Magical Glowing Goat

Self-published author of The Zirea Chronicles, which can be found on Amazon. I love to draw, read, write, and watch TV. Favorite genre is fantasy, and I catch an anime here or there. Experienced rambler. Overall a chill guy. Website: https://zireachronicles.wixsite.com/zireachronicles/about 

[nights-33-blog]

Buried

You slipped into the house, reeking of something bitter when I needed something sweet. 

We would walk to get some food tomorrow. I would skip last block. 

You flopped on the floor. Voice saturated, face flushed, and eyes sagging. 

I didn’t want to walk to longhorns. I just wanted to reach you. Wherever you were buried. 

[nights-33-blog]

Medusa

There’s a look in her eyes, and pain in her scowl. Her car smelled like smoke. And home. And freedom.

Her past hisses and spits venom. Her gaze and silence harden your hopes.

Yet inside, past the isolation. Inside, she is still beautiful. But she never wears it on her face.

Says the size is too small.

[nights-33-blog]

What makes good characters?

Character’s are, at the end of the day, the reason we read stories. We look up to them, we hate them, we care about them, and we want to know that we ourselves have their ability to shape the world. We need to be able to see ourselves in characters, which means giving them flaws, as well as positive traits. But multiple traits aren’t the key to a great character. I’ve found the key is the inner conflict. 

We all question why we do the things we do. Doubt is a big part of being human. Why is our hero fighting the dragon at the top of the mountain? Well, he wants to save the town below. What’s so special about the town to the hero? If he lives there, then he’s only saving the people he knows, what happens when other people ask him for help? What if he starts a career of heroism, but feels unfulfilled because he doesn’t care for these people, he just wants to settle down, but he wants to keep up his image. On top of this we have subplots that serve to complicate things even further. 

Traits, and flaws aren’t key to character, but they build upon the inner conflict. The flaws aren’t flaws if they don’t cause conflict in the story, they just sit there, and the reader gets annoyed because the character isn’t overcoming their flaws, because the flaws cause no dilemma for our hero. Maybe our MC knows the solution to their problems, but is too prideful to overcome them, or maybe overcoming them would make him/her lose all they have worked for. A good tactic for a series would be for the character to develop new flaws by the end of the first book so they have to work them out later. A piece of the story needs to be caused by the MC’s own unintentional doing. 

Of course there’s more to our MC’s, yes, you do need their favorite color, and you need to tell us why they love that specific color, but in the context of the plot, for them to be the head of the story they need to have an active personality where they cause as many problems as they solve in an effort to reach their goals, because in real life, everything isn’t resolved in a neat little bow, yet we can still have fulfillment. The same needs to be true for your story. 

Let me know what you all think, and feel free to add on to my ideas. Remember, this is just my two cents, so don’t take it as a concrete rule, just something to consider in your own writing. Writing is, after all a strange Alchemy. 30% of it is instinctual, and learned through experience. Now go make some great, well-rounded characters!

[florencememes]

x

Tickets

[nights-33-blog]

Photoshop bookmark, back (left) front (right). preparing for a book signing at my local library, super excited!!! 

[nights-33-blog]

My mood right now. Amelie is a great Valentines movie, it's French, but worth the subtitles. A favorite of mine. I am such a coward, ugh, I can't stand it.

[nights-33-blog]

A sketch I did in class. A concept for a magical monster/creature inspired by Guillermo Del Toro. A vengeful, dying nature spirit. Also inspired by Tony Diterlizzi's artworks.

[nights-33-blog]

Ember Ordena, the magical mentor from The Zirea Chronicles. Just tried to envision how I see her, but of course it never turns out just right. But not bad for quick sketches “No. I’ve adjusted to the way things are. I control where I go. Your friend is the same. Besides, he didn’t chase me here, I ran.” -Ember

[melonmemes]

[nights-33-blog]

Just thought I’d post a picture of the other world I spend my time in for my first post. Follow my blog if you’re intrigued. If you’re interested in writing, or publishing, I’m self published, so I’ll be posting about my experiences with that, and giving writing advice. If you couldn’t tell, I love fantasy, but I read plenty of genres. Glad to finally be on Tumblr.