About Writing On Wednesdays: Boogie To The Vampire Vibes

Edward in the sunlight was shocking. I couldn’t get used to it, though I’d been staring at him all afternoon. His skin, white despite the faint flush from yesterday’s hunting trip, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface. He lay perfectly still in the grass, his shirt open over his sculpted, incandescent chest, his scintillating arms bare. His glistening, pale lavender lids were shut, though of course he didn’t sleep. A perfect statue, carved in some unknown stone, smooth like marble, glittering like crystal.      ~Stephenie Meyer in Twilight

Experts gathered together to discuss more on my favorite subject of vampires: Faith Hunter, Kalayna Price, Theresa Bane, Tony Ruggiero.  We had lots of fun in this discussion. This is also the last post about Stellarcon.

Theresa Bane is a Vampirologist and author of Encyclopedia of Vampire Mythology. “Vampires prey on the most precious in society,” explains Theresa. As an expert on vampires she doesn’t believe in the blood drinking fiends or the psychic ones.

The concept of the psychic vampire evolved in the sixties from slang such as ‘negative energies’ or getting certain ‘vibes’.

Those who practice vampirism are called lifestylers. The police call Theresa for help on some of their cases but her expertise is only with the vampire myth. Really? Modern day police actually have to know about vampires? She couldn’t tell us about any of the cases but talk about being freaked out.

Instead of advising them to sharpen some stakes and approach said vampires only in daylight she advises them to call Michelle Belanger who is a lifestyler. I’ve seen Michelle in several specials on TV including: The History Channel, A&E and on the Reelzchannel Twilight specials.

About Writing on Wednesdays: What Kind Of Character Do You Have?

Faith Hunter, Ed Schubert and Larry Correa discussed their thoughts about character development in this panel at Stellarcon.

The focus was on the protagonist and how to create him or her with the something extra that makes a reader’s eyes pop out. Something more than eye color, hair color, weight or height. The something that makes them keep reading and want more.

You love your character. S/he is the best thing since sliced bread. Naaaannnh! This is a huge red flag that your character is bor-ing. Part of the story is the flawed character that needs improvement. To keep the reader interested your character must grow and change through the end of the book.

However, your character can’t just change without warning. Something has to make the character see him/herself clearly. This is the point where the character transitions from good to bad or vice versa. The character must make a choice that determines his or her path for the rest of the book. A choice that helps decide how your book ends.

Readers must be able to relate to your characters. Some ways to humanize characters: have them fall short of a goal; have low self-esteem; break a code of honor; unable to complete a task; make them clumsy; have bad luck; have ill-health; have a phobia; not the sharpest marble; be shy or walk away from something because it’s too hard.

Flaws to give your character: they’re judgemental; they have a temper; they’re impatient; they’re arrogant; they’re introverted; they’re a loner; they’re overconfident; they’re weak; they’re ignorant; too rigid and won’t change easily; prejudiced against race, religion, etc.; they’re amoral or too promiscuous.

A deeply flawed character discussed was Dexter from Showtime. A TV show based on a series of books. He is an example of a bad character who is fun to write. If you are not familiar with the show or books he is a serial killer.

I saw the first two seasons of Dexter before I cut Showtime loose. The premise was his stepfather saw the trait in him and directed his energies to killing other serial killers. The twist is he works for the police. I liked the show and now I’m thinking I should check out the books although I’m sure they’re nothing like the TV show.

Characters who walk a very narrow line between good and bad are Anne Stuart’s stock in trade.  In general her male protagonists are amoral but somehow she always manages to make them likeable if a little scary. True love puts them on the right path. Of course it’s a wide path.

 If you’re interested in these type books try Anne’s books from the Ice series or Ritual Sins. In case you don’t know and you’re interested, Jeff Lindsay writes the Dexter books.

Be careful when writing a character like Dexter or Bastian from Black Ice. It would be all too easy to antagonize your readers instead of enticing them to read more.

About Writing on Wednesdays: Rules For Writers

Every writer has his or her own approach to writing but when we write the same basic rules apply to all of us. Most rules are inviolate, some are more like guidelines while other rules are made to be broken.

As writer’s we want to use our voice to create characters and worlds that has readers coming back for more.  Whether we break or bend the rules or not we are manipulating them to create our own unique voice.

The trick is to know which is what. Got that? The first rule before breaking the rules is to know the rules. You have to know what you’re doing and why before you decide not to do it.

The Ten Rules About Writing panel was hosted by Amy Sturgis, Faith Hunter and Allen Wold at Stellarcon.  They had a lot more than ten and I added to their list. The distinction between rules that can not be broken or bent and the ones that can are my own.