ThePoetSky Archive

When writing the plot, something will be against the main characters. The question is, is it a villain, an antagonist, or an obstacle? I didn’t understand the difference until it was explained to me, but it makes a lot of sense when explained well. The show Person of Interest has great examples of all three. If you’ve never seen it, I highly recommend watching it.

An obstacle is something that stands in the way of the main character. In Person of Interest, like in most stories focused around a vigilante, this tends to be the police. They aren’t actively out to stop the main character specifically, they’re just doing their job. They’re certainly not evil like a villain, but they do get in the way of the main character. This makes them an obstacle, but not an antagonist or a villain.

There’s a thin line between antagonist and villain. An antagonist is a character that is actively trying to stop the main characters from achieving their goal. A competing romantic interest in a romance movie is an antagonist. They’re not evil like a villain, but their wants are in opposition to those of the protagonists, making them more than an obstacle. The difference between an antagonist and a sympathetic villain is that a competing romantic interest isn’t necessarily sympathetic. We’re not supposed to like them. Going back to Person of Interest, Detective Carter starts the series as an antagonist, and a sympathetic one at that. She’s still doing her job, but she’s taken a special interest in the main characters, enough so that they have to avoid getting close to her. The detective that’s above the rest and wants to bring a vigilante to justice, arguably like Commissioner Gordon in the Batman comics, is always an antagonist.

A villain is… well, a villain. They are evil. Maybe not pure evil, but their methods are questionable at best. They probably have no issue with killing people, or are happy to get others to do it for them. The character Simmons in Person of Interest is a villain. The corrupt cop whose dealings the main characters always stop comes up often in vigilante stories as well, as do mob bosses and gang leaders whose plans the vigilante foils time and time again. Cluny the Scourge from Redwall, Visser Three from Animorphs, the Emperor from Star Wars, and Voldemort from Harry Potter are all villains.

There are a lot of ways to challenge your protagonist and create drama. Having a villain is arguably the easiest approach, but not the only one. As always, pick the approach that works best for your story. Like all tools, this is only meant to show the possibilities, not provide a mold to which your story must conform. Pick your idea, then start writing.

#Essay #Villains

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

Growing up, I had problems controlling my anger. When I’d feel slighted, or that someone had broken the rules, I’d get angry. I’d lash out, yell, even get into fights. I didn’t think I could help it. The wave of anger would come on before I knew it was happening, and then it’d have control.

As children often do, I saw the world in simple terms. Being angry meant I was bad. As I grew older, that evolved from “bad” to “bad guy”. I was the bad guy, a villain, because good guys didn’t get angry like that.

I write a lot of poems as messages to myself and people like me. Anger is Okay is another such poem. I’m sure my parents tried to explain it to me, but it never stuck. But I hope my words will stick for someone else.

Anger doesn’t make you a villain, it makes you human. It might be hard to see when you’re the only one who reacts the way you do, but there’s nothing wrong with you. That’s what I’ve learned. And as I’ve grown, I’ve learned that I can control it. I still get angry, but I’ve found better ways to handle it than lashing out at people.

Most people that know me now have never seen me angry, not like I used to be. It got easier to manage as I grew up. I hope I can help other people see that too.

#StoryBehind

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

Villains come in all varieties, but one of the big questions to ask is sympathetic or pure evil? A sympathetic villain is one whose motives are not only clear, but we think “Yeah, I can understand that”. Pure evil is self-explanatory. That’s the kind of villain that doesn’t cuddle puppies, but kicks them. Hungry? That baby’s candy looks delicious, and its tears will probably taste good too. There are great examples of each in literature.

In Redwall, Cluny the Scourge is pure evil. He wants to rule the world, and will happily kill anyone that gets in his way. In Animorphs, Visser Three has a bad habit of decapitating his underlings. Visser’s in a bad mood? Decapitated. Didn’t take off fast enough? Decapitated. Interrupted the Visser? Decapitated. While both of them are pure evil, we understand their motives. Cluny isn’t given a backstory, but we accept what he’s doing. He’s built up as a nightmare, a legend, a force that conquers the world. We don’t need more than that. But saying “That one’s pure evil” isn’t enough to make your audience believe it. You have to make your readers feel it. The name “Visser Three” looks evil to me, because this was done well.

In Wings of Fire, Darkstalker is a sympathetic villain. We see him talk to Moonwatcher and show her his vision of a better world he wants. The way he gets there is what makes him a villain. He’s been corrupted by his power, believes his way is right, and isn’t good at listening. We don’t want to see him killed by the heroes, we want to see him realize the errors of his ways. Sympathetic villains walk the line between antagonist and villain, a distinction I’ll talk about more in depth next week.

When writing either a pure evil or sympathetic villain, it’s important not to skip on motivation. Their motives should be clear to the readers, even if not clear to the main characters. The choice depends on the story you want to write. Classic fairy tales often have pure evil villains so the choice is easy. Sympathetic villains should be used if you want your readers to think more about it. It’s your writing, so it’s your choice.

#Essay #Villains #Characters

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

I describe the past several months of my life as the COVID-19 Fever Dream. It’s not always bad, but it’s a far cry from good. The other day, I watched news reports from the start of the pandemic. I laughed at politicians saying “this will go away on its own” or “by July, we’ll be better than ever”.

Despite their optimism and lack of foresight, in August, it’s still going. In September, as I’m writing this, it’s still going. We still wear masks to go outside. We still can’t gather like we used to. There are no arts festivals that I love so much. Schools have reopened on a hybrid model (at least where my son goes to school).

In spite of the vast differences, looking back at the start of it, I was scared. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but seeing people pulling together gave me such hope for the future. Not just where we are, but where we’re going.

I wrote We’re Surviving Together to reflect that hope, and spread it to others that might be feeling hopeless. I know it’s hard, harder for most than it is for me, I imagine. But now is the time to stick together. Together, we can overcome anything. I know we can.

#StoryBehind

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

I talked last week about discovery writing. This week, I’m going to delve into some of the pros and cons of outlining that I’ve found. I won’t go into outlining techniques yet, but leave that for another post.

Outlining has the advantage of giving a broader sense of the story. You can map out the plot, figure out what has to happen when, and write it out without as much concern about the overhead. This also means if you don’t like the part you’re on, you can skip it and come back to it later. After all, you already know what happened in the parts before it. With a broader view, you can also see any problems earlier than you would with discovery writing.

As I’ve found time and again with outlining, it has a major downside: what happens when the plot changes? Well, you update the outline. Again, and again, and again. Sometimes, you completely forget about it, and the outline falls behind the actual story. Some people are dedicated outliners. They keep the outline next to them while writing and follow it exactly. But for those of us that deviate from it from time to time, we tend to forget to update it. This isn’t a big disadvantage, just something extra to handle.

Like discovery writing, outlining has pros and cons. It all depends on what works for you. Like there was no one that could tell me what would work for me, I can’t tell you what will work for you. Try both approaches, or, like I tend to do, try a hybrid approach. Like most writers will tell you, the best way to improve is to practice.

#Essay #Planning

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

In the past two years, I’ve been to four funerals or wakes. I always learn so much about people that I didn’t know before. How much they cared for everyone. How different they were beneath the mask of a smile. How truly loved they were.

Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away a few days ago. This time, I didn’t expect to know anything about her. But like all the other times, I wish I’d known more.

I found out Friday night while looking through videos for the news. Right there, at the top of the list, was “Remembering Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dead at 87”. I stared at the title, unable to believe it. I was in shock. Not only because I knew what was coming next, but because I knew how wonderful she was. Of course, as everyone finds something good to say about her, I’ve learned so much more.

My favorite story about her was one of the Supreme Court cases she argued for the ACLU. She said “I knew that I was speaking to men who didn’t think there was any such thing as gender-based discrimination and my job was to tell them it really exists”. And she won that case. Like trying to convince blind men that there were problems in the world they couldn’t see.

I wrote Remembering a Bright Glow in memory of her. That extraordinary person that changed the world, making it a better place for millions. No matter what happens next, we must never forget her.

#StoryBehind

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

When planning out a story, there are two approaches: discovery and outlining. Discovery is making up the story as you go, whereas outlining involves creating an outline for the story. Each one has advantages and disadvantages. As always, I’m only going to scratch the surface a little, this week with discovery writing, next week with outlining.

I’ve found discovery writing to be helpful when writing because I come up with ideas while writing that I didn’t while outlining. The biggest one I can think of was in Cherry Champion. After Hermione followed Rose’s example and ran in to try to stop the Death Eaters at the World Cup, she became traumatized. My idea was that it would come up throughout her year at Hogwarts, but I couldn’t figure out where to begin. After being stuck on that for nearly a month, I started writing the next chapter, making it up as I went. I started with her parents’ reaction to it, and soon realized there was no way they were about to let her return to Hogwarts. That shaped the rest of the story in a way I never thought about until I’d written it.

The biggest disadvantage of discovery writing is that it requires going back to fix it once you’ve written it. While this is typical of second and third passes, it happens a lot more with discovery writing. The pieces written at different times might not always fit together, because there’s no guiding outline to keep them consistent. Thus, entire chapters might have to be changed to keep it consistent. This isn’t as big a deal when writing a novel; it’s expected to rewrite it several times. But without an outline to look at and see problems beforehand, more time might be spent rewriting than would otherwise.

These are just some of the advantages and disadvantages of discovery writing that I’ve found while writing. Other writers will share different experiences. I tend toward discovery writing because if I focus too much on fleshing out an outline, I get stuck and can’t write. With the exception of year one, all of Girl in Red has an outline, but those outlines weren’t always followed. I’ll talk more about the advantages and disadvantages of outlining next week.

#Essay #Planning

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

Many of my friends are stubborn, specifically when it comes to accepting help. They insist they don’t want my help, whether paying for something or reaching something on a high shelf. At least when watching them reach a high shelf, I’ve learned to sit back and watch, providing commentary as needed.

I’m well off enough in life, and I like to help people. So I’d offer to pay for something, usually a meal. Arguing over the check is simply something my family does, my mom and grandma in particular, so it always seemed natural to me.

As often happens when I emerge from my bubble, I learned that this isn’t exactly a normal thing. In particular, I learned that my friends don’t want me to pay for anything, because they want to do it themselves.

I wrote I’m Here If You Need Me as a reflection back on this. Especially in a time when everyone needs help (For those reading this in the future and don’t know to what I’m referring, look up COVID-19). I’m still available to help people, but I know better than to try helping them before they ask. So now I’m saying “I’m here if you need me”.

And I always will be.

#StoryBehind

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

In many stories that focus around children or teenagers, it suddenly falls to them to save the world. In Harry Potter, Animorphs, and Wings of Fire teenagers suddenly find themselves responsible for the fate of the world. That leaves the question any responsible adult would ask: Where are the adults? Why aren’t they taking care of this? Why is it down to children or teenagers to save the world? I’m going to look at a few different approaches, but one I’m going to intentionally skip is that the adults are too incompetent to do it.

In Harry Potter, Harry is “the chosen one”. This is a cheap trick to explain away this problem. A prophecy claims someone has to change the world. No choice. No adults allowed. Otherwise, there’s no reason this person is doing this alone. As with all cheap tricks, they’re overused, because they’re easy. Fate says it has to be this way, so there’s no need to explain what qualifies – or forces – them to do the job. Further, the adults in Harry Potter are mostly absent from the main conflicts. A prophecy said that Harry has to defeat Voldemort, and everyone’s so afraid of him, that for the most part, they don’t try. I’m oversimplifying this, but the point is that Harry Potter takes a bad approach to this, and there are far better ways to do this.

The series Wings of Fire plays with this a little. There’s still a prophecy, but the main characters decide that if people are all expecting them to save the world, then they’ll do it their own way. They are in the unique position of being the only dragons (all the characters are dragons) that know about members of other tribes. In the midst of a war pushing two decades, this puts them in a unique position to save the world. But the adults outside of the war want to help them and keep them safe.

This is similar to the approach in Animorphs. The series follows a group of teenagers that were chosen to fight an alien invasion by virtue of being in the right place at the right time. They met another alien that told them about the invasion, making them the only humans who know about it. In this sense, they are “the chosen ones”, but chosen not by fate or destiny, but by another fighter in the war. Like in Wings of Fire, there’s no one they can trust to help them. Once their parents find out about the war, they offer their support, showing that they care about what happens to the main characters.

In Girl in Red, Hermione was the one that had to be involved in their war, despite protests from everyone from her parents to Dumbledore. As in Animorphs, she was chosen by another combatant (Rose) to fight an enemy only they understood, because it was too dangerous to reveal anything about said enemy. But this didn’t stop her parents from worrying, nor from the adults trying to help. It wasn’t that fate said it had to be this way, it was something about her and the people she knew. When children in particular read books about other people their age saving the world, they like to imagine that they can too. I think it’s better to teach them that there’s something special about them that they could use to save the world, rather than to teach them that one person is chosen for this for no reason. It’s also important that they know they can go to adults for help, even when they think they can’t.

When writing about younger characters tackling grownup problems, at the very least, the grownups should be protesting. If not, finding other ways to show that they care can go a long way, not only to develop the characters and their families and friends, but to improve the quality of your story. If you’re going to have children or teenagers saving the world, it should be because there’s something special about them, not because the adults are incompetent.

#Essay #Characters #Heroes #YoungCharacters

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA

One night at FBC open mic, as I was heading up to the stage, my friend Tim, who was up after me, jokingly asked me to stall. I said “Yeah, I’ll read the dictionary or something”.

That got me thinking, as I often do when it comes to poetry. Random thoughts dig in and make me wonder about what I can do with them. This time, I wondered if I could write a poem as a series of dictionary entries.

I sat down one day later that week, grabbed my dictionary and thesaurus, and started flipping through them. I had the idea in my head for another parenting poem. As I found the entries, I jotted them down, then set to work getting them to rhyme.

Some of the entries in Responsibilities are straight out of the dictionary or thesaurus. Others were tweaked a little to get them to rhyme. In the end, I had a dictionary poem. Not only did I have that, but I had a reminder of what’s important in life. Taking care of my family, keeping them entertained, and keeping a roof over our heads were all part of it.

Never dismiss any idea you have when writing. You never know when it might lead to something new.

#StoryBehind

© 2023 Sky Starlight CC BY-NC-SA