Review - Injustice: Gods Among Us Graphic Novel

Now, I haven't kept up with DC Comics ever since they launched the New 52. I read many of the initial comics that they released and was so unimpressed, I pretty much stopped reading anything DC put out. So, when my wife got me the Injustice: Gods Among Us graphic novel, I was a little hesitant to read it. I knew it based on the video game (and many comics based on games usually are little more than rehashing the plot of a game in hopes to promote it), which gave me even less of a reason to give it a shot.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the comic actually was. Now, I don't want to ruin anything for anyone who hasn't read this yet. So, I am only going to speak of what happens in the very early part of the comic. If you don't even want to know that much, I suggest stop reading now.

The essential plot of the story is, what would happen if Superman went bad. We are so used to seeing Superman as the unfailing, unfaltering, always do the right thing, hero. He shows up. He saves the day. He puts the bad guy behind bars. This story starts off that way, but only for the briefest of moments.

As our story begins, we see Clark and Lois in bed (yes, in this reality he is still married to Lois Lane, which DC erased in the New 52). Clark suddenly perks up as he begins to hear a second heartbeat coming from Lois' body. He is overjoyed as Lois runs off to get an exclusive story down by the docks. Clark flies off as well and even asks Batman to be the godfather. This, is where the happiness ends. Lois is kidnapped by none other than the Joker and Harley and they hide her from Superman, and when he can't find his wife, he goes in search of her, with the rest of the Justice League's help.  They finally locate the Joker with Lois in a submarine which Superman lifts from the water and places on the dock. They break in and find Joker performing some kind of surgery on Lois' body. Supes gets shot in the face with some Scarecrow gas laced with Kryptonite and he believes he sees Doomsday (shown above). He grabs Doomsday and flies him into space, while Batman and the others capture Joker and Harley.

Now, here's the twist and again, if you don't like spoilers, I suggest you stop reading. Doomsday turns out to be Lois, and when Superman flies her into space, he kills her. The Joker had implanted a trigger in her chest, attached to her heart so that when it stopped beating, a bomb would explode, destroying Metropolis. This is the part where you'd expect someone to come up with something clever to save the day. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. Lois dies, as does the population of Metropolis.

Grief stricken, our boy-scout hero undergoes a change. He asks why psychotics like the Joker are allowed again and again to cause terror and death in those around him. Superman isn't content to let this go. He seeks out the Joker in his cell in Gotham and punches a hole in his chest, beginning the downfall of our once great hero.

I'll stop the description there, but essentially the story pits hero against hero in a Marvel: Civil War style war in which the question is simple - Should those with power be able to rule with an iron fist if it's in the best interests of the people?

The series is ongoing and I have since getting the volume 1 graphic novel, gone on to read the other 30 or so issues they have released digitally. The story is compelling, and at times I find myself rooting for one side or the other. I want Superman to win, and sometimes I want him not to win. Not to ruin anything, but many of your favorite heroes do show up at some point in this story, and not all of them survive.

This is a great alternate reality comic set on an Earth we haven't yet met in the 52 worlds set up by the multiverse (if there is even a multiverse in the New 52. Like I said, I still don't read it). It will be interesting to see how this plays out, and I really hope that DC continues this series until it's end - not just when they don't need to promote the video game anymore.

Injustice: Gods Among Us Volume 1 is written by Tom Taylor, and has several artists working on it. Even with various artists, the artwork in this volume is consistent and detailed. Taylor tells an awesome story, and manages to use many characters without the story getting too bogged down. This is a wonderful read for anyone looking for a fresh perspective on classic characters (or anyone tired of the doldrums of the New 52).

40 Questions to ask your Characters

When creating a new story, you need to start with some engaging characters. These characters are going to be the major driving force of the story. When creating a new character, you have to do more than come up with a simple name and physical description. You really need to get into the head of your character in order to effectively write from their point of view. The more you know your characters, the better you will be able to write them.

When I create a character, not only do I search through one of many baby naming books to find that perfect  name for them, I take a few pages in a notebook and for a moment, pretend I am that character and answer some questions as if I am him/her. I won’t even begin writing a story until I have fleshed out the characters that will inhabit it. When I answer the questions as my character, I learn things about him/her that I never imagined. For example, when I began creating the character of Christine for High School Heroes, I discovered she had a fear of crowds. I hadn’t intended this to be a fear of hers, but it turned into a plot point for my story once I made the discovery.

To help you create realistic and lifelike characters, here is a list of 40 questions you can ask him or her to answer so you can get a better idea of who he or she is. 

1.       Where were you born? Was it in a hospital or at home? Was there anything unusual about your birth?

2.       Are you an only child? If not, what order to you fall in? First, middle, last?

3.       What images come to mind when you think of early memories of your father and mother?

4.       What traits (physical or mental) did you inherit from your parents? 

5.       Recall any memories from your life before age 10.

6.       Where do you live? How many people live in your house? What are the distinctive features of your home?

7.       What are some rules you have in your household? Are they strictly enforced or are they lenient?

8.       To whom in your family do you feel the closest?

9.       Write a list of 5 things your mother or father say to you all the time.

10.   Other than family, who are the most important people in your life?

11.   How do you celebrate birthdays? Holidays? Which holiday is most celebrated in your home?

12.   Write about the most memorable vacation you’ve had? Where did you go? Would you go back?

13.   Make a list of 10 places you would like to visit before you die.

14.   What are your hobbies?

15.   When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Has that changed? If so, what do you want to be now?

16.   Think about an important conversation you’ve had with your best friend. What was it about?

17.   What do you and your friends do together for fun? When do you usually get together with them?

18.   Do you save money to purchase something big, or do you spend it as soon as you get it?

19.   What is your favorite TV shows? Movies? Books? Video Games? Music?

20.   What are possessions you really treasure? Why?

21.   Quickly describe your typical day.

22.   Describe a teacher either past or present who has had a great influence on you.

23.   How has your relationship changed with your parents through the years? Friends? Other family?

24.   Describe a difficult decision you have had to make in your life. 

25.   Where is your favorite place to have quiet and alone time? Why?

26.   How many boyfriends/girlfriends have you had? Do you consider that a lot? Is dating even important to you? Why?

27.   When did you realize or how will you know when you have fallen in love?

28.   Do you know how to cook? If so, how did you learn? If not, why can’t you cook?

29.   Describe a situation that will make you laugh uncontrollably.

30.   Have you ever moved to a new place? If yes, what adjustments did you have to make?

31.   When you come home at the end of the day, how do you feel? Why?

32.   Name your 3 closest friends and describe each of them. 

33.   Describe the pets you had growing up. Do you have similar pets now? Why or why not?

34.   How old were you when you stopped believing in: Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, etc.?

35.   What are your greatest fears?

36.   What annoys you more than anything else? What do you do when you’re annoyed?

37.   What do you think your parents, teachers, friends, family would say about you if they were asked to describe you?

38.   Describe yourself in 10 words or less. 

39.   When looking for inspiration, where do you look? Why?

40.   How do you do research? Are you more likely to run to the library or Google? Why?

On Heroes

 

When writing my stories for High School Heroes, I delved deeply into the world of heroes. But what is a hero, what do they do that makes them who they are? Why are we drawn to heroes?

And most importantly of all, how do we, as writers, create a hero that is believable?

I think back to the ancient heroes when I think of a hero. There is Beowulf, Odysseus, Achilles, Jason, King Arthur, among others. If you look at many of these heroes, they are perfect in every way except for having a tragic flaw. Beowulf had his pride, while Achilles had his rage. These things lead to their downfall.

This same concept can be applied to more modern day heroes as well. Superman has his Kryptonite, Hulk has in uncontrollable rage, etc. But are these the things that make them heroic?

No.

A hero is defined by their actions. A hero must do what is necessary in any situation. The hero must help someone or right the wrongs of someone or help topple an evil-someone to be the hero they must be.

The problem is, when writing a hero, many writers make them too perfect. After all, the hero needs to be a likable character, doesn't he or she? So, we shouldn't have them do anything unlikable, should we? The answer to this question is a resounding NO!

Like the heroes of old, our heroes we write should have some kind of flaw. Our heroes we write need to make mistakes. Our heroes need to be... HUMAN. No one wants to read about a hero that is too perfect. It is too unreal and frankly boring. A hero needs to grow. A hero needs to have real world problems just like the rest of us.

For Christine, the main character in High School Heroes, one of her biggest problems is dealing with the fact that she is a social outcast. It makes her more relatable than if I just made her go in and save the day. Through the story she makes friends, and loses them, all the while struggling with the question of whether she should use her newfound powers for herself or for others.

That is a hero.

So, if you're just starting out a story, or even if you're well within writing it. I suggest doing an outline, but not of the story, an outline of your hero. Talk about what makes them great, but give them an inner conflict - something that makes them worth reading about. You need to make your hero something that someone wants to succeed despite their flaws.

Just remember, as you write your hero, no matter if you want him/her to be larger-than-life like the heroes of old, or you want him/her to be a simple schoolteacher or taxi-cab driver, make them great, but don't make them perfect.

Now go and write!



 

How To Create a Book Trailer

An effective tool when trying to create some buzz for your book is what is known as a book trailer. Thee are fairly new things, having only popped up in the last couple of years or so, but they are steadily gaining in popularity. So, if you haven't heard of them yet, you soon will. When designing a book trailer, you should consider the following:

Don't Tell Everything
Think of a movie trailer. Does it show the whole movie? No, it doesn't. Instead, it show tiny snippets of the story, making the viewer want to see more. The key is to only show the viewer just enough to make them feel the need to discover more. This will lead them to your website, which, in turn, will get them a step closer to buying your book.

Limit the Time
Like not showing everything, you need to find a balance in time. Too short, and your viewer will be confused and not want to look at what it's all about. Too long, and the viewer will grow bored, and not get to the end of your trailer, and then will not bother to find out more. The trailer has to be the perfect length. Ideally, 1 to 2 minutes is an excellent length for a book trailer, but anywhere up to 2 would still be acceptable. At this length, you can't give away too much and your audience won't grow bored.

Fit the Mood
This is crucial. The mood of your book, should be reflected in the trailer. You can't have a trailer for Angela's Ashes using a lot of brightly colored scenes with AC/DC's Shook Me All Night Long playing in the background. Just like you don't want to use hardcore rap in a trailer for the Harry Potter books. The point is, if your book is sad, have images and sound that will go along with it. If your story has a lot of action and suspense, that should be reflected as well.


You may have noticed, how to make a book trailer hasn't actually been discussed yet. That is because there really is no set way to do one. Each trailer out there is unique in its own way, and creating such a trailer is truly up to the artist or, in this case, the writer. Telling you how to make a book trailer would be like me telling you how to write your book. While there are certain conventions every book must have, there truly is no one correct way to write one.However, there are a few popular techniques people use in order to create a trailer. If you have no idea how to start, hopefully these models will be a help.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words

This can almost be considered the "traditional" way of making a book trailer. It is also the easiest, which is probably why it is the most popular. For this method, you are going to gather some pictures,   either ones you have taken personally, or by going to one of the royalty free photo websites, such as istock.com, photobucket.com or shutterfly.com.

On these sites, you can purchase photos for a small fee (usually less than $1 a photo), and use these photos any way you see fit. The photos you pick for you trailer should be representative of your book and the characters within. Using a tool such as Microsoft Movie Maker, you put these photos into a video and add some music to them.

Anatomy of a Scene

This could possibly be the most effective, and also the most fun to do. What it requires, is for you to turn a short scene from your book into a short script (remember it should fit into the time constraints mentioned earlier), and then shooting the scene using live actors (or friends). This is also great for you to see your scenes come to life. There are a few books, this technique might not work for, especially if you don't have the ability to construct elaborate sets. However, if you have a "real world" story, where you can shoot a scene in your living room, or at your local park, then this is perfect. If you also happen to be a talented artist, you can also animate the scene. Either way, by the time you're done, you'll have a trailer suitable to drive attention toward your book.

Going to the Movies
 Think of this one as looking like your typical movie trailer. It will have a bunch of short clips, encompassing the entire book. But as stated before, you don't want to give away too much - just enough to entice the viewer. Like the previous idea, this will require getting some actors and shooting several of the scenes from your book. And like the previous idea, if you happen to be a talented artist, go for animating it, this way you are not limited in your vision. Put these scenes to some appropriate music and you've got yourself a movie style book trailer.

No matter what you do when making a book trailer, make sure you get it up on YouTube and onto your Facebook page. These are going to be the places where your trailer is going to get the most visibility.

And of course, have fun making it. Like writing, if you're not having fun, why are you doing it?

A Case for Book Festivals

You know, you would think that it being summer that there would be a plethora of events where one could sell their book. However, sadly, at least in the Northeast, that doesn't seem to be the case. I haven't had any significant events since May. While I love the opportunity to get out there and promoting my work, this downtime is the perfect time to write. No school, so I'm not busy teaching all day, and no festivals or fairs where I would be welcome as a vendor or an author, so I have been pounding away at the keyboard, finishing the first draft what will eventually become the fourth novel in my High School Heroes series. For you writers out there, you know how it feels to be able to sit down at your computer uninterrupted for a few hours and come out of it with an additional 4,000 - 5,000 words into your manuscript.

That being said, I'm gearing up for the fall where I will have several events, and the launch of the third book in my High School Heroes series, not to mention the birth of my son, which should happen somewhere around Thanksgiving. So, a busy fall lays ahead.

So, besides online, there are plenty of places where an author can sell his or her book in the fall, which seems to be (at least for me) the busiest season for book promotion.

There are a plethora of Book Fairs and Festivals that an author can attend, either as a vendor (which is what they call you if you pay for a table) or as a featured author. The featured author spots can be tough to get at some of these shows, because as you can well imagine, they only have a certain amount of spots and a lot of competition to fill them. What I will usually do is apply to get a featured author position (of which I have only gotten at 2 festivals thus far) and then as soon as I find out if I got the spot or not, I will grab a vendor table.

Now, not all book festivals are created equally. I have quite literally been to some book festivals where I could count on my fingers the amount of people who stopped by my table. On that same note, I have also been to book festivals where it was so busy that I couldn't sit in my seat I had so many people coming to my table. Needless to say, the very low attending ones, I have not returned to. But the point is, what you need to do is research.

Before you book an event (especially if you are going to have to do some traveling for that event) find out what the projected at the festival. I have found that the people who run the festival will be more than happy to give you all the details you ask for.

Once you find out whether the attendance at the festival is worth your time, then you have to figure out whether or not the cost is worth it. You have to take into account travel expenses, as well as the potential cost of the table. For example, the Collingswood Book Festival is held in Collingswood, NJ, about a 2 - 2 1/2 hour drive from my home in Maryland. It makes a very nice day trip for my wife and I since it is only a 1 day festival. Plus the table at this book festival is also only $25 (they don't have featured authors at this particular festival). So, because it is relatively near my home, and because the table is cheap, I have a good chance of at least making my money back, which I have in the two years I have gone so far. On the flip side, there is the South Carolina Book Festival, which the last time I looked cost $300+ for the table (if you are not selected as a featured author). Plus that would be a 7 - 8 hour drive, plus it is a multi-day festival, so I would need to get a hotel as well for at least 1 night. Add all that up and there is very little chance of me making my money back.

And that leads me to another point. Now, the Collingwood Book Festival boasts that they have approximately 6,000 people walk through the festival each year, so assuming that every one of them walks passed your table, that means you have 6,000 potential customers. However, the South Carolina Book Festival also says they have 6,000 people attending their festival. So, the question is now, why would I pay all that money to get my book in front of the same amount of people. However, there are festivals that can get as many as 10,000 people, so getting my work out in front of about 60% more people might be worth the extra expense.

Lastly, you have to consider your reason for going to these festivals. I will admit that for some of them, I am there to make money, which is ultimately our goal in this business. However, for others, especially those that I know I have no chance of reclaiming the funds to which I have spent, I am simply there to promote. I have found that though I cannot sell my ebooks at these festivals (at least, I haven't figured out a logical way yet) after I attend one of these festivals and get my book in some people's faces, my sales go up about 10%. This isn't a very big amount, however anything that can my book in more people's hands is a worthwhile endeavor. So, as I said, consider what your goal is at the festivals.


Below you will find a link for a list of good book festivals compiled by BookTV.org. This is a list of reputable book festivals. The list (as of the time I am writing this) has only about a dozen festivals on it. The list will update again as the Spring 2013 Book Festivals dates are set. Take a look at some of them, and if you're not ready to go as an author, check out one in your area and see what they're all about.

The one thing I can promise is that you will have a lot of fun, especially when that first customer comes and starts asking you intelligent questions about your book.

BookTV.org - List of Book Festivals

Enjoy!

Ebook Publishing - Top Publishing Sites

So, in my last post I wrote about the benefits of ebook publishing. In this post, I'm going to tell you about some of the sites in which you can publish your materials. Three of the sites I am going to mention are the three sites I personally use to publish all of my material.

Now, before I begin, I just want to remind you not to expect immediate results. As I stated in the previous posts, my first months on these sites I only sold a few books each month. As my following started to grow however, and I published more books, my sales skyrocketed. So, don't be discouraged when you see your first month's sales as only 10 books.

So, without further ado, here are the sites:

Kindle Direct Publishing - Web Address
With Amazon.com being one of the top ebook sellers, it would be foolish not to have your books prominently displayed on their website. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) is run by Amazon.com and if you publish here your book will be published on Amazon's website.

The upside to publishing with KDP is that it is very easy to get it published here. There isn't a particular format you need to adhere to (although I suggest having your book formatted so that it reads like an actual book) and you can upload a DOC or PDF file of your book (I suggest DOC, because Kindle seems to have an easier time converting this for the device). Once you publish, and assuming that there is nothing in your book Amazon considers offensive (which I will cover in a moment), your book will be made available within 24 - 48 hours. In the last couple of months, KDP has become even faster and several of my books have been made available within 12 hours of my uploading them to the site.

You can also set your price, starting at 99cents and you can also set prices for sites around the world (just in case you happen to want to make the book more expensive in England or France). The problem with the 99cent books is that you only receive 35% of the price as a royalty (which translates to 35cents per sale). If, however, you set your price at $2.99, you will receive 70% per sale (or about $2.) Royalties are also paid each month, though you have to wait 2 months after the end of each month for the royalties. 

As far as the "offensive" items, from speaking to other authors, the only things that I have found that KDP won't publish are extreme sex acts such as rape, beastiality, violent acts. Other than that, unless you have stolen a work from someone else, there should be no problem.

Now, the down side with KDP is that if you do have a problem of any kind, you are pretty much on your own. Any question I have posed to KDP's help line has not only take several days to be answered (if at all) but the responses are not helpful at all. They will usually say something like, "I'm sorry you are having trouble, but there is nothing we can do about it on our end." So, if you require help with anything, I suggest trying to find it from anywhere but KDP.

Pubit at Barnes & Noble - Web Address
Like KDP, Pubit is exclusive to Barnes & Noble, so if you publish here, your book will become available on B&N.com. Like Amazon, B&N is a top ebook seller. These two sites account for more than half of the ebook sales in the United States and possibly the world. These are the two sites I started on before I expanded.

Like KDP, Pubit is very easy to use and is very easy going on the formatting. Pubit, however, is a little more strict about the cover images (mostly the size of the image), but as long as your book cover fits within the size range, you should have no problems.

Pubit has a flat rate for royalties, so no matter what you charge for your book you will receive the same amount, which at this time is 40% of the price. Now, while you will lose some money on the higher priced books, you will be getting more for those 99cent ebooks. So, it does balance out with Amazon's royalties. Pubit's royalties are also sent out each month.

While Pubit has guidelines for the content of your book, much like KDP does, from my conversations with authors, there isn't anything they won't publish (unless it is stolen). Like KDP, once you upload a book for publishing, you can expect to see it on their site within 24 - 48 hours.

As far as their customer service, Pubit has a much better one, though it can also take a couple of days to hear back from them, which can be frustrating. At least when they do respond, their advice is helpful and useful to you.

Smashwords - Web Address

When compared to other publishers, this site is a baby. But don't let it's age fool you, Smashwords.com means business and they are an excellent place to publish your book for several reasons. First, they distribute to ALL the major publishers including iTunes, Sony, Kobo, Deisel, and B&N (They claim to distribute to Amazon as well, but as of right now they are still not sending anything over to them). Second, by publishing through this website, you can get a free ISBN number for your book, which anywhere else can cost $100 or more (The ISBN is very important, because without it, you can't publish on sites such as iTunes and Sony).

So, why even mention KDP and Pubit, if this site will distribute to those sites as well? Well, Smashwords royalties are paid quarterly, so if you want that monthly check, you can forget it. It is also much, much more strict on it's formatting guidelines. As a matter of fact, Smashwords has a free downloadable book which is more than 100 pages long, which goes through step by step, how to format your ebook. Once you get the hang of it, you can format an ebook in 20 - 30 minutes, however, getting started, especially those without good computer skills, it can be a very daunting task.

However, Smashwords does offer a list of people who will help you formatting the book (for a fee). But upon emailing some of the people on the list, I have found their prices reasonable and they have a turnaround time of a couple of days (depending on the length of the ebook).

The length of time it takes to publish on Smashwords is a little long as well. While your book is placed on Smashwords.com immediately for sale, it can take upwards of 6 weeks (or more in some cases) to see your book appear on some of the other sites. When you consider the speed of KDP and Pubit, this is an eternity. 

I know I seem to be complaining more about Smashwords than the other sites, but I still highly recommend it. I tried putting my ebooks up on iTunes, and they make it nearly impossible for many people to get their work up there. First of all, as I stated earlier, you can't publish on iTunes without your book having an ISBN number, and those are very expensive, unless you get a free one from Smashwords. Also, I am a proud PC user, but in order to publish on iTunes, you must download a special program that is ONLY compatible with Mac computers. So, that's two dead ends.

It is similarly difficult to publish on Sony, and Deisel. As a matter of fact, when looking at the publishing guidelines on their websites, they refer you to Smashwords.com. So, if you want to have your books available on these websites (and you do if you want to make some good sales), Smashwords is the easiest and most convenient way to accomplish this. After you upload the book to them, they pretty much do the rest for you (though, as I stated earlier, it can take some time).


The choice is yours. But these are the top three sites for publishing your ebooks. So, get out there and get those books published!

Ebook Publishing

Before I write this post, I have to admit that at first, I was wary of ebook publishing from the start. I had questions like: How do I stop people from pirating my work? Is someone really going to pay for essentially nothing? How can I control my work?

To me, an ebook was an impractical thing, because essentially, in my mind, the only way worth reading a book was if the book was on paper in some kind of binding. That is a mindset, admittedly, that many people still have, but which is slowly growing more and more obsolete. This is proven by the massive amounts of ebooks being sold on the market each and everyday.

So, about a year ago, I decided to give ebook self-publishing a shot. I started with one of my short stories, The Collector, which I put up on Amazon.com using Kindle Direct Publishing. It didn't cost anything (other than the cost of some stock images to create the cover), and in that first month I sold a couple copies of the book. So, I decided to try another, this time I went with my story City of Darkness. Again, I sold a few copies, but what I found was that most people who bought one of my stories, also bought the other. So, I put another and another up, expanding also to Barnes and Noble's Pubit program, and now, a year later, I'm selling a couple hundred books a day.

Now, I'm truly kicking myself for not getting a start on this sooner.

I'm not saying you're going to strike it rich by doing ebooks. What I'm saying is, don't be afraid to try. The cost of self-publishing an ebook is miniscule when compared to printing. I pay for a photo for my cover between $3 - $6. With a little manipulating in Photoshop, I have an excellent cover. Compare that to paying a minimum of $5 per book for a novel to print it, and you're looking at practically no start-up cost.

Now, I've also played around with prices for a while, and I've noticed that any ebook over $2.99, unless you happen to be a New York Times best-selling author, isn't going to sell. I also found that the best price for any ebook is .99cents Many people are willing to take a chance on your work for only $1, and while you are only going to see about 1/2 of that price in royalties, consider what I said earlier - people that bought my first story, also bought my second, and my third and so on. So, while you're making only a tiny profit per ebook, when you consider that people are likely going to purchase more than one, you are actually going to be doing quite well.

My next post will have a breakdown of the best sites to publish your work on. Check back soon for that posting.

Dig Up Those Old Stories

I don't know about you, but I find that I have a lot of old stories that I wrote as far back as high school that I have saved. These stories, though something I would never think of publishing in their current state, are just sitting around collecting dust.

There really is no reason why these old stories need to lay dormant. As an author, I know that I have the ability to breathe new life into them.

I have actually dug up some of these old stories (mainly some sci-fi stories I wrote in college that no one in their right mind would ever try and publish) and at first I was disgusted with them. I think that many writers have this exact same impulse when they first look at their writing that is more than a couple of years old. The reason is that we grow as writers. Our styles change and we actually get better at writing the more we write. These stories I am speaking of now, were riddled with grammatical errors (which I mistakenly thought at the time my editor would fix for me), sentence fragments and a slew of other mistakes that I don't care to mention. As I said, my first impulse was disgust, and my second was to close the file and never look at it again.

However, the story of this first writing I looked at was pretty good, and I thought I could do something with it. The plot of the story was actually pretty simple: a young boy witnesses the last stand of his race against an alien invasion. So, I decided that I was going to attempt giving this a try.

As I read through the story (trying my best to ignore the plethora of grammar errors and whatnot) I noticed too, that I had never put any meat into the story. I noticed that the characters I created were as simple as the plot. I never mention who the boy really was, other than the fact that his parents were on the front line. I never gave a hint as to the culture of these people (were they humans in the future, or were they another alien race on some distant planet?). I found that in rewriting the story, I would have to do a great deal of new writing.

And so I have.

I will admit that it is a challenge and I have essentially had to start near the beginning and build this story from the ground up, however, what I have come up with on this story so far, I am very satisfied with. I have begun to turn a story that a week ago repulsed me and have turned it into a story I can be proud of.

I suggest you do the same. Dig out those old stories. Rewrite them and make them into something you can be proud of and try to get them published somewhere. Even if you don't try to reconstruct the story from the ground up like I did, going through your old writings might spark something in your mind and you can create a whole new story. Don't just let these old stories sit dead in a drawer (or in most cases on an old CD) collecting dust never to see the light of day again. Dust them off and make them into something new.

Creating Your Hero

 

When beginning an action story, one of the first things you need to create is your hero. Creating a hero is rather easy, but there is more to it than simply giving him or her a name. You need to make a character that is relatable to your reader otherwise they will have nothing invested when the hero falls into dangerous times. The way to accomplish this is by getting to know your character before you even begin writing your story.

Naming Your Hero
Creating a hero can be one of the most fun things about writing a story. You need to begin somewhere, and you should start with a name. There are two ways to name a hero. The first is simply finding a name that means something to you. This could possibly be an uncle’s, or a grandmother’s name you have a strong connection with who you’d like to base your character off of. There is nothing wrong with using a name in this fashion. The other fun way is by searching through a name database online and finding a name whose meaning matches the personality of your hero. Remember, a strong name will mean a strong hero. 

For help coming up with a name, I suggest a baby name book like one of these: 

http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/

http://www.babynames.com/

Creating a Personality
With a name, you now need to figure out what your hero is like. A good way to do this is simply taking out a piece of paper and writing your character’s name at the top of the page. Then, answer the twelve following questions about your hero: 1. What is the age of him/her? 2. What were his/her parents like? 3. How important is family to him/her? 4. What are his/her hobbies? 5. What is his/her education? 6. Where does he/she work? 7. What does he/she during free time? 8. Who is his/her best friend and why? 9. Who is his/her worst enemy and why? 10. What single event in his/her life has made him/her who he/she is today? 11. What does he/she like most about his/her life? 12. What reaction do you want your reader to have to him/her? If you notice, there is no mention of any physical characteristics. The physical description is best left for later and should be thought of as a separate entity as the emotional characteristics.

Physical Description
The first thing to do with the physical description is to go online, or flip through a magazine and find an image of someone who matches the picture you have of your hero in your head. When you have an idea, begin describing them. You can do this on the other side of the paper you used for the hero’s personality. Describe the hero’s hair, eyes, height, weight and style of dress. Also consider, do they have any marks on them that can identify them? Something like a tattoo, a scar, or even an unusual piercing can be very telling about a character, and you can create a whole story for the hero to explain why he/she has them. The physical description is not as important as the personality, but it is essential if you want your reader to be able to visualize the hero.

Lesson Learned
Before you begin writing your story, there is one more thing you need to decide on: what is your character going to learn during the course of your story. There are two types of characters, round and flat. A flat character is the same at the beginning of the story as they are at the end. You don’t want to make your hero a flat character. A round character makes some sort of change, usually for the better, through something they have learned during the story. The lesson can be something about him or herself. For example, the hero can learn to live for the first time without their significant other being there to help guide them. The lesson can also be about something external. For example, the hero can learn that even though it isn’t always easy to trust people, that sometimes you need to go out on a limb and let someone into his/her world. Think of a good lesson that the hero can learn that relates to the plot of your story. It is best to do this before you start writing because you want to give hints of this lesson throughout the story, so that when the lesson is learned at the end, the reader is not surprised.