How Not to Write a Book: “I have four really amazing guys who all like me, but I’m not that special.”

Not an expert talking. Just a rambler.

Ah, the bane of every writer. Mary-Sues. Or, in my case, the male counterpart, Gary-Stus. So, if you don’t know what a Mary-Sue is, let’s copy-paste a description off TVTropes.com: “She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing… In other words, the term "Mary Sue" is generally slapped on a character who is important in the story, possesses unusual physical traits, and has an irrelevantly over-skilled or over-idealized nature.”

(I almost lost myself in there. That site is addictive.)

So she’s the vision of perfection. You’d probably think these characters would be easy to spot. They’re not. They’re easy to spot if you’re an objective reader, but it’s damn hard to realize it of your own character.

I actually didn’t realize I had Mary-Sues and Gary-Stus (oh, the fuck, I’ll just keep calling them Sues, applicable to both male and female) until I took the Mary-Sue litmus test. I recommend it. Or, you can just read through my post. I recommend that more.

Let’s take Character A. Character A’s not that great, I mean, he has flaws– he’s cold and cruel, he can’t love anyone, and he has no problem manipulating and controlling people. Now, just try and look closely– do you really think those are flaws? How many can you look at and actually frown? Do you not secretly believe those are all really cool attributes?

You might want to try writing down each specific trait of your characters. Don’t bother separating the traits into good or bad, just write them down. Sues will usually have an unbelievably long line of good qualities, usually about how gorgeous or smart the character is.

Sues are usually characters we’d secretly like to be. For female authors, this usually means their Sue is strong and independent, sexy and alluring to men. Female authors are usually the culprits of Gary-Stus (like… me). These are male characters we’d love to date. They’re very good-looking (obviously!), intelligent and strong, with an inner romantic side. Male authors also create Mary-Sues quite frequently, though I’ve hardly come across Gary-Stus created by men. Unless they’ve been created specifically to appeal to female audiences.

Ah, fuck it. Just go to the Mary-Sue Litmus Test, because I couldn’t even recognize my own Sues without it.

Identified your Sue? Okay. Now it’s time to fix your Sue. And believe me, all Sues need to be fixed. Well, unless they’re background characters, and don’t have much screen-time. If not, time to fix.

One of the Sues I’d discovered was Rinna, younger sister to Ruki, who I mentioned last How Not to Write a Book post. She got the most points in the test, even more than Ruki (who I suspected might be a Gary Stu right from the beginning, but refused to admit it). Mainly because she falls in category A of Sues– she’s the one I’d love to be. She’s the most beautiful woman, with long, shiny black hair and purple eyes. She’s pretty enough to be considered flawless by Shay, who’s unbelievably picky and has really sharp eyes. She’s intelligent, and rich, and she’s good with swords and herbs, as she and her brother are deadly assassins– the best in the land. She’s sickeningly good, but as most of the Mary-Sues I’d encountered before were usually the strong, tomboyish type, I really didn’t think Rinna was one.

You can just decide right then which qualities you’d like to change or dump. After failing the Litmus Test miserably, I decided right then to scrap Rinna’s skill with sword. I then looked at her ‘flaws’– the nice traits about her that I’d tried to hide as flaws. Okay, so she’s supposed to be really close to her brother, and be close to no-one else. How about making her really dependent on her brother? Not just jealous for her brother’s affection or anything like that, but really dependent? Unable to properly function without his orders.

If you’re writing a Sue that you’d like to be, you should consider writing in your own flaws. You should be able to name at least three right off the bat. Prideful, lazy, bitchy… those would be my three big ones. If you can’t name even one without thinking hard about it, then doom on you. Doom on you! 

I can’t write more on this subject just yet, since I’m still struggling with it myself. If you have any tips, then please leave a comment. Thank you!

SID's Top 10 Videos

SID are a Japanese band who do primarily rock, as well as jazz and something called ska, according to their wikipedia page. They are, to me, undoubtedly the best band in the world. Seriously, I can sing along to their songs, even if I don’t understand more than three words.

And so, I present to you, ten of the best SID videos (I will be referring to them as PVs, meaning Promotional Videos). I highly recommend the song in each of them, but it’s the actual video that I’m presenting.

And, in no particular order:

Ajisai

It is in random order, but this song will be at the top of every list I make– and being the SID fan I am, you can expect more. But I love this song– it’s one of SID’s oldest, being the first track in their first full album Ren’ai. It’s just so rock, and still beautiful, and haunting and is everything that SID was in the Ren’ai period.

Alibi

The iconic SID video. You can recognize Mao’s eye make-up and ice-cream pink pants anywhere. And the other members look gorgeous too, even if Aki is playing bass left-handed (that has always bothered me). I’m not really a jazz fan, but I love how SID play it.

Itsuka

(I tried to embed the video... failed)

One of SID’s newest PVs, released last year September. They all look amazing, though if you can take your eyes off Aki I will be impressed. The broken glass and crystal theme really goes with the song. It’s a rock ballad, SID’s most successful theme, and this one peaked #2 on the weekly charts.

Mitsuyubi

Added mostly because they all look terrific, not really for anything else. I like the tube-lights, though. Now, let’s stare at uber-pretty Mao while he wows us with his great voice.

Namida no Ondo

Yes, Mao is pretty. No, he’s not a girl. Yes, the members aren’t that bad at acting. I’m not too big a fan of this song, to be honest. But I do appreciate that it’s beautiful.

Uso

シド 嘘 - SID USO PV por animesDark  no Videolog.tv.

You might recognize this song if you’re a Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood fan; this was the first ending theme for that anime. And the PV of it is gorgeous, with those beautiful lighted flower fireworks. And, of course, they all look great. I love how Shinji plays that acoustic guitar.

‘S’

SID’s newest PV. So unlike SID’s usual style visually, and it sounds like something older of theirs. I love how it’s so dark and grungy. And while my sisters may have criticized him, I think Mao looks cool with that cigarette.

Sweet?

Old song, as you might be able to tell by weirdness. Overload of make-up, but I like it. I also have a weird fascination with what Mao does with his eyes while he’s singing. He looks real pretty here, but in a rather weird sort of way? And everyone agrees– Aki’s weird dancing is sexy.

Monochrome no Kiss

My sister’s favourite SID song, and not surprisingly so. The song is original, rockish and very cool. The video is spectacular. I love Aki’s hairstyle, and this is one of the few PVs where they’re dressing with a theme. I love that they’re playing on a pool.

Nidome no Kanojo

Damn it. Damn all these Ki/oon era songs that aren't on YouTube!

Again, not one of my favourite songs, but one of my favourite PVs. The special effects are magnificent. The background gorgeous. Mao and Aki even more so. Shinji and Yuuya look great too, but I can’t get over how pretty Mao and Aki are. And the falling snowflakes? Wonderful

Special mention:

Smile

Not the best video (damn weird, too), but just skip to 02:42 and look at Mao’s smile. It’s so cute; I don’t know why he’s so shy about it. I just replay this video to see him smile– it always makes me smile.

Sorry for this overly-long post on nothing but fangirling. I just had to share this list. I most definitely will be posting How Not to Write a Book next, so don’t get scared away by my love for this overly pretty man and his band!

How Not to Write a Book: Let’s use a cookie cutter and make some characters!

Okay, disclaimer repeat: I am not an expert, I’m just someone who’s made these mistakes before and am putting down how I got around them.

Alright, so the last post was about reducing or boiling down your large cast, and the one point that I (and everyone) kept making was to develop your characters. And that’s exactly what this post is about.

So, the first step: actually creating the character. All characters must be created with a specific purpose. Like the last post said, you probably shouldn’t add a character simply because you like their personality. They should add something to the story.

(If you could see my face right now, you’d see me in quite a bit of pain. I hate sharing information about my story. I’m secretive like that. But I really want to get my point across. And because I’m also quite weird, I’ll be using nicknames only.) So, for me, all characters start out as one basic trait. My lead character, Az, started with the basic idea of making him intelligent. Shay was made to be energetic (and good-looking… this is actually an integral part of his personality) and Aiku (I love this nickname!) just frankly mean. Once you’ve got the base down, it’s time to start building.

Character development has always come quite naturally for me. In fact, I’m always surprised when people say that creating characters is the hardest thing for them. I’ve always found it extremely easy, though this may be because I have quite a bit of free time, and my mind is always circling around my story. I have never used character sheets– never needed them.

The best way to develop a character is to try and come up with as many scenes as possible about them. You can write them out, but if you’re lazy like me, just thinking them up should be enough. These scenes don’t have to be those influential to the story– in fact, I think the mundane ones work the best. In the fantasy novel I’m writing, the scenes that helped with the character development included campfire-talk scenes, humourous scenes that had no place in the story, and… um… pillow talk. That only worked for two characters though (since I typically suck at romance) but it worked well.

Out-of-world scenes are very useful too. My favourite one is the waiting-in-bank scene. My favourite response was from Shay, who is a soldier. He’d just ask someone behind to hold his place, and then go and sleep on the sofas that you sit and fill stuff out on. One of his qualities is over-familiarity with everything.

Other scenes to use would be:

1.      A trip to an extremely crowded shopping mall.

2.      If someone were to fall sick.

3.      An interview for a job

4.      A trip to a bar. The actions of the characters both sober and drunk.

And loads more. It’s up to you, really.

After the developing the characters, try comparing them with the base; look at how many qualities they gained and how they relate to your original idea base. Az is intelligent, but he’s also embarrassed easily, generally perceptive but awkward when it comes to women, and with leadership qualities he never recognized before. Shay is energetic and fun, but superficial and flaky in relationships, vain and with handicapping fear of blood. Aiku is mean and short-tempered, but very proud with a noble air, and is very romantic too.

I don’t know if it’s happened to other writers, but I’ve found that in the process of developing characters, the bases can change. The original King written for the story was mature and rational; the current and final one is shy and has unbelievably low self-esteem. Ruki was originally noble, proud and short-tempered– he was written as Aiku’s rival, and they clashed as they had very similar personalities. He is now sneaky, clever and with a loose sense of morality– and he and Aiku now clash because they’re too different.

The King’s personality changed around the story, while Ruki’s personality changed the story. This has happened a few times in the past, in previous stories for me, and I’m yet unsure as to whether or not it’s a bad thing. I think it is.

Well, I hope this post helped someone. If not, I’m glad to just have rambled anyway. Next post: Writing Mary-Sues and how to get out of it.

How Not to Write a Book: Doc, Grumpy, Sleepy, Happy, Sneezy, Bashful and Dopey

My first post in my series of How Not to Write a Book, where I’ll give out tips to amateur writers. Now, I’m hardly an experienced writer, but I’ve made these mistakes before and I thought I should share how to avoid or rectify them.

Today’s post: Characterisation, specifically dealing with long lists of characters. There’ll be more than one post on characterisation, since this is, I think, my strong suit.

Right, so more than a few writers have a large cast of characters. There’s nothing wrong with that. The problem is how you develop the characters, and how they fit in with the ‘bigger picture’. A lot of the time, you can find yourself with a huge arsenal of characters, all playing a part in the story, and you’re loathe to let them go. Sometimes you can pull it off. Most of the time, you end up with the Seven Dwarfs.

The Seven Dwarfs is basically when you’ve got a load of characters that have one trait only. It happens when you’re afraid of adding conflicting traits to characters, and decide that instead of ‘messing up’ that character, you can create a new one. For example, you’d like to create a male character who is romantic, for some important purpose in the story (give me time… I’ll think of one). You’d also like a male character who is short-tempered and snarky. And another character is created.

I had this problem plenty of times in the past. I was afraid of making my characters copies of each other, and so I worked to give them all different qualities. Two characters couldn’t be fiery. The heroine was a simple girl who liked sewing, and of course she couldn’t be fiery either.

I got over that problem. I think the main thing that helped was to just look at life. This might be the plainest, most overused piece of advice ever, but it’s true. My sister’s short-tempered, bitchy and superficial, but she’s also selfless, giving and fun. If a person can have clashing qualities, why can’t a character? If you can work on creating deeper characters, you’ll find that you might not need so many.

I axed a character from my novel, and pushed another one further into the background. I didn’t like doing it, since I loved both those girls, but it was necessary. I’m also in the process of picking out unnecessary gods. They’re a set of seven, but I know now that they don’t all need to be equally main.

And now another problem: condensing characters. I don’t mean that literally– don’t just take two characters and mush them together, to try and get all of their qualities in one. You don’t really need to. If you develop a single character far enough, they’ll eventually cover another one’s job. (I’m trying to articulate this as clearly as I can. I think I’m failing).

I wanted this post to be a bit longer, but I can’t seem to increase it right now XD. Like I said before, I can’t quite get what I’m trying to say across. I am a failure of a writer.

The next post is going to be about actually developing your characters, to get them to fulfil their roles and more, and that post is going to be longer and more detailed. So please check back again.  :)

Bands: Changing Image

 

Yeah, this post will be a bit about OneDirection, so if you’re a crazed fan and only wanna read about them, roll down to the big font.

So today I finally got around to watching SCANDAL’s new PV, HARUKAZE (yes, the band name and the song name are stylized like that– I am not trying to caps-lock scream at you).

It’s a good song. It’s pretty SCANDAL– rock, but with a lighter melody. You can view the PV in high def here: http://vimeo.com/37037804 Of course, I had to watch it in low def, since my internet connection is so shitty. Damn you shitty connection.

Anyway, the biggest change I noticed was their visual style– their image has totally changed. Only one member of the band still has their original cut and colour (my sweetie Rina). The others are trying something new.

The new cover for HARUKAZE (aargh I hate typing in all-caps) is down there:

 Check out Rina's legs. So jealous.

And here’s an older SCANDAL single cover:

It’s pretty easy to see the difference. They’ve maintained their trademark style–the mini-skirts (wait, is Haruna wearing shorts in HARUKAZE?)–but they’ve added a more mature overtone. Those are not Japanese school uniforms anymore. It reminds me of their song Haruka (even the names are similar). The look was similar, but mature enough for you to know they’re not high-schoolers anymore. 

Which is basically what this post is about. Bands changing the image that got them their fans in the first place. Because, let’s face it, the look can be 50% of the band’s appeal. Unless you’re in a Korean boy/girl pop group, then it’s basically 110%. Even their fans know it.

SCANDAL remind me of one of my favourite bands McFly in a lot of ways. Apart from the fact that they’re both composed of four fantabulously good-looking members, playing some awesome rock music, there’s also that like SCANDAL, McFly started really young. The youngest member (our cute little Dougie) was sixteen when McFly was formed. Their first single, Five Colours in her Hair, went to #1 on the U.K. charts, making them the youngest band to reach #1– they beat the Beatles. Oh yeah.

Now if you didn’t click the Five Colours in her Hair link (I’m watching you), then you should try their video for That Girl, made around the same time. Or Obviously, also one of their first songs.

And off their new album Above the Noise, you can find That’s the Truth, and Nowhere Left to Run (they don’t have an official video for that one, but I find that vid pretty damn awesome). There’s also Party Girl, but the video for that one is rated, and is not suitable for all audiences. Mmm…

So, McFly changed not only their look, but their sound too. And this might’ve miffed a few fans– okay, more than a few, I being amongst them. What can I say? I liked the radio:ACTIVE period, when they made Lies. But I still love them, of course, and I understand why they did it. Tom, the oldest member, is married, and I cannot a twenty-seven year old drooling over a hot girl while he’s working at a petrol station (and then ruining her boyfriend’s credit card– the love between these guys is priceless XD). Harry’s engaged too. Girls may all weep over the loss of these two sexy men. 

Though we can all still fantasize *wink*

Which brings up one of my main points: OneDirection, or as they’re sometimes written, 1D. I’m not a big fan, but I have heard a few songs of theirs, and I must admit they’re adorable (my older sister’s a fan). They’ve got some nice voices, and the songs are catchy. Which is actually one of their problems. 

OneDirection if you don't know them (i.e, you've been living in a cave)

Okay, so Louie’s the oldest. He’s nineteen, right? (I don’t know… I have this disease where I think they’re all younger than me). Well, if OneDirection go well, then in five years he’s gonna twenty-four. Add on a few more, and he’s twenty-seven. And I do not see twenty-seven year olds singing songs like What Makes You Beautiful. I hate the lyrics of that song– they’re immature and just don’t sound good. When I get in a pissy mood one day, I’m so gonna tear apart that song. Along with the movies Immortal, Clash of the Titans, Avatar, and the tremendous piece of work that is Fifty Shades of Grey. 

Right, back to OneDirection. Now, I have no doubt that if they do change their style, their fans will keep loving them. Everyone by now should know the earth-shattering powers of teenage girls. They make OneDirection bigger than OneRepublic. But can OneDirection change their style so easily? Or, did they make a mistake right at the beginning, by actually falling into this style?

Let’s take a similar boy-band– The Wanted. Similar, in that they’re all British, and well, they’re all guys. They’re also pretty much in the same age-group– Nathan’s the youngest at eighteen, and Max and Tom the oldest at twenty-three (okay, so they’re not exactly the same age-group, damnit!) 

L to R: Tom (<3), Siva, Max, Jay and Nathan

Let’s compare. OneDirection’s first single:

 

The Wanted’s first single:

OneDirection’s most successful song (Wait, that's What Makes You Beautiful. Well, they can be forgiven; they've released only three)

The Wanted’s most successful song:

Subtle differences, I’m sure you’ll notice. The Wanted desired (I almost wrote wanted right there…) a more mature theme, and went for it right from the beginning. The problem with OneDirection, you could say, is that they’re too adorable. The image just fell onto them, and let’s now try and imagine them singing something rock-ish or with a dance beat. Kinda like watching Billy Bell krump. 

Never again. Never again put my cute Billy through that.

Breaking out of the image would be pretty hard, though they’ll have to do it one day. They’ll definitely need their fans then, and I’ve no doubt they’ll come through. 

It's kinda scary. It's actually really scary.

So ends this long music post, which actually seems rather rant-y now that I look at it. Hope you enjoy the songs I’ve put out. I’m a bit surprised my first post on music isn’t about SID, my favourite band. Still, I just felt I had to write it all down. (I stylized OneDirection properly, right? Or is it really One Direction? Random fan, please help me.)

And now some more songs I recommend from these four bands:

SCANDAL

Shunkan Sentimental

Scandal nanka buttobase

beauTEEN!! (Damn, what is up with all these caps?)

McFly (this is gonna be hard… I know too many songs of theirs)

Corrupted

Star Girl

Transylvania

Too Close for Comfort

The Wanted

Warzone

Lightning

OneDirection

Moments

More Than This (skip the chorus, damn it!)

And I am not old! I sound old, but I am sixteen!  And this post clearly illustrates that.