I used to go to a certain story critiquing site to get my work evaluated. It was the usual mosh of useful observation, petulant egos, and bland "I like its" as you would expect. I have always been concerned about keeping up my due diligence in groups or classes where it was required to reciprocate the critiques. There was a fellow on there who seemed to be posting quite prolifically in the fantasy categories. I put some time into this kids work because as much as he wrote he was clearly determined to be good at what he did and I respect that. He could put together a sentence and he created some intriguing images but he had one massive flaw in his technique that I could not seem to get anyone else to see.
Every story, every snippet of plot and dialogue was related to some magic weapon the main character possessed. It was usually a katana and being used to confront a dragon in his own lair. Make no mistake this awesome super cool katana blade was the headliner. The main character was generically noble and seemed to be the chauffeur for his miraculous weapon. And if he were writing for an audience of regular old souvenir store katanas he would likely have had a hit. But he wasn't, he was and I hope somewhere else continues to write for people, There is a reason why The Sword of Shannara was not written from the swords point of view.
I am as big a fan of magical super weapons as anyone, but only as a tool, not as the hero of the piece. You remember that time when you were a kid riding your bike and you tried that daredevil stunt that first busted your ass, bloodied your nose or tore your gooch? Yeah, so does everybody else. It's a moment most of us have in common and that is the power of a story; to evoke an emotional memory. I know that feeling. I've been there. When you feel like you and the hero have that thing in common, you relate to them and you will follow them through the landscape of any book. And you'll do it because that's your story after you get your lead character.
Super intelligent, lightning bolt wielding flying swords are great, that's why everybody has one. But if you want to make people follow you through 200-600 pages of novel with this super bad ass, Its got to be because they are invested in the person carrying the sword. We all get failure, we all get hardship, we all know fear and we can all be inspired and that's what people love about their heroes...or anti heroes. So for those of you out there having growing pains in your craft think about that as you write your 3 dozen story beginnings or your intense climactic scenes that fill up your desk top with word icons. Show me the humanity, and I'll follow you to hell.
William Tooker lives in Ohio where he labors away in the tech support coal mines of Hilliard. He has written the Horror Novel "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and is currently working on his ongoing Series The Invisible Society. Will is also co-founder and head writer of Creephouse Comics with Kevin Gentilcore as well as the Writer for Matt Campbell's Mythica saga from CCP Comics. Will also has projects going in film and video and wants his work to be seen on your book shelf.
You can find him @ his Amazon Author Page also: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_tc_2_0?rh=i%3Astripbooks%2Ck%3AWilliam+Tooker&keywords=William+Tooker&ie=UTF8&qid=1337271576&sr=1-2-ent&field-contributor_id=B005NU588G
Oh too too true. It makes me wonder about my own fantasy novel to be honest. Fantasy is tough because you aren't relying on REAL experiences (so to speak) to draw in the reader. It's the emotions you have to evoke as real and worthy of connecting to. To apply my own novel, my main character wants to learn what she is capable of but her mom fears what may happen if she does. It's the determination of wanting to learn about herself (while not completely rebelling against her family) that I am hoping captures the reader. What ends up happening is the very thing people feared - that her abilities would take her down psychologically - actually happens and then it's a different battle. With that said, I am hoping the desire and danger of the freedom of learning who you are comes across in the book. Thank you for a great post!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a piece grounded in human relationships. I can see that being very powerful as long as you write it honestly. If you have the courage to bare your soul in your writing and change names people will absolutely connect with it. And thanks for reading!
ReplyDeleteIn the RP have Dungeons and Dragons there are very rare weapons (usually swords of one sort or another) that are endowed (by the gods) with a certain modicum of intelligence and a will to see their desire carried out, whatever that might be. Such a dimension can add a lot of fun to the game since the Dungeon Master is constantly telling the player, 'no, you sword wants to go to (whatever)' and there is a roll of the dice to decide who wins the contest of wills. However, I really can't see an entire story told from the POV of a sword. Having an intelligence and a will is not enough to fuel a personality, and even if it was, such a personality would be just as hardened, immovable and impersonal as the blade that housed it, being therefore rather boring. A character must have a full range of emotions and motivations, for that is what makes a story. Of course, adding an intelligent sword to the story could add some very humerus content.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, my friends in High School introduced me to D&D. It was a really fun way to understand characters and playing different intelligences. I had a character or two that had intelligent weapons too and it was fun to do that. There is a paradigm for intelligent weapons in literature though. While Elric of Melnibone's living greatsword Stormbringer was the very embodiment of evil but sustained his frail form. Even then, Stormbringer was Elric's principal conflict it was not the weapon that we centered on but the curse that made Elric all but invincible. No instances spring to mind of humorous versions but I'm certain they must exist. Intelligent weapons can absolutely be fun devices and great tools but yes, everything must serve to reveal the characters to make it useful.
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