There’s no getting away from it, a lot of people enjoy being scared. From roller coasters to haunted houses, games, films and books the market for Horror and all it’s sub-genres is huge.

As an example, Peter Benchley published ‘Jaws’ in 1974 and it was picked up by Zanuck/Brown to be turned into a major motion picture, directed by Stephen Spielberg in 1975. Many people are aware of the production issues that plagued the film and that the animatronic shark was named ‘Bruce’, but did you know that the town of Martha’s Vineyard (the stand-in for Amity Island) was initially concerned that the release of the film would kill its tourist industry as surely as if they did have a man-eating shark? Well, the exact opposite was true, Tourism to Martha’s Vineyard tripled after the film was released and to this day, more than forty years on, the island cultivates its association with the movie franchise as a premier destination for horror movie fans.

So, how does that translate to writing horror, how do we make it work in a era post ‘Saw’, ‘Hostel’ and the rise of the so-called ‘Torture Porn’ genre? Without images, special effects or tension music it’s not as easy as throwing gore at the page and seeing what sticks, I can tell you that much. As a horror fan myself I can still only give you my personal views on what makes something scary. While the genre is flooded with material, for me as much of it is laughable shlock as is truly terrifying so I’ll share my thoughts for you in the hope that they prove beneficial in your creating.

One of the key stones of good horror isn’t even the scares, it’s the characters. Whether you’re writing dystopian crime thriller or occult body-horror, if the audience don’t care about your characters then you’re more likely to get a laugh when they inevitably die than a gasp or a tear. Worse still would be a shrug and an ‘eh’ response to your carefully crafted execution scene. The trope of ‘the macho asshole’ getting what the audience thinks they deserve is proof of that. If the audience feel empathy with the character and their struggles it will encourage them to ‘feel’ as the character feels when they’re uneasy or afraid making your job of scaring the reader that much easier. Pay attention to your characterization, encourage the audience to care.

Slow-burn tension is another good tool, steadily building the idea that all is not what it seems, making the familiar slowly more unfamiliar, threatening or outright dangerous is one approach to take. Occult horror follows this pattern all the time. It’s a favorite trick of Stephen King (see also Dean Koontz and James Herbert). There’s a term among those who study and work to build humanoid robots, ‘The Uncanny Valley’ whereby an seemingly human object that isn’t human engender feelings of fear or revulsion in observers, that’s the kind thing you’re trying to encourage (but without the humanoid robot focus). The Stephen King novel ‘Desperation’ (and ‘The Regulators’ published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman) take this approach, the ‘normal’ becoming abnormal. Taking examples from real life it’s a well-documented phenomena that the victims of home-invasion, whether they are present for the even or not, can struggle in finding that their home is not a ‘safe place’ anymore. Again it’s something you’re trying to encourage within the bounds of any horror that the usually ‘safe’ aspects of our everyday life aren’t anymore. You’re building a creeping sensation of unease among your characters up until the tipping point where they find out why.

Alternately you can pull the rug out from under the cast almost straight away. It’s a regular feature of Apocalyptic or even Post Apocalyptic fiction with the characters often reminiscing about the world as it was before, a means to encourage empathy from the reader. ‘The Walking Dead’ did this quite successfully with the character Rick Grimes but that’s only one fairly recent example. The third book of ‘The Rats Trilogy’, ‘Domain’ by James Herbert starts with a thermonuclear explosion over London and goes from there, you don’t have to have read either of the previous works to pick this one up either (though I warn you there are scenes of sexual violence within). Horror based around animal antagonists build on very primal fears, the fear of being hunted and eaten for example. ‘The Rats’, ‘Jaws’ even ‘Cujo’ make use of that primitive fear. It’s also employed with zombie horror though that plays more on the fear of mortality and of becoming ‘other than we are’.

Throughout the horror genre it’s the application of fear on a cast of characters that the audience identifies with and feels empathy for that provides the payoff as they either die, or ultimately overcome the danger that has been posed against them. Those fears can be general concepts that nonetheless plague our subconscious minds, fear of the dark or the unknown or they can be more specifically targeted, fear of spiders or *shudder* clowns. We’ve seen many from ‘Arachnophobia’ to ‘IT’, ‘The Hunger’ (Alma Katsu, Donner party inspired survival horror) to ‘Bird Box’ by Josh Malerman but still the  audience craves new and inventive ways to be scared, to investigate and shine light into the dark places of the human psyche and, more often than not, to truly feel ‘alive’. Continuing protests against properties in the horror-genre cite the old argument that it ‘desensitizes’ people, that it ‘makes monsters’ who go out and perform horrific deeds. It rarely works live that, the ‘violent games breed violent acts’ argument just doesn’t hold up under the weight of close scrutiny. The sad fact is that there has to be some instability there in the first place, something that sadly goes undiagnosed, unacknowledged or untreated in the first place. For the vast majority of the audience it’s the sensation of our heart-pounding in our chest making us feel ‘alive’ that drives our interest in the genre and it’s the thrill of exploring the themes behind and expanding on that thrill that drive some of us to write it.

Contrary to the vocal protests of a very small community, writing horror doesn’t make you a monster. Exploring themes of fear and trauma in a fictional setting, via the means of a human monster or an inhuman one doesn’t make you one yourself. The battle of ‘Good vs Evil’ or ‘Innocence over Corruption’ is the most common core concept of any horror fiction and (if a few secondary characters get murdered and maimed along the way) it’s all in fun, right?

The main problem facing you as a horror writer is how to make your work original, just like any other genre. There are so many Serial Killer stories, Undead or Diabolic vengeance Revenants out there. So many monsters from Vampires to Werewolves to the Bunyip and beyond being drawn out of folk-history. Animals from Spiders to Sharks, Bears to Birds brought to the fore in the name of new ideas. What you write, how you write and who you write will prove the proof of your manuscript. You can and will find your audience, no matter how niche and remember.

Selling a hundred-thousand copies might make you ‘successful’, but putting one smile on one face makes you a success.

Well, here we go again. I would’ve liked to open this one simply by expressing my wishes that you all had a wholesome holiday and a Happy New Years celebration. I’d like to, but I can’t. You see, I’m painfully aware that there are many many hundreds of thousands of people in this country who struggle through this time of year for a myriad of reasons and that there are millions more in this big wide world who struggle to survive in the current socio-political and ecological climate.

I’m afraid that the UK Election of 2019 hasn’t quite turned out how I’d have liked and now (like some sad and aging tribute band) the UK have not only retained our bargain-basement Trump knockoff, but apparently given the only-Muppet-Jim-Henson-never-loved a proper majority to endorse his racist, sexist, bigotry powered agenda. It’s been less than a month and we’ve had Christmas and New Years and the Tories have basically back-tracked on all their big key manifesto pledges.

I didn’t ever really want this blog to be politically oriented, it’s supposed to be about my experiences as a writer and advice to others following that path but I’m rather afraid that circumstances have dictated a shift in my stance on that policy.

I was going to write how, as much as the winter holiday period is branded as ‘family friendly’ there’s one huge problem with the ‘perfect holiday’ and that is people and especially family. No-one can get on our nerves as well as family and, throw in the tiresome business of travelling to and fro/hosting, and the sheer effort of the extra socializing, and the burden of the almost sacred duty to do all the above, and the holiday season can quickly become a very stressful time of the year. The ‘tradition’ of the family argument is all too often a reality (rather that a comedy bit for a Hallmark Comedy) which, though it may blow-up then settle just as quickly can mar the day for everyone.

It’s a little embarrassing to admit but, these times offer a great opportunity for the writer to watch how people interact and behave under pressure in an almost benign situation. You don’t really want to be an observer for an accident or crisis or violent incident just to improve how you handle such things in your writing but, within the petri-dish of such strained family dinners, lies the examples of interpersonal interaction under stress. I don’t endorse provoking argument for the purposes of research BTW.

That’s what I was going to write about but, in the wake of this election and it’s result, legitimizing the ugly face of Nationalism in this ‘green and pleasant land’ the added politics has been so much nastier. That’s not a sudden development, politics has been getting pretty nasty for a long-time it flares and dies  but we’re in a prolonged flare right now and all because of the Brexit (and that’s still a stupid name) Referendum of 2016. Brexit brought it into your house, there was so much venom stirred up by that issue that it didn’t stop at dividing friends but broke families apart like a game of Monopoly that no-one can win. I won’t say the election reignited the arguments because they never stopped but, certainly in the places I witnessed it, the socialist leftists where calling for the Conservatives to be hauled out on the grounds of their quiet culling of the most vulnerable elements of society while those who had supported Brexit where still calling for someone to ‘Get it done’. It seems that, nowadays in Not-so-great Britain, anyone clawing for some form of societal equality can be drowned out if the establishment even hint at them being anti-Brexit, the ‘Leave’ supporters will howl the poor devils to silence for them.

In the past I’ve talked about stereotypes and how they are used for comedy or to save time on descriptive prose by offering the reader a familiar concept. Well, the old stereotype for the British (before it became a drunken, violent football ‘supporter’) was essentially John Cleese in a bowler hat and pin-stripe suit. Well spoken and mannered, reserved and educated. That was the stereotype for the average citizen but, if we were to do the same for the Nation it’s very different. The UK leadership still likes to think this country has a lot more influence than it actually does. The legacy and political clout of ‘the Empire’ seems (in the eyes of many) to be not so long ago when really it is all but gone. The caricature of the UK I have in my head is an aging, aggressive single-parent (who has suffered several strokes at this point), dressed in the remnants of their once-finery, who makes much more of their tenuous ‘booty-call’ status with the US than there is even though no-one else believes it. Their ‘family’ immediate and extended has either turned it’s back on them or is in the process of doing so and it’s embarrassed offspring (Scotland, Wales and the remaining Ireland twin) can’t wait to finally get the hell out of the house.

So, while I may be frustrated, angry and admittedly a little afraid of what might come, and while I could go on, and on, and on I won’t. I will save the sentiment, if not the actual words, for my works in progress, my manuscripts will benefit from my emotions and my messages, warning of Corporate Greed and Political Corruption, will be interwoven with them and be all the stronger for them.

I can’t go ahead with hope. Unless something radical happens we’re looking at five more years of Tory leadership and, if  they haven’t already, the establishment of quiet means to keep them there. The continuation of Tory austerity means hundreds of thousands more vulnerable people will die from neglect and oppression while the trough at the top overfills with the proceeds of privatized utilities, health services, and eventually the emergency services too. The next five years holds little hope.

So I intend to go on in defiance, write my stories and lambaste the elite for their misdeeds and, if I cannot shame them through satire and caricature then maybe I’ll just have to include the list of their misdeeds alongside their actual names and have them whine ‘Libel!’ in my direction.

Forget ‘Happy’, let’s have a ‘Radical’ New Year.

So it’s Dragonmeet this weekend, a one day gaming convention in London and there are going to be loads of representatives of the board gaming and table-top RPG industry there as well as artists and writers. So today I’m going to share a little of my experience in writing for games and how to approach these kind of projects and work alongside other writers to create deep and engaging settings and situations for the audience.

I have been lucky enough to work on several games by a couple of different groups and have worked independently of and in concert with other writers on a couple of genres in a number of settings but what I’m about to share with you are the central lessons that I have learned when writing for games.

The first thing you have to remember when working on these kind of projects is that this intellectual property doesn’t belong to you. This becomes important later on but it is something you have to keep in mind the whole way through. However, just because it’s not ‘your world’ doesn’t mean you should do any less than your best during the creative process.

So, once you’re taken on board you should receive a guideline document from the project coordinator telling you about the style and layout that’s expected of you. Read it. If you’re writing for an established name in the industry or even a new company just starting out then they have, or are building, a recognizable style that their readers, their customers have come to identify with their brand. It’s also important for the final editors who don’t want to spend ages re-formatting submitted pieces to fit into the boundaries of the finished piece. You should always conform to the submissions guidelines as with any publisher or agent because it helps to build a reputation as someone who is easy to work with and follows their rules.

If you’re writing for an existing/ongoing game it is essential to have a good knowledge of that setting and the rules system you are writing for even if you are just writing settings or even vignettes it is important to be able to look at a scene and see how it would translate into gameplay. In fact the vignettes are often examples of story-telling within the system and used to explain specific rules so the short story needs to be engaging, entertaining and conform to the rules system. If you’re brought onboard for an existing system you’ll likely have at least a little background knowledge of it (usually at least a small criteria for the selection process) but, if you don’t, you should be given access to existing publications to familiarize yourself with the setting and rules.

Writing settings is different to writing stories but very much like world building. It’s essentially exposition intended to help the game-runner or GM build a story within the game world and there will be a word count limit and structure to how to go about it. Like exposition it cannot be ‘dry’ it still has to grab the reader and submerse them in the world they are reading about. In settings writing it’s more important than ever to avoid passive prose and keep your language active. The reader wants to be drawn into the world and we (as writers) are, in these instances, serving a customer and their audience so it is our job to do just that. That said, don’t be afraid to have fun with it (within the bounds of the Guideline docs) the reason you’ve been approached is to bring fresh eyes and and new perspective so it’s an opportunity to show what you can do.

Often these projects will engage a group of writers to contribute to the finished piece. Sometimes you’ll be working independently and sometimes collaboratively but it’s likely that there will be a shared workspace (either IRL or online) for asking questions related to the project or sharing ideas and suggestions. This is invaluable for new writers as some of the people involved will have prior experience and a deeper knowledge of the game world. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, don’t be afraid to seek suggestions if you’re struggling. I made a habit of working online in G.docs and sharing a link so the other writers on the team could drop in and look at my pieces and I wasn’t the only one. It is very important to engage with your team and I cannot stress this enough. Don’t scurry off into your workspace to ‘do your bit’ in isolation (especially if a number of you are working on a shared section or chapter), be involved, be active, the project will benefit and, again, prove you are someone who is not only easy to work with but takes an active interest in the success of the project.

Once the draft is done and submitted it’s time for the Redlines process where the project coordinator goes through the drafts and offers feedback on the material. You remember when I told you to remember that it ‘wasn’t your world’? Well this is where that becomes important. It’s very unlikely that your first draft gets through without suggestions for change so don’t be surprised and, more importantly, don’t be defensive or resistant. You’re working on contract, your piece has to fit their specs. Your project leader shouldn’t just highlight the bits that need changing though, there should be positive feedback in their as well highlighting the parts the PL really liked. So, read the feedback, think about it and make those changes. There should also be suggestions for how to go about it so you don’t have to rewrite cold.

Personally I really enjoyed my contract work experiences and look forward to being involved in more projects in future. Seeing how other writers approach a broad theme is a wonderful thing and I’m certain the experience helped me grow as a writer and push the boundaries of material I can write. Game writing is certainly a different beast from narrative or novels but shares enough similarities so as to make any fantasist or story-teller a candidate for contribution. Currently I’m actively looking for opportunities and may try my luck in the worlds of video games in the coming year.

I’ll probably wrap-up the blog for December (so maybe one or two more entries this year) and see you all sometime in January. Happy Holidays.

To be clear, just because I’m not writing Camelot 2050 now doesn’t mean that there will never another installment. Camelot 2050 was part of my life for a long time but it was always going to be a trilogy and there are other projects I want to get on with.

Camelot is my debut series but not what’s described as a Trunk novel (that being an unpublished manuscript that sits in a trunk in the attic). It shares some aspects of the trunk novel though, it was during Camelot that I discovered and refined my style, voice and approach to writing. You can see that as you read through. So why did I stick to writing a Trilogy? We’ve heard of the ‘Trilogy in five parts’ (Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) and there are other debut series that carry on, The Dresden Files was Jim Butchers debut but he had plans for the Codex Alera and Cinder Spires series. Despite that the Files carry on currently standing at fifteen novels with a sixteenth on the way and with numerous short stories set in the chronology.

I love a good series. The Dresden Files, the Honor Harrington books, the Discworld novels. A good series lets you really get to know a set of characters. It allows the reader to really get invested in their journey but, to my mind, once you get beyond five or so books it becomes harder and harder to put them down either as a reader or a writer. It becomes harder to step away from them maybe because of habit or loyalty both to the books themselves and to the fans who read them. I’ve come across a couple of book series that I had to step away from. In those cases it was because the authors went through dramatic events in their lives and the tone and character of the books changed into something I didn’t enjoy anymore.

I love the works of Gail Carriger, the Parasol Protectorate series and the Finishing School trilogy are joyous but they are also well contained within their run length. The PP runs at five and the Finishing School series is a trilogy along with it’s follow-up the Custard Protocol. Each series or trilogy is set in the same world with familiar characters but to read one doesn’t absolutely require knowledge of the rest.

So, back to the initial question, why no more Camelot (for now)? Although I have (and may again) put pen to paper on orbital short stories from before, during and after the Le Fay Campaign I want to broaden my writing horizons. Lest we forget that even Terry Pratchett stepped away from the Discworld on occasion to pen works like the Bromeliad Trilogy, Strata and co-authored such works as The Long Earth series and Good Omens. Camelot is adventure and militaria with a scattering of fantasy, horror and sci-fi. I want to explore those genres more deeply and flex my imaginative muscles as a means to get better at what I do. As I’ve mentioned before a ‘pure’ Sci-Fi novel is on the way as is a Horror with a twist on the well walked ‘zombie survival’ theme. Beyond that is my planned Urban Fantasy series influenced by the British Gangster genre.

Once all that is done (or even while I’m doing it) I may return to Camelot 2050 (or 2060) should a new story emerge from the depths of my brain. I’d like, at some point, to explore the possibilities of a comic series or RPG based on the setting but that’s beyond my personal talents. I’ll hold out hope for a Netflix series but that’ll be a ways away (if it ever does happen). The main reason to keep tapping away at the keyboard is to get my stories out to the audience who’ll enjoy them.

Apologies for leaving you all hanging last week, it’s been busy and I’ve been a little under the weather but, to make up for it, to day I’m going to try and cover something meaty, a brief review of tools in the story-telling toolbox.

So, back in school we were all taught from early on that a story comprises a beginning (where you establish characters and setting), a middle (a situation in need of resolution) and an end (the situation is resolved). Fortunately for us, way back in the mists of time, someone said ‘Is that it? Hold my beer!’ and story-tellers have devised a great many narrative tools to satisfy the requirements of their stories.

So, if we disregard genre for a moment, most stories fall into two styles, linear and non-linear. A linear story follows a chain of events, cause and effect, down a sequential time-line (this even applies to time-travel stories told from the PoV of the traveler although, sometimes the effect comes much later). A non-linear story jumps from point to point, back and forth in the process of the telling. Flash-backs or flash-forwards highlight things that happened before or have yet to happen but that have a relevance to the ongoing story. Once in a while someone will shale things up, in the 2000 movie Memento by Christopher Nolan the linear story takes place in reverse. The MC played by Guy Pierce has lost the ability to form long-term memory so the film is a series of flashbacks telling the story from end to beginning. The Time Travelers Wife by Audrey Niffenegger tells the story of a woman romantically involved with a man who jumps in time, sometimes backward, sometimes forward so, while the story is kind of linear her experiences of her husband are disjointed as he appears out of sequence in her life.

So, the basic model of storytelling, the Male Ejaculatory Arc (as dubbed by Douglas Rushkoff) is a steady escalation until resolution. The situation introduced at the beginning gets worse and worse until it is resolved. This steady stream of stress can, over the course of a full-length novel, lead to reader burnout so, how do we switch things up? Breathers and Victory Laps, moments when an immediate problem is dealt with and the characters can catch their breath or celebrate some small victory. These can take the form of character developing interactions (and character development throughout a story is very important) or more intimate social moments between two or more characters. It’s important to show the reader that these characters are individuals with fears and frailties outside of the current situation.

Escalation, as it applies here, is raising the stakes. Whether that be in terms of threat and danger, emotionally or the consequences of certain actions. Different Genres handle that escalation differently, as the number of survivors dwindle in a horror piece, the threat of another victim showing up in a crime thriller, the prospect of open hostilities in a political piece or external interest by a rival in a romantic novel.

If the stresser is introduced early and needs ongoing effort to resolve (as in many comedy settings) then there can be gradual progress to resolve before ‘The Fall’ or a catastrophic event where everything goes belly-up and undoes all the progress so far. The fall generally leads to a Hail-Mary effort by the characters to bring about a fitting resolution. The sudden tug of the rug out from under the main cast as everything they worked for falls apart and they have to double-down and risk all or lose everything to achieve the goal is a well-known tool in narrative.

As mentioned above, flash-backs and flash-forwards can stir up a story. Pieces of the history or the outcome, out of context can liven up a story or give the reader a deep desire to discover how things got this way. I started my second book Dragon Fire with a section from the opening of the second act, a scene of devastation with the goal of teasing my readers onward into the story. Employed at the very beginning this ‘Hook’ is intended to grab the readers attention, whet their appetite for the adventure to come. Hooks come in many forms, the first hook in your arsenal is your title. A strong Title draws eyes to your book, you might employ a tag-line, a single compelling sentence to supplement the title and then the blurb on the back cover. Inside the book your hook is your first line, paragraph or chapter. A prologue as a flash-back to something the reader is familiar with (as with Black Knight) but changed in some way to pique their interest is one technique. As above the flash-forward into the story is another. Whether you use one or neither of those approaches the first line of a book is the most important, you can gain or lose a reader on its strength.

Fake-outs, the red herring or the dead end. When the investigation loses track or the action hero appears to be dead. Again, genre to genre, there is massive disparity in the accepted use of this mechanic. An action story or horror tale might play host to one or two fake-outs (when the Slasher appears dead but comes back for a final ‘Hurrah’ or the apparent death of a named character) but, a mystery novel is occasionally built on red herrings (a suspect characters odd behaviour is explained away by some personal catastrophe). In noir it’s acceptable that, when the PI has exhausted their avenues of investigation, that’s the moment the crime boss takes notice and has them kidnapped or someone comes forward with a key piece of as-yet unrevealed evidence. Used sparingly (relative to the genre) they can add an unexpected twist or turn to a story, but too many and the reader will roll their eyes and shut the book.

The key thing to remember, even as you employ these tools, is pacing. Some books suffer by over stimulating the reader with a constant barrage of escalation and some over estimate the readers need to rest between narrative hits. If you look around you’ll find other blogs, some with diagrams, about escalation and rests. Something that should be recognised is that, what appears a small triumph or victory lap for one character may not be for another. Dealing with multiple story lines among a group of characters allows you to add another dimension of escalation and rest and that doesn’t necessarily count toward over stimulating your readers. Some readers will root for one character, others for another. What might be seen as a resolution for one character can be interpreted as an escalation for another and that will apply to your audience too. The escalation/rest  swing doesn’t need to be totally rhythmic, it’s not a pendulum. Life is erratic, why should your story be any different.

That’s by no means the exhaustive list, I’ve missed a bucket load but I hope these will help you develop your work and maybe encourage you to go looking for more tools for your toolbox.

The next four weeks are going to be really busy for me so I apologise now if the ensuing blog posts are somewhat short or even none-existent. With that in mind I’m going to talk about everything I’ve achieved this past year and what I hope to achieve going ahead.

Back in 2018 I attended four events with Camelot 2050, my goal during 2019 was twelve. In the end I managed ten but, considering one of those events was WorldCon I think I can forgive myself. So far this year I’ve attended;

• The Enchanted Market (Reading),
• EasterCon (by Ytterbium, Heathrow),
• London Film and Comic Con Spring (by Showmasters)
• Portsmouth Comic Con (by GoGeek events),
• CollectorMania (by ShowMasters at the NEC Birmingham),
• WorldCon Dublin,
• NorCon at the Norfolk Showgrounds.

Still to come I have;

• BristolCon,
• Worthing Wormhole,
• DragonMeet (at the Novotel Hammersmith)

I must say I met so many wonderful people and made so many new friends who are really enthusiastic about Camelot and my upcoming projects that I really can’t begin to say ‘thank you’ enough to everyone who’s followed me on social media or come up to chat at the conventions and shows. The series continues to sell and gain traction. Once I’ve completed a couple of new projects and really settled into the next series it might be time for those revised editions I’ve been considering to really polish the Camelot Books and bring them up to the standard YOU deserve.

One of the reasons for doing a year in review now is because I’m already elbow deep in scheduling next year. A lot of these events are already on that list (some will fall by the wayside) with a likely return to Sheffield FCC thrown in. Those paying close attention will see there are Literary cons, Trade cons and Games conventions on there. This coming year I’ll be pushing some of the other independent projects that I have contributed to by Isolation Games, table-top games like ‘Age of Steel’ and ‘Tormented’ will be going on my table. That, of course, doesn’t include the other projects with Onyx Path and Dirty Vortex. The Contagion Chronicles, Dark Era’s 2 and Solemn Vale all draw closer to general release so watch out for them.

As far as Camelot 2050 is concerned there are two shorts written and in editing and I’ll be looking for anthologies or magazines to take them up while I work on not one, not two, but three new, original novels. Two stand-alone pieces aimed at full publication and the first novel of the long talked-about Bentley Pennywhistle Chronicles (think Lord of the Rings meets Lock, Stock and Two Smokin’ Barrels). I’ll keep my ear to the ground for new RPG projects to sign onto and my nose to the grindstone writing my new material. Look to see me at GoGeek, Ytterbium and ShowMasters events throughout the year and I’ll update on other events I book onto.

 

 

CW: Reference to sex, sexual content and sexual abuse.

I’m a day early, I know, but this subject has been bouncing around in my brain since Worldcon. During Dublincon I attended a panel about sex positivity and, while fun (it was late, mid con and we were all a bit wired by that point) it didn’t really satisfy the subject for me. So, what is sex positivity and what is its place in literature?

I’ve written before about sex in fiction, sometimes used as a mechanic to mark the development of character relationships. All too often, sexual violence is used as a stresser or a mechanic to dis-empower a character or create ‘threat’ (check out this great article for challenging that Mythcreants – Six Rape Tropes and How to Replace Them).

Sex positivity is all about how you approach sex in your writing. There’s a culture, carried over from our overbearing and repressive ‘forefathers’, that sex is a shameful act unless it is for the purpose of procreation. We know that that is an antiquated view, and for decades there have been efforts to encourage sexual freedom and, whilst the majority of the population are more open to sex for enjoyment there’s still a pervasive opinion that sex equates love and relationships and marriage etc. There’s a lot of guilt and shame attached (mostly to women, and it’s the double-standard here that’s shameful) who ‘break’ these socially enforced standards, and that carries over into film and literature. Characters who enjoy responsible sexual liberty are commonly seen as ‘irregular’. But why? Why can’t consenting, responsible adults engage in sexual activity without falling under that pall of shame? This is the purpose of sex positivity.

Now, without denying that there’s a lot of ‘bad’ associated with sex (rape, people-trafficking and other abuses of trust and or power) the purpose of writing sexual positivity is to promote healthy, consensual relations and practices. If we deny the bad entirely it creeps into the shadows, but by promoting the good we provide examples of how to be and challenge the bad.

By writing positive sexual experiences we can help to wipe out the stigma that is still attached to certain sexual practices. The most important aspect for sex positive writing is consent. If either party can’t or hasn’t consented you’re not being sex positive (that includes animals [unless it’s fantasy where they’re sentient but that’s a whole other ‘rabbit hole’] or individuals unable or emotionally unprepared to give informed consent).

Other things to avoid are external judgment from any character not involved. If we’re trying to present sex positivity, then presenting negativity or judgment is counter-productive. Body positivity, support of sexual identity, communication between the sexual partners and a sharing of responsibility (for things like birth control and sexual health) are key features of presenting a sex-positive arrangement.

So what areas suffer from sexual negativity?

• Initially and possibly earliest, masturbation. Self-satisfying is stigmatized. We use terms like ‘Wanker’, ‘Tosser’ or ‘Jack-off’ as insults in everyday life. It’s seen as the last resort of lonely individuals rather than a healthy expression of sexuality.
• Pornography (not without justification). Porn suffers from it’s long history of exploitation, abuse (substance and physical) and presenting unrealistic standards of human development, but, does that make everyone who follows a career in porn immoral? No, it makes the opportunists and the immoral individuals in porn immoral. Over the past few decades the industry has seen a rise in actresses taking the reins as producers and making their own films, a rise in awareness of sexual health and support for the talent. The rise in visibility due to free access via the internet (and not having to sneak into sex-shops) has not only increased society’s consumption of pornography, but a rise in standards within the industry itself.
• Polyamory, the practice of having multiple sexual partners in a network. Unlike the Mormon practices depicted in Big Love (HBO, Olsen and Scheffer 2006) polyamory doesn’t require a romantic attachment, but is best described as “consensual, ethical and responsible, non-monogamy”. That is that every partner in the network is aware, informed and understanding or the wider arrangement, nobody’s ‘flying under the radar’ or going behind anyone’s back. Polyamory is based upon communication and mutual respect.
• Prostitution. Firstly, the word itself. Sex-workers (and the term covers performers in the porn industry too) have been around as long as society itself, and they haven’t always been stigmatized like they are today. Secondly, much like the porn industry, Sex-Work has been a breeding ground for abductions, people-trafficking, enforced substance abuse and other amoral practices enacted by those in positions of power against those in desperate situations. Examples of individuals who choose to pursue a career in sex-work as a means of personal empowerment are few, but not non-existent. The idea of an empowered, responsible and happy sex-worker is almost diametrically opposed to the media perception of victims suffering poverty and abuse. It is the dichotomy between society’s resistance to decriminalizing sex-work and the persistent demand for sexual services that continues to make it a profitable enterprise for criminal organisations. That said, there are those who pursue it as a career of choice without suffering under a ‘pimp’ and, while examples of that in media are rare, they do exist.
• Hypersexuality (nymphomania/satyriasis)/Sex-Addiction. Just like any other form of neuro-diversity or addiction, these are serious subjects not to be played for laughs or as a justification for aberrant behavior. Again, for those who manage these conditions (most without clinical aid since, as of 2010 the condition failed to get the support of the ADA for addition into the DSM) there’s a lot of stigma that sufferers of conditions such as alcoholism or substance abuse have (largely) overcome.

The main point about writing sex-positivity is that it doesn’t detract from the story. Relationship stress, action, and violence are all still viable tools, the point to stress is that they aren’t related to the sex. Should you still choose to use sexual violence in your fictional plot, the onus of wrongdoing should remain firmly upon the perpetrator, but do take the time to research survivors’ accounts, we owe it to them.

Remember, informed consent, communication and respect between the subjects and avoidance of external judgment are cornerstones of sex-positivity. Promote healthy sexual relations and don’t lean on bad ones as a plot crutch.

Content Warning: Some mild spoilers below the Sir Terry Pratchetts Witches and Guards series, Jim Butchers Dresden Files.

Greetings! This weekend past I was at Norcon, the Norfolk TV, Film and Sci-Fi and Convention and, as is common at the events I attend, I met many wonderful people some of whom asked my advice about writing and publishing their own work. I’m always happy to share my experiences of writing and self-publishing (hence this blog) and so, as it is a subject I haven’t really covered, today I thought I’d talk about some of my favourite characters and what makes them memorable for me.

As with all things no one character is universally loved, but why? Why don’t Black Panther, or Sherlock Holmes, or Hermione Granger elicit universal love across fan-bases? The very simple answer is that the scope of human experience is vast. Cultural differences, upbringing and life experiences shape what we as fans find compelling in the characters we love. As creators it’s impossible to write a character that speaks to everyone so this blog is going to talk about a few characters who speak to me and then a little about crafting your own characters.

I’m a long-time fan of the works of Sir Terry Pratchett so, first off, I’m going to look at ‘Granny’ Esme Weatherwax. I think most of us have or have come across the stereotype of the crotchety elder, it’s a trope and one that is often used but what set’s Granny apart? Is it that she’s a Witch? Well, no. Being a witch is only a small part of Granny’s character no matter how powerful she occasionally reveals herself to be. As acerbic as she can be there are many references, especially in the Tiffany Aching books, to just how much Granny cares for people (most notably those closest to death) and that is potentially one of the reasons she closes herself off from the world at large, to protect herself. She helps those who really need it but doesn’t want everyone relying on her all the time. She’s haunted by the lessons of Black Alice and her sister Lily (both of whom abused their power and she is markedly stronger than they were). She relies (although she’d never admit it) on her long-term friendship with Gytha ‘Nanny’ Ogg to keep her grounded and to let her know if she starts ‘Cackling’. So, as much as she is a powerful witch she is a character in her own right with flaws (her stubbornness is at once her greatest flaw and greatest strength) and this is the foundation of the most memorable characters, the most commonly cited being Spider-Man.

Another character from the Pratchett stable is His Grace, Sir Samuel ‘Sam’ Vimes, Duke of Ankh and Commander of the Ankh Morpork City Watch. Sam Vimes is a copper and a character we watch as he gets dragged up from the  gutter and the lowly rank of Captain in the Watch (at a time when it has only four members) by circumstances outside his control. He combats alcoholism as surely as he chases down the villains and vagabonds of the ‘Great’ plains city (a thinly veiled contemporary for London, Victorian to Modern era). Sam Vimes relies upon his experience and a stubborn resentment for authority (even though he is the authority) to solve his crimes. Unlike most detectives in stories he’s innately distrustful of ‘clues’ and is certainly of the opinion that everyone’s guilty of something (although he views living in a slum as a far lesser crime than owning one). His dogged determination in the chase is one of his most appealing aspects but lesser than his willingness to punch up the societal ladder rather than down and his genuine embarrassment or discomfort in dealing with people who show him the deference to a rank which he never felt he deserved. One of the great developments in his personal story is becoming a father and scenes in which he flagrantly abuses his station, so he can get home in time to read his son a bed-time story are simply the joyous antithesis of the trade-mark ‘cop who puts the job over their family responsibilities’.

Moving on, Jim Butchers Harry Dresden is a private investigator and wizard in modern day Chicago who advertises in the phone book (Lost items found, no parties, no bottomless purses, no love potions). This character divides a lot of people because he is (and there’s no arguing about it) a misogynist. He repeatedly talks about ‘chivalry’ and hates to see women get hurt. He’s the owner of a massive White Knight complex and that colours most of his interactions as well as being a tool that Jim uses to get him into trouble time and time again. We watch him, through the early books, flounder from one catastrophe to the next riding a tide of ego, bravado and luck but, on the odd occasions when he does know what he’s getting into, seeing him properly prepare and go in all guns blazing is something about the series I have enjoyed. He rails against the out of touch nature of the magical establishment until he’s made a more significant part in it and has some power to affect change. I think the most significant change comes when he takes on an apprentice and, through teaching, learns more about how he uses his own power and not just via magic. Harry Dresden is a new take on the old style Gumshoe and, while he comes with many of the tropes associated with the genre, there’s a genuine desire to do good in the character despite (or perhaps because) of his flaws and failures.

As a counterpoint to Dresden Jim also introduces us to Karrin Murphy. As a police officer Karrin see’s some things that can’t be explained and finds herself transferred to the ‘Special Crimes’ unit (a department for all the unexplainable cases committed by supernatural nasties which the authorities don’t believe in). Despite this career stumbling block Karrins own dogged determination see’s her rise to command of the unit and allows her to call on Harry as a consultant. Rather than denying her experiences as impossible she’s one of the few with the self-confidence to accept the reality before her eyes and work from that. We watch Karrin struggle to work within the system against perps it doesn’t even acknowledge exist until she’s forced, eventually, to go outside the law against the predators that can’t be brought in. Karrin Murphy is a counterpoint to Dresden, she does not need nor want ‘chivalry’ or protection, she fights for herself against beings much more powerful than she is but, while Harry relies on gusto and luck ‘Murph’ believes firmly in being practical and prepared and often ingenious with the tools available to her. We get to see her interactions with her extended cop family and her real family (including her ex-husband who married her sister), see her go through triumph, loss and personal trauma. Karin Murphy is a character who refuses to be cowed by the things that go bump in the night and is determined to ‘bump’ back.

So, the important part about creating characters is not that they be perfect, far from it. One of the big issues I see come up about Superman is that he’s not a character but an ideal which, of course, is the very reason for Clarke Kent’s existence. Realistically there is no need for Kent but that is who Superman was growing up and serves to keep him tied and connected to the planet and the people he defends. Any character has to have flaws if they’re to remain someone the audience can identify with and, if we can’t identify because they’re too perfect of too flawed then they shouldn’t be the central focus of the story even if their name’s on the cover. Take figures like The Punisher, Jason Voorhee’s or Michael Myers. As a long-time fan of Frank Castle my biggest criticism of the movies and Netflix show is when they try and force character on him. All credit to Gerry Conway, John Romita Snr and Ross Adru for creating Punisher but my favourite stories about him are the one’s where he’s treated like Voorhees and Myers, seldom seen and terrifying when he is. Garth Ennis does it very well. In that way all three of these killers are not unlike the shark in Jaws, not characters but force-of-nature level threats and the stories become about the people trapped in the situation with them.

Another question that come up (particularly among younger writers) in the fantasy or sci-fi genre is ‘Are my characters too powerful?’ and I would say, as long as they’re fully developed characters, probably not. It doesn’t matter that you’re writing Superman or Zeus, you don’t need Kryptonite or Hind’s blood (according to Hercules: Legendary Journey’s) to put the MC’s ‘in peril’. A creative writer can put more than a characters body in danger, imagine if Lex Luthor engineered a situation where Superman killed Louis Lane as collateral damage. I mean, in the movies he breaks one of his father rules to bring her back when she dies in the earthquake, how much worse if it were not that he arrived too late but that it was his own fault? Another example of a near immortal protagonist that comes to mind are the stories of Lazarus Churchyard by Warren Ellis and drawn by D’Israeli. A convicted criminal, sentenced to death is experimented on and ends up as a kind of living synthetic plastic. Functionally immortal the stories of the character span take place four-hundred years after the experiments and the characters own dysfunction at his longevity are a driving force. Churchyard is actively looking for a way to die. That said, having a character with godlike power probably has a short shelf-life (as indicated by Churchyards short run) unless you are Superman but they do keep finding ways to make the Man of Steel vulnerable. It’s a classic Brawn vs Brain story, Supes vs Luthor just as the Hulk faces down the Leader time and again.

At the end of the day, powers and abilities are what a character can do, not who they are and, if your audience don’t identify with who that character is they’re not going to care about what they can do, no matter how cool you think it is. Characters don’t have to be nice either but they should have the capacity for it from time to time. I remember how I fell out of love with the show House played by Hugh Laurie, there came a point, beyond the medical procedural, when the MC’s personality stopped being entertaining as a function of the story and just became abrasive to me. Making something new is hard, but nothing worth doing for long is easy.

I love stories, this might be painfully obvious since I dedicate most of my time to creating them. But there are some special stories out there that I wanted to touch on today. I know I talk about writing and then most of the references I make in my blog relate to movies and that’s because I have things on in the background whilst I write and I have an enduring love for audio/visual stories, I try to write my book as if I were watching them on-screen.

The stories I want to talk about today are the one’s that take a contemporary setting and then introduce a fantastical element to them. These stories aren’t pure fantasy or science fiction or horror but the best of them are elegant combinations of our world with others or extraordinary tales of daring do grounded by real world themes.

The first of these that I really recognised for what it was, was a film called Big Fish (2003 – Directed by Tim Burton) starring Ewan McGregor and Albert Finney. A man nearing his death relates the fantastical story of his life to his estranged son in an attempt to reconcile their relationship. It is a bittersweet tale but one full of fantasy and wonder. Another was The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009 – Directed by Terry Gilliam), a mystical carnival attraction is brought back to life by a mysterious huckster (played by Heath Ledger and, after his sad passing, by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell). The mystical mirror which is the centre piece of the attraction offers viewers a choice between enlightenment and blessed ignorance and is the result of a deal Parnassus made with the devil centuries before. Beyond the wonderful counter play of the magical world within the mirror and the dull and superficial world outside there is the story of how three A-list performers stepped forward to help finish a project marred by the sad death of the lead actor as a tribute to a young talent taken under tragic circumstances.

There have been others and the list may not be as high-brow as the first two entries, Abraham Lincoln – Vampire Hunter (2012 – Directed by Timur Bekmambetov) and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016 – Directed by Burr Steers) while period pieces still embody the carefree combination of the ‘real’ with fantastical elements. The stirring interpretation of the Gettysburg Address in the former would not be out of place in a serious biopic piece and it’s that attention to detail that keeps bringing me back to that particular film.

There are others for sure, Pans Labyrinth (2006 – Guillermo del Torro) or the film Secondhand Lions (2003 – Tim McCanlies) and (although to a lesser extent) The Man Who Killed Hitler And Then The Bigfoot (2019 – Robert D. Krzykowski) all speak to something within and that something is, to me, that same part that compelled me to play make-believe as a child. That certain knowledge that there was more out there than the everyday which, as I grew and learned more about the world around me, started to fade through my cynical and oh-so-serious teenage years.

I love these films because of the wonder they evoke and the way in which they present alternative takes on events without apology for being anything but what they are. Another thing that I feel characterises these stories is that, as much as they strive to provoke that sense of wonder they also carry a sense of melancholy, of the loss of that same innocence and sense of wonder as we get older. And that is something I, and maybe you, are trying to rekindle in others through our stories because it is something we need to preserve. The world is a cynical place, it could always use a little more wonder in it.