Leaving a Message

Does a story have to have a message? That’s another topic which can get people arguing a lot. Some say that a story is just entertainment (and it certainly should be entertaining, no doubt about that), others say that it needs to say something about life, too. At any rate, every story tells us what the author endorses or not. Or it doesn’t. It depends on whom you ask.

Real life rarely makes sense. It is not supposed to, either. Things happen. Some of them can be influenced by the people they happen to, some can’t. Real life has no structure, it doesn’t go for the big climax in which everything is resolved. It just is.
A written story, even one ‘based on real events,’ on the other hand, has to make sense to people. If we’re reading a newspaper article, we’re not expecting for it to have some kind of closure, some kind of proper ending, we’re not expecting that there will be something deeper to the story. If we’re reading something written as fiction, on the other hand, we expect for it to follow certain rules, to have a plot structure to it, even if it is ‘based on real events.’
An author using real events will still push certain aspects of those events to the forefront, those which the author feels are important to the situation, and they will also omit or play down other aspects of the events, feeling that those are less important to the story. In doing so, they give a sort of meaning to the story they’re telling, they focus the audience on the parts which they find important and direct attention away from the parts which they find unimportant.

There are some stories where the author clearly doesn’t endorse the actions of the main character. Those usually feature what is known as ‘unreliable narrators’ — the character tells us a story, but we’re made aware early on that they might be bending the truth to fit with their narrative and not everything they say can be taken at face value. One of the most well-known cases of this is “Lolita” which, unlike what some people might think, does not at all endorse the grooming of an underaged girl to become an adult man’s lover.
Apart from those stories, though, authors are usually thought to endorse the actions of their main characters. Whatever ‘Team Good’ does is usually considered something the author is okay with, unless there is a negative outcome that is meant as a punishment for the decision. When ‘Team Good’ gets away with burning down the Evil Corp. © headquarters, it is safe to assume that the author thinks they should, despite committing arson.

Likewise, the way a situation plays out, which approaches to solving a problem are rewarded with success or punished with failure, is normally connected to the way the author sees the world. The author’s morals and life philosophy usually have an influence on what kind of solution a main character tries and whether or not a certain type of solution succeeds.
If a character tries a violent approach to a problem, like standing up to a bully and hitting the other character, and is rewarded for it by reaching their goal of being left alone, it can be assumed that the author approves of the approach. If, on the other hand, that same approach only gets the character in question sent to the headmaster and given a lot of detention, it can be assumed that the author thinks it’s the wrong way to solve the bully problem.

Some people might pull the ‘Death of the Author’ card out of their pocket here — that we shouldn’t look at the author, only at the text.
Yet, when it comes to messages delivered by a story, ‘Death of the Author’ isn’t going to make a difference, even if you use the principle the right way, which is rarely done. Even without knowing anything about the author’s life or other books they’ve written or their Twitter account or anything else, the story itself displays its message.
The way a story handles violence, crime, bigotry, and other topics is a message in itself. If the good guys get away with violence, the message is that violence in that situation was the right choice. If the good guys steal from the bad guys and it works out for them in the end, then the message of the story clearly is that stealing from the bad guys was okay in this specific situation.
Note that I’ve said ‘the good guys.’ An author letting a villain get away with something for the time being doesn’t mean that the author endorses that action. The villain is a villain for a reason and is allowed to do bad stuff without immediate punishment. As a matter of fact, many stories depend on the villain doing bad stuff and getting away with it at least for quite a while.
Endorsement is bound to the actions of the main character/hero, not the actions of their antagonist/the villain. People usually don’t assume that the author endorses everything the antagonist does without being punished for it. As an antagonist needs to do bad things so that the protagonist can oppose them, an antagonist getting away with things is a necessity for many types of stories.

To put it all together again: a story is crafted, so every part of it is under the author’s control. This means that everything happening in the story is happening as it does and with the ramifications it has because of the author’s decision. This means that, willing or unwilling, every story an author crafts sends a message about the author’s view of the world, their morals, and their values. That doesn’t mean that every story has to be highly moral or ‘teach the reader a good lesson.’ It means, however, that you as a writer always leave a message for the readers in your stories, no matter whether you want to or not.

Conflict is not Violence

In every discussion about writing topics, there will always be two factions: those who insist a story needs conflict and those who insist that it doesn’t. The problem with this? A wrong understanding of the word ‘conflict’ when it comes to writing. Many of those who insist a story doesn’t need conflict do so because they rightfully think that a story doesn’t need fights and explosions and car chases. They equate ‘conflict’ with ‘violence.’ Yet, that is not the case, at least when it comes to storytelling.

When it comes to storytelling, ‘conflict’ means that there is something opposing the main character’s goals.
That can lead to violence if the story is going in that direction. In an action-based story, people will expect some action and that usually takes the form of fights, car chases, explosions, daring escapes, and suchlike. Those stories usually include violence of some sort — it’s expected by the audience and it’s what the author has to deliver on.
Yet, romance stories, for instance, rarely have outright violence in them (that is, if romance is the main theme, not if a romantic subplot exists in another story). Conflict in a romance story is often delivered in the form of a second suitor or a family who rejects the main character’s choice in love interest or a misunderstanding. Sometimes, it also takes the form of outside obstacles, such as the love interest moving to a different location in a setting where travel is challenging.
‘Conflict’ in a story is the main obstacle between the main character and their goal. It’s something the main character has to move out of the way. That can be done with violence, so the climax of a story can be an epic sword fight between the main character and the villain. That can be done with cunning if the main character gained enough support in the senate to pass a law which makes life better for the regular people. That can be done by convincing the love interest’s parents that the main character is a good person and worthy of the love interest.

Often, deciding on the genre a story should be part of is already deciding on the kind of conflict. In an espionage story, the conflict is usually about the MacGuffin — the object which all sides fight about. In a romance story, the conflict is usually something which keeps the lovers apart. In a detective story, the conflict is the case — will the detective solve it or will the culprit get away?
Once the main conflict is chosen, it gets woven into the plot. The main plot of every story is based on the conflict, on the tries of solving it until the climax in which the main character either succeeds or fails for good. There may be smaller conflicts in the story, too — longer stories usually have quite some different plots with different conflicts —, but the main focus should always be on the main conflict.
The conflict doesn’t have to involve an antagonist or villain, either. A conflict can be with nature, for instance with the main character trying to survive a storm, flood, or earthquake. A conflict can be a simple problem, such as the protagonist not being able to eat their lunch at their regular place because it’s suddenly closed. A conflict can be a misunderstanding, which is a favourite one for romance stories where the main character and their love interest are kept apart by a wrong idea about the other one based on something that was misunderstood by one or both of them.
In all of these examples the conflict is neither violent nor does it involve a human (or monstrous) antagonist. Conflict can arise from other things as well.

There are also many ways to resolve a conflict which do not involve violence at all.
Some conflicts are better resolved through diplomacy — and not just among politicians. The “Brian Helsing” series regularly has Brian resolve a conflict with a supernatural being not by killing them (although that happens sometimes), but by listening to their problems and finding a solution that doesn’t get humans killed or maimed. He suggests that the sea nymphs who eat humans every now and then should try human-made food instead. He listens to the infamous Black Agnes and learns that she actually doesn’t kill children — she takes those mistreated by their parents and raises them as her own. He learns that the only reason why the demons want to conquer earth is because living in Hell is constant torture for them and manages to strike up a deal with the master of the Dreamtime to let them live there (as the Dreamtime is infinite and its master can shape parts of it as they want). All of this happens because Brian doesn’t immediately kill monsters, he listens to their side of things.
Compassion, friendship, communication — all of these things can be used to resolve a conflict. The two lovers who have fallen for a misunderstanding can put things right by talking to each other. The two competitors who both want to get that job might find out that it’s not all that great or that there’s a way to share the position which might be even better. Instead of fighting each other, the enemies find that they want the same thing and can obtain it better by working together. Not every climax, not every resolution for a conflict has to be violent. It depends on the type of story.

Examples for ‘conflict-free’ stories that get named a lot are vignettes and fan-fiction fluff stories. While those work with less conflict, that doesn’t mean that every story works like that.
A vignette is not a full story and not every scene of a story must be conflict-laden to work. On the other hand, even a micro-story must have some kind of stakes, no matter how trivial they might seem.
Fan-fiction is based on character whom the reader is already attached to. Readers of fan-fiction search for stories based on their favourite characters or pairings, so everything involving them might work. A fluff fan-fiction which is just a nice evening for their favourite couple or something similar doesn’t need stakes, it’s a comfort read. Yet, this fluff piece doesn’t need to generate interest in or attachment to the characters involved, as they’re already established.

Again, keep in mind that ‘conflict’ in the context of writing advice doesn’t mean ‘violence.’ There can be violence involved, depending on what kind of story you’re writing, but saying ‘a story needs conflict’ doesn’t mean that the story needs car chases, explosions, and fights to the death. Your main character must face an obstacle and the main plot of the story must revolve around removing or otherwise passing the obstacle. That is what ‘a story needs conflict’ really means.

Review: The Society of Paranormals aka Miss Knight

I’ve had the first book of the “Society of Paranormals” series by Vered Ehsani on my Amazon wish list for a while. After my computer croaked, I bought the book to spend some time with until I got my new one and found myself diving deeper and deeper into the series, reading all ten novels and one novella in about four days. Whenever I started one book, I already bought the next one and never regretted it. The stories pulled me along and I wanted more of them. I still wouldn’t say ‘no’ to book number eleven, to be honest.

My first draw was Miss Knight, the main character of the series. A woman who, despite constantly being addressed as ‘Miss’ Knight, was a widow whose dead husband still was around her as a ghost (and quite often a nuisance). A woman who, due to living in Victorian times, had had to return to the family she’d grown up with and play companion to her cousin and aunt. A woman who, at the same time, was a daring member of the society and had adventures — including the one of settling in Nairobi at the time at which it was barely more than a railway builder’s camp.
Yet, she wasn’t the only interesting character. Vered Ehsani wrote a whole host of deep and interesting characters, both human and less so. There’s the locals Miss Knight meets up with. There’s the not-quite-natural ones. There are outright gods of Africa. All characters change over the course of the novels (the novella is a prequel detailing Miss Knight’s first meeting with Koki the Praying Mantis) and show themselves to be more than they might be at first glace. Not only Miss Knight is growing over time, so are many of the others.

As the series progresses, there are many twists and turns. Koki, for instance, is an enemy Miss Knight fears (due to the situation detailed in the prequel novella) for the first three novels. At the end of the third novel, there is a confrontation which leaves them both unsatisfied, but also alive, which is more than Miss Knight expected.
In the fourth book, after having been forbidden to kill Miss Knight, Koki instead bites off Miss Knight’s left hand — yet in later books, the two begin to work together and they develop a friendship, despite all which happened. Besides — once can argue that it was ‘a hand for a leg,’ as Miss Knight cut off one of Koki’s leg (in Koki’s true form as a gigantic praying mantis) during their first meeting. The local mad doctor and engineer makes a new hand for Miss Knight which, most of the  time, is powered by the spirit of the wolf that is left from a werewolf bite she received as a child, so the loss of one hand isn’t hampering her long-term, quite the opposite. Having a hand made from steel can be quite useful in many adventures.
While the external plot for each book is finished by its end, the internal plots, such as character developments and relationships, span the whole series and grow in a natural-feeling way. Nothing is rushed, nothing seems forced. Relationships shift, people learn to do things in better ways, just as one would expect. Even if it might be obvious that Miss Knight will get into a relationship again, her new relationship (with a man who can see her first husband’s ghost, no less) processes slowly and both she and her new husband grow into it together. Her relationship to other characters shifts as their characters change.

Apart from characters and plots, the setting itself also has a lot going for it. Africa is not a common setting in western stories and Vered Ehsani knows the history of Nairobi as well as she knows the mythology of several different African areas and cultures. Her books offer a great window into a place on earth which is not already known to everyone.
For me, the setting was new and interesting. Victorian-era East Africa is not a common place for stories to be set, even if the Victorian era itself is not uncommon. By keeping the aspects of British culture in the late nineteenth century, but contrasting them with an area of the globe where many traditions and routines from Britain make no sense, the setting for the books is fresh and engaging every time. Miss Knight meets many interesting people with different backgrounds and learns a lot about Africa and its cultures as well. So does the reader.
Every book has a list of facts and fictions at the end — about the aspects of the story which are historical truths and those which are pure fiction. Given the setting many are not familiar with — both in space and in time —, this is a marvellous idea. I personally have learned a lot about Nairobi’s early history, including the local MD doing his rounds on a zebra (not fiction, but fact) from these pages.

I love the series and would have liked to dive deeper into the details, but that would take too long, given the series spans ten novels and one novella. The first novel already shows the strengths of the series, so if you want to look into Miss Knight’s life in Nairobi, read this one and then decide whether you want more (like I did) or not. Perhaps don’t read them all at once as I did — although I don’t regret it —, but give them a chance. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed. I can only recommend the series, as it’s full of interesting characters, good twists and turns, and has a great setting.

One Year of Scrivener

It’s been a little over a year now since I switched from MS Word and Campfire Pro to Scrivener. During this time, I’ve both written and edited in Scrivener (including this blog post and all others since January), so I’ve had ample time to get used to the program and judge how well it serves my needs. It has turned out that it serves my needs very well.

I had originally not switched from my prior setup with MS Word for the actually writing and Campfire Pro for my plotting and my project bibles because of Word. While Word does have a few weaknesses when it comes to long texts (mostly navigation, it handles large amounts of data well), I had been having problems with Campfire Pro which corrupted several of my files, causing me a lot of grief.
Just having bought the whiteboard software Scapple from the same company which does Scrivener, I decided to give the program another look. After a few days of testing, I then bought the licence and began working with it in earnest. I have not regretted it since, despite having to import all of my projects and organise them once more (after my switch from One Note to Campfire Pro a year earlier).
When it comes to possible corruption, I’m rather relaxed when it comes to Scrivener because I have both a backup (I’ve set it to 5 backups to be kept, but more can be set) and a set of files, so that the corruption of one file will not destroy my whole project.

I’ve also grown to love my word processor very much. It’s integrated with my notes, researches, and so on, which means I don’t have to switch programs to look up notes and thus I don’t have an excuse for long internet browsing while I should be writing.
I’ve pared it down to writing every scene as one file in the processor, as I have access to all files at all times. It’s much better than having one huge file which is hard to navigate (as it was with Word), yet easier than doing the same in Word, as I don’t have to keep several windows open at once.
Thanks to the binder setup of Scrivener, I can access all of my chapters and scenes easily and I can later on create my one file (usually as an .epub file) easily, too (took a while to get that compilation tool to behave, though). Being able to put out my story in different formats if I wish to is also a big advantage of Scrivener — it is much easier to format for publication in .epub or .pdf format than in Word which will have its formatting overwritten to a degree by Amazon and D2D.

Writing in the program is easy and quick, the word processor has everything I need, is easy to handle, and gives me no troubles even on the most busy writing days.
I can keep my plotting in the synopsis of the scene file and always know what the scene is supposed to be about so I can write what I’ve planned without switching between files or even, as before, between programs. Due to the synopsis, I can read a rough version of my story before it is even written, can judge whether I need to exchange two scenes, perhaps, or add another one to make it work better.
Even if I decide about it later, though, the structure of the binder which includes all of the files makes it easy to shift scenes between chapters or parts of the book right up to the moment of compilation.

Another thing I love about the program is that I can set a minimum length for a project in words and then see how far along I am by a discreet line of blue at the bottom of the space with the file name in it.
As the line creeps from left to right, becoming more and more visible, my project grows as well and nears completion. I like that for motivation, but I don’t have to do it. In the same space, I can also see how many words there are in the project (it’s Manuscript folder, that is) and how many words I have written that day within the project’s Manuscript folder and thus within my story.
I’ve always followed my word count per day and I still set myself a monthly count I want to reach (50,000 on regular months and 25,000 on release months). Having an easy way of seeing how much I’ve written on a day is very welcome, indeed.

I also really appreciate being able to put all my stuff in the same place. Not only can I keep my project bible (all notes, resources, character sheets, even downloaded websites) in the same place as my actual writing, I can also keep all books in a series in the same project.
This will make things easier for me when I’m finally ready to release book collections with two or three books of my series in one offer. As I hope to be able to start with that this or next year, I’m glad I have all my data where I need it now. Eventually, I also hope to re-format all of my books and put them up again in a better format than before.

For me, Scrivener has proven to be a good solution for all my writing needs. I can get my writing done, I can do my editing, I can keep all my additional information, all in one place. From the plotting through to the release, I have no need of other software any longer, which is great for me. Yet, it might not be the solution for everyone — people demand different things from their tools and Scrivener might be missing something you need. Yet, given the relatively low price and the great trial method (the trial version only counts days on which it is used for the 30-day trial period), I would suggest looking into it to all people who regularly work with big amounts of words, be it in fiction or in non-fiction.

Using Past Times

There are reasons why the surprise hit “Stranger Things” became so popular. Nostalgia for the ‘good old times’ of the 1980s certainly is one of those reasons. Another, however, is that the 1970s and 1980s are a very good time to set a horror story featuring teens or children in. This time balances out the access to certain technology (such as older teens’ access to cars) with the non-existence of other technology (such as smartphones or GPS systems). “Stranger Things” does hit the nostalgia nerve pretty hard and in all the right places, but it also profits from the setting when it comes to the story. Sometimes, a story is better told in another time than the present and “Stranger Things” is one of those cases.

Technology does play a role, for one thing. There is a careful balance between what you can do in what amount of time and it changes with the eras. In horror movies, it is much easier to work with a setting in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s.
There is mobility (cars became more affordable for younger people), so your group of teenagers or young adults who are going to get into the slasher’s territory can travel alone and independently, instead of taking a bus, train, or plane.
At the same time, there is no easy contact with the rest of the world. Cell phones didn’t become a thing for the masses until well into the 1990s. Modern smartphones are even newer than that. Calling for help when you’re far from a town or village was much harder in the past, getting lost was much more likely (no GPS-based navigation tools). The good old ‘car broke down, so we have to stay in this weird old house far from everywhere for the night’ spiel worked up to the late 1990s, but not later.

Another way to limit your character’s options — and limits create conflict, which is good for the story — is to have them live in a time in which society limits them severely.
Women have been limited in their participation in society for a long time and still are, PoC still are severely limited in a lot of ways, too. The poor always have less influence than the rich, but it was more obvious in the past. If your main character has a suitable background, going back in time can definitely limit their options and make things more challenging for them.
In any setting where a certain group of people is cut off from social influence, where PoC and women can’t vote or be voted for, for instance, where people are under other people’s control, a character from the controlled group can be very interesting to use. Be careful, though, about how you portray the limitations they face and avoid bigotry for bigotry’s sake.

Another reason to set your story in a specific time that is not the present can be that you want to incorporate real-life characters or events.
For instance, I’m currently playing with the idea of writing a story which centres around finding and catching Spring-Heeled Jack. As Spring-Heeled Jack was around in the middle of the nineteenth century in England, this is where I will have to set my story, too.
Whenever you want to stay true to the story (I will be taking liberties myself, as I’ll have supernatural hunters), you need to spend a lot of time researching the events and characters you wish to use, though, so you can stay true to everything. The more you move from reality into the fantastic, the less you need to stay close to the facts — yet, knowing some basics about life at that time definitely can’t hurt. It will help the audience to immerse themselves in the setting, if nothing else.

What other reasons could you have to move your story from the present into some past eras (or the future, but that is a different topic, as you will have to create your own setting then)?
Sometimes, you try to plot a story and things don’t come together. You can’t get your characters as isolated as you want them, it would be too easy for the main character to gain obscure information, the world is just too small these days. When you run into those problems, another era might offer you some help.
As mentioned, the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s are much more suitable when you need to isolate your characters in some way, as with a horror story. Travel wasn’t too hard then, but flying wasn’t as common as it is these days and so people would drive for long stretches in their cars. A car breaks down, there’s a weird house, so cue the “Scooby Doo” theme music and start the horror movie.
Before the internet, gathering information was a lot harder, as you had to gain access to books or magazines with the information you were looking for. Anything set before the late 1990s will suffice there as well — before that, the internet was already in existence, but not widely accessible, so finding an access point would have been about as challenging as finding a book on an obscure topic.
When it comes to a decent travel story, looking back will also be helpful. These days, most places on earth are easy enough to reach, given that there’s a lot of plane travel around. What has taken people days or even months in the past takes hours up to a day or two today. A story like “Around the World in 80 Days” would no longer be that interesting today — it wouldn’t take 80 days to get around the world once.

There are many reasons for changing the time in which your story is set. Sometimes, it is necessary for the plot, for settling the characters in a situation which challenges them, or for the actual topic of the story. In other cases, it might simply provide a nice backdrop for the reader. Keep in mind to do research for an era you want to set your story in, though, so at least the basics are correct, even if you take some liberties with the details. While there’s no time like the present, setting a story in a past era can definitely make it better.