to Harry’s hero). Hermione wants to prove herself worthy as a witch without magical parents (she also is the one who tries to reconcile Harry and Ron when they argue, which makes her the heart).

 

Hero and lancer often collide - since they’re built to be opposites. Their fights might even break up the team for a while or cause a rift that needs mending (usually by the heart) before the climax. Yet, by that time, the characters should be working together again. Whatever plot hinges on a clash between hero and lancer should be finished by the time the big confrontation begins.

Over the clashing personalities of hero and lancer, the heart is often forgotten. The heart’s position in the group is less obvious and less flashy - mostly emotional damage control and social interactions, sometimes something like healing or buffs for the fighters. That doesn’t mean that the heart can’t or shouldn’t have their own story arc which comes with agency, stakes, and a plot.

 

All of this doesn’t mean that every story needs a heroic trio to function. In a lot of cases, you might also have a single hero or a hero with an assistant-type attached (such as the ‘Watson’ character in crime fiction). If you want a team, though, the trio of hero, lancer, and heart gives you a balanced group that can function in all ways and take care of all situations.

As mentioned in the beginning (and touched upon in the “Sailor Moon” example), the trio can be expanded by the big one (or big guy) and the smart one (or smart guy), but those are minor heroes. The big one is usually the strongest one and can be called in for everything physically challenging (they’re often also friendly or comedic). The smart one is a problem-solver who can be called in for everything that needs brains to be worked out (and can be absent-minded or physically weak).

Of course, larger groups are possible. “Kung Fu Panda” has the Furious Five who don’t include the hero and (in the sequel) an even larger group for the big fight. Yet, in both movies, the real confrontation is only between Po and the enemy, the others are, one way or other, out of action.

The larger the group, the harder it is to juggle, though. The trio is a very good solution because three characters are easy to manage, represent three important factors of the story, and humans also like the number three.

 

If you want a group of heroes for your story, using hero, lancer, and heart works in every genre and give you a lot of possibilities to work with. They balance each other out and work well together. Just don’t forget the lancer and the heart over the hero - all three are characters in their own right and deserve their own arcs, plots, and stakes.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels - Review

I did hesitate to buy “The Wisteria Society for Lady Scoundrels” by India Holton. It was, as a matter of fact, on my Amazon wish list for quite a while. After buying and reading it, I wondered why. The book is wonderfully written and tells a fun story with great characters and many twists. It’s also the beginning of a series (although the next book isn’t out yet) which won’t, it seems, use the same main characters over and over again. There will be many Dangerous Damsels and that means many full stories.

 

The story has a lot of novelty. Set in an alternate Victorian era, it has a lot of interesting female characters - the mentioned lady scoundrels.

Imagine, if you will, a Gothic romance novel in which there are high-born lady pirates flying their houses (no matter the size) on plundering expeditions and into battle (cannons included). Imagine a novel in which the ladies of the society set assassins on each other, but it is considered a reason for being expelled (forcefully and at great height) to endanger civilians, put in the milk before the tea, or steal another lady’s house. Imagine a novel in which the ‘maidenly aunt who raised the orphaned girl’ turns out to be a woman who isn’t sure who the father of her son is because she had at least three illicit affairs at that time (and says ‘if society wanted me to keep books on my lovers, they should have given me a better education’).

The novelty, however, is not the only thing the story relies on. Like in a proper Gothic romance, there are many twists and turns and a large cast to act them out. Apart from the leading lady and her love interest (pirate, spy, and much more…), there’s a lot of lady pirates and other interested parties - including the large crew of the piece’s villain. Many of the characters - all but those who are merely window dressing - have interesting backgrounds and their own agency.

 

The book clearly is a parody of a regular Gothic romance novel (right down to the heroine and the hero love interest sharing a walk in the countryside) and doesn’t try to hide the fact that it is comedic in tone. The usual trappings of a Victorian period piece are there - bustles, corsets, afternoon teas, ladies being snappy towards each other -, yet they are also re-interpreted. The ladies of the Wisteria Society don’t just throw shade at each other - they send each other an assassin. Running in full bustle and corset setup is part of the training of a lady-pirate-in-training. A steel-enforced corset means less risk of a bullet wound (as does carrying “Wuthering Heights” in the vicinity of the chest). None of this is keeping the ladies of the society from their work as pirates - while the men stay home and take care of the children, as they should. This, by the way, is the better fate for lady pirate’s husbands. Some of the ladies have had and ‘misplaced’ several.

The writing in general is very entertaining, combining story beats one would expect from a Gothic novel with the kind of thinking a young lady raised by a (not quite) maidenly aunt might have when suddenly confronted by a good-looking pirate or being frustrated about still being a junior member of the Wisteria Society, despite having passed all tests. Yet, the ladies in this story are not helpless damsels, neither the old nor the young ones. They can hold themselves in a fight and know how to fly a good attack on an abbey, if necessary. The writing itself feels ‘Gothic’ without being hard to read, making the reading easy, fluent, and fun.

The parody beats are easy to see in things like the many identities of the male lead (assassin, pirate, spy, government agent), the absolutely ridiculous reasons of the villain (a poet who is no longer allowed to send his poetry to most publishers), or the idea that the aforementioned abbey was much more modern and much brighter before the villain got his hands on it and had it made more ‘Gothic’ to suit his mood.

 

The book is the first in a series (with the next one being published next year in March), but it is also a finished story. The main characters have their happily ever after in a cosy library (the perfect present for the book-loving heroine, of course), but the setting itself with magical powers to fly houses does, of course, lend itself to more books. I’m looking forward to the next one - in which the hero’s best friend will make another appearance, but the ‘Dangerous Damsel’ will be a new one. The next damsel will, as it were, be a witch - from the opposite of the Wisteria Society. The lady scoundrels use the magic to fly houses, the witches use it to manipulate details and make things go their way.

I’m also definitely going to re-read the story at some point - it was a fun read, despite the book’s length, and I will definitely enjoy it a second time around. I can see this one on my list of books to re-read for comfort, to fill an afternoon or a day when I want to be lazy and relax.

 

“The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels” is not only a book for women who like their heroines active, feminine, and smart. It’s a book for everyone who enjoys Gothic romance novels or just adventure stories with good writing. It a joy to read and entertains with characters, setting, and twists. Give it a try, I’m sure you won’t regret it.