What to Avoid #1: Killing Your Main Character (or Doing Anything Worse) for No Apparent Reason

So this is what ticked most of us off about Allegiant, right? I mean, who DOES that, unless they want to get lynched by a mob of angry book fans? History has proven it: killing off a character everybody cares a lot about works only rarely. It didn't work for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle when he killed Sherlock Holmes, and it doesn't work in the Divergent series. Jeez, J.K. Rowling even didn't keep Harry dead! So why do authors kill off some of their best characters?

Of course, there are some exceptions to the rule. Sometimes a main character's death serves to show just how unfair life can be, sometimes (thinking of John Green's The Fault in our Stars, one of the world's most brilliant book). Those passages are made to make us feel emotion. Now what I don't like is the "Such and such dies. The End" main characters kill-off passages, because it just feels as if the author was lazy and just made the character disappear in the "Poof! Character who was there one second ago just got wiped of the surface of the Earth" way.

But sometimes death is a better fate than what the authors do to keep the characters alive. Well, it certainly trumps things like, ah, you know, amnesia, or craziness, which are usually both examples of authors being lazy.

Ah yes, another point. DEFINITELY KEEP YOUR CHARACTER DEAD IF YOU ARE PLANNING OF MAYBE MAKING THEM REINCARNATE.

Usually I put the book down as soon as I see that a (dead) character is going to come back from the dead, but with his/her memories and not in their own bodies. Once again, a certain author mentioned in previous post is a shining example of what to do if you want me to start retching. Yes folks, it's THAT bad.

Anyway, the point is: don't be lazy. People usually like good endings, and throwing away the life of the character you made us care about doesn't cut it. So, unless it has a good reason your audience will understand and can't be avoided, please pretty please pretty pretty please DO NOT DO IT.

Please.

Forgive and Forget

People often say "Forgive and Forget".

Forgiving is easy, but forgetting would be like losing a bit of what makes you you.

What People like to Read

So yeah, that was Snow-Anne (I say that if I like. Huh.)

So, for my next post: what people like to read. Some of these might just get you saying "Duh", but that's fine, because some authors just don't get some things.

1. People like flawed characters, as long as it stays reasonable. If the character is perfect, then there's no point in sending him to a quest.
2. It is refreshing to have a protagonist that isn't a "sunshine, lollypops and rainbows everywhere" type of person. If they are well made, a sarcastic pessimistic character might just become the reader's favourite (like that John-Francis guy of mine. I hadn't designed him to be liked, but he ended up everyone that read my book's favourite. Huh. Try and figure that one out.)
3. Villains that have a motivation that the average person can understand, like, for example, saving the world, or making the world a better place. The villain shouldn't be evil or insane just for the sake of being evil or insane, but he/she should have a goal in life. Personally, I like the idea that the villain ends up helping the protagonists to fight a greater evil.
4. People like good endings that leave them satisfied and that have been well planned. Unless your book is to have a sequel, it is a good idea not to rush through the ending, otherwise you end up with one-lined endings such as "And they lived happily ever after", "It was all a dream" or "He had to leave and never came back."
5. It's great when characters that people take a liking to don't die, or end up magically coming back in a way that wasn't too cheesy.
6. As I mentioned in a previous post, people don't like it when the characters have it too easy (cough, cough, Amos Daragon, cough). So the heros should have their plans foiled, or an unexpected turn of events that makes them get a few close calls or some great level of difficulty, even some failures!
7. Smart villains are great adversaries for the hero and make the story fun to read
8. Imagery makes the readers feel as if they can feel the world and see it. An unestablished world can make the work dull.
9. Changes of pace in the book makes it more interesting and easy to read.
10. Romance is always a bonus, but it shouldn't be inappropriate, or located in inappropriate times or places.

• So, please, no detailed love-making or constant love-making (All series by Anne Robillard, the person who writes Les Chevaliers D'Émeraude, have constant love-making inside. It gets quite annoying, boring, etc.)

Enjoy!

Firejay

11. I think it might be a good idea to include Confession's idea: suspense. How did I not think of that?! I mean, suspense, secrets, unexpected turns of events, all are great in holding one's interest for a story! Really, thank you Confession. 

Things People Don't Like in Characters

Characters in general

1. Clichés: things like "Ugly is bad, handsome is good"
2. When they speak with annoying little words such as "like" "Like, I like went to the mall the other day and, like, saw these amazing pairs of shoes...". It kinda gives that "OMG, I broke a nail" voice to the person, that most likely is a girl.
3. When they speak phonetically and it's impossible to understand (I know that some people make their characters say "I ken that" instead of "I know that", and if you're like me and you had to figure it out, you'll know that we read it "can" and so the phrases are annoying to decipher)
4. When they speak with accents. Okay, it's funny if you actually hear someone speak like: "I did nut 'ear dat", but to see it written down can be a bit irritating, as we have to say it aloud in order to understand it.
5. If the people are saying stuff like "Oh, I am very sorry that your car got stolen by a maniac and oh well, I guess you do not have a car anymore, so take public transport."and pretending to be narrators.... It's funny how often that can happen.

Protagonists:

1. And she gracefully tossed her gorgeous hair that rippled like a flowing river of golden silk and her eyes were like sapphires shining in a perfect, heart shaped, rosy cheeked face with full crimson lips and long eyelashes....  Okay, maybe I got the order a bit messed up, but we get the point. Dear little useless damsel in distress is a barbie-doll super model with the typical mane of blond hair. Got it. Stop there. Period, double period, finished, finite, and la fin! The perfect, Arian lady. *Gag*
2. The perfect Arian guy that speaks in verses and is the son of a great king. *GAG*

I once read this series that had a great potential, only the protagonists were so two-dimensional that they  weren't even that: they were a flat line with nothing to them. Especially the hero of the story. The guy just had it too easy, and was too smart for his own good. Give him an impossible riddle and he'd have the answer on the tip of his tongue immediately. Give him a problem and he'd solve it. Absolutely all his plans worked. Everything worked for him. The villains were monumentally stupid. It was BORING! Oh, and the guy was magic.

If that guy was to meet with Artemis Fowl the II, who, in case you don't know, is an other child genius, the poor guy (his name is Amos Daragon, by the way) would probably be so frustrated with having all his plans foiled all the time that he'd curl up in a hole and burst into tears, and then probably be at the mercy of Artemis.

The same thing goes with that Onyx guy of the last post (you know, the seventh son of a miller guy?). I came to the conclusion that if he was to meet my characters, he'd kill my John-Francis guy (silly name, but don't ask), and then, even if he's a god, he'd get blasted into nothingness by my Jared guy who would then have to blast the major gods who would come after him, then he would bring his friend back, and every body will be happy as they don't have the stupid major gods nor Onyx anymore. If you don't get what I mean, read Les Chevaliers D'Émeraude by Anne Robillard and the series that comes after.

Antagonists:

1. Enough already with the stupid antagonists! They are annoying! The hero needs a challenge and close calls!
2. What is with the stupid minions?
3. We do not need exceedingly ugly people or people so beautiful they use sex appeal as last resort.
4. The villain that seeks world domination is so out of date, find another one
5. The villain that is just plain evil is also out of date, sorry.

Have other ideas? Feel free to leave a comment!

Firejay

The Most Common Errors in Short (or Long) Story Writing Placed in No Particular Order

1. Not enough imagery or descriptions, especially in first-person recounts. People have to describe more and make the reader believe that they are in the story as a character. Usually imagery comes more easily when writing as a narrator for a third-person story.

2. Too much imagery or descriptions: too much imagery or description destroys the pace of a book and makes it drag on. A good example of this is The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. It's an incredible book, however there are so much description and back stories for everything that there is no pace, even in battles. Also, too much description, when it's not used correctly in the first person, makes the character sound dorky.

3. Paragraphing in short stories and running sentences: this needs to be constant, and a reminder that though that one sentence I wrote was super long, it is in no case a paragraph, and that if I want to make it so, well I need to separate it in two shorter sentences. And there, the perfect example of a running sentence, and I can make some that are even longer, especially if one of my characters is annoyed or lecturing someone.

Did you notice that that was only two sentences?

Paragraphs all need to be the same length. Usually, unless you're cheating for an essay that prescribes the amount of paragraphs you need, a paragraph introduces a statement or idea, develops on it and then closes it. This usually takes the form of:

Point: what is the point that the paragraph is trying to make
Explain: explain the point
Elaborate: elaborate on the explanation
Link: link to the next paragraph

4. Clichés and things not to use:

• Pathetically emotionless vampire falls in love with a pathetically emotionless human.
• Poor farm-boy get's his parent's house burned down and seeks revenge on the evil overlord that caused it and it so happens that the farm-boy falls in love with a princess and overthrows the overlord but can't marry the beautiful princess because he isn't a prince and then Oops! Never mind, he's actually a prince.
• Poor guy is the seventh son of a miller and runs away to the castle of the kingdom to become part of the army and then the continent gets attacked so he and his friends get magical powers and he doesn't want to give them back and is portrayed as a very potent magician, then Oops! No, actually he already had powers before getting his other ones, so he's a very potent sorcerer, and then Oops! Sorry, he got merged with his descendant that has very potent powers so his powers double and then the author totally ignores this and says that it's guy himself that's super powerful and that he's a demigod of some sort and after that no, there must have been a mistake, I'm now a god with really stupid god-parents and boohoo I feel sorry for myself. (By the way, this character is in a french series not currently translated in english, so you're lucky)
• OMG!!!!! Like, my boyfriend called, and said he wanted to break up!!!!! And I said no!!!! And he said yes!!!!! And, OMG, I am soooo going to post that on Facebook!!!! OMG, I broke a nail!!!! My life is broken and I'm all, like, depressed!!!! OMG!!!! And my friend, she like, hates me for some reason, and I hate her, and OMG!!!!
• Etc.  for the stories, feel free to leave other things you don't like in the comment section
• Beautiful hero that has everything
• Damsel in distress
• Snobby princess
• Virtuous OR really stupid sidekicks
• Ugly or extremely handsome villain that throws temper tantrums but that doesn't actually do anything until the very end (for those who know me in real life and read a section of my story, that would be Henri XIV, but luckily he doesn't stay for very long)
• That villain has really, really stupid minions (If Spike and Score are minions, then they are the prime of idiocy and we're lucky that they're surrounded by meanies smarter than them)
• Female villain is a prostitute-type slut with boobs hanging out to snare the hero that only admires women on the size of their tits (*gags*, makes me think of Manga)
• Really dorky and shallow girls that spend their time on their cell, on Facebook or in front of the mirror.
• And wait! "And it was all a dream". I know English teachers that can fail you for putting that at the end of a story, especially if the narrative is linear and makes sense.  

I think you get the idea, but I'm currently out of inspiration.

Well, see ya!

Firejay

First things first...

So. Blogging about literary arts. I must really be crazy. So, to any (perhaps non-existing) reader, welcome to my writing dump. I'm Firejay, and I'm the first writer for this blog. Others might join in. I'm trying to see whether I can get Philo and Con on.

I have another two blogs: Technology and Modern Society and Anything I Can Think Of. The latter isn't very interesting and I'm trying to shut it down, but I'm not sure I can.

So yeah, a writing dump. So basically a commentary on other literary works and a journal of my own journey in story writing.

Well, anyway, to later,

Firejay