Sample Sunday: Part of Chapter 30 from The Elysian Chronicles: A Prophecy Forgotten

Posted on October 7, 2012 by M. B. Weston

It turns out that several authors post samples of their books on Sunday. (It’s called #samplesunday in the twitter-verse.) I’ve decided to join in!

My first sample comes from Chapter 30 in my first published book, The Elysian Chronicles: A Prophecy Forgotten.

Because this is fantasy, I needed to create names, creatures, weapons, and military divisions. Here are a few terms specific to the Elysian Chronicles:

  • canaf: (kǝ•năf′) n. Secret cherubian passageway carved into tree trunks, earth, or stone. Most canafs lead out of the City of Ezzer, but several canafs are located throughout Elysian territory in Heaven’s Realm.
  • cherubian: (chĕr•ū′•bē•ǝn) 1. n. Creature with the body of a human and wings of a falcon. Cherubians are known to humans as angels. 2. adj. of cherubian make. (Click here for more information on cherubians.)
  • Davian: (dā′•vē•ǝn) RSO Major and cherubian Medal of Courage and Valor winner. Elysia’s top warrior, sent to guard a child who is prophesied to save Earth and Heaven’s Realm.
  • horde: (hôrd) n. Elysian military numerical unit referring to 100 Morvenian soldiers.
  • Marcus: (măr′•kǝs) Lieutenant RSO in Davian’s unit, known for being the tallest cherubian ever to make RSO.
  • mornacht: (mōr′•nŏkt) n. Decrepit monster with leathery skin, a pair of withered stumps on its back that were once wings, and a foul smell akin to that of sulfur. Mornachts are cherubian’s enemies. (Click here for more information on mornachts.)
  • poisonwood: (poi′•zǝn•wŭd) 1. n. Wood derived from a poisonwood tree, located in Morvenia. 2. n. Slang for a Morvenian poisonwood arrow. 3. adj. Anything made of poisonwood.
  • Reconnaissance Sabotage Order: (rĭ•kŏn′•ǝ•zǝns săb′•ō•täj ôr′•dǝr) n. Special operations division of the Elysian military. Also referred to as the Bronze, in reference to their bronze armor. (Click here for more information on the Elysian military and RSO’s.)
  • RSO: (är ĕs ō) n. Acronym for Reconnaissance Sabotage Order.
  • Saber: (sā′•bǝr) n. A saber-toothed tiger, thought to be extinct on Earth but alive and well in Heaven’s Realm. (Click here for more information on sabers and other creatures in Heaven’s Realm.)
  • scab: (skăb) n. Derogatory cherubian nickname for mornachts.
  • Theo: (thē′•ō) RSO soldier and Marcus’s nephew.
  • Tyce: (tēs) RSO soldier and Marcus’s nephew.

(If you have been keeping up with my blog posts on writing and Making Make-Believe Believable, the “bottle bomb” that Davian makes is reminiscent of a Molotov cocktail, and is an illustration of using a hybrid of modern technology and fantasy/science fiction technology to surround your unbelievable story elements with the believable (click here for the post). For the full list of posts in these series, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.”)

*****

The Elysian Chronicles: A Prophecy Forgotten

Chapter Thirty: The Third Battle for the City of Ezzer

Davian crouched on a branch that hung over the city’s southern wall and seized a brief opportunity to take off his helmet and wipe his head. He had taken Marcus, Tyce, and Theo outside the city to plant explosives, and then planted all the RSOs in the trees around the southern wall. Davian replaced his helmet and stared at the army through his spyglass. Mornachts, wolves, and sabers filled the southern fields.

“I’d say that’s more than five-hundred hordes,” he said to Marcus.

“Those fields are going to smell for weeks,” Marcus replied.

Davian turned to Theo. “Got any explosive-tipped arrows?”

Theo checked his supply and smiled. “At least twenty-five, sir.”

Davian peeked at Theo’s ammunition supply and sighed with relief. No poisonwood arrows. “They’ve brought sabers, boy, and sabers can climb trees. If these walls don’t hold, the kitties will ravage the city. Save your explosive tipped arrows for the sabers.”

“Yes, sir.”

Davian watched the command bunker until Zephor gave him the signal. “Now,” he said to Theo, and he aimed his crossbow at the young archer in case Theo decided to shirk orders.

Theo proved trustworthy. All but two of the bombs detonated and killed most of the mornachts on the front line. Their bodies exploded just as the secondary lines rushed forward. The tally? Theo’s shots eliminated over five hordes.

And thus began the Third Battle for the City of Ezzer.

The RSOs in the trees killed most of the mornachts that tried to climb the wall with crossbows and sunstars while the archers eliminated commanders and generals on the ground. Davian looked across the Morvenian camp and saw what looked like a long line of lit torches.

“They’ve got fire!” he yelled, an instant before ducking behind a branch just as hundreds of flaming arrows soared over the wall and into the trees.

The fighting continued amidst the flames and smoke until Davian stopped and sniffed. “Marcus!” He gave him an exaggerated sniff.

Marcus gave Davian a confused look and shrugged. “Sir, that’s the sewage plant—and the mornachts out there—and the fire you smell.”

“No, Marcus. They’re here. I don’t know how, but they’ve breached the wall, and they’re inside.”

Suddenly, they heard a yell in a tree—but not a tree on the southern lines. It came from the homes and shops where many of the civilians were hiding. More followed.

Davian grabbed Marcus, and pointed to the shadows that moved in the branches from tree to tree, into and out of homes. “I’ll bet you anything that they’re coming through one of the canafs!” He whistled to the RSOs in the trees and signaled to them to join him. “What was I thinking? They didn’t sabotage the sewage system to keep us from smelling the oncoming army. They sabotaged it to keep us from smelling the scabs once they entered the city!”

Tyce, Theo, and twenty other RSOs joined Davian and Marcus. “Infiltrators!” Davian yelled over the noise. “Inside the walls!” He pointed to the moving shadows in the trees. “Archers, get high: there, and there! The rest of you, we take cover in the trees and take them out. Don’t let them reach the soldiers at the wall! Go! Go!”

The RSOs flew high and melted into the trees. Soon, the screams of civilians were mixed with the shrieks and explosions of mornachts.

Davian and Marcus chased a mornacht into a house. “How many do you think are here, sir?” Marcus yelled as he jumped on one before it could stab a young cherubian girl. Marcus twisted its neck and threw it aside.

“Don’t know.” Davian glanced out a window and shot a mornacht that was climbing the tree trunk. “At least a horde! Probably more!”

He saw another large group of mornachts sneaking up on a shelter in a nearby tree. He grabbed a bottle off of a shelf, jumped on top of the dead mornacht, and cut its throat.

“Ten are sneaking toward another shelter, Marcus!” he said as he filled the bottle with the mornacht’s blood. “Wait for my signal!”

He looked at the mornacht on the floor. Hot steam began to seep out its nose.

“Not yet.”

Steam started spewing out of its armor like a mad teakettle.

“Almost.”

A spark flew off its body.

“Now!” Davian threw the bottle at the sneaking mornachts, and it exploded just before he and Marcus jumped in to finish the job.

Davian felt a sharp pain in his left arm, as though someone had injected him with acid. A poisonwood arrow had grazed him…

Continued in The Elysian Chronicles: A Prophecy Forgotten.

For 10 sample chapters of A Prophecy Forgotten, click here.

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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Today’s Writing Muse: Dangerous Trees

Posted on October 6, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Writing Nirvana: discovering one “story fix” that solves more than one problem. For instance, the tree trunk above can help with two writing issues all of us deal with:

  • Making our character’s journey to solving a problem more difficult that it already it. (You can always make it worse for your characters, and you should.)
  • Bringing our story’s world to life through setting.

Imagine your character needs to climb a tree in order to reach her goal, be it safety, buried treasure, or a clue to the mystery she is trying to solve. Your character climbs the tree, reaches her goal, and goes on to the next scene. Pretty boring, huh? Even if you add dialogue or a little bit of a slip that requires her to use her strength to pull herself up, you can increase the intensity of the scene without adding a sniper, bomb, or other outside force.

Just have her climb one of these trees. 🙂

In doing so, you will have increased the risk of climbing the tree, which will create emotional angst and possible physical issues. You might even encourage your character to find some new friends who can help or seek out an alternative. You also will have included something special into your story, which will make your world seem more real and more physical.

A simple change from a regular tree to a spiny tree can change your whole story. Look through your writing and see if you can raise the stakes for your characters by heightening the danger with the forces of nature.

If you need a muse to get a story going, take a look at the trunk and ask yourself a few questions:

  • Why does my character need to climb this tree?
  • What if, instead of a character climbing the tree, the tree falls?
  • What kind of person would climb this tree to begin with?

There’s your inspiration! Go!

Related articles

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable: Using Hybrid Magic & Technology

Posted on October 5, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Making Make-Believe Believable: Surround the unbelievable with the believable by creating technology, weapons, and magic that is a hybrid of something already familiar to the reader.

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.”

For the next week or so, we will be concentrating on the first technique for helping your reader suspend disbelief: Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable. Here are a few examples of methods we can use:

Today, we will focus on the hybrid example.

One of my favorite parts of George Lucas’s Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back occurs when Han Solo is trying to fix the Millennium Falcon’s hyper drive. (For the muggles: a hyper drive helps a spaceship ship travel at light speed). We see a tool box and a bit of Han’s arm as he is working on the hyperdrive in the belly of the ship. He ends up asking Chewbacca for the hydrospanners. Chewbacca brings Han something that looks like a tool. We assume it is the desired hydrospanner and continue watching the movie.

Lucas created a science fiction tool that was effectively a hybrid of a regular tool. (For you Americans, a spanner is actually the British term for a wrench.) We’ve heard of a spanner, and we can assume what hydro might imply. We buy into hydrospanners because they are similar to things we already know.

Imagine instead if Chewbacca had brought Han a huge contraption that had a robotic arm and a blow torch instead of an item that looked like it belonged in a toolbox. The audience would have trouble imagining Han trying to fix anything with it. It would feel unbelievable and out of place. It would make us wonder if Lucas was trying too hard.

If you are creating your own fantasy, science fiction, or steampunk world, you will need to make your own tools, weapons, and technology. Keep your audience grounded in your world by creating technology based on things they already know. Here are a few more examples:

James Cameron’s Avatar: Those of you who have spent time scuba diving on coral reefs probably recognized a few of the interesting life forms on Pandora. Here are a few things I recognized that reminded me of things I had encountered when scuba diving:

  • ·         The phospholuminescence on the animals
  • ·         The plant life that pulled away so fast when you touched it that it looked like it disappeared.
  • ·         Many of the plants in general

The Elysian Chronicles: A Prophecy Forgotten by M. B. Weston. (I figure I may as well include some of my own work in here.) I needed to create many fantasy weapons in my Elysian Chronicles series. I could have created off-the-wall weapons that no one had ever heard of, or I could use real weapons as prototypes. I chose to model my weapons off real weapons, partially because I wanted the reader to relate to them:

  • Blinders: I needed something that would help my angel creatures (called cherubians) escape from the enemy in the middle of the woods during battle. I developed blinders: a weapon similar to a flash bang. They exploded with blinding light and erupted in a mushroom cloud of smoke that my characters could fly into and use for escape. Readers understand flash-bangs and mushroom clouds.
  • Arrows and sunstars: My characters use arrows and throwing stars—very believable items. My arrows and throwing stars, however, use crystal tips that send out light pulses that kill tissue. Arrows and throwing stars are believable. The concept of light energy and crystals might not be entirely believable to everyone, but it is a familiar concept. I surrounded the tissue-killing light pulses

 “The Survivor” by M. B. Weston, a short story to be featured in the Dreams of Steam 3 steampunk anthology: I figure I should throw in a little bit of steampunk into this. For those of you unfamiliar with the steampunk genre, think of science fiction that takes place within the Victorian era and uses materials and technology that are mostly available at the time. For instance, you won’t find many nuclear bombs in steampunk, but you will find steam-powered dirigibles. In my short story, “The Survivor,” my character, Angelica Blackmore, needed a compass. I had to design one for her that could a) look like something a woman in the 1890’s would wear, b) work within the technological constraints of the time, c) be secret, and d) be readily available to her in a situation where she lost her luggage. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that women back then would wear timepieces around their necks, similar to how they might wear a necklace. Watches are round. Compasses are round. I put the compass on the back of the watch and enclosed it with a silver case. Both items are familiar to the audience. Combining them together is something they would find believable, even if such items weren’t for sale during the Victorian era.

What to take from this: Creating magic and technology that is a hybrid of something already familiar to the audience will help surround your unbelievable elements with the believable.

Mainstream Writers: You have all the elements of current technology available at your disposal. Be creative when using them. If you have a character who is a genius inventor, you, too, will need to make sure the unknown technology is similar to that which is known.

Speculative Writers: Don’t think you need to recreate the wheel when you are trying to create magic and technology. Use the hybrid method. It will feel more believable to your audience and save you some time.

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable Using Social Norms

Posted on October 4, 2012 by M. B. Weston

 

Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable Using Social Norms

Making Make-Believe Believable: Your setting may take place on another planet; your characters may be fighting a race of alien wizards; but you can surround the unbelievable with the believable by making your characters react the way normal people react. (Note: this is actually called “good writing.”)

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.”

For the next week or so, we will be concentrating on the first technique for helping your reader suspend disbelief: Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable. Here are a few examples of methods we can use:

Today, we will focus on the social norm example.

When I was in high school, I had the opportunity to take several mission trips to the Dominican Republic and Ecuador with my church youth group. We did not visit the resort areas of these nations. We visited the poverty-stricken areas where we helped build churches and eye clinics and worked with the children. Visiting a third world nation, especially as an American high school student, was like visiting a world that very well could have been a fantasy world. No one spoke our language. Garbage lined the streets. Malnourished two-year-olds ran about with bowlegs and dysentery. All the buildings were unfinished. I believe a few times, one of us said, “We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

One thing I noticed, however, that all of the teenagers in my youth group still acted like teenagers. We teased each other and played sports. Teenage drama often erupted. Boys flirted with girls and vice versa. We were in a foreign setting, but we still behaved like normal humans.

You characters should behave like normal humans, and using social norms and social settings that your readers are familiar with will help surround the unbelievable with the believable.

Let’s look at two examples from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by JK Rowling:

  • The Great Hall at Hogwarts: The Hogwarts Great hall has an enchanted ceiling, a gothic interior, and food that appears magically. Sounds pretty unbelievable, doesn’t it? However, the Great Hall, is just a normal school cafeteria with fantasy window dressing. Students sit around tables chatting with each other and sometimes fighting with each other—or just ignoring each other. The Great Hall feels familiar because it falls within social norms that many of us are used to. If you went to school, you ate in a cafeteria. You know what it’s like to try to grab a seat with your friends. You’ve experienced the feeling of nervousness on your first day of school when you don’t know where to sit or who to sit with. You understand what it’s like to see your worst enemy a few tables away. A cafeteria feels normal, it’s socially believable, and it’s something that we can relate to. The unbelievable parts of Hogwarts are surrounded by the social norm of a school cafeteria—even with Dumbledore presiding as headmaster.
  • The Teenage Angst at Hogwarts: The Hogwarts students get to practice magic and fly on brooms, but take all that away, and they are regular teenagers. They experience teenage problems and drama. Bullies roam the halls. Yes, Harry saving the world from Voldemort’s return is the main storyline, and yes, it is quite unbelievable. However, Rowling adds in believable conflict that normal teenagers experience.

A few things to consider:

  • Use mainstream sub-conflicts: Consider using real world sub-conflicts as a means of surrounding the unbelievable with the believable. Two men in an argument over a woman is a conflict that transcends genres.
  • Make your humans behave like humans: This means you need to study human behavior, but we’ll cover this later.
  • Remember that food and eating are keys to human survival and bonding: Some of your greatest character development scenes might take place over a meal.
  • War-torn environments and other difficult situations may cause your characters to behave differently than what most Americans believe is normal. Don’t change anything, but make sure to explain your character’s behavior. No one questions why Katniss Everdeen of Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games behaves the way she does. She has endured trauma that most of us could not imagine, and if she acted like a child from the twenty-first century, we wouldn’t buy into her.

What to take from this: If your reader feels as though your characters aren’t behaving the way humans behave, he might stop reading. Surrounding your unbelievable elements within a believable social network will help the reader continue suspending disbelief.

Mainstream Writers: Hopefully, this will seem like second nature to you. However, if your story feels flat, you might need to create some sub-conflicts and make sure your characters are behaving in a believable manner. Also, you may have a character that comes from a different environment than the rest of your characters. Make sure to explain to the reader why his or her behavior is different.

Speculative Writers: Remember that no matter what unbelievable setting your characters find themselves in, you can surround the unbelievable with the believable by putting your characters in situations we might consider normal and by making sure your characters show similar behavior patterns to the mainstream world. The exception occurs when your character is in or has come from a vastly different environment.

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

 

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Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable: The Transformation Example

Posted on October 3, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Making Make-Believe Believable: Surround the unbelievable with the believable by transforming believable items into items that are unbelievable.

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.”

For the next week or so, we will be concentrating on the first technique for helping your reader suspend disbelief: Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable. Here are a few examples of methods we can use:

  • The Details Example (click here for the blog post)
  • The Transformation Example
  • The Social Norm Example
  • The Hybrid Example
  • The Archetype Example

Today, we will focus on the transformation example.

My high school friend, Dean, owned a 1976 Toyota Celica. Bear in mind that my high school pulled from the wealthiest neighborhoods in Naples. Many of the students in the school drove Porsches and other such cars. A 1976 Celica may not have seemed exciting, but that was before Dean got hold of it. He painted it teal (a popular car color at the time). He also added a few James Bond-esque touches. If you happened to be sitting behind Dean at a stoplight, you might get sprayed with water or smoke, and he even stored a tiny jar of Grey Poupon in the dashboard in case anyone might ask for it. (If you watched commercials during the early 90’s, you know why that’s awesome!) Dean may not have driven a Porsche, but he had the coolest car ever. All he needed to so was transforme a believable Celica into something unbelievable.

You might find it easier to transform items that are believable into items that are unbelievable than to throw unknown items at your reader. Here are a few examples:

  • The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien. I love the scene in The Hobbit where Thorin and Gandalf are smoking pipes in Bilbo’s dining room and blowing smoke rings—perfectly believable things. We understand smoke rings; we know what they are. Gandalf’s smoke rings, however, change colors and move in between Thorin’s smoke rings. Tolkien surrounded Gandalf’s ability to do magic with believable smoke rings. He actually had transformed Gandalf’s smoke rings into something unbelievable, and it is the first bit of real magic we see Gandalf do.
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling: The Weasley family car is an example of transforming a believable item into something unbelievable. The car is a normal car, except that Mr. Weasley has tampered with it and given it magical properties. Speaking of cars…
  • Back to the Future: Science fiction writers, look no further than Dr. Brown’s DeLorean transformed into a time machine.
  • Dr. Who: He has a Tardis. Need I say more? Believable item. Unbelievable properties.
  • Outlander by Diana Gabaldon: The heroine, Claire, touches a standing stone on a Scottish hill and is transported back in time. The believable standing stone contains unbelievable properties.

Make sure to use items you wish to transform that are applicable to the time period in which you are writing. If you are writing a steampunk story, you can’t use a cell phone. Likewise, if you are writing science fiction, you need to use items available to your characters in the future. Note that characters in any genre might find a relic or something from the past that possesses a magical power (such as in our Outlander example).

What to take from this: Giving unbelievable properties to believable items is a great way to surround the unbelievable with the believable, provided that you make sure the item is something your character would have access to.

Mainstream Writers: Add wonder into your stories by transforming an ordinary object into something believable but outrageous. Remember Dean’s Celica. Transform a gym into a prom setting. Have a character take a dress from Goodwill and make it a dress to die for. You can keep your story bound by natural law, but still create the same magic Cinderella once experienced.

Speculative Writers: If you feel like you are struggling to create something big, awesome, and magical, try pulling back and using a regular object instead. Your reader will already be familiar with it, so you won’t have to spend precious words describing it, and it might just make your reader feel the same way she did when Dorothy put on those oh-so-famous ruby slippers.

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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Writing Speculative Fiction: Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable

Posted on October 2, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Making Make-Believe Believable: The first technique to help your reader suspend disbelief is to surround the unbelievable with the believable.

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. (For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.”)

For the past few posts, we’ve discussed understanding the reader’s mindset and expectations when it comes to getting our readers to buy into our make-believe worlds. We are now taking a closer look at the three techniques writers use to create suspension of disbelief:

  • Surround the unbelievable with the believable.
  • Make the unbelievable feel believable.
  • Govern the unbelievable.

For the next week or so, we will be concentrating on surrounding the unbelievable with the believable.

First, we need to define our terms:

The Believable:

  • Story elements that are governed by the same physical laws (gravity, physics, biological) that govern us.
  • Technological story elements that are the same technology that is available when the story was written or when the story was set.

The Unbelievable:

  • Story elements that are not bound by natural law
  • Technological story elements that include technology that doesn’t exist when the story was written or when the story was set. (For instance, Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea would be considered unbelievable during the time it was written and during the time it was set. It’s science fiction even though we have the ability to replicate the technology now.)

The unbelievable worlds that we create must contain elements of the believable as well as the unbelievable. The believable makes us comfortable. It feels familiar. Too much unbelievable can make your readers feel uncomfortable—depending on your genre, of course. Comic book writers can get away with a lot more unbelievable than paranormal writers.

Writing Technique #1: Surround the Unbelievable with the Believable

I like to think of Advil as an example. Advil, along with most other pills, is quite bitter, which makes it hard to swallow (no pun intended). Fortunately for all of us with headaches, Advil is coated in a candy shell and tastes just fine when swallowed.

Surrounding the unbelievable with the believable works the same way. Put a candy shell of reality around the unbelievable elements in your story. When you introduce the unbelievable elements to your reader, include believable elements that your reader understands and can associate with.

Here are the techniques we will be discussing over the next week:

  • The Details Example
  • The Transformation Example
  • The Social Norm Example
  • The Hybrid Example
  • The Archetype Example

Today we will concentrate on The Details Example: When you are introducing the unbelievable elements in your story, make sure to surround them with believable details. Remember to use the familiar as much as possible. The best way to illustrate this is with an example from one of the great fantasy masters: CS Lewis.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis: The main character in this story, Lucy, and her siblings live in the mainstream world—until Lucy discovers a wardrobe that is actually the gateway into the fantasy world of Narnia. Lewis’s inclusion of ordinary details surrounding the unbelievable wardrobe is part of the reason the Narnia series is successful.

  • It’s an ordinary wardrobe—a believable piece of furniture that most people during that time could associate with.
  • When Lucy opens the door to the wardrobe, moth balls fall out. Mothballs were common, believable items to people during that time period.
  • Lewis filled the inside this wardrobe with fur coats. While most of us don’t have fur coats nowadays, I’m sure they were common—especially in an English professor’s old house. The coats being fur also give us an added sensory detail. It’s so much more fun to snuggle with soft fur than to snuggle with boiled wool.
  • When Lucy enters the wardrobe, she reminds herself not to shut the door all the way and lock herself inside. This would have been a normal thought.
  • Even after Lucy enters Narnia, she first experiences a snow-filled wood. Lewis doesn’t throw Mr. Tumnus into the mix right away. He first lets Lucy, and therefore the reader, experience believable snow and trees.

Lewis sugarcoats this unbelievable wardrobe with believable details, which helps us swallow his fantasy pill.

What to take from this: No matter how unbelievable your world might be, you can always find some believable, familiar details to add into your story that will help the reader feel comfortable and continue to suspend his disbelief.

Mainstream Writers: Your mainstream characters might find themselves in 1) unbelievable situations, such as meeting the Queen of England, or 2) situations and places that most of your readers have never experienced, such as Buckingham Palace. Bring in some elements of familiarity by including details about things your readers know about already.

Speculative Writers: Reread your scenes that contain unbelievable elements and add in some believable details. Your readers will thank you for it!

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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Suspending Disbelief: Understanding the Reader’s Reality Filters

Posted on October 1, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Making Make-Believe Believable: Before you can get your reader to suspend his or her disbelief, you must have a good understanding of your target audience’s reality filters.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, most of us relied on this thing called dialup to use the internet. Our computers needed a special cord to connect to a phone line, which is what gave us internet access. If someone wanted to use the phone, you had to get off the internet. Remember those days?

During these dark times, I remember a commercial about a computer that could connect to the internet without using a cord. I couldn’t imagine how this technology could be real. It didn’t make sense to me, and to be honest, I didn’t really believe it. (Imagine how I felt when they first came out with smartphones…)

The problem: I based my views of what could and couldn’t be done with computers on my limited knowledge of how they worked. The computer companies needed more than just one commercial to get me to believe in wi-fi. For someone in the computer industry, however, the commercial would only confirm what they already knew was coming and already believed in based on their study of technology. My computer technology filters differ greatly from that of a computer whiz.

The key to understanding how to write speculative fiction is to understand each reader has different reality filters. If you present your reader with something that doesn’t fit through their reality filters, he will shut down and take his hand off the I Believe Button.

What affects a reader’s reality filters?

The Reader’s Age: It’s easy to convince a child that Santa Claus is real. My parents rarely discussed Santa Clause with me as a child. They put presents out in front of the tree every Christmas, and that was the extent of their attempt to make us believe. However, I believed in Santa Claus because I went to school and hung out with kids who believed in Santa Claus and watched movies about Santa Claus. Children are more likely to believe in Santa Claus, the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, and monsters under the bed than adults. They are also more likely to include speculative elements in their playtime and imaginative fantasies than adults.

The Reader’s Personality: At the age of 7, I figured out that Santa Claus didn’t exist. Every Christmas, however, I want to believe he’s real. I want to suspend my disbelief. I love reading about Santa, watching movies about Santa, and pretending for just one evening that some old man with a reindeer sleigh gives all of us presents. I press the I Believe Button willingly because the magic of Christmas still sparkles for me.

I am also the type of person who wishes that the world of Tolkien was real. I wish magical things existed, and that’s one of the reasons I read speculative fiction. Some people don’t have those desires, and they will tend to read mainstream fiction.

The Reader’s Experience: A reader’s reality filters also vary based on their experience. A few years ago, I received an email forward about Santa Claus written by an engineer. The essay discussed the physics of Santa Claus. After counting the number of households in Western Hemisphere and calculating how fast Santa’s sleigh needed to be in order to hit each house, the engineer concluded that the necessary acceleration of the sleigh would be so high that the reindeer, sleigh, toys, and Santa would disintegrate. The point: This man’s experience with physics and lab work, combined with his personality, made him immune to the world of make-believe. (Personally, I think this poor man needed to get out of the lab a little more often and enjoy some eggnog.)

The reader’s experience is most important when writing science fiction, steampunk, or paranormal fiction. If you are dabbling in these genres, make sure you live up to your readers’ experience. (For example, some sci-fi fans don’t like Star Wars because there is no sound in space, and George Lucas added sound in the movie.)

Our job as writers of speculative fiction is to push our world through these filters. We need our readers to believe in wi-fi. We need our readers to choose to suspend their disbelief about Santa Claus.

NOTE: The same basic human instincts and emotions exist no matter what a reader’s age, personality, and experience. Young children believe in Santa Claus. They get a tingly feeling inside when the subject comes up. Santa represents the magic of Christmas. Adults don’t believe in Santa, but they do believe in the magic of Christmas. A story about someone who gives freely of his time and money can cause the same warm feelings in an adult as Santa can cause in a child. Adults watch Christmas movies specifically because they believe in the spirit of Santa. Likewise, younger children fear the monster in the closet or under the bed. Adults fear the burglar who might sneak in their home. The key to writing good fiction, speculative or mainstream, is to access these feelings.

What to take from this: Know your target audience!!!! I cannot stress this enough. If you want to make your audience tingle, you must know what makes them tick.

Mainstream Writers: Remember that every good story still contains magic. You are bound by the constraints of reality, but you can still touch the audience. You can still get your readers to access the same feelings your readers felt when they played make-believe. Figure out how to recreate those feelings within your world of reality.

Speculative Writers: Knowing the reader’s age, personality, and experience simply gives you the boundaries in which you can play, and you can expand these boundaries with a few good techniques. Never forget the art of storytelling, however. Getting your adult readers to fear the monster under the bed the way they did as children requires more than parlor tricks. It requires an excellently composed story.

We’ve covered understanding the reader’s mindset—especially when it comes to suspending disbelief, from here on out, we will be covering the actual techniques writers can use to create suspension of disbelief:

  • Surround the unbelievable with the believable.
  • Make the unbelievable feel believable.
  • Govern the unbelievable.

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.” Thanks for stopping by!

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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Understanding the Suspension of Disbelief

Posted on September 27, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Making Make-Believe Believable: Getting your reader to suspend his or her disbelief is key to writing make-believe. First you have to understand the reader’s expectations.

One of my favorite scenes in Peter Pan is the scene where Tinkerbell almost dies and Peter pleas with the readers to clap their hands if they believe in fairies in order to save Tink. I’m sure even parents reading the story play along and clap their hands along with the children.

Do the parents believe in fairies? No.

Have they chosen to pretend fairies exist? Yes.

Do the children believe in fairies? I’m not answering that. Let’s focus on the parents.

The moment the parents clap their hands, they have chosen to take their disbelief in fairies and set it aside. They are pretending. In writing, we call this the suspension of disbelief. The reader has decided to say to herself, “I don’t believe in fairies. However, for the purposes of the story (and my child’s mental well-being) I’m choosing to take my disbelief in fairies, and set it aside. I’m going to put it far away and pretend that fairies are real while I read this story.”

I call this “Getting the reader to press the I Believe Button.” It happens when the reader chooses to believe your world is real.

The key to getting the reader to suspend disbelief is getting the reader to agree to pretend along with you. You want to get your readers to clap their hands because they believe in fairies—even though they don’t. Once the reader decides that our unbelievable elements are too unbelievable, she will stop suspending her disbelief, and your story will collapse. Don’t be discouraged, speculative writers. J. K. Rowling has already proven that even lovers of mainstream literature can enjoy fantasy!

NOTE: Mainstream fiction and speculative fiction both require the reader to suspend their disbelief. When a reader buys a fiction book, be it mainstream or fantasy, the reader must choose to believe in the book’s world. Returning to our James Bond example, all of us know James Bond is not a real person. We also can be pretty sure that MI6 isn’t actually like Ian Fleming’s vision of it. And who knows if 00’s exist. James Bond is mainstream fiction, and yet we still must press the I Believe Button when we read it. A poorly written mainstream story can feature a world that seems more unbelievable than Hogwarts. Fifty-Shades of Grey is a huge hit right now because the author convinced her readers to buy into the world she created—a much different world than most of her readers have experienced.

Writers must understand know two things about their readers before they can adequately get the reader to press the I Believe Button:

  • The reader’s expectations
  • The reader’s reality filters

Today we will focus on the reader’s expectations. I once met two guys who were leaving a movie theater with a lot more angst than they should have been feeling after watching a movie. We ended up chatting and I asked them what they had seen. One of them frowned. “Twilight,” he said with a slight snarl. “I saw the previews on TV and thought it was going to be a normal vampire movie.” Clearly, Twilight did not meet this young man’s expectations of a vampire movie, and he was quite perturbed about it.

Readers have a few expectations about the books they purchase, and they should. After all, it is their money.

  • Expectation One: The book will be of high quality. I’m not going to belabor this too much. Readers want a book’s physical construction to be of high quality. The expect it to be edited. They expect e-books to behave like most e-books.
  • Expectation Two: The story will be of high quality. We discussed the magic of good story telling in an earlier post. Make sure you have a great plot, character development, and setting. Remember that as authors, we are entertainers. That means we are but mere street performers on a literary stage.
  • Expectation Three: The book will fall within their content/genre expectations. Like the young man who was expecting Twilight to be Blade, readers will become perturbed if the book they read isn’t the book that they were promised. Readers pick up a paranormal thriller because they want to read a paranormal thriller. If the book ends up being about a middle school kid attending a wizards’ academy, they might become miffed. That being said, you can play around with this one if you construct a great story. If you choose to break this rule, break it well…
  • Expectation Four: The story will allow the reader to escape into a different world. This, right here, is the key to creating suspension of disbelief. Readers buy books with the expectation of already suspending their disbelief. They are prepared to place their hands on the I believe Button—within the bounds of the genre they have purchased.

What to take from this: To suspend disbelief, you must understand your reader’s expectations of your story. Use your genre as a guideline. You can jump over it on occasion, but try to stay within bounds. If you decide to cross over a line, make sure to take your reader by the hand and gently lead him or her along.

Mainstream Writers: Play around within genre and make sure you write an incredible story.

Speculative Writers: Remember that your reader is already expecting speculative content. This should give you freedom to stretch the boundaries. However, make sure you provide the reader with an incredible story as well.

All Authors: Don’t skimp on quality. Make sure your story is well-edited and your book is high quality.

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.” Thanks for stopping by!

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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The Magic of a Good Story

Posted on September 26, 2012 by M. B. Weston

Making Make-Believe Believable: A story’s true magic has nothing to do with fantasy elements. Don’t neglect the essence of storytelling simply because you write speculative fiction.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand why people read fiction. Readers want to escape into another world. They want to experience something they can’t experience otherwise. A story transports the reader out of his or her own reality into a new one. Some readers want a world that is just like their own, but one where they win. They want a world where they get the boyfriend, they save the world, or they go on an adventure they never dreamed possible. Some want to escape to a different world altogether. Our goal as writers is to create the world they want.

Mainstream fiction may be bound by the same physical laws and technological advances as speculative fiction, but mainstream stories still create a bit of what I like to call “story magic.” For example: statistically speaking, James Bond is an anomaly. The majority of people caught in his situations probably wouldn’t survive. He is bound by the same physical laws that govern us, but he overcomes. Bond also is governed by different social laws, it often seems. He always gets the girl, and often more than one per movie. We love James Bond’s world because he always wins. We get a thrill when he enacts his super-spy feats. We love his suave character. We love the Aston Martin and the exotic places Bond gets to visit.

Notice what three aspects of storytelling these things represent:

  • Plot
  • Character Development
  • Setting

I call these the Big Three. The skillful use and intertwining of these three items is what creates a story’s true magic.

This idea of story magic differs by genre and by audience. Romance readers crave a different sort of hero than action/adventure readers, etc., but each magical plot-point, piece of character development, and bit of description is what touches a reader’s soul. Even though mainstream fiction is bound by natural law and operates in the realm of the believable, it is still full of magic.

Speculative fiction writers have another arsenal of story magic that is unavailable to mainstream writers: actual magic and science fiction (as referred to in an earlier post: the unbelievable). Our fantasy characters use wands. Dragons and unicorns exist. Light sabers are real. Spaceships fly at light speed. Captain America can kill as many Nazis as he wants, and ghosts can scare the life out of people. Our speculative fiction tools give us an edge over mainstream writers. Unfortunately, this edge is part of a sword, and both sides are sharp.

Having so many extra techniques in one’s writing arsenal can make the speculative writer lazy. We might concentrate too much on world building and not enough on character building. Our dialog might feel as though it came straight out of a children’s book. Our plot might be full of holes and uninspiring. I think of movies like Krull, Conan the Barbarian (the original), and Clash of the Titans (the original). Their fantasy elements inspired our imaginations. Their plots inspired us to make parodies.

What to take away from this: Whether you write speculative fiction or mainstream fiction, your story needs magic. Study the art of storytelling. Learn to develop character. Understand the basic story arch. Enrich your description. These elements can add more magic to your story than your speculative elements.

Mainstream Writers: To create magic in your story, you must master the big three: plot, character development, and setting, more than speculative writers. A big part of this involves understanding your particular audience and what/where they want to escape to. Enhance the magic in your books by creating awe-inspiring settings. Reread myths and legends as models for epic characters. Your story might not leave the bounds of physics, but you can still make your readers feel as though they have been on a fantastic journey.

Speculative Writers: You don’t get a free pass at the big three just because you get to use magic and science fiction. You have double the work before you. You must master the art of telling a story and master the use of speculative elements.

Stay tuned for the next post when we discuss the suspension of disbelief.

If you are new to this blog, I’ve been writing a series of posts about writing speculative fiction, including fantasy, science fiction, steampunk, comic books, paranormal, and horror. For the full list, click here or on the category called “Making Make-Believe Believable.” Thanks for stopping by!

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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New Writing Series: Making Make-Believe Believable

Posted on September 25, 2012 by M. B. Weston

How to write fantasy, science-fiction, steampunk, comic book heroes, paranormal, and horror in such a way that even “muggles” will want to read it.

I’m going to begin an extensive writing series called Making Make-Believe Believable. My goal is to help writers of speculative fiction, but most of the techniques apply to any story.

We’ll start by discussion fiction, which I will define as stories that aren’t true. I often speak to schools about writing and what it takes to be an author. During my discussion, I usually tell the students, “I’m an author, and that makes me a liar and a thief.” Then I explain that most of the creatures I use in my novels—such as angels, dragons, and unicorns—are creatures I didn’t create myself. I stole the ideas from other people, which makes me a thief. I also explain that none of the things that happen in my stories really happened, which makes me a liar. I often hold up one of my books and proclaim, “This is one big lie.”

We fiction writers are liars. We just happen to tell really outrageous lies in such a way that people want to hear them again and again. (At least, that is—or should be—our goal.) For the purposes of this Making Make-Believe Believable series, I want to divide fiction into two main categories.

  • Main Stream Fiction
  • Speculative Fiction

Mainstream Fiction: fiction that operates within the confines of the believable. The majority of fiction stories are called mainstream fiction. They may not be true, but their characters:

  • Are governed by the same physical laws (gravity, physics, biological) that govern us.
  • Have access to the same technology that is available at the time of writing.

Take the James Bond stories and movies for example. The same physical laws that govern you and me also govern Mr. Bond. James is subject to the laws of gravity. He cannot create magic. If he gets poisoned, he must find an antidote. Bond also only has access to our available technology. He must use whatever Q. creates for him. Granted, some Q’s toys may seem a bit fantastic, but they feel possible. James Bond may get a tripped-out car, but he never gets a hover craft.

Speculative Fiction: fiction that contains elements of the unbelievable. In speculative fiction, the characters are either 1) not bound by natural law, 2) have access to technology that doesn’t exist or 3) both. The genres are ever changing, but here a few of the most common speculative fiction genres:

  • Fantasy
  • Science Fiction
  • Comic Books/Graphic Novels
  • Steampunk
  • Paranormal
  • Horror (depending on if it has paranormal or fantasy elements)

Speculative fiction writers encounter problems with storytelling that mainstream authors don’t have to deal with. First, using different physical laws and technology than those that govern humanity makes it difficult to get readers to buy into our ideas. The reader will find it easier to believe that James Bond really can jump out of an airplane, fall through the air several hundred feet, land on another airplane, and save the day—alive—than to believe that fairies exist and therefore erupt into spontaneous clapping to save Tinkerbell’s life. Second, writers can easily destroy their stories by mishandling the unbelievable elements. We tread quite unstable ground when working with the unbelievable.

This series will concentrate on melding the believable with the unbelievable while still maintaining the story’s overall structure and content. I hope you all enjoy it!

Fantasy novelist M. B. Weston is the author of The Elysian Chronicles, a fantasy series about guardian angel warfare and treason. Weston speaks to children, teens, and adults about writing and the process of getting published. For more information on M. B. Weston, visit www.mbweston.com. Find out more about The Elysian Chronicles at www.elysianchronicles.com.

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