Something for fun

I've been on vacation, so here's a little something for fun. I'll get back to fantasy writing next week! Enjoy!! http://members.ozemail.com.au/~imcfadyen/fantasy.html

Great conference - new opportunities

Wow ~ I got back from the Greater Philadelphia Christian Writer's Conference on Saturday night. It was an amazing conference! I met several fellow fantasy writers, who I hope will join us here on Fairies, Fantasy and Faith. The faculty was great and everyone I talked to learned a lot and felt encouraged.

My 16-year-old daughter, Mary, went with me. Dr. Ted Baehr (Movieguide.org) taught a three-day screen writing class and she attended that. She learned so much more about the industry that she ever dreamed and has the opportunity to go out to CA next summer as an intern! We will be getting all the details before we make the decision to send her all the way across the country.

Jeff Gerke from Marcher Lord Press was there. He was great fun and his continuing workshop was amazing. I talked with him about Fairyeater and he was encouraging and showed me some places I needed to work on. That's always a good thing.

I also have the opportunity to send a proposal to an agent and another publishing house, so I'll be working away over the next few weeks to whip everything in shape before I send it all out. Of course, I want to send it NOW!! But that would not be wise, so I'll do what I have to do and be patient. It's all in God's timing anyway, so what do I have to worry about?

Next Monday, I'll be leaving for vacation, so I will not be posting again for 2 weeks. But when I get back, I want to start really looking into the various parts of fantasy writing and the Hero's Journey and character development. I'm hoping we'll get some really good discussion going.

Happy writing!
pam <><

Writer's Conferences

I finished with summer theatre last week and am now turning my attention to the Greater Phila. Christian Writer's Conference, which is next week (see www.writehisanswer.com/philadelphia). I'm teaching the First Timer's Orientation with my friend, novelist Joyce Magnin, and one of the workshops for the Teens Write Track.

Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot in Christian conferences for fantasy writers . . . but Jeff Gerke from Marcher Lord Press is going to be there and I'm totally jazzed about that. And I've heard a rumor that there will be a continuing track on fantasy and sci-fi writing at Mt. Hermon next year.

We fantasy writers MUST hang in there!

Janet mentioned she was coming to the Philly conference. Any other Fairies, Fantasy and Faith bloggees coming to the conference?

What other conferences are friendly to fantasy writers? Let's share information ~ maybe we can help each other get published. :)

Ideas

Let's talk about ideas this week. Where do you get your ideas? Do pictures help or do ideas simply spring out of nowhere? I'll chime in later. Right now, I'm off to dress rehearsal for our local summer theatre children's show. I'm the music director and we're doing Alice Through the Looking Glass. Talk about a fantasy. HA!!

Secondary Characters

Every hero needs a side kick and friends. This week, let’s talk about secondary characters. What do your secondary characters need? How important are they to the story? How do you keep them from taking over? Do you like them more than the main character?

I have several secondary characters in my WIP that are important to the story line. I am the parent of a daughter who has autism and seizures. Because I deal with special needs on a daily basis, I’ve found that I always include a character with some kind of handicap. My other daughter reads my chapters and she’s grown to love the faun, who is friends with the heroine. The faun (his name is Anon) has Down’s – but, of course, I don’t call it that. Anon is “touched.” He adds a different dynamic to the story, even though he is quite secondary. And if not for him, the heroine would not be able to complete her task, although we don’t know that until almost the end.

Let’s talk about secondary characters.

Creating the Main Character

Okay, we’ve talked about God and villains. Now, let’s turn our attention to the main character – or protagonist.

What makes a good hero/heroine? They need to be someone the reader can sympathize or care about right away. How can you create interest right away? My friend, Joyce Magnin, says to put your hero up a tree and throw rocks at him.

What kind of characteristics should a protagonist have? A hidden magic ability? A gift already known? Luke Skywalker had the force. Wil Ohmsford from The Elfstones of Shannara had enough elven blood to bring the Elfstones to life. Frodo only had his hobbit sense. My heroine, Akeela, has something I call spirit-sight; she can see auras around living things.

My mentor has a list of questions she uses when beginning a new story. It has helped me develop and know my characters better. When you know your characters well, they become real. And when they become real to you, they’ll be real to the reader. When they are real to the reader, the reader will care about them. That keeps pages turning.

Your main character had needs. In the beginning of the story, what is the obvious need? Something the reader can identify right away. When you establish this, you create sympathy and the reader will want to see what happens next. You’ve hooked them. This is true no matter what genre you write.

But there also needs to be a hidden need, which the protagonist will realize by the end of the book. The reader should not know this right away.

To recap: how do we create a hero/heroine the reader will care about from the very beginning who is interesting, real and not stereotyped?

The Dark Side

We had great discussion last week about including God in our fantasy writings. Now, let’s go to the dark side and talk about villains.

All stories need a strong antagonist – one the protagonist must prevail against. And it can’t be easy. It’s even been said the villain should be stronger than the hero. Or seem to be.

What makes a good dark foe? What characteristics should you give him or her? What makes your antagonist different from all others out there?

Sauron, Darth Vader, Maleficent. Just three examples of fantasy, sci-fi and animated villains. One was redeemed. Two fell to their tragic deaths.

As Christian fantasy writers, how do we handle evil characters? How evil can we go? Can we make our dark characters likeable? Should we?

Lots to talk about this week. Spread the news! Let’s get more people on board for this potentially rousing discussion.


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