I Like Vampires...Now Make Them Creative

And I probably lost your attention with that simple statement, but I'll continue talking anyway. I happen to like vampires and it has nothing to do with paranormal romance. To me the term 'vampire' can range from a creature who sucks blood to a creature that has to survive off of someone else's heart beat. If you could make a creative vampire then I'm all for reading about them. And, to be honest at the risk of my credibility, I think that's what Stephanie Myers was trying to do.

Okay, I know that sounded a lot like wishful thinking, but it's true. Mrs. Myers wanted to make vampires that sparkled thinking that would be different. She also thought that having them drink animal blood would make them unique and more desirable to young girls, because let's face it that was the target audience. However this all backfired due to a lack of good characterization and a decent plot...

 See people, I still have a brain!

I think perhaps the most interesting vampires that I've ever seen is in the sci-fi. Most times these 'vampires' crave energy and will suck it out of others until they have no more and shrivel up like yesterday's fried corpse. This has been used several times such as the wraiths in the Stargate series. In fantasy it has been done as well, but I've never read any in order to give you a proper example, mostly because I like blood sucking vampires.

Speaking of which...

Where is it written that a vampire HAS to suck blood for food? Can't vampires just like the taste? Maybe they only drink the blood because it's healthier than the rest of the human body? Perhaps they drink just blood so they aren't complete monsters and have to eat human bodies as well? Maybe blood doesn't give them heart burn? There's a hundred and one ways to sit there and recreate that one fact and not enough people take it by the horns and make it there own! For example I happen to think it would be interesting if vampires had to drink blood in order to keep up their appearances as gods, not because they needed the blood for nutrition or cravings. Think of the entire demeanor of the race along with the struggles they would have!

Speaking of demeanor, where is it written that vampires have to be dark and brooding? I understand that we've come to expect this, but perhaps they can be various forms of creepy and scary. Have you ever watched the anime Future Diary? No? Well go look up the character Yuno Gasai and come back and talk to me. She's a pink haired girl that seems sweet and cute...Until she puts an ax through your skull. Can't we have a few vampires like that running around? I think it would fit thanks to all the grimdark fantasy that's been popping up lately.

With that said I hope this helps you when you write your vampire characters!

Now I'm gonna go play  Castlevania Judgement....

An Idiot's View on Race in Fantasy

So, as you know by now, I'm a teenager. As such I haven't lived on this earth very long and am going to be an idiot for at least five more years before reality, and common sense, smack me hard enough to make me wiser. However there's just one thing that I just can't understand....

Why is there a lack of colored Protagonists in fantasy?

Why is there a lack of non-stereotypical Native Americans in Fantasy?

Why do all the Asian characters in fantasy have to come from Wuxia or Asian themed fantasy?

What happened to the Latinos in fantasy?

Is anyone starting to get what I'm saying? You see I come a background that is a bundle of races. I have an African-American mother and a Caucasian father, and some Native American on my Mom's side, so I see the world as a huge melting pit. Now don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like my father's side of the family, I love Europe they've got some awesome history, but I just want to see other parts of me represented. It get's tiresome after awhile seeing the same old pale skinned girl on the cover of the book and being told 'This is who you're supposed to aspire to be like.'

Now saying that does this mean if a girl has a strong character, such as Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games, that I shouldn't try to be like her? Of course not! But at times how can you really relate to someone who has more of a race boundary than I do? I hate to be the one to say this, and burst your shiny little bubble, but no one is as free thinking as we would want to be. Some people just WON'T get into fantasy, urban or otherwise, because there's no Colored, Latino, Asian, Native American characters. At the same time others have just become sick to death of a lack of representation and need a change,

Don't believe me? Then why is everyone and their mother getting so hyped up about a fantasy story called The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms? Something tells me that it has more to do with the fact that the main character is colored, and on top of that female, than anything else. Not that N.K Jemisin isn't a good writer, I'm saving up for her new series, but the idea that a character can be black and female in a fantasy story happens to be novel is more of a seller than anything.

People it shouldn't be this way! It should be that when I want to go to the fantasy section to read about a shoddy love triangle between a human and two mermaids I should be able to find the same stupid plot done again and again, but with more than just white characters.

With that being said I firmly believe that if you're an African-American, Latino, Asian, and Native American writer instead of whining about how you can't get your people to be represented in books just go ahead and publish one with your race as the protagonist. I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, "But I won't be able to sell it to a publisher!"

Then skip over the publisher. If you're writing an amazing story that is unique, deep, original, and the reason they won't but it is because your character isn't fitting the 'selling mold', then go ahead and self-publish. I'm willing to bet that people who have money will buy your books just so that they can relate a little more to the characters.

How to Make an Unique Magic System

I think that hundreds of people try to make good and expansive magic systems now a days. I mean if you look at some older fantasy books, you'll notice that magic is just a thing that can do stuff with no real explanation at all. However that's just not the case anymore, magic is something that has to be boiled down to nearly a science. So, seeing as how I actually like making magic systems more than worlds, I'm going to help other amateur writers make fun magic systems.

So the first thing you want to ask yourself is: Where does your magic come from? Now that sounds like a stupid question, magic comes from magic...Right? Well that's not entirely true, if you want your magic to do something it has to come from somewhere. As such you may want to question where your magic came from. A good example is if you have a people that can use their blood as a magic source, but they must understand the rune system and write it down. If you run out of blood then it is impossible for people to use magic. See?

Of course if the magic comes from a source that isn't so easy to exhaust, like the atmosphere or something like that, then you may want the people who use it have consequences. Having consequences when a person uses their magic always puts a person at stake, making those scenes with spells far more interesting. Often times I see the cop out: you'll run out of energy if you use spells. That's great and wonderful, but that's not really saying something when you want to show just how hard or realistic it is to be a mage/wizard/witch/magical snowball. In the end you're making them no different than warriors, the end of their sword wielding time comes when they're tired. Not very exciting huh? But if we go back to our blood mages, what if their big issue is that the wounds they inflict on themselves don't heal easily? On top of that we already have the issue in that they are using their blood as magic. Double whammy!

Now that we know what our magic is made of and what the consequences are the question is...Who can use it? Well, this really depends on the plot of your story. If your story is about evil knights trying to take over the world and your good guy is just a poor farmer boy, as cliche as that sounds, then can only the wealthy use magic? If so does that mean your farmer boy must steal the ability to use magic since he isn't rich? Maybe only those who join a religion can use magic? So then the boy must convert to that religion in order to use magic to defeat the evil knights. For the sake of our blood mages, and the example, let's just say that only people who are born under the 'blood moon' can use magic.

Now that you've decided where magic comes from, what the consequences are, and who can use it...Time for the fun part, what can your magic do?! This really depends on the three factors above, because if the magic is nature magic I highly doubt you can turn a flame into a stool. So figure out exactly what you can do with your magic and what you can't do. For the sake of example, and our mages, I'll make a quick break down of what the blood magic can do.

1. Can bring people back to life with the use of heart's blood. Is very lethal and can kill a person if the incision is not made properly and not quickly stitched and bathed. A person must have the complete corpse of the person or it will not work. Expect the person to be zombie like and constantly feeding them your heart's blood.

2. Blood magic can take on the traits of the elements given the correct runes.

3. Blood can not be used to make large explosions no matter what Michael Bay tells us.

4. This is just an example, please use your imagination for the next rule.

Okay, so you have your rules of magic, but how can you gain more power? Is it a leveling up system like in Final Fantasy or are you just stuck at that power level such as in a wide variety of fantasy books? Once again this depends on your plot. For the sake of our blood mages, let's just say that in order to move on one must go on a trip of 'enlightenment' and bathe in the blood of an ever weeping statue called Yamaris that has magical properties.

And there you go you have a magic system! Now don't be discouraged if you think your stuff isn't 'new', it's hard to make anything new since fantasy has been around since time began, but you can always tweak things to make it more interesting. So I hope this helped you all and if you have any questions or anything to add let me know.

Now I'm gonna go play  Final Fantasy 12...

Another Idiot's Thoughts on Urban Fantasy

So by now everyone and their dog, mom, dad, and old man across the road has read an urban fantasy. And for the minuscule handful that hasn't let me explain it to you, Urban Fantasy is fantasy set in a city at any point during the Industrial Age. I know many people say that it can be during any time period, but once upon a time there were HUGE medieval cities. So I say any time during or after the Industrial age so that you have some modern...ish...kinda tech to throw at the fantasy creatures. Isn't that such an interesting idea?Now I'm sure plenty of you newbies have seen this before in the mega hit Harry Potter and that questionable series Twilight, so let me get this clear now, Harry Potter is urban fantasy, Twilight is Paranormal Romance. The difference is mostly that one is romance between a human and a fantasy creature as the focus while Urban Fantasy expands on it. Now can urban fantasy have paranormal romance?

Of course!

So with that said let's move onto the actual idea of the blog post, my thoughts on urban fantasy. Personally I see urban fantasy as the awesome uncle that takes out its nephew, futuristic fantasy. It can be the breeding ground of so many interesting ideas such as, elves with shotguns, dwarves working for NASA, and orcs being part of the navy. However, like most genres, we really can't get beyond what other successful writers have done. This has resulted in Harry Potter: Attack of the clones. Like I said, this can be a good or bad thing, it depends on how good the writer can pull it off, but I feel like a lot of the potential has been untapped. However, I won't complain about that sort of thing and instead talk about the good things such as...

Females as the main characters. Granted most of the time they're depicted with strange tattoos, their midriff showing, and holding a gun in an unrealistic sexy manner, but we're at least shifting to the point where we have females as the main kick-butt crew. Princess Peach, high priestess of getting kidnapped, you have finally been dethroned!  Maybe one day we can get some realistic women who actually have feelings and aren't overly sexualized. But until then I'll be happy that the females can actually be useful towards the plot in a way that isn't getting kidnapped or being a healing mage. Huh, that reminds me of a certain post I need to put up....

Seeing how our typically boring world would be with magic. The entire point of the urban fantasy genre! I don't know about you, but sometimes I just want to escape into the books that I read. However, in the urban fantasy genre, that's never even an issue! In a world where you can watch some HD TV while practicing your fire magic must be a blast. Of course you also have the fun of trying to decipher magic from science, keeping magic secret from normal people, and a hundred and two other possibilities.

Being able to relate more to the main character.  Question, how many of you have had your parents slain by stereotypical orcs before your very eyes while a dragon burns down the village and the cows begin mooing in harmony? None? Okay, so then maybe this has happened to you? Your parents got a divorce, on your birthday, and you managed to get fired from your job on the exact same day? On top of all this your powers suddenly decide to manifest and your entire apartment floods with icky green water. Okay, maybe not the last one, but I'm sure a few of the other scenarios have happened to you. Unlike high fantasy which can go to any extreme that it wants, urban fantasy has plenty of limitations depending on the rules of the world. You're high more likely to connect to characters that have to deal with a few of the same things as you. Now I;m not saying high fantasy is inferior, I actually prefer it, but let's be honest. I don't think you could identify the issues with being a half orc with a wing coming out of your left eyeball now can you?

And those are my thoughts on urban fantasy! I guess they're no more eye opening than the post you read before, but I hope you enjoyed it none the less! Now I'm off to go read King of Thorns...

A Petition to Keep Elves

After reading this title I'm sure you're about to click out of my blog, but give me at least a full two minutes to explain.

Ready?

Go!

Okay, so most people are sick of elves. And I don't see a reason why you shouldn't, no one can outdue what Mr. J.R.R Tokien did. But that's our main issue, most people find that he's the end all say all being of high fantasy. If he made a moon that gave a creepy smile and puked up blood then everyone else would have one that gave creepy frowns and cried blood. Simply put we haven't been able to get past the pure awesomeness that Mr. Tolkien created.

But does that mean we have to get rid of elves, dwarves, halflings, and orcs? Of course not! If I told you that I created a halfling race that was actually evil and the main users of magic would you be intrigued? Or what if I said that elves were so inbred that they were mentally stunted and as such the laughing stalk of the entire world? Or how about we go straight back to the very beginning of fantasy and go to the original myths? After all orcs AND elves were all evil, no one was good or safe with them around.

Basically I'm saying that we all should just think of ways to enhance the entire fantasy experience. I think one reason why many people just can't get into fantasy is because people think it's all the same formula.  The boy who grabbed a sword out of a stone and went off to destroy it with the help of an old wrinkly wizard and a drunken dwarf. We should spruce up our ideas for our novels and do our absolute best to keep them nice and original.

Now am I saying that Mr. Tolkien shouldn't get credit or you can't be inspired by him? NO! Please don't think I'm saying that, we'd all be idiots if that was the case, but we should all do our parts to be original and stop ripping off an old dead guy who basically invented and defined a genre.

Now I'm off to go kill off half my elves since they're cliche.

Writing with Anime/Manga in Mind

Alright, time to be honest with you guys...I love anime and manga. I'm a complete geek who stands around in the comic section trying to read an entire volume of manga in an afternoon and then walk out with six volumes I didn't even plan on buying. Why is it that you need to know this? Because I'm sure there's a few of you who lack drawing skills yet write plots for awesome anime or manga in mind. So if you are one of those awesome people then I suggest you sit back and relax because I'm gonna help you out a bit.

So if you've read a lot of manga or watch a ton of anime then you know that there are certain tropes you need to follow depending on the genre. But because this is very general we're gonna just go with some of the main tropes of anime and manga that you often see.

The Loud Mouth: This is typically a guy, usually a teen, that talk way too much and brags about how awesome he is. I discussed this in my last post so I won't swell on this too long, but basically this guy has a big ego yet is usually an underdog that isn't very skilled. If he is skilled then his bragging get's in the way of being truly awesome. Just watch out when he's serious though, the moment he stops playing with you he's dangerous.

Loli/Shota: A loli is a girl and a shota is a guy. Either way it's a person who could be sixteen or seventeen yet look like they're twelve. This trope can be bent in plenty of ways so you could make them evil, like Kanato from Diabolick Lovers, or sweet and adorable like Momiji from Fruits Basket. No matter how you do them up they'll always look very childish and be cute to almost diabetic levels.

Tsundere: Tsundere is a Japanese term that takes two words and jam them together. Tsun tsun, which means turn away in disgust, and dere dere which means lovey dovey. Basically it's a guy or girl who's cruel to their crush/partner but will be sweet to them at other times. Often they'll deny they like the person they're crushing on and even when they get together anything romantic will be accepted with a glare and blush. Of course it doesn't just have to be for crushes, they could love/hate their friends as well. Some good examples are: England from Hetalia Axis Powers, Kagami Hiiragi from Lucky Star, and Sakura Haruno from Naruto/Naruto Shippuden. 

Also, if the Tsundere is female then she could wear two pony tails on the side of her head. For some reason that hair style often goes with tsundere females.

Emotionless Characters: For some reason there's that one guy, or girl, who never shows their emotions. Do they have them? Yes. But they just never show them for whatever reason, It could be a tragic past or some other horrible thing, whatever the case the character is never very happy to show their emotions, but when they do...Lord have mercy on your soul. Some wonderful examples are Julius Monrey from the Heart no Kuni no Alice series, Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan, and Lucy from Elfen Lied.

Being Set in Japan: Most anime/manga are set in Japan. If this is the case then do some serious research! No, most Western people won't know if your information is correct, but then you have that one person who happens to be a Nipponophile...Anyway! Just do your research before doing this, that way you're not the laughing stock of the world. Eamaples...Do I honestly have to list them?

A Japanese Monster: Depending on what genre you're writing you're gonna involve a Japanese monster or yokai. It could be slice of life with a fantasy twist, a right out fantasy, or some kind of mystery. But if it has monsters then there's gonna be at least one yokai thrown in. Some examples of creatures are yuki-onna, shinigami, and kitsune.

Blood: If you're writing an action, thriller, horror, or anything that has fighting expect a boatload of blood, and make sure at least  gallon of it comes out of the characters mouths. Do humans have enough blood to fill up a milk carton? Yes. Should they be able to live if they lost that much? No, but this is a book made like an anime/manga so we're just gonna go with it. Examples...Every.Single.Shonnen.Anime.Ever.Made.

Light glinting off glasses: Yes, this IS a thing. No it's not necessarily something unique to anime and manga, but if you want your book to resemble it then I suggest you put it in. It's really an effect meant to make a character with glasses, who's probably awesome anyway and this will be discussed further another day....Rant aside, the light is just meant to heighten the mood to make them either awesome, thinking, or feared, Some examples are: Fraken Stein from Soul Eater, Nice from Baccano, and almost anyone with glasses in Hellsing.

So there you go, some very basic tropes used all the time in anime and manga. These won't make your book specifically anime or manga like, but it could help you go in the right direction. But don't take my word for it, please don't, go out and look for some tropes yourself. Who knows, maybe you'll find something new and awesome to share with the rest of us nerds.

Writing Character Traits that Aren't Saracasm

For some reason writers believe that sarcasm is a wonderful and 'unique' character trait. Biting one liners that often make the weaker characters cry and the baddies curse like demented sailors. Well, wonderful people who are actually published, sarcasm isn't the only character trait in the entire world. Books, anime, and every other medium of story telling has proved that there are more quirks and traits than sarcasm. Yet new writers immediately think that the only trait that makes a very strong character is a bad attitude with a salty mouth that spits out acid.

Look everyone, sarcastic characters ARE fun. Look at Raistlin Majere from Dragon Lance, Levi Ackerman from Attack on Titan, or Tony Stark from Avengers. These characters are some of the most beloved in their respective series because of their sarcastic mannerisms. However, thanks to their success, other writers get the idea that their characters will be loved thanks to having a similar personality. This, dear friends, isn't true. There are a boat load of quirks that can be injected into your characters to not only make them unique, something the market desperately needs, but also interesting and loved. 

So let's start with one. Miri from Princess Academy has a love for learning. Now I know that this book wasn't made for older audiences, but bare with me for a moment. Miri's love for learning goes beyond the normal 'I want to know 1+1', it stems from wanting to help her family, to becoming her main character trait. She wants to know absolutely all she can so that she can help those around her, outshine others, and be seen as useful to her community. This proves that her strong character can be built up entirely around one trait, learning.

Now let's try another character. Anyone who's watched anime knows that there is at least one character, usually male, who loves to scream and shout how awesomely awesome he is. Well lets spin our random generator and pick a guy...Oh look it's Black*Star from Soul Eater!

Alright, since I said that this guy basically brags about how awesome he is it should be clear that this is a main character trait. The fact that he is so confident gets down to every single part of him, allowing him to push himself further to the next point so that he can become the best of the best. This confidence branches out to other people as well, he is confident that his weapon will also become just as awesome as him since he's wielding her.

See, two very interesting characters and neither use excessive sarcasm.

Now should we just throw sarcasm away into the 'over played Mary-Sue' dumpster? No. Some characters wouldn't be as awesome or fun without their sarcasm. There is a time and place for sarcastic characters, they just don't have to be the center of every other book in existence. Especially the urban fantasy genre, but I'll get to that topic on another day.