When your characters change your ending

As I've mentioned before on my travel blog, I spend part of my time in Oxford. Well, I'm back up there again and working hard on a novel partially set in the city. It's been a backburner project for a year now as I've finished a horror novel, lost a writing contest, and traveled to Africa. Now I'm back at it.

Unfortunately, the first thing I realized when I set back to work was that the ending was impossible. Not bad, not trite (although it was a bit of that) but impossible. The characters as they have developed in my mind and through the course of the story would not have the interaction that would lead to the ending I had planned.

Oh crap, it was one of the best scenes in the book! But as Stephen King says, "You got to kill your babies" and this is one baby I have to kill.

So how does my novel end? I have no clear idea. I think I'll leave it up to my characters. They got me into this mess, so it's their responsibility to get me out of it.

Websites for Writers: New England Antiquities Research Association

Welcome to today's installment of Websites for Writers, where we look at sites that can inspire and inform your writing. If you want straightforward writing advice, I suggest Writing-World. Here you'll get something a little different.

Today we're looking at the New England Antiquities Research Association, a collection of amateur archaeologists, historians, and linguists with some very different ideas about New England's past. In fact, they have a whole range of ideas, united only by the belief that traditional archaeology doesn't have all the answers. The group focuses on unusual stone sites in New England. Some look like European dolmens, others are strange meandering piles of stone, others are small stone enclosures.

Some believe these sites prove that ancient Old World civilizations visited New England. Others say they're traces of a previously unrecorded advanced civilization. Some see them as Native American or evidence of a lingering paganism among Colonial settlers.

Professional archaeologists dismiss these claims and say the structures date to Colonial times, with some simply being natural formations. I have a Master's degree in archaeology, worked in the field for ten years, and have examined several of these sites, and I tend to agree. Much New Age archaeology is rooted in racism and sites such as America's Stonehenge are almost certainly early modern.

But we're writers, and we shouldn't let facts get in the way of inspiration. A look through NEARA's collection of photos and articles can inspire a whole library of story ideas. These unexplained monuments can provide a mysterious setting for your story, or even the central focus. Imagine a Dan Brown-style thriller where a fearless researcher uncovers the "truth" about New England's past, or a Lovecraftian horror where the old gods worshiped at these sites rise from their slumber, or historical fiction where a settler becomes curious about these sites and gets accused of witchcraft. Beyond story ideas, what this website teaches us is that there's always more than one way to look at a body of evidence, that the past is owned and used by the present for its own purposes. And all of our characters have a past.

For a good primer, check out Daniel V. Boudillion's Picture Glossary of New England Lithic Constructions. I like this website because Boudillion takes a more pragmatic view, seeing the sites as a mixture of Native American, Colonial, Neopagan, and just plain inspiring.

Image of the Oley Hills site southwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Swordplay for writers

In my last post I wrote about attending Eastercon, a fantasy/sf/horror convention at Heathrow. I spent most of my time in the dealers room or drinking with old friends and new, but I did get a chance to attend some panels. The most interesting for a writer was one presented by Steve Kilbane titled "Swordplay for Writers".

Having written a fair number of sword fights myself, I found this interesting. I fenced in university, but poking someone with an epee doesn't teach you anything about slashing with a saber or cleaving with a claymore.

This is something Mr. Kilbane stressed throughout his talk, that different types of swords are used in very different ways, and different styles of fighting don't mesh well. Styles of fighting are very specific to location and place, and thus you won't have the huge variety of swords that you often see in bad fantasy fiction. One memorable quote was when he said, "The story defines the culture, which defines the types of fights, which defines the types of swords you have."

Think about that. If you are writing fantasy you have to decide what kinds of fights are the norm. Do regular people carry swords? If so, they are expected to be willing and able to use them. But in what contexts? Are tavern brawls a nightly occurrence, or do people engage in formal duels? Are a large percentage of civilians in the militia? Do people generally fight mounted or on foot? In the case of fantasy you get to make up the culture, but you still need to be specific about what kinds of swords there are, or even a superficially knowledgeable reader will see right through your world.

Historical fiction is easier, because there's source material you can use. Even here, though, you have to be careful. There are a lot of nice paintings of Civil War cavalry charges or hand-to-hand combat where people are using sabers, but in reality this occurred very rarely. Most cavalry raiders dispensed of the army-issued saber and carried more revolvers, which are much deadlier in close combat. In the British navy in the 18th century, men were supposed to fire their flintlock pistol, then drop it and draw their cutlass, until a wise officer realized that you could hold your cutlass in your right hand and fire your pistol with your left. Once fired, the pistol became a handy club. Some people objected to using their left hand since the shot wouldn't be as accurate, but on a closely packed deck, even if you didn't hit the person you aimed at, you would probably hit his buddy right behind him.

Training in swordsmanship was usually very specific, with soldiers getting a more general education than civilians, who only got what they paid for. Still, most trained fighters only knew one or at most a few styles, and if faced with someone of a different style would find himself at a loss. Mr. Kilbane made the point that one of the toughest opponents is a desperate untrained man, who is likely to do all sorts of strange things and end up hurting you before you killed him!

The talk also included a lot of demonstrations of particular weapons such as the longsword and a basket-hilted sword. The details of this go beyond the scope of this post, and would really need an accompanying video. The best thing to do if you want to truly understand swordsmanship is to A: do a lot of reading, and B: take it up as a sport!

The image is of a saber duel between German students, c. 1900, painting by Georg Mühlberg (1863-1925), copyright has expired. Courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

My novel is a finalist in Dorchester's "Fresh Blood" contest!

December is turning out to be a good month. Not only did a short story of mine get published, but my horror novel, A Fine Likeness, is one of ten finalists in Dorchester Publishing's "Fresh Blood" contest. Grand prize: publication in mass market paperback and limited edition hardcover. Sweet!

I knocked out a pile of other entries, now I have to knock out these other folks. There will be several rounds over the coming months on Dorchester's website where we put up plot summaries, first chapters, etc. Each month the person who gets the least votes from the public gets eliminated until only the "Fresh Blood" is left standing. Talk about extended stress!

My novel is set during three weeks of the Civil War in Missouri, and other than the main characters and various paranormal events, most of the events and people are real. Here's the back cover blurb.

A Confederate guerrilla and a Union captain discover there’s something more dangerous in the woods than each other.

A Fine Likeness is a tale of two enemies struggling with inner demons, and discovering they face a far more tangible one. Jimmy Rawlins is a teen-aged bushwhacker who leads his friends on ambushes of Union patrols. They join forces with infamous guerrilla leader Bloody Bill Anderson on a raid through Missouri in support of a Confederate invasion, but Jimmy questions his commitment to the Southern Cause when he discovers this madman plans to sacrifice a Union prisoner in a hellish ritual to raise the Confederate dead.

Richard Addison is an aging captain of a lackluster Union militia. Depressed over his son’s death in battle, a glimpse of Jimmy changes his life. Jimmy and his son look so much alike that Addison becomes obsessed with saving him from Bloody Bill’s clutches. Addison must wreck his reputation to win this war within a war, while Jimmy must betray the Confederacy and his friends to stop the evil arising in the woods of Missouri.

I got a short story accepted!

The new horror publisher Damnation Books has accepted one of my short stories for publication. It's a story set during the Dano-Prussian War of 1864 (coincidentally the same year my horror novel is set in) and is titled "Dannevirke" after the old Viking ramparts the Danes tried to defend against the invading Prussians. I liked the idea of a 1,000 year-old fortification being used in a more modern battle, and that set my mind to thinking.

I'm very happy because this story only garnered three rejections before landing an acceptance. I've sent them another story, of course, but I won't hear back from them for a while.

What's interesting with Damnation Books is that while they only publish short stories in electronic format, they actually pay a semipro rate of three cents a word for them. I know of no other electronic publisher who does this. Even many print magazines pay less. This must be getting them an avalanche of submissions, which is good for them because they can pick the best (ahem). I'm not sure when my story will be published but I'll be sure to mention it here.

Stuck with Jesse James, Part 2

In my last post, I talked about how I had to deal with Jesse James, a famous historical figure who I had to have in my novel but who I didn't want to dominate it. I managed to keep him and his brother Frank from stealing the limelight for the whole book by letting them steal the limelight for a couple of scenes.

That worked, but I have a new problem. The novel they were in is the first in an anticipated trilogy, and the more I map out the plot for the next two books the more realize just how entangled I am with the James brothers. The second book takes place in Missouri in the months right after the Civil War, and the third also occurs in Missouri, this time in the late 1860s, the very time Frank and Jesse James were turning themselves into the most famous outlaws in American history. Since one of my main characters already knows them, it's hard to ignore them, especially with the plot as I have it.

These guys are insidious! You can't have a novel set in post-war Missouri that doesn't deal with the James brothers. They affected the entire state. And what's more, they are fascinating characters. Both were hardened Confederate guerrillas who claimed they were fighting for the Lost Cause and had been driven to outlawry because of Yankee persecution. The fact was, they weren't persecuted after the war, but they did occasionally take revenge on former Union officers.

I've read a couple of the better biographies and a lot of primary source material and the more I learn about these two the more multifaceted they appear to be. The simple myth of them being American Robin Hoods is an enduring one, but the reality is even more fascinating.

I guess that's what makes a good story.

Stuck with Jesse James, Part 1

On another blog I contribute to, I was talking about how I dealt with weaving fictional characters into a historical background in my Civil War novel. One unanticipated problem I had was what to do with America's most famous outlaws.

I wanted one of my fictional protagonists, a Confederate guerrilla, meet up with Bloody Bill Anderson, a very real and very bloodthirsty guerrilla leader who terrorized Missouri. The book takes place in 1864 when Bloody Bill was on his deadliest rampage. He's an interesting character and the events surrounding him in that year make for good fiction.

The problem was, riding in his guerrilla band were two brothers from Clay County named Frank and Jesse James. At this time they hadn't achieved fame; they were just better-than-average guerrillas. But any fan of Civil War or Wild West history (i.e., my core readership) would know that they were riding with Bloody Bill at this time.

I didn't want them to dominate the plot, but I couldn't ignore them either. So I decided on a happy medium and put them in a few scenes (such as the Centralia Massacre, which may have been their first train robbery) and then gave them one kick-ass gunfight. Being who they are, they tend to dominate any scene they are in, but by limiting the number of scenes I keep the focus of the book from shifting to them. Rather, I use them as foils to compare with the morals and abilities of my protagonist.

And since Frank James liked to quote Shakespeare, I got to throw in some telling quotes from the Bard that illuminate my protagonist's condition. I lifted them from a handy website. There's nothing like a quick bit of Internet research to make you look more educated than you are!

Character Quirks

I recently came across a writing blog called "Hey, There's A Dead Guy in the Living Room: Mystery Publishing from Idea to Bookshelf". They had an excellent post on character quirks, the strange little habits and idiosyncrasies that we all have and our characters should have to make them seem real.

Quirks can tell a lot about a person, or may simply be another identifier so the reader can follow the action in a crowded scene. Quirks can even have some greater symbolism. In my Civil War horror novel one of my main characters is a fifty-year-old captain in the Enrolled Missouri Militia. Now anyone who has read up on the Civil War in Missouri knows this Union militia got their ass kicked on a regular basis. Well, this guy is no exception, especially in the beginning of the book. He has two main quirks--he loves riding and he gets lower back pain any time he rides for long periods of time. Getting old, you see. The war has worsened this condition because he has to be in the saddle most of every day. Never an ardent Unionist, our hero is now losing the enjoyment of his favorite activity because of a war he hates.

This isn't a major part of the plot or even particularly important to it, although it does put him in a foul mood much of the time. What it does do is give symbolic example of the weakness of the Union militia and highlight our hero's dislike of the conflict.

So when you're writing up characters, try to think of some quirks. It makes the reading, and the writing, a lot more fun.

Taking Stock of my Novel-in-Progress

I'm now halfway through my novel-in-progress, a horror story set in Civil War Missouri. With 170 pages (42,000 words) done, it's time to take a breather and do a serious edit on what I already have before I continue.

I'm very happy with the project's forward momentum. I started on Jan. 2, after writing it in my head for a couple of months. Not starting to write immediately after I got the concept really helped me get a coherent idea of the story, and helped get a lot down on paper in a short time.

But now that I'm halfway through, I have an even better idea of what my story is about and where it should be going. So now I'm going back and filling in some details, adding a few more plot elements, and enriching some of the description. While I'm tempted to keep shooting along to the end, my gut feeling tells me I need to tighten the first half before forging ahead with the second. And as an author I've learned to trust my gut feelings.

Making the Landscape a Character

One of the more interesting comments I've received from my writers group lately is about the horror novel I'm working on, set in Civil War Missouri. The critiquer said, "If you want the landscape to be a character, then you need to describe it in more detail."

He's right, and until he said it I hadn't realized that my landscape is a major character. Missouri's Civil War was very different than most other regions'. The Union quickly conquered the state, but spent the rest of the war fighting bloody and determined bands of guerrillas. One of my main characters is a guerrilla leader, the other is a Union captain trying to hunt him down. They see Missouri's thick woodland in very different ways. The guerrilla lives in the woods. Its dense underbrush and hidden paths keep him safe. The captain, like the real Union troops from the real war, hates it. He can see barely fifty feet into it, and every time he tries to make it to the next town he's liable to receive a volley of gunfire erupting from the thick foliage crowding in on the road.

So I need to describe the forest and its creatures in as much detail as my human characters. This is something to keep in mind with all fiction, and a great deal of nonfiction as well. How does the terrain affect the story? How does it make the characters feel? How does it affect the way they act? What kind of atmosphere does it lend to the story? As writers, we have to remember that not all our characters are human.