Author Archives: fictorians

A guest blog by David Heyman.

As a reader and writer of fantasy, I am strongly drawn to stories that emphasize worldbuilding. I think it’s a fascinating process: creating a living breathing world, real and vibrant enough that the reader will believe that world exists even after closing the book. When done well, worldbuilding allows the story to come alive, creating emotional resonance and allowing a rich backdrop onto which the writer can place their characters and dilemmas.

On television, one of my favorite examples comes from a somewhat unlikely place. Traditionally worldbuilding is the domain of new science fiction and fantasy properties, but in this case I am going to explore a show that was set in an already well-established universe: Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

In the writer’s room of the television Deep Space Nine, they had a common response to a writing problem or challenge: “make it a virtue!” Take your problem and find the strength in it, use that problem’s challenges make your story stronger. This particular show’s primary problem was one of motion, or the lack thereof. The USS Enterprise (both original and D) of the first two Star Trek shows was always travelling, always moving. Each week there were new worlds, new civilizations… new wonders to entice your audience.

Deep Space Nine was a space station- -it wasn’t going anywhere. Sure, the writers could have the ‘wonders’ come to the station (and they occasionally would) but they also took this problem and made it a virtue by embracing the world building opportunity it represented. Instead of seeing the amazing worlds and galactic wonders of the external galaxies, DS9 would draw you in by exploring the details of its characters and setting.

Exploring the emotional depths of the leads was not uncharted territory for Star Trek, but never before had the series spent so much time expanding on the backstories of not just the main characters, but a parade of recurring side characters as well. No more was the cast trying to solve the dilemmas of the ‘guest star’ of the week, forcing the viewer at home to try to care about the problems of someone they just met. Now we were visiting the lives of old friends (and enemies), learning more about them as they worked through complex emotional and morality puzzles.

By staying with the same set of primary locations (the station as well as key planets in the lore) the show again was able to add interest by going deeper rather than farther. Depth over distance, allowing the worlds of Bajor, Cardassia, the Dominion and Deep Space Nine itself to be expanded and explored in detail never before tried on a Star Trek show. Each of these repeating locations thus gained a life of their own, becoming characters in their own right with diverse and recognizable geography, politics and cultural motivations.

In later seasons, the series then took these twin strengths of worldbuilding and character depth and upped the ante by embracing serialized storylines. Common place now, these were still quite uncommon in the speculative fiction side of television back in the early 90s, and unheard of in Star Trek. Starting with three or four episode arcs, the series got bolder as time went on, with the final two seasons all being primarily driven by one story line.

This is not to say that Deep Space Nine never told a story in the more traditional Trek format, nor that the other Trek shows never focused on developing their characters or expanding the worldbuilding beyond introducing new races. (Next Generation, for example, did wonders for the Klingons). In the large sense though, the original series and Next Generation were primary shows about the adventure the characters were on, whereas Deep Space Nine though staked out a claim as a show that was essentially about itself- -its characters and the world they lived in day to day.

I feel it was the foundation the writers had laid with their characters and their worldbuilding that allowed this experiment to live long and prosper, if you will. By bringing viewers deeper into their characters and their environment, they had the luxury of taking them on longer journeys, with bigger emotional payoffs.

As a writer, I often think back to Deep Space Nine and the lessons I learned by watching it. Like most authors, I write the stories I want to read- -for me those are stories that travel deep inside their character and their world, building in the reader a bottomless well of emotional resonance.

Dave writes both novels and short stories in the various genres of speculative fiction. His other passions include his family, gaming and reading about mountaineering. Sleep is added to the mix when needed. You can visit him at daveheyman.com

Summoning Character Development

April 28, 2016

fictorians

Character Guest Posts 1 Comment

A guest post by Sarah Golden.

I first saw Yuna when my friend introduced me to Final Fantasy X. I had heard of the game before, but as I watched the battle play out on the screen, Yuna’s character intrigued me.

She stepped forward on the battle field wearing a Japanese kimono-like outfit, holding a staff and looking the monsters directly in the eye. But what could she possibly do? She didn’t have a sword, or any other weapon that could hurt such a fierce creature. In the blink of an eye, my friend chose a name from the menu, and Yuna closed her eyes, summoning a powerful creature.

The creature emerged and in just one move, it killed the enemy. Yuna bowed to the battlefield as the victory music echoed in the air.

I had to play the game for myself after that.

Yuna’s journey from a summoner doing what the people want to a person with a vigor to live and appreciate life fascinated me.

In Final Fantasy X, Yuna is introduced as the daughter of a high summoner who defeated Sin, the evil monster that wreaks havoc on the world. But every ten years, Sin returns. In honor of her father, Yuna decides to follow in her father’s footsteps and bring joy to the people of Spira. She starts her journey by following the teachings, and her desire to help others inspires her to follow the path without question. But things change when she meets Tidus, and she begins to have her own thoughts and make her own decisions.

Later in the game, it is revealed that Yuna knew, from the moment she decided to become a summoner, that she had chosen a path toward death. Making a decision like that is not an easy task. The summoner must die in order to defeat Sin. By choosing this path, Yuna knows that she will meet the same fate. Every place that they visit, Yuna does all she can, and she tries to bring hope and happiness to the people. Although many summoners have faltered and given up the path, Yuna does not. Even when she learns that the teachings are lies, she does not stray from her path. She sees the ordeal through to the very end, but she changes the game.

By discovering a way to defeat Sin without causing the summoner to die, Yuna has a short lived victory. In the process of defeating sin, she has to say goodbye to two people that she cares about. One of which is Tidus, who she fell in love with.

At the end of Final Fantasy X, Yuna is between happiness and sorrow. She is a hero, but the heroic journey took its toll. She begins to search for a purpose in order to have a sense of accomplishment. This purpose begins her next chapter in the game Final Fantasy X 2.

When a sphere is found with the image of Tidus, Yuna decides to begin a new journey. She makes this decision at a very different chapter in her life, where she can make her own decisions and not have to do what the people expect her to. She decides to travel, and to collect pieces of history that are tied to the sphere with Tidus. She begins to hope again, and she takes that hope to a new level. She explores the world that she saved, and finds comfort in her new task and the new friends that she has made along the way. Her new purpose drives her to become more involved the world again. This world is torn between the believers of the temple, and the league that rebels against it. Yuna is asked to choose a side, and she is once again forced to make a decision. That decision echoes the risk of her first journey, but this time, Yuna refuses to have the same outcome. She discovers a way to save Spira without losing anyone else, and she finds a way to bring Tidus back.

Yuna’s character arc is an interesting and humanistic way to portray a hero. Her powers are not skills with the sword, but endurance and wisdom. In both games, Yuna is motivated through grief, but she uses that grief to achieve new goals.

It is possible that Final Fantasy X was more successful than Final Fantasy X2 because many people didn’t accept Yuna’s change of character. The story of the second game was lighter than the first, and Yuna was considered to be a drastically changed person. The second game a resolution to who Yuna actually was during both games. In the first game, she put most of her thoughts and dreams aside, but in the second game, she has the opportunity to actually discover who she was and what she was capable of. I see that as a successful story arc. She’s the same character in both games, because even when she followed the teachings, she did so in her own way. Her stubbornness is not obvious, because she only uses that stubbornness when she must make a very difficult decision.

From the kind and caring summoner to the bold and brave adventurer, Yuna is able to acknowledge her weaknesses and turn them into strengths. Throughout both games, Yuna’s resolve remains constant, and she stays true to her values. Her response to adversity makes her an admirable character with emotional and spiritual strength.

Sarah Golden is a creative writer who draws inspiration from fairytales and folklore all over the world. She is a Kingdom Hearts addict and now owns her own keyblade! She is also a proud tour guide of Beast’s Castle at Magic Kingdom. With a Bachelor’s degree in English, Sarah hopes to share great stories through the written word and inspire others to be the heroes of their own story. She has written her first novel, and she is currently on a quest to publish it. Most of her other writing can be found on her blog Bara Lotus Garden: http://crystallizedheart.blogspot.com

The Girl Who Changed EVERYTHING!

April 27, 2016

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A guest post by Peter Clampton.

Every now and again there comes a landmark work so monumental that its influence and popularity transcends superlatives. “Genre defying, masterpiece, jaw-dropping…” all have been used to describe works that takes a business or line media and catapult that into mainstream success. For books in the early 21^st century, this was Harry Potter. For the once obscure and nerd riddled industry of Japanese anime of the late 1990’s, it was “Neon Genesis Evangelion.”

It is a hotly debated topic about where precisely this anime ranks in the top anime of all time, but there is no question that it belongs in the conversation. Its premise; children driving giant robots to save the world from an invading enemy. A deceptively simple, yet perfect backdrop to tell the story of the greatest battle of human existence; the battle with oneself.

Highlighting this battle is a vibrant and harrowingly disturbed cast of characters, one of which stands highest on the platform to not only display the competitive and glorious spirit that is human pride, but also the weakness found in its soft underbelly.

Enter Asuka Langley Soryu.

Rated by Newtype Magazine as the third most popular anime female of the 1990’s (Beaten only by her Evangelion counterpart, Rei Ayanami and Sailor Moon), it doesn’t take too long to see why Asuka is so memorable. Although she is introduced eight episodes into the twenty six episode series, she instantly makes a splash(literally) with astounding heroics defeating a giant sea creature in her giant robot, using battleships as stepping stones, which would become one of the most memorable anime action scenes of all time. Her red hair, and red themed attire is entirely indicative of her flamboyant personality, and her pride. Perfect material to add for a shake up!

Evangelion starts dour, subdued and builds a platform for reflective interactions and imaginative mecha battles. Early on, the main characters, Shinji and Rei, are emotionally scarred, quiet, and passive participants who pilot for the sake of others. We see the task of piloting an Evangelion as a hardship and sacrifice. Then enters Asuka who not only wants to pilot her Evangelion, but defines herself through her capacity and ability to do so.

This juxtaposition of Asuka compared with the rest of the cast and direction of the story serves up a smorgasbord of interesting scenes that not only illuminate Asuka’s intense personality, but the rest of the cast as well. This shake up of mood and tone for episodes 8 and 9 shifts the tone and direction of the series from dire and complex to comedic and outrageous, further highlighting the introduction of Asuka and her impact.

But Asuka is no cheap trope, used to simply spice things up, but is an intentional and deliberate presence bringing her own history, strengths and weaknesses to the story. She enhances the series, and better enables NGE to highlight the very thing at the core of its story; human interaction.

The scenes when she is alone with other characters-markedly Shinji the main character- we see her personality for what it is. A wall to protect a scarred and insecure teenage girl who in reality just wants to be loved. Yuko Miyamura the original Japanese voice actress of Asuka put it best in her quote:

Just to let you know, Asuka wasn’t the most open-hearted character I’ve met. When I act Asuka’s part, I try to synchronize myself with her 400%. But every time I tried to draw myself in closer synchronization, Asuka would never allow herself to synch with me. Even in the end, she would never step across the line and draw closer to me. One day, I figured out that there was a wall in Asuka’s heart.

A wall that comes crumbling down when events in battle leave Asuka psychologically wrecked and unable to pilot her Evangelion. It is now we see the powerful and prideful Asuka deal with her very real and profound problems like any child would. Self-medicating in isolation and video games, unable to cope with the loss of the one thing that gave her life meaning. Resulting in further alienating herself from the one thing she needs most; other people.

It is in this response I came to love Asuka. Because we are not shown just another anime character, or cookie cutter A-type, but a real person. A real and raw character whose pride and mental sickness come rushing to the forefront shattering all her self-deceptions, and her dreams. A girl who wants to be the best, but doesn’t want to be alone either. Asuka wasn’t made to be likable or hated, just a real teenage girl, who when honestly confronted with their shortcomings, was truly human. It was this slick and honest characterization and the psycho analysis of Asuka and others that would make Evangelion legendary.

Have you ever known a friend who was so complicated, and didn’t make any sense until you went into their home and saw how they lived? They might be angry or repressed, prideful and arrogant, but when you catch them in their vulnerability you begin to see parts of yourself in them? That’s what Asuka did for me. It was the first time I had ever watched anything that tackled the issues of the growing teenage mind in an honest and visual way, how could it not be memorable?

Even though she graduated college at thirteen, and could pilot a supremely powerful robot, we see that in Asuka the strengths of her personality and “confidence” and her weakness of emotional distance, were all a condition of her mind. The lessons I learned from Asuka and others from Evangelion are what endear me to them. My lesson from Asuka: that both victory and defeat can only be found within ourselves.

This is why I write. This is what makes great characters. Memorable characters are made from what they leave behind. In the end Asuka will always be memorable because underneath the red hair, and fiery personality beats a heart and soul of relentless complexity and truth.

Asuka Langley Soryu is as flawlessly flawed a human being ever portrayed in any medium and for that I, will always remember her as an iconic center to an iconic franchise that changed my life.

If you haven’t seen Evangelion, do yourself a favor and check it out. It won’t disappoint.

~Till next time
Stay Happy,
Stay Healthy
Peter Clampton

Peter Clampton is an author, a dreamer and most importantly a man with a vision. It’s a simple vision really. He is working to become a great story teller and hopes to share light through stories and enable others to do the same. He is Author of the Post-apocalyptic Western series THE GIRL AND THE BEAST which can be viewed, along with his other fiction, on his website www.Peterclampton.com

Something of Value; Of Boyhood Friendships and Harsh Realities

April 17, 2016

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A Guest Post by W. J. Cherf.

There are electric moments that leave an undeniable emotional stamp. Many of them showcase outright heroes. For me, first and foremost, there was the assassination of JFK, then, the lunar landing by Apollo XI team, and finally, but hardly last, the sudden and heart-wrenching Challenger disaster.

Before any of those, however, there was Robert Ruark’s book, Something of Value, about colonial farm life in Kenya in the 1940s. In 1957, a movie with the same title appeared with a young Sidney Poitier, playing the Kenyan Kimani Wa Karanja, opposite an equally boyish Rock Hudson, who played Peter McKenzie, the white son of a colonial English farmer.

Kimani and Peter grew up together like brothers, and like brothers shared in a fair amount of mischief. But as they matured, the world and its harsh realities all too quickly caught up to them and strained their bond for each other. Kenya in the late 1940’s was a hot bed of nationalism that resulted in the bloody Mau Mau anti-colonial uprisings. This history engulfed both Kimani and Peter, who much like many brothers during the American Civil War, found themselves facing each other estranged on the battlefield.

I was seven years old when I first saw this black and white movie. By today’s jaded standards, its acting would be reviewed as contrived and its plot judged hokey. But back then, in the late 1950’s, it was a daring film, where Peter (Hudson) dared to challenge the racial superiority of his heritage. Meanwhile, Kimani (Poitier) challenged it openly with the simple question of “Why?” The roles played by Poitier and Hudson impressed this young soul, this Chicago Northsider, who at the time was naive, innocent, and color blind. As a consequence, Kimani (Poitier) became my favorite character (actor) because of his immense depth, passion, pride of place, and desire to succeed. Peter (Hudson), not so much, because he had inherited the driver’s seat, had far less to lose, and potentially far more to gain.

Later as a boy scout in Troop 76, I remember fondly my many good friends of the inner city, who just so happened to be Latino, Norwegian, Korean, Afro-American, Japanese, and Irish. Just how they accepted this Czech into the mix remains to this day a mystery to me. In all of them, I saw a Kimani.

But back to Sidney Poitier’s Kimani. As a young man even then I recognized the inner struggle, the external conflict, and the extraordinary desire for a black man to be seen and accepted as an equal. And yes, even with his dying breaths, after bitterly fighting his boyhood friend Peter, Kimani died hoping, yearning, for “something of value.”

Any time a movie can render you choked up and tearful has hugely succeeded. Poiter’s Kimani did it for me at the age of seven, for he absolutely nailed the character and the role that somehow, someway, has always remained a part of me.

(Little did I know at the time that Something of Value was Sir Sidney Poitier’s breakout film, who was the first Bahamian and first Afro-American to win an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the Lilies of the Field. His other cracker-jack films include: To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.)

W. J. Cherf is a deep, witty, engaging author, ancient historian, and archaeologist, who has been there and dug that. He is best known for writing historical science fiction. His award-winning five book series, The Manuscripts of the Richards’ Trust, fulfilled a life-long desire: “to write books without footnotes,” and to share his love for ancient Egypt. But beware as these books provide a wild and sophisticated ride, and are only for those who enjoy lively description and an involved plot.
But get this: Cherf is currently delving into the deep and murky realms of the paranormal, action-adventure, and urban fantasy genres. The first book of his new series entitled, The Adventures of J. J. Stone, will debut before the end of 2016. What’s it about? Think: The Dresden Files meets American Sniper. Reports have it that book three is already finished and ready for the editor. So stay tuned and strap yourself in!
To find reviews and free chapters to all of his published works, not to mention a handy source for the latest breaking news in Egyptology, go to www.wjcherf.com.