Here’s an update for you!

Enjoy that Super Bowl thing you may have heard of and remember those of us overseas who might not see it right away when you start posting spoilers on social media!

SCREENWRITING TIP #2: CHARACTER

Let’s start with the main character, the person we accompany on their journey, who, in a sense, we become. Generally we take to a character because of how they are written. The strength of that character on the page will hopefully attract a great actor to the role and help you get the screenplay made.

I generally start by creating a little bio of my principal characters (this includes the antagonist – very important). I jot down what they look like, how they dress, how they speak, down to details like what kind of car they drive, the sort of music they listen to, what they order on their pizza, whatever comes to mind.

But the two most important questions you should ask of a character are - what do they want? And what are they afraid of?

In “Mr. Holland’s Opus” Holland want to be a great composer. He’s afraid he doesn’t have the talent. His desire and fear are the yin and yang of his problem.

In “Courage Under Fire” Colonel Serling, a professional soldier wants to be a good leader of men but is afraid that he was a poor leader and maybe a coward.

You must dig deep into your character. They can’t just want to be famous, you must ask why they want to be famous. What drives them toward this need? They can’t just want revenge, you must know why revenge is so important to them. Are they delaying the mourning or/and loss of the one that initiated this revenge? Create a backstory as if you were the actor chosen to portray this person. Where were they born? What was the relationship with their parents? Detail their teenage years, sex life, love life. Most of this will probably never appear in the script (a curse on all needless exposition) but you the author must know it.

Now a really important note about pro-activity. The biggest mistake I see beginning writers make is that the story happens to their main character. Yes, something in the beginning may happen to them, but it is how they react and then deal with this problem that makes them interesting. Even if it is the wrong action, it will lead to another situation that they have created. Good characters don’t react, they act. They are in search of something, even it that something is within themselves.

Hand in hand with pro-activity is the fact that we usually learn about characters by what they do – or won’t do, not necessarily by what they say. In fact, a character’s dialogue can be totally contradictory to what they are doing. A cowboy who says he is against violence but is shooting everyone is his path is telling us a lot about his true nature.

Another caution – a bunch of screenwriting books and thusly more than a few development executives urge you to reveal everything about your characters as soon as possible. I advise you not to give up all your cards at once. Piecemeal this information. In real life you don’t find out everything about someone during the first hour of conversation. You get their story a bit at a time. This continues your interest in them. You should do the same in your writing. Peel your character like the proverbial onion. And a little character surprise doesn’t hurt. Add a character flaw or eccentricity that surprises you but somehow fits. It humanizes them and makes them more interesting.

Hello everyone!

The re-writes and fixes are moving along nicely and I’m definitely on track to hand the manuscript over to Inkshares in May… Then the work of turning it into a real physical book really kicks off!

In the meantime, I wrote a piece for John Robin’s World Builder series that will give you a little bit more insight into the setting I’ve created. The map is still a work in progress, but a more polished version of it will likely find its way into the book. Go take a look!

Inkshares is running a series contests with Nerdist and Geek and Sundry over the coming months - first up is Space Operas! Lots of great books to check out both in the contest and out. 

A couple of contest books that already caught my eye are Christopher Leone’s Champions of the Third Planet and Jake MacMillan’s Dangerous Thoughts; As different from each other as they could be and still be in the same genre, but both well worth a look and a pre-order!

And let’s not forget all the other great books that are still funding on the site! A couple that I’d like to recommend in particular:

-For the epic fantasy fans, John Robin’s Blood Dawn is a must.

-For anyone looking for a good laugh (and I mean is seriously funny!), Billy O’Keefe’s These are my Friends on Politics is for you!

More updates as stuff happens! Likely every month or so :)

Hello readers!

I’m emerging from my writing cave ever so briefly to present you with something very fun! Last month, I was contacted by a Mr. Devon Oakander, a talented acting school graduate who took a liking to the adventures of Dax Harrison. Devon asked if there were any plans for an audiobook version of Dax, and if so, could he submit a recording to audition as narrator?

Needless to say, I was completely humbled. I would LOVE to hear Dax narrated in all his ridiculous glory. As I have been focusing on completing and publishing the print manuscript, I have yet to research the ins and outs of audiobook publishing. If it ends up being feasible, then yes, there will be news on this front at an undetermined point down the road.

In the meantime, you can CLICK HERE to listen to Devon’s terrific reading of the book’s prologue! I believe he matched the over-the-top opening scene quite well with an old Hollywood radio quality in his voice. But don’t take my word for it. Go give it a listen!

....Okay, did you listen? Good stuff, right? He even managed to pronounce "Carteagan" in a much fancier fashion than I originally meant. Haha. Feel free to share the link around and get some more readers on the Dax bandwagon!

As always, my thanks again to each and everyone of you. I hope you find my humble little adventure book to be worth the wait. The writing continues. I even decided to use a bunch of vacation time off work through the second half of February. I want to be laser focused with as little distractions as possible. Wish me luck!

-Tony