David Combs's Blog
January 22, 2021
With the Stroke of a Pen 1-19-2021
A poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage... - Macbeth
This week, we're going to start into the real nuts and bolts of my writing process. If you are an aspiring writer or even an already accomplished one, I want to start sharing with you the thoughts and practices that shape my own writing habits. So let's start with a little pop quiz to open up the discussion? You have reached that moment where the seat of your pants is firmly applied to the seat of a chair and before you is a pencil and your favorite notepad ( you know, the one you bought expressly to write your novel in but have been terrified to put anything in until now). You know you want to write the next great dystopian teen novel that will have the movie studios banging on your door, right? So what is the most important element that you need to have next? A killer plot line? A sinister twist that no one will ever see coming? A magic system and dynamic fantasy world with a detailed socioeconomic structure and geopolitical factions vying for control? Hmmm, maybe later.
What we need right now are characters.
No matter what your genre or setting, the single force that drives a good novel are the vibrant and believable characters who live and breathe in your mind. What makes a story memorable is not the events that occurred but the people who experienced them. It's Katniss and Peeta. It's Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It's Luke, Leia, and Darth Vader. And I can promise that each one of you reading this had a moment of recognition with at least one of these groups without needing the story of which they are a part of even mentioned. That is the power that I am talking about.
My new writing projects never begin with plot details beyond maybe more than a flash of a scene in my head. Still shots for a storyboard that may hint at some major event or consequence that I know will end up as a significant moment at some point in the narrative. But who is that in the shadows with their hands raised to the heavens?
If you have read the Witches of Pioneer Vale tab on my website (go ahead, I'll wait....) you will see that Anne-Marie Carmichael, the series namesake, came about from playing a game that turned into an idea for a story. As I was playing this pixelated protector, the background began falling into place. I knew that she had learned magic by chance. I knew that she would be watching the passing generations of her family from the spooky woods beside Carmichael Farms. I knew that she was a compassionate but fierce woman long before I ever envisioned that demonic wolf and the legacy of the Firstborn.
You see, the plot is what happens TO the characters we create and how they handle the adversities that we create for them. It is our responsibility to know every little quirk, detail, and idiosyncrasy that they may have, but more than that, we have to be able to share that with our readers so that our characters leap off the page. When we do our jobs as authors, our audience can feel what our characters feel. They laugh at the jokes. They cry at the losses. They clench their fists when the big battle scene arrives. All because they have seen into the souls of our protagonists.
So, where do we begin then? The first thing you need to do is start out with the basic details you can think of for your character. Start with a physical description. You have to know how they look after all. Once you have done that, however, the fun begins and we get to build them a personality. Ask yourself tons of questions about what they are like. An easy Google search can find you all sorts of templates and questionnaires that can help you fill in all the details. What are their favorite foods and music? Are they whimsical or serious. What sort of relationships do they have with their family and neighbors? The list goes on and on, but the end goal is for you as the author to know every last detail about the characters you create. A lot of these may never make it into the story, but just the sake of you knowing these traits will help you write a more believable character.
Here's another Pioneer Vale example. The first time that Anne-Marie takes her new student Angelica into the extra- dimensional lab and library, one of the first things she does is hand Angelica a seemingly blank book. She tells Angelica to think of any book she can and then open the cover. The teenager does this and her first two tests come up with Macbeth and A Tale of Two Cities, letting the reader know that Angelica is a well read student. A subsequent test shows The Joy Of Cooking, suggesting that Angelica has spent time helping her mother in the kitchen back on their farm. One final test yields Thieves' Honor, which probably lends more insight into the author than the characters to be honest.
In the same scene Anne-Marie pulls a jar from a shelf of traditional witches ingredients and pops something into her mouth. Before Angelica can get violently ill, she reveals that it was actually candy and that she learned long ago that the disgusting label kept others from raiding her supply. More importantly, it shows not only a treat that our witch has come to enjoy, but that she has a wicked sense of humor as well.
So fill in your details. Know little bits of history from every character you bring into the picture. If your characters lack relatable qualities, they will seem flat, and then no turn of events will be able to bring life back into them. Make them emotional. Make them vibrant. Make them the Girl or Guy Next Door, but above all else do this one thing. Make them memorable.
See you next class.
This week, we're going to start into the real nuts and bolts of my writing process. If you are an aspiring writer or even an already accomplished one, I want to start sharing with you the thoughts and practices that shape my own writing habits. So let's start with a little pop quiz to open up the discussion? You have reached that moment where the seat of your pants is firmly applied to the seat of a chair and before you is a pencil and your favorite notepad ( you know, the one you bought expressly to write your novel in but have been terrified to put anything in until now). You know you want to write the next great dystopian teen novel that will have the movie studios banging on your door, right? So what is the most important element that you need to have next? A killer plot line? A sinister twist that no one will ever see coming? A magic system and dynamic fantasy world with a detailed socioeconomic structure and geopolitical factions vying for control? Hmmm, maybe later.
What we need right now are characters.
No matter what your genre or setting, the single force that drives a good novel are the vibrant and believable characters who live and breathe in your mind. What makes a story memorable is not the events that occurred but the people who experienced them. It's Katniss and Peeta. It's Harry, Ron, and Hermione. It's Luke, Leia, and Darth Vader. And I can promise that each one of you reading this had a moment of recognition with at least one of these groups without needing the story of which they are a part of even mentioned. That is the power that I am talking about.
My new writing projects never begin with plot details beyond maybe more than a flash of a scene in my head. Still shots for a storyboard that may hint at some major event or consequence that I know will end up as a significant moment at some point in the narrative. But who is that in the shadows with their hands raised to the heavens?
If you have read the Witches of Pioneer Vale tab on my website (go ahead, I'll wait....) you will see that Anne-Marie Carmichael, the series namesake, came about from playing a game that turned into an idea for a story. As I was playing this pixelated protector, the background began falling into place. I knew that she had learned magic by chance. I knew that she would be watching the passing generations of her family from the spooky woods beside Carmichael Farms. I knew that she was a compassionate but fierce woman long before I ever envisioned that demonic wolf and the legacy of the Firstborn.
You see, the plot is what happens TO the characters we create and how they handle the adversities that we create for them. It is our responsibility to know every little quirk, detail, and idiosyncrasy that they may have, but more than that, we have to be able to share that with our readers so that our characters leap off the page. When we do our jobs as authors, our audience can feel what our characters feel. They laugh at the jokes. They cry at the losses. They clench their fists when the big battle scene arrives. All because they have seen into the souls of our protagonists.
So, where do we begin then? The first thing you need to do is start out with the basic details you can think of for your character. Start with a physical description. You have to know how they look after all. Once you have done that, however, the fun begins and we get to build them a personality. Ask yourself tons of questions about what they are like. An easy Google search can find you all sorts of templates and questionnaires that can help you fill in all the details. What are their favorite foods and music? Are they whimsical or serious. What sort of relationships do they have with their family and neighbors? The list goes on and on, but the end goal is for you as the author to know every last detail about the characters you create. A lot of these may never make it into the story, but just the sake of you knowing these traits will help you write a more believable character.
Here's another Pioneer Vale example. The first time that Anne-Marie takes her new student Angelica into the extra- dimensional lab and library, one of the first things she does is hand Angelica a seemingly blank book. She tells Angelica to think of any book she can and then open the cover. The teenager does this and her first two tests come up with Macbeth and A Tale of Two Cities, letting the reader know that Angelica is a well read student. A subsequent test shows The Joy Of Cooking, suggesting that Angelica has spent time helping her mother in the kitchen back on their farm. One final test yields Thieves' Honor, which probably lends more insight into the author than the characters to be honest.
In the same scene Anne-Marie pulls a jar from a shelf of traditional witches ingredients and pops something into her mouth. Before Angelica can get violently ill, she reveals that it was actually candy and that she learned long ago that the disgusting label kept others from raiding her supply. More importantly, it shows not only a treat that our witch has come to enjoy, but that she has a wicked sense of humor as well.
So fill in your details. Know little bits of history from every character you bring into the picture. If your characters lack relatable qualities, they will seem flat, and then no turn of events will be able to bring life back into them. Make them emotional. Make them vibrant. Make them the Girl or Guy Next Door, but above all else do this one thing. Make them memorable.
See you next class.
January 14, 2021
With the Stroke of a Pen 1-14-21
Get out there and WRITE!
As the story was shared with me, Mark Twain was once invited to give a commencement speech to a graduating class at a school for future writers. For his appearance there, the celebrity was paid a rather handsome sum of money given the day and age that he lived in. As he approached the podium, the eyes of the graduates were glued to him. The crowd was stone silent for fear of missing a pearl of wisdom given by this legendary man, widely respected in the field that they all wanted to follow in.
Twain looked out over the crowd, and asked, "How many of you would be writers?" Not surprisingly, the entire crowd raised their hands in the air, for that, after all, was the whole purpose of their studies and their presence there on that day. The revered author looked out over the sea of hands and nodded. "Then get out there and write!" he said, and with that, he turned and left the stage leaving the audience stunned.
It is so easy to get caught up in the daydream of being the next J.K. Rowling or Stephen King. As an indie author, I am guilty of fantasizing about making my living by telling stories that grab at the heartstrings of legions of fans. Oh, hang on, the Netflix people are on the phone, I need to take this. It's only natural that those of us who want to live by our imagination can be so easily seduced into seeing ourselves in the limelight well before we have reached it, and all because we haven't done the most critical thing to make the dream come true. Something that is both so simple and at the same time so difficult to do.
Put the words (or paints, pencils, music - whatever your chosen art form may be) down on paper.
It doesn't have to even make sense, at least not at first. Write gibberish. Write notes about what you want the end result to feel like. Write banter between you and your characters, but put something down. It is the act itself of just getting started that tends to blow open the floodgates of our creativity. So many times I only have a snippet of dialogue, or see a singular event on the movie screen of my mind that screams to be set down before it wanders off into the dark recesses of forgotten inspirations. I find that once I get through even the first couple of sentences, the words start of their own accord and, barring any outside interruptions, can find the strength to run for miles.
So this is for all of the folks out there who feel like there is a story inside of them. For every daydreamer with a tale to tell. For every person who ever said, "yeah, I thought about writing a book about [insert topic] once." Don't take it from me. Take the simple but ridiculously overpriced advice given by Mr. Samuel Clemens.
Get out there and write.
As the story was shared with me, Mark Twain was once invited to give a commencement speech to a graduating class at a school for future writers. For his appearance there, the celebrity was paid a rather handsome sum of money given the day and age that he lived in. As he approached the podium, the eyes of the graduates were glued to him. The crowd was stone silent for fear of missing a pearl of wisdom given by this legendary man, widely respected in the field that they all wanted to follow in.
Twain looked out over the crowd, and asked, "How many of you would be writers?" Not surprisingly, the entire crowd raised their hands in the air, for that, after all, was the whole purpose of their studies and their presence there on that day. The revered author looked out over the sea of hands and nodded. "Then get out there and write!" he said, and with that, he turned and left the stage leaving the audience stunned.
It is so easy to get caught up in the daydream of being the next J.K. Rowling or Stephen King. As an indie author, I am guilty of fantasizing about making my living by telling stories that grab at the heartstrings of legions of fans. Oh, hang on, the Netflix people are on the phone, I need to take this. It's only natural that those of us who want to live by our imagination can be so easily seduced into seeing ourselves in the limelight well before we have reached it, and all because we haven't done the most critical thing to make the dream come true. Something that is both so simple and at the same time so difficult to do.
Put the words (or paints, pencils, music - whatever your chosen art form may be) down on paper.
It doesn't have to even make sense, at least not at first. Write gibberish. Write notes about what you want the end result to feel like. Write banter between you and your characters, but put something down. It is the act itself of just getting started that tends to blow open the floodgates of our creativity. So many times I only have a snippet of dialogue, or see a singular event on the movie screen of my mind that screams to be set down before it wanders off into the dark recesses of forgotten inspirations. I find that once I get through even the first couple of sentences, the words start of their own accord and, barring any outside interruptions, can find the strength to run for miles.
So this is for all of the folks out there who feel like there is a story inside of them. For every daydreamer with a tale to tell. For every person who ever said, "yeah, I thought about writing a book about [insert topic] once." Don't take it from me. Take the simple but ridiculously overpriced advice given by Mr. Samuel Clemens.
Get out there and write.
January 6, 2021
With the Stroke of a Pen 1-6-2021
"You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true." -Richard Bach
Welcome to my first blog post! It took me some time to get this site off the ground but at last we made it! So many of us wrestle with doubts about starting new endeavors. What if no one checks the site? What if I get criticized? What if I run out of things to say? Too often we let outside concerns rein in our dreams and passions. We hold ourselves back from going after the things we have dreamt about since we were children. I can confidently answer when posed the question "what did you want to be when you were a kid?".
I wanted to be a writer.
And not just any old writer. I wasn't concerned with writing the Great American Novel. Forget Salinger, Fitzgerald, or Hemingway. I wasn't Gone with the Wind or out To Kill a Mockingbird.
I was a Fantasy Writer. Magic, monsters, and lost ancient treasures were the hallmarks of the tales I started to tell. My first stories were of Starborne, a noble warrior, and his partner, Hurst, an intelligent shape-changing troll. My long nights of playing Dungeons and Dragons brought new characters to life. Braegan Waegloss, a master thief shamelessly patterned after another dual sword wielding elf that is even today still popular among fantasy enthusiasts. Troy Talend, a cold-hearted wizard who survived an abusive childhood to become a god on earth, standing beside his companions against some of the most fearsome agents that Heaven or Hell could throw against them. And ultimately, I found Galen Thale, Nestor Canaith, and Tyrell Amalcheal - the heroes of what became my first novel, Thieves' Honor.
It has been a long journey to get to this point, not even counting the twenty years (yeah, you read that right) it took for the manuscript to see the light of day, but it was one I have been proud to take. You see, it was never about sales reports, becoming a household name, or landing a Netflix series for me (even though any of those would be amazing!). I just wanted to be able to go to a bookshelf in my own home and see my name on the spine of a book that I had written, even if that was the only copy anyone ever looked at. I can now check that one off the list three times.
Better still, I have found you, my audience. Family, friends old and new, and some who may have just wandered in to see what this was all about. You have helped stoke the fire that eagerly drives me to share new stories and adventures. Working a full time job, raising two wonderful kids, and keeping late hours writing these flights of fancy that I have may seem like a lot to have on one plate, and you wouldn't be wrong. However, see that quote I opened this post with? There's a little more to it. The full line is "You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however." So to all of you who have helped me reach this place, who have read my stories and told me how much you have enjoyed them, I am happy to oblige. Thank you for coming along for the ride.
It's time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
DAC
Welcome to my first blog post! It took me some time to get this site off the ground but at last we made it! So many of us wrestle with doubts about starting new endeavors. What if no one checks the site? What if I get criticized? What if I run out of things to say? Too often we let outside concerns rein in our dreams and passions. We hold ourselves back from going after the things we have dreamt about since we were children. I can confidently answer when posed the question "what did you want to be when you were a kid?".
I wanted to be a writer.
And not just any old writer. I wasn't concerned with writing the Great American Novel. Forget Salinger, Fitzgerald, or Hemingway. I wasn't Gone with the Wind or out To Kill a Mockingbird.
I was a Fantasy Writer. Magic, monsters, and lost ancient treasures were the hallmarks of the tales I started to tell. My first stories were of Starborne, a noble warrior, and his partner, Hurst, an intelligent shape-changing troll. My long nights of playing Dungeons and Dragons brought new characters to life. Braegan Waegloss, a master thief shamelessly patterned after another dual sword wielding elf that is even today still popular among fantasy enthusiasts. Troy Talend, a cold-hearted wizard who survived an abusive childhood to become a god on earth, standing beside his companions against some of the most fearsome agents that Heaven or Hell could throw against them. And ultimately, I found Galen Thale, Nestor Canaith, and Tyrell Amalcheal - the heroes of what became my first novel, Thieves' Honor.
It has been a long journey to get to this point, not even counting the twenty years (yeah, you read that right) it took for the manuscript to see the light of day, but it was one I have been proud to take. You see, it was never about sales reports, becoming a household name, or landing a Netflix series for me (even though any of those would be amazing!). I just wanted to be able to go to a bookshelf in my own home and see my name on the spine of a book that I had written, even if that was the only copy anyone ever looked at. I can now check that one off the list three times.
Better still, I have found you, my audience. Family, friends old and new, and some who may have just wandered in to see what this was all about. You have helped stoke the fire that eagerly drives me to share new stories and adventures. Working a full time job, raising two wonderful kids, and keeping late hours writing these flights of fancy that I have may seem like a lot to have on one plate, and you wouldn't be wrong. However, see that quote I opened this post with? There's a little more to it. The full line is "You are never given a dream without also being given the power to make it come true. You may have to work for it, however." So to all of you who have helped me reach this place, who have read my stories and told me how much you have enjoyed them, I am happy to oblige. Thank you for coming along for the ride.
It's time to roll up my sleeves and get to work.
DAC
