Chapter 17: Overshadowed Update

Hey everybody! I hope you're enjoying your Friday evening. And I hope this blog post will help make it that much better of a night, lol!!

Have you ever felt like you were on the verge of a major change in life? I love that feeling, I love knowing that something great is about to transpire.

The last few chapters on the science of fiction have been rather forced, and for that I apologize. Sadly my personal life has encroached on my ability to blog. I have not been able to spend the time formulating decent ideas, thoughts or advice on what I have stumbled across through my writing.

However, I don't think things are going to change much for me as we start to get closer to fall. School is plodding right along, work is work, family is amazing and Overshadowed... Well Overshadowed has never been more exciting.

We are approaching the completion of the latest round of major editing. This is far and away the most time consuming part of this whole process. Since it is drawing to a close, those of us who are working on this project can't help but feel that we are almost to the top of the mountain. Well I can't speak for anyone else, but I'll speak for myself. Getting near to finishing this book has me more excited each and every time I touch the keyboard. Now I'm not saying that the work is done, because it's not. In fact, the work is just beginning, fortunately the work from here on out is more enjoyable, and a lot easier.

I want to start featuring some of the characters of Overshadowed, so I can start to tease you guys a little bit with tidbits from the story. For now, let me just say that I have never been more excited to see what's going to happen next.

In that regard, I am wondering if any of you want to know what happens next. I am looking for several individuals who love to read, and who would be willing to do some work on Overshadowed with me. I need a handful of people that are willing to do an alpha reading project on this book. If you're interested in getting a sneak peak at Overshadowed, and you're willing to spend some time discussing it's finer points with me, than this is a great opportunity for the both of us. Just shoot me a quick email, Facebook, or leave a comment here.

I also have three short story projects in the works. I don't have any plans to post anything on the blog just yet, but I might be persuadable. I have finished two short stories and one thing I'm going to be doing going forward is cataloging my adventures of trying to get them published. Keep an eye out for updates there, it should be interesting.

I hope you're as excited about getting to read Overshadowed as I am to finish it. Get ready to tell your friends and family to hop on the Overshadowed bandwagon, we can all ride it together.

Thanks for your time!



'til next time!

Chapter 16: A good Red Herring.

So, what makes a good red herring? How can you trick someone into believing a lie, and then tell them that you meant to do it all along? How do you cheat someone out of their expectations, and then have you thank them for it?

Back in 2003, John Cusack starred in a phenomenal film called "Identity". It was the story of a group of individuals that were trapped in a hotel in the middle of the desert. And slowly, one by one, they are killed off. It is an awesome story, that keeps you in suspense the entire time. And the icing on the cake is a properly placed Red Herring that leaves you going "WTF?".

The Red Herring is *Spoiler Alert* the fact that all the characters are the different parts of a psycho-criminals multiple personalities. The hotel they find themselves in is part of the the killers mind, and the good parts of his mind work together to try and destroy the bad.

I think this is one of the best examples of a Red Herring because it is subtle, yet powerful, and a creative twist on a generic formula. The story in itself is not some completely unheard of, original, and powerful script. It actually was quite normal, rather run-of-the-mill in fact. A knock-off of more than one movie that had already been made.

That is the first key in my opinion for pulling this thing off. You have to work in a platform of familiarity.

So, what else is necessary when writing a Red Herring? What will make our story complete? Ironically enough the general rule of thumb when it comes to writing a Red Herring is to not do it in the first place. You run to great of a risk of leaving the reader feeling jipped, when the main character wakes up, and we find out that he was just dreaming. Nobody wants that in a story, unless of course it is the hidden ingredient that makes the story complete.

I would say that the next key for a well placed Red Herring, is to take the reader to a place they did not expect to go. And (this is essential), it must, must, MUST (did I mention must?) be a more enjoyable place than where they expect to end up at. In the case of Repo Men, the big surprise reveal left me wishing the actual ending had of been the one that took place. Just because the fake ending was so crazy and weird, it would have been awesome if the hero's had of been able to pull it off.

So my closing thoughts on the subject are this; write in familiar territory for your reader. Don't try to throw a loop on a story that is already throwing the reader for a loop. If it's an exciting, bold, new idea, than let it stand on it's own two feet. Take them to a place that is better than where they would go if you hadn't pulled the wool over their eyes. And lastly, be most careful about when you decide to try this. For young authors it is rare to get away with something like a Red Herring. Especially on a first publication, but then again, you never know what could happen...

If you faithfully follow my blog, you will see that it is dwindling in size week after week. This is simply because I am in a very busy time in my life. I am going to school, working full-time at a very demanding job, have a wife and three kids and Overshadowed is rapidly drawing near completion. It is an exciting time in my life and one I will remember for a long time to come. Sadly it makes blogging a little more challenging. I'm not saying this because I'm going to be quitting, on the contrary, I hope to expand the scope of this blog to include not only random musings on how to write better, but also things I am employing in my day-to-day life to try and help acquire new skills.

I have been convicted for not reading lately (college textbooks do not count), I finished off the Green Mile earlier this year and have not touched a book since. For a writer this is a dangerous idea, especially when one is finishing up a large project. So I went on my iPod and purchased a Brandon Sanderson novel. It's called Warbreakers and it is quite good. I don't normally have much of a taste for what I consider “traditional” fantasy novels, but this one is well worth the read. I will keep you updated on my progress.

I also have three separate short story projects in the works right now. Who knows, if you're good, I just might post some of them. I'll keep you posted.

'Til next time...

Chapter 15: Positive Plagiarism.

I know I promised everyone a chapter dedicated to good Red Herrings for this week, but I am wayyyy behind the 8 ball and can't get it prepared in time. Ironically, had I prepared it I would've probably not used it anyway. The reason for that is because of a movie I watched today, a movie that got me thinking about plagiarism.

Having been given the day off, my Wife and I decided to take the kids to the Theater to see a film my daughter has been wanting to watch. It's called Legends Of The Guardians, perhaps you've heard of it. So after watching this movie it got me thinking about ways to take stories that have already been told, and use their familiarity for your own purposes.

I know last week I busted out some spoilers, but this week you can read easy. LotG has only been out in theaters for two weeks and I don't want to give away anything. So this is going to be a spoiler-free chapter.

Before we delve too deeply, I do want to encourage you to go see this movie. It is not doing so well at the box office, and that's a shame. I think it's a gem of a flick, and the CGI was marvelous. In fact I would be so bold as to say the CGI/3D blend was one of the best I have ever seen, at times it was shoulder-to-shoulder with Avatar. But we aren't hear to talk about the pretty graphics now are we?

I wanted to talk about the storyline, because even with the smashing effects, that is what caught my eye. The story is about a young owl, full of natural ability, but still held down by self-doubt, he is basically tasked with saving the kingdom from a unstoppable weapon, and simultaneously helping fight off an army of masked owls led by a evil dark lord that (go figure) also wears a mask. Other interesting points in the story are the wise old owl he meets, that is ironically part of the legends he heard as a youngster. This owl gives him the advice to “follow your gizzard”, which he does, and well because of that, pretty much saves the day. Now I'm curious, is this ringing any bells with anyone?? Anyone at all? Lets see some hands...

It's pretty much Star Wars, there, I said it. Some may disagree, but I'm just saying. You can't watch this movie without superimposing Obi-Wan's voice saying “use the gizzard Luke.”

Sorry, about that. I can't help myself... I'm glad I got the joking out of my system. Honestly, the fact that this story had already been told to me didn't even bother me, and that is what surprised me the most.

This movie captured the essence of correct plagiarism in that it took an old story line, and made it into something new. I was quite impressed by how well it was done. And as someone who nitpicks every little nuance of pretty much every movie/book I ingest, I was caught off-guard and pleasantly surprised by the fact I didn't trash this movie, and simply because of the gizzard thing.

In my opinion I think the Star Wars model is a good one. It shows a character arc that we all wish to travel (from normalcy to greatness), and is full of suspense, action and danger. And at the core it's a good, old-fashioned, good triumphing over evil story. And that is enough for me, because it allowed me to escape into the world of Owls with helmets, and root for the good guys.

Now my question is, how can we as writers walk this tightrope effectively? How do we take the parts of stories that have already been told, and use them in new and exciting ways? And more importantly, how do we do it without looking like rip-offs, and complete hacks?

I would love to see some reader feedback on this. If you don't feel the urge to post a comment, email me at overshadowedipod@yahoo.com, I think this is a healthy topic, and one worth discussing. I for one have my own idea that has been stuck in my head for half a decade and I need to finish it, so I'm gonna keep this chapter short. I don't think I ripped off anyone in my writing, but I do hope I captured at least a couple of the aspects of story-telling that turn a regular story into something great.

I will let you be the judge.

'Til next time.

Chapter 14: Sad excuse for a Red Herring.

Before I get started this week, I feel I have to warn you. I am going to be discussing a movie (Repo Men), if you have not seen this movie this is your warning, there will be spoilers. If you have not seen the film, and don't want it spoiled for you, skip this chapter until you have.

So, one night my wife and I found ourselves in that increasingly rare place where we have time on our hands and nothing to do. Having just acquired a new TV, we figured a movie night was in order. I buzzed over to the local Redbox and picked up a movie called Repo Men. In all honesty I was thinking of picking up a romantic comedy for my wife, but sadly they were all out (dodged that bullet).

A future chapter will have to be on the subject of people who digest entertainment, not because they wish to be surprised by it, but because they crave a certain emotional response. And I'll go ahead and include the template for every romantic comedy ever made, so if you're interested then you can write your own romantic comedy. But that is for another place and time.

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yes, Repo Men. The movie is based on a book called, The Repossession Mambo. I have never read the book, so I won't pass judgment. However I will attest that the movie was total tripe. Not because the acting was bad (it wasn't), or the effects weren't good (they were). It was because the story was terrible, inconsistent, and felt weak. To top it off, they threw a massive Red Herring into it at the end.

Before we go on, remember that everyone is a critic, (especially me) and a Red Herring is an effort by the story teller to divert your attention from what is really going on.

The story is basically summed up as this; a pair of ex-military buddies work together repossessing man-made organs if the organ recipients can't make their payments. Obviously removing someones heart/lung/kidney is deadly, so they struggle with justifying whether it is murder or not. During a repo, one night, one of them is injured, and is forced to get a transplanted heart in order to live. After the surgery, he suddenly develops a conscience, and can't bring himself to repossess any more organs. This leaves him with no paycheck, and before you know it, the shoe is on the other foot, and he is now being hunted by repo men.

He befriends a woman, who is also unable to pay for her organs, and they fall in love. They realize how futile it is to keep running so they decide to take down the whole organ donor structure so they can go on living like normal.

His best friend is forced to hunt him, they face each other, he defeats the friend, then kills a bunch of people and brings down the entire network. Case closed, that's a wrap... But wait, there's more!

While he is fighting his friend he is knocked out by his best friend and is saved by his new girlfriend. This turns out to be where the Red Herring takes place. Apparently when his best friend knocks him out, he causes irreparable brain damage, and leaves him mostly dead. His best friend pays to have him hooked up to a neural dreamworld where he can live out the rest of his comatose life in paradise, and the whole movie from the knock out onward is his dream.

Now I enjoy a good Red Herring as much as the next guy. But they have to be in good taste, and more-so than that, they have to further or accent the plot.. I don't really feel Repo Men accomplished any of this, in my opinion it only weakened an already malnourished plot.

Here's what turned me off about this storyline. For starters I actually think the premise of repossessing organs is a good one. That is the good idea I like to talk about, the one that makes the story. I however refuse to believe that a society that has continued to advance itself forward enough to develop the ability to make organs would suffer some sort of breakdown in workers comp. So I don't think he would have been forced to pay for his new heart out of pocket.

The second beef I took with this flick had to do with the whole Red Herring. As I said earlier I think it needs to accent the plot, not crush you like a falling piano. It has to have the ability to make the story better. I think the story line was at it's best when it was focusing on two people's struggle against a corrupt and vicious system. It is an honorable battle to fight against injustice, but making it all out to be a dream cheapens that victory.

On a final note, the whole neurological network he was hooked up to was only mentioned once during the movie, it was during a brief conversation and was not talked about for the rest of the film (that I remember at least). I think if you're going to take someone down that road, than at the very least, leave some crumbs along the roadside for the people to snack on.

This was just a rant that has been on my mind since I saw this film. You should see it for yourself, if you haven't already that is. And then let me know what you think of it.

I think next week I'll talk about my personal definition of a good red herring and see what people have to say about that.

As always, thanks for reading.