My English teacher talked with our class about this.
She summed it up so easily you’d all seem like idiot.
I wrote this around the bases of what she said!
I was responding to a girl’s journal...but it turned into a rant. Figured I'd post it for yalls.
Usually when I have writers block I just go out and hang with some friends, spending a week or two away from the keyboard. Really, it helps. It makes it easier to create relatable characters and experiences. To add twists to your plot you can throw in old tales, religion, and history. School is the best place to get material, because you are around dialog all day and different personalities. Teachers are like narrators and you get new ways to portray your voice all the time. Friends are the building blocks of characters, personality brings out a smooth flow, and a personal touch makes the story extra sweet.
If you are looking for writing ideas just stare at an old book for an hour. Eventually you'll hear something you've never before heard and look it up. That's how I found out about Incubuses. When I looked it up I was able to tie the creature in with tantra, then with vampires, and the plot to the story thickened till it was 300 pages long. If you look at something religious you'll see a lot of flood stories, then you can tie that in with ocean creatures, than with mythological things like Kelpies and the Marrow. That could easily create a story.
I like romance too, like Twilightaholic (pathetic name, honestly), but you have to have something supporting it. Twilight for example had the hunters, the werewolves, and those creepy ass old paper vampires. There has to be an adventure behind it, something that makes me feel like I'm on a rollercoaster ride. There has to be a hero, and for there to be a hero their needs to be a list of others things;
1: A call that brings the character into action, leading him/her to the adventure. The hero has the desire to change his/her life for the better, taking risks knowing it is for a better cause. He/she doesn’t like that life is the way it is and takes the means to change it.
One thingh I hate about Mary Sue stories is that they start out with the call…bluk! That doesn’t make sense, really. I don’t know about the character at all, but suddenly I read that they have these unbelieveble skills that the story had never mentioned before. You can’t start out the first chaper with, He/she couldn’t take it anymore. It wasn’t what he/she wanted. This place was cruel and terrible, but (insert name) knew they were the ones responsible over weather or not these people would change.
No one starts out as the hero. It takes time and suffering. Show that through your first four chapters or so. Make it knowledgable that your character is not happy.
2: The journey itself where the character travels out of his/her comfort zone and into a dangerous situation, experiencing new, exotics worlds unknown to him/her. Sometimes, usually, near-death experiences occur. Heroes are tested and survive, but not without wounds. The character isn’t perfect. You have to show something through him/her to make him/she seem human. They could be ugly or snobbish or jealous or even evil at it’s finest. They won’t remain that way forever, but in the beginning no one is a hero.
3: There needs to be 'The Other'. Something like a double or alter ego, for example for light there is dark. The hero is light, while the villain is dark. Catch my drift? They can not exist without one another, complete opposites, and one must be eliminated for the better. Coming to terms with their other the hero must come face to face, accept that they see them as their mirror image, and accept their total self. In order to destroy 'the other' they must understand that what they are is the light in comparison to darkness. Example; Edward (Easy to explain) in Twilight to the Hunter James. Edward was a vampire, but he didn't drink blood. James was a vampire, but he drank blood. See, Edward good, (Still a fag) James bad.
4: Helpers and guides are prominent in all stories. The journey is always difficult, but help is always available if you ASK FOR IT! Really people, heroes get assistants too. They may come as new found friends, older people (Mentors if you will), and mothers and fathers. They often have the power to 'unlock' the hero as a human being, make them less divine. They help the reader understand that the hero is human. Example, Edward and his foster-father (now I'm really getting pissed off about Twilight, but, really, who hasn't read it?). Helpers need to be introduced within the first few chapters of a story, not randomly popping out of the seams.
There was this one thing I read once by a friend. Suddenly this girl just pops into the story and grabs th leading man to kiss him. I was like, “What the fuck?” when she had him say, Oh my gosh, Alisia! You’re alive!
…who’s Alisia and when was she in an acident? Just don’t do that.
5: There had to be a treasure of some kind, a golden fleece if you will or the holy grail. Basically think of it as the object of the hero's desires. But, in truth, the treasure is not an object, but it is intangible; knowledge, self-awareness, inner peace, spiritual enlightenment, and have what at you. It represents a fresh start and the hero is willing to take risks and the journey to attain the treasure. (I hate myself) For example, Edward attaining Bella's love and not believing he is some monster.
What’s the point of an adventure? You are always looking for something, so life is an adventure. You could be looking for happiness, family, companionship, money, glory, fame, love, property, misc…and so on and so forth.
6: The hero must transform in some way, becoming better than his old self. They must loose themselves in order to find themselves (Confusing but true). In death there is the seed of life, from going through this they learn of their true self, their mature self. Through their journey they must shed their old ways and acquire new ones in order to survive. It may not always be for the better.
Think of Scroog or what ever his name is! The hum bug man. He was mean, than he was nice. Transfermation of the hero of the story. The point is simple.
7: (Finally) Then there is the return. The hero has their treasure; they just have to return home with it. The hero is not the same as he/she was prior to the adventure thanks to the change. Old friends and parents may have difficulty understanding you when you return, or they may possibly like you better. The Hero has a new-world view. He/she does not see their home as the same place it had one been and often leave for better and bigger places. They do not see people the same. A spouse may turn to a friend when the hero returns, a parent into an enemy. It often sparks a change in the person’s social, spiritual, and material lives. They have been changed psychologically and physically, brought to a higher state of mind. Example, (Grrr…) Edward marries Bella, has a child, and lives his life without thinking of it as negatively as before. (And I want him dead.)
If you read Lord of the Rings you’d get this. When they go back, their home isn’t what it had once seemed.
In a book I read, I want the main character to hunger for renewal or change or whatever it is he/she wants. They need faith in the possibility, yah know, like Emily Dickinson wrote? “I dwell in the possibility.” The character has to want something, and it can’t just be to sleep with Joe Jonas (Gage).
Love yah, Tampon of Glory…or Virgin Queen. Who knows who I am? Who cares?
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