Laser and Sword
November 30, 2009
An online quarterly, Laser and Sword publishes episodic short fiction involving traditional heroes.
n Pay: $10 per story
n Word count (maximum): None given
n Seeks: Episodic short fiction involving traditional heroes. Editors hold to a “Christian worldview”; according to the Laser Web site, “This does not mean that a story will not ruffle someone’s theological feathers or that all the characters are Saints. But rather, we believe in a right and wrong and absolute truth, and absolute good and evil. That will be reflected in the stories we tell.” Fantasy, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Adventure/Action Hero serial fiction.
n Doesn’t want: Omniscient narrators; Tom Swifties; post-modern heroes.
n Reading periods: Deadlines for issues are the 15th of February, May, August, and November.
n E-mail to: E-Query first with an outline for a series of at least three short stories.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2009 Rob Bignell
Tags:
getting published, hero, submitting your story
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Focus character
July 26, 2008
If you’ve done any reading about story writing, you’ve probably noticed that there are quite a number of terms for types of characters. As stories can be constructed in many, many different ways, several terms are needed to describe a specific kind of character unique to a way of telling a tale. Sometimes when analyzing a story, a special term is needed to so a character can be understood within a certain context.
One such term you might run across is “focus character”. This is the character for who the readers most care, even when he’s not in the scene. It’s a term used in critiques and writers workshops, most notably the Cambridge Science Fiction Workshop.
Focus characters usually are the story’s main character, protagonist or hero. Luke Skywalker is the focus character in “Star Wars IV: A New Hope”. Hiro Protagonist is the focus character of Neal Stephenson’s novel “Snow Crash”. However, a focus character doesn’t always have to be the main character. In ensemble casts, such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, the viewer cares for Data, Riker, Worf and others just as much as they do Captain Picard, who usually is the story’s traditional hero. In many episodes, Picard is the not the main character at all.
Like most main characters and protagonists, focus characters possess three traits:
n They have distinct personalities - Luke Skywalker, for example, longs for adventure and meaningfulness in his life during “Star Wars IV”. In contrast, Princess Leia would like nothing more than peace and stability in her life while Obi Wan Kenobi already has a purpose and Han Solo has not desire for it.
n They further the story’s themes - “Star Wars IV” theme of gaining maturity (and hence success) through purpose and self-discipline is played out by Luke’s adventure.
n They interact with other focus characters in the story -Viewers also care about the fate of Princess Leia, Obi Wan, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2D2 and CP30 in “Star Wars IV”. Luke’s quest involves his cooperation with each of these characters.
You Do It
Have your focus character write a letter of introduction to the reader. What is the inner struggle that the character faces? What are his motivations in this struggle? Who are his allies in his cause? Be sure to give him a distinct personality and to make him likeable.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
character, hero, main character, protagonist
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Evils of duality
June 15, 2008
When developing a storyline about a main character overcoming a problem, some writers fall into the trap of creating an adversary who personifies evil. In doing so, the theme and plot of the story is reduced to the level of good guys vs. bad guys.
This oversimplification is known as “evils of duality”, which is when the theme is presented as a simple dichotomy of ideas.
We’ve all seen and read such stories; they dominate science fiction television shows and motion pictures. The theme has a number of variations, including empire vs. resistance (“Star Wars IV: A New Hope”), spacers vs. earthers (rip-offs off Isaac Asimov’s “The Caves of Steel”) and us vs. them (the television show “The Invaders”).
While such reductionism can make great action-adventure stories, it also robs the tales of potential richness. Consider “Star Trek: The Original Series” episode “Balance of Terror” in which a Romulan ship makes surprise raids on Federation outposts to test new weapons. Rather than remaining a submarine story set in space with the good Captain Kirk vs. the villainous Romulan commander, the episode aims for something higher. We learn that the Romulan commander is torn between his sense of duty and his disgust with his government that it is seeking another war. The Romulan commander must deal with a subordinate who has blind loyalty to the government and the potential loss of his ship and its crewmembers. We learn much about the nature of war and its effect on people thanks to this approach. Of course, characters can think in such dualistic terms, and they do in “Balance of Terror”. The Romulan commander has his subordinate, and Captain Kirk has a bigoted navigator. This usually is a sign of those minor characters’ narrow thinking, however, and is used for dramatic tension as he main characters deal with the story’s deeper issues.
In any case, your story’s universe should be broader than your character’s thinking. Real life is a series of clear black and white issues. There’s lots of fuzzy gray. As a writer, it’s your job to explore that unclear gray. Your readers will appreciate it.
You Do It
Go back to the piece you wrote for the “Narrator” entry about your hero defending Earth from alien invasion. Now expand on the story by developing a member of the alien invasion force who has a personal conflict with what he is doing. Write at least a 100-word scene in which this alien character must decide if he will participate in the invasion or not.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
hero, theme, villain
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Narrator
June 14, 2008
Arguably the most important “character” in your story isn’t its hero but the narrator – the person who tells the tale.
The narrator can be the story’s hero, as in Hannu Rajaniemi’s "Deux ex Homine":
As gods go, I wasn’t one of the holier-than-thou, dying for your sins variety. I was a full-blown transhumanist deity with a liquid metal body, an external brain, clouds of self-replicating utility fog to do my bidding and a recursively self-improving AI slaved to my volition. I could do anything I wanted. I wasn’t Jesus , I was Superman: an evil Bizarro Superman.
On occasion, the narrator is another character in the story, who observes what occurs to the hero, as in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, in which Watson tells how Holmes solves the mystery:
[Holmes] was a man of habits... and I had become one of them... a comrade... upon whose nerve he could place some reliance... a whetstone for his mind. I stimulated him... If I irritated him by a certain methodical slowness in my mentality, that irritation served only to make his own flame-like intuitions and impressions flash up the more vividly and swiftly. Such was my humble role in our alliance.
Often the narrator isn’t even a character in the story but the author’s persona, as in Stephen Baxter’s “Lakes of Light”:
The door of Bicansa’s car opened. A creature climbed our cautiously. In a bright orange pressure suit, its body was low-slung, supported by four limbs as thick as tree trunks. Even through the suit Pala could make out immense bones at hips and shoulders, and massive joints along the spine. It lifted its head and looked into the car. Through a thick visor Pala could make out a face – thick-jawed, flattened, but a human face nonetheless. The creature nodded once. Then it turned and, moving heavily, carefully, made its way toward the colony and its lake of light.
Who you select as the story’s narrator is vital. The narrator holds a unique position among readers, possessing an air of authority. Because of this, the narrator shapes the reader’s attitudes. Choose the wrong narrator, and you risk the reader interpreting events in a way you don’t intend.
Another note of caution: be careful of not imposing yourself too much if the narrator is your persona. If you directly insert too many of your views rather than let the characters’ action demonstrate your view, the story will be weakened.
You Do It
Write a 100-word scene in which the hero must rescue the Earth from alien invasion. Narrate the story from the hero’s point of view. Now rewrite the piece so it’s told either from the point of view of another character in the story who observes the hero or from the author’s perspective. Which of the two pieces is better? Why? How does selection of the narrator influence the piece’s effectiveness?
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality.
(c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
hero, main character, pointof view
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Main character
June 5, 2008
Typically a story is about a single character who must overcome some problem. This player in your story is called the main character. Common examples in science fiction are Luke Skywalker in “Star Wars IV: A New Hope”, Ender Wiggin in Orson Scott Card’s “Ender’s Game” and Neo in “The Matrix”.
Main characters usually are the hero of the story. The tale often is told from their viewpoint.
Quality main characters typically: n Possess likeable traits but also have a major flaw - Your main character may be brave, intelligent, a natural leader and handsome, but he also ought to be indecisive, obsessed, or hold some other negative quality. Your character runs the risk of being melodramatic (or too perfect) if he doesn’t possess some flaw. Such stories may be fun for kids to read (and possibly even instructive for them) but is not a believable story for an even slightly discerning adult reader.
n Faces a challenge that attacks him at his weakest point: his major flaw -To succeed, the main character should must grow and develop in such a way that he confronts and overcomes his major flaw. Oftentimes, to overcome his major flaw, he must surrender something of “inestimable value” to himself. In exchange, by overcoming this inner conflict the main character should gain something of inestimable worth. Such challenges maximize tension in a story and allows the reader to take something with him when he’s finished the story.
n Overcomes conflicts that allows him to grow - All conflicts the main character faces should serve to point or direct him toward ultimately overcoming his major flaw. By overcoming such challenges, the main character inches closer to realizing what he must do to solve his major flaw, which in turn allows him to overcome the problem that set the story in the motion.
n Don’t give up - Main characters almost always fight to main control of their lives. They want to determine their own destiny.
You Do It
Create a main character by opening a magazine to a random page and writing about the model on that page as if he/she were the hero facing a major problem. Give the character a major flaw that would make solving the problem difficult. For example, to overcome a villain, the main character must address his major flaw of not believing his involvement can make a difference.
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality. (c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
hero, main character, protagonist
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