Reading between the Lines

Hello Lovelies,

Today I wanted to take a moment and talk about the importance of subtext and giving a story a purpose. In short, what is it that you really want your story to say.

To clarify, this was actually something I had a huge issue with in writing early on and is still something that challenges me to this day. However, giving your story subtext, a moral, or a meaning to the overall is what makes the difference between a story and simply imagining/fantasizing on paper. A story provides a goal or a narrative whereas fantasy is just that: the ideal wanderings of the mind. Allow me to give you an example that strikes close to home.

Consider Xenophobia. The original concept behind Xenophobia was just meant to be a little 'twist'. It was meant to describe this horrible place that just sounds monstrous and frightening but then the 'twist' was to reveal that we were actually talking about humans/Earth. While the concept is fun and the 'twist' is little more than shock-value silliness, there really isn't much else THERE. It's just meant as a quick, idle fantasy.

On the other-hand, where the story WENT is another matter all together (and the reason the beginning of the book is taking so much to re-write.) The story started to become an examination of human political behavior and is meant to reflect very real actions that are being taken today. You have people just sitting back and watching. You have people moving to war on grounds of fear and misunderstanding. You have people standing up in battles who were never invited and you have people who are just there to watch and amuse themselves.

With this in mind, a solid story will always involve some deeper meaning. It will allow a person to 'read between the lines'. Part of what personally helped me was a friend's recommendation.

 "Anytime you watch a movie or read a book, try to figure out what the story

it ACTUALLY about? What is it telling you? What is the 'purpose' behind it?"

It was honestly a great exercise. It allows you to look at literature and entertainment with a whole different light and apply that seem concept to writing. If you're not able to apply a meaning and you don't know what you're actually telling your audience, why ever would someone bother reading it?

This isn't to say that every book out there needs to be the Odyssey and not every writer needs to be Shakespeare, but having a purpose behind your writing, a goal for the narrative, will give your story more substance. It will draw you away from the amateur habit of just writing endless description and either too much action or dialogue. Instead, it will focus you.

You could probably find thousands of ideas, however here are some ideas for morals and purposes:
 -  "Don't make a big deal about a minor problem."
 -  "The fallout of a lie may be worse than accepting responsibility for the truth."
 -  "A new friend may be worth more than an old one."
 -  "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."
 -  "It is not only fine feathers that make a fine bird."
 -  "Anger is a fire that burns all, friend and foe alike."
 -  "Necessity is the mother of invention."
 -  "Pride goes before the fall."
 -  "Misfortune provides insight as those those you should trust."
 -  "Deeds speak louder than words."
 -  "The power of one falls short of the power of many."
 -  "The wealthy are only as rich as how they use their wealth."

I hope this inspired some of you. Do you have any good ideas for morals or purposes? Share in the comments below for everyone to enjoy!

Audible

Hello Lovelies,

As you may have all realized by now, I'm a terrible human being. I'm constantly busy, I'm easily distracted, and I'm generally extremely self serving in that I often find myself more fascinated with little tasks and hobbies that are NOT writing when I should be writing.

One of those biggest distractions has and always will be Books.

Makes sense for a writer, eh?

All joking aside, I have a tendency towards reading A LOT. What I read is always questionable, but anyone who knows me knows that I'm inclined towards fantasy, science fiction, and many other fantastical settings that allow a level of creativity outside of everyday human living. But really, what point am I trying to make here?

In short, reading takes time and reading a LOT takes a LOT of time.

As mentioned before, I tend to be very busy and easily distracted. Books that interest me could be left on my shelf for months because I have other things to do. Like an of us, I have work, family obligations, a need to cook and clean, I go to the gym, etc. Given the opportunity, I'd love to be able to fill that time with a good book, but...ok, you get what I'm building up to here.

I'm sure many of you have heard of Audible, but I have to ask...ever used it?

I actually decided to try it a few months back; got the trial membership fully intending to just get a free book and then disable the account before my month was up. Even did...for a couple of weeks. Then I found myself going back. Again. And Again. And Again.

As a whole, the thing was just way too convenient. When would I listen to them, I asked? How about anytime I felt like it through my smartphone; most notably when I was at the gym, driving, or doing chores around the house. But I don't want to "stream" that much data, I said, thinking of my terrible wireless plan! Don't. Just download the book you want to your phone or computer whenever you're near WiFi and pound through it at your own convenience later on. But wouldn't it be weird listening to someone else read asked the narrator in my brain? Nah. If anything, some of my favorite ones so far have been good old fashioned audio dramas like they used to do on the radio some decades back. At the end of the day, many of the readers are very talented story tellers that add to the flavor of the book rather than take from it.

I bring all this up solely so you can give it a look if you haven't already. I actually had heard about Audible for years and just largely ignored it (primarily for the top three reasons mentioned above). I'm sorry I didn't check it out sooner. It's even inspired me to start looking into voice acting and audio books ideas for Xenophobia. If you love reading or stories and haven't checked it out, lemme be yet another person to encourage you to do so: it's definitely worth it to give the trial a shot.

Xenophobia - Chapter 29

    Darrian felt a welling sense of excitement deep inside him.
    The humans were preparing for a fight.
    But wait a second...
    "How do we know it's regarding the Tulgucks?" Darrian asked hesitantly. "Surely there must be some kind of a response to whatever is happening on Mars. How are you sure this isn't it?"
    "Well..." Harris began.
    "He's right." Ferris quickly added in. "Why would you presume that it was in response to the Tulgucks?"
    Ferris glanced around and a few nods of agreement confirmed they were wondering the same.
    "Actually, it's..."
    "What are they even doing?" Ugul asked absently.
    Harris gave them all a look of annoyance and they quieted.
    "You want answers or do you just want to hear each other prattle on?"
    "Answers, please." Ferris responded in an almost playful manner.
    "Our apologies, Harris. Please continue." A'alan't 32 added quickly.
    "To begin, with regards to Mars, the humans already responded while you all were on vacation."
    "We weren't..." Cagool started to protest.
    "The humans," Harris quickly emphasized, cutting Cagool off. "dispatched two ships en route to Mars. While we're no longer on the planet, imagery of their departure suggested that they were a touch more prepared this time."
    "Prepared?" Darrian asked.
    "For mounds of violence, I'd expect." Illiquina offered.
    "You'd be correct." Harris confirmed. "However, shortly after the ships departure, the humans seemed to have noticed something. I can only presume it was the Tulgucks."
    "You said that earlier." Cagool interjected. "Why do you think it was the Tulgucks?"
    "Because the humans stopped fighting." Harris said. "And they started building."
    The councilors all exchanged confused glances.
    "Look, what do you know about humans?" he asked when he realized he hadn't made himself understood.
    "They're scary." Ugul offered.
    "They breathe oxygen." Illiquina added.
    "They love to fight each other." A'alan't 32 said thoughtfully after a moment.
    Harris nodded his confirmation.
    "One of the primary consistencies, and the reason the Tulgucks were scared of them in the first place, was the humans' tendencies towards war and violence." Harris stated. "And about a cycle ago, intraplanetary violence, particularly extreme measures between geographic locations utilizing ground troops and heavy artillery, ceased by 96%."
    "W-wow." Stuttered Ferris.
    "Wow indeed." Harris confirmed. "Instead they have all suddenly dedicated themselves to construction."
    "Of what?" asked Illiquina.
    "Warcraft. Space-faring warcraft."
    The councilors fell silent once again.
    "How-" A'alan't 32 began.
    "We, of course, are unable to properly determine exactly what the humans are building, particularly those units behind closed doors." Harris said quickly, cutting off A'alan't 32. "But we've counted a minimum of eight hundred separate spacecraft of varying degrees of sophistication."
    "You're serious?" Cagool asked. "You expect us to believe that, in less than a cycle, the humans have mobilized enough to begun construction of nearly a thousand craft."
    "Minimum." Harris confirmed.
    Cagool stared hard at Harris, seemingly choosing his next words carefully.
    "It's not like it matters." he finally said. "The most powerful weapon they have are nuclear devices. They're crude...they might as well throw rocks."
    "Perhaps, but even with the single trip to Mars, they were able to vastly improve upon their own technologies for the second trip." Harris said. "With motivation, I'd say the humans might just be able to rustle up more than you give them credit for."
    "It won't make a difference." Cagool snapped to the councilors' surprise.
    "That said." Harris said turning to A'alan't 32. "My men and I will be leaving their immediate orbit and spacegrounds. I don't care to be used as target practice once those ships are mobile."
    "Understood." A'alan't 32 confirmed.
    "I'll remain within the solar system and use long range systems to keep an eye on them, but I think the Tulgucks might be in for more of a resistance than the planned for."
    "That's absurd!" Cagool exclaimed.
    "Absurd or not." Harris said coolly. "Believe me or not. I'm telling you that the humans are gearing up for a fight. And, for the first time in their existence, it's not going to be with each other."

 ===

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Library in the Dark idea

    So, I’ve been thinking about a little project. I would argue it’s a weird cross between the mystery the idea of LootCrate, Gamefly, and “Blind Date with a Book”. The name behind it (at the moment) is “Library in the Dark”.

     The basic idea would be some sort of a subscription fee (let’s just say monthly $15 books or something) and you choose the genre. In turn, you would receive an unknown book of that respective genre monthly until you either stop or decide you want a different genre. (I’ve thought about doing a multiple genre kind of subscription, but I’m not sure how the prices would really work yet…maybe 1 for $15, 2 for $25, etc. kinda business.)
  
     Last but not least, and here’s where my brain is really buzzing, I’m not sure if it should be Lootcrate or Gamefly, in that you should be able to keep the book forever and just keep getting more stuff OR to be able to keep the book if you want it for an additional fee and return it in exchange for something else if you don’t want to keep it.

     What do you guys think? I feel like some people would really like this idea, but I’m not sure where to take it. Input would be greatly appreciated.