Believe in the Villain

I was laying in bed the other night, thinking of a new story idea and it got me wondering about heroes versus villains. If we all had a choice, we’d want to be the hero. I mean, we grow up used to it, right? Everyone wants to be the hero. The hero is liked. The hero saves the day. The hero always wins, and the villain? They lose. They’re defeated.

But what’s a story without a good villain? Whether it’s a tangible villain for your hero to defeat or an intangible villain for your hero to overcome, a good story has a villain, conflict, trials, and struggle.

Without the villain, the hero can’t be a hero. We may hate villains for the awful things they do, but without that evil, the good of your hero can’t shine through. The villain teaches us lessons that the hero can’t do on his own. If the villain decimates a town, the hero can step in with compassion for the townfolk. If the villain hoards food out of greed, the hero can show the importance of sharing. The villain helps highlight the wrong so the right of the hero can be amplified.

Honestly, I don’t think villains get a lot of credit. I’ve gone through some stories where the villain’s motives aren’t highlighted. The terrible things they do is highlighted, but their story or reasons for their terrible actions isn’t.

In writing, you have to think of your villain as the hero of their own story, because they don’t see themselves as a villain. But something else you can ask is “what do they teach?” What “evil” trait are you trying to portray to your readers to warn them not to follow that path? That’s what villains do, isn’t it? Show us what paths to not take. Path of bitterness. Path of vengeance or rage.

I titled this post Believe in the Villain because I believe in the purpose of the villain. They’re just as important to stories as your hero is. I hope, moving forward, you’ll see that too.

So, believe in the villain. They may be flawed, evil, scary, or do wicked things, but without them, you’ve got no story.

Because Then it Ends

Have you ever been invested in a story that really brings out your wonder or makes you think about all the possibilities involved with it? How it could turn out or what plot twists might be in store?

Several months ago, a new video game came out. It’s called The Legend of Zelda; Tears of the Kingdom. If you don’t know by now, I’m a huge Zelda fan. I got the game around the time it came out, but to be honest, I’m not very far. It’s a huge game. Bigger than it’s predecessor. There’s a lot to do and explore that it’s super easy to get distracted away from the storyline. For those of you who’ve played, I’m only three memories in and only saved the Rito from the blizzard that ails them. So, please keep in mind of spoilers when writing comments.

I really want to continue the story. I want to see how the game turns out, what hidden gems are in the memories and how they develop character relationships further. Not to mention all the plights that ail the different races in the game. Yet, while I really want to know what’s going on and how things turn out. I’m almost scared to continue. Why?

Because I don’t want it to end.

Ending a story, whether a video game, a book, a TV series, or other is so satisfying and yet, so empty. Once it’s done. It’s done. There’s nothing there to continue it except your theories and fantasies on how it all turned out. There’s no more wonder or anticipation. No unanswered questions or carrots to keep hooked on it. You’ve been released. The ride’s over.

The process makes me think about a conversation I heard in a different video game I played. The game’s called Dragon Age; Inquisition, and while you’re exploring two of your companions are having a conversation:

  • Blackwall: Right, how’s it end?
  • Sera: What? That tavern tale?
  • Blackwall: Come on! You left off elbow deep in… circumstances. That can’t be it.
  • Sera: That wasn’t her name, but yeah, that’s as far as the story ever gets. Why are you complaining?
  • Blackwall: Because I can’t stop thinking about it. I need to know the end!
  • Sera: Why would you want to stop? The whole point of the good bit is thinking about the good bit. If i tell the end, it ends!

I remember hearing that conversation, and you know what? Sera’s right. Once you wrap up a story it’s over and you’ve no more reason to really think on it. All the cliffhangers and possibilities keep you energized and engaged even when you’re not actively pursuing the end of the story. Saves you from the sometimes daunting hunt of finding a new story to get invested in to.

One of these days, I’ll eventually finish Tears of the Kingdom and move on to the next story. Be it mine or someone else’s. But, for now, I’m going to enjoy the anticipation just a little bit longer.

I hope when you find a good story, you savor every minute of it too.

Let Yourself Rest

Laying in bed

Thinking of too many things

Bunch of thoughts in my head

Of what the days may bring

Need to do this

Forgot to do that

Find a moment of bliss

Like a rabbit in a hat

Take a moment to sit

And puzzle out thoughts

Am I a good fit?

Or is it all for not?

Then your future self might see you with hate

As you had to get up early

And you stayed up late

Thinking of stories

Thinking of work

Thinking of what to write

And what doesn’t hurt

The days are long

Hot and sticky

But you push on

Your dreams are quite picky

And when the day ends

You’re too tired to sleep

Something comes around the bend

A promise you must keep

You tire it out

Get something that’ll do

Hope no one will shout

That it’s a fraud to

Take a deep breath

You’re doing your best

The promise was kept

So, now to get some rest

Don’t wait any longer

Your future self will feel it

Each moment makes you stronger

So, go on and believe it

Spire in the Distance

Driving around this week, I had the cool opportunity to drive down a hillside. In the distance, surrounded by a bunch of trees, was this tall spiral building. It gleamed in the sunlight and wrapped up toward the sky like it was pointing the way forward. My drawing doesn’t do the building justice, but it was really cool to see.

Likely, the building was a church. Not sure what kind of church, but based on what I’ve seen, it’s highly probable that it’s a church. As a lover of fantasy, when I saw that spire, I had a million things going through my mind on what else it could be.

Maybe it was an elvish structure? Some sort of building housing a mythical stone of light or stone of the forest? Maybe it’s a building dedicated to guardians of the land? Or a temple determined to help adventurers find their way? Maybe it’s a weapon pointing straight toward the stars, prepared to defend the planet? Or a research facility that seeks out new life and accidentally invites aliens to take over the Earth? Maybe it’s a palace? Home to a king and queen that rule justly over their land? Perhaps it’s a school? Dedicated to teaching mystic arts or magic?

My imagination brewed every time I passed that spire in the distance. It made me want to seek out other hillsides and search the horizons for any other structures that would spur the wonders of fantasy. Have you ever seen anything that does that for you? Spotted a building, structure, or landmass in the distance that encourages you to ponder what it could be? Maybe you seek the most logical explanation first? Call the spire a church and move on?

I dare you to poke into your imagination the next time you see something different on the horizon. You never know what adventure you could concoct.

Get to Know You

This week, I’ve been going through a list of questions I need to be able to answer for a meeting I have tomorrow. I got these questions from my coworkers who answered them in their meetings. I’m so thankful they gave them to me, because I’m not good at coming up with answers on the spot. I’m a writer, not a speaker. Since I have to answer these questions, I thought it would be good to share them with you. I’m not going to share my answers since it’ll spoil my meeting for tomorrow, but this will allow you to think of your own answers and get to know you a little more.

  1. What’s on your mind?
  2. How do you like to receive feedback?
  3. How do you like to receive praise?
  4. What management style do you like? What style do you not like?
  5. What growth have you seen from your team since the time you started with them?
  6. How do you get along with others?
  7. What way can we improve?
  8. What makes you shut down?
  9. What’s your motivation?
  10. What feedback to you have that you want to share?

Helmeted Guinea Fowl

It’s a turkey! Look at that chicken!

Quite common misperceptions about this little bird. I’ve lost count of how many times someone has looked at our guinea fowl in our walkthrough aviary and called it a chicken or a turkey. This spotted bird lives in Africa. They’re very chicken-like with the scratching and pecking they do on the ground as they try to find food, but their coloration is very unique with their spotted bodies and colorful heads.

The guinea fowl are doing pretty good population wise and are often considered a nuisance in some areas of Africa. From my own experience at the zoo, they can be pretty loud when they want to be.

Guinea fowl are social birds with flocks of 15 to 40 in the wild. Though not migratory, they’ll spend most of their day walking and looking for food. Some flocks are known to follow fruit eating monkeys. They like to eat insects, seeds, and grapes. Though they prefer grasslands, guinea fowl can adapt to any habitat. Like chickens, they’ll nest in trees at night to avoid predators. Males and females can be told apart by their calls. Females typically have a more higher sounding call while the males will be more scratchy sounding. Dominate males run the flock and these males are typically the ones with the greatest endurance. When they mate, they mate for life.

Guinea fowl hide their eggs in thick grasses, sticks, and feathers. The eggs are a bit smaller than your normal chicken egg and their shells are harder. A hen can lay 7-30 eggs that all hatch around the same time. The father will protect the eggs and teach the young what to eat when they hatch. Baby guinea fowl are called “keets.” They have a life expectancy of 10-15 years.

Guinea fowl contribute to the world by eating a lot of insects–especially ticks and grasshoppers. Guinea fowl also help break down dung upon the plains of Africa by eating the insects on it. They serve as a food for several other species out there: hawks, leopards, owls, eagles, dogs, crocodiles, and snakes, just to name a few.

They’ve received the name “helmeted” because of the featherless crest–which is mostly cartilage–on the top of their heads. It’s larger in males than it is in females.

You can own them as pets. They make good ‘alarm dogs’ and can eat insects around your home, but they’re not very cuddly.

I hope when you see this bird at your local zoo, you don’t mistake them for chickens or turkeys. They’re really cool birds when you get to know them.

In honor of Mudbug, the helmeted guinea fowl.

Passion

What is passion?

What makes you smile?

What just feels right?

When you’ve been at it for a while?

Is there a place, a career, a thought or two

That makes you feel like you?

Call it a purpose, call it a dream

Call it a calling, but whatever it may be

I hope it makes you smile

At the end of each day

I hope you feel you did something

Helped the world, in a way

I hope you know your passion

Whatever it may be

Is enough to make you qualified

And not the fraud you think people see

A calling. A passion

A dream or more

I hope you keep at it

And see how high you soar

Someday

How do you talk yourself up
When you’ve got nothing to say?
How do you boost yourself
When you’re sinking the other way?

Do you take a step back?
Think “maybe not today”
Do you power through?
And pray it will be okay?

How do you defy your feelings
When they’re leading you astray?
How do “buck up”
When you feel your on the fray?

When you think there’s so much on your plate
You want to throw away the tray
When projects don’t get done
On your shoulders does it weigh

Read this, write that
Study everyday
Do this, go there
It’s freedom that you crave

But take heart and don’t give up
You’ll see results someday
Take a minute to rest a while
Your dreams will pay the way

Keep Hope Alive

Back in 2021 I had the opportunity to interview Christian author Julie Lessman. She gave me a lot of good advice and I even shared it in a blog post here. After our meeting, she sent me an email full of good resources and advice. Along with it, she sent me an image from her devotional she felt was meant for me. I threw it in my story folder on my phone as a reminder. This is the image:

That was back in 2021. I looked at it a couple times to serve as a reminder that I need help writing my novels. I mean, I went to school for Animal Science, not Creative Writing. Everything I’ve learned, I’ve learned from others or research I’ve done on my own. So, writing a novel is a tall order, but it’s also my passion.

I’ve had a good week in writing recently. Pitched two agents who are interested in my current novel, broke free from writers block in my sequel, and–to top it off–my editor got my current novel back to me with all his feedback. He said he really enjoyed my story and felt my characters were likeable (even the villains)! Plus, he said my main character was easy to be sympathetic toward. All huge victories for a novel.

Then, I got into the edits.

There’s a lot of simple line stuff, and I always forget to put action before dialogue. A lot of easy fixes and he was super helpful picking out the redundancies to help decrease my word count. Yet, there’s always those suggestions that hit you a little hard. Maybe it’s a scene rewrite or it makes you paranoid that you’ll increase your word count instead of decreasing it. Or it’s as simple as something needing to get cut.

When these hard suggestions come my way. I have a five step process I find myself going through.

  • Denial
  • Anger
  • Bargaining
  • Depression
  • Acceptance

Yup. I did list the five stages of grief. I believe it’s a part of the writing process when you love your novel so much. You start with denial, because somehow you a newbie like you knows better than a professional who’s been in this business for years.

Then, you get a little angry. “I just rewrote that scene! Do you know how long it took me? Now, you want me to do it again? You’re just nit-picking!”

Eventually, you move on to bargaining. “Well, maybe I don’t have to rewrite the whole scene? What if I just threw in a line or two?”

Depression hits hard: “This line or two doesn’t help. My story sucks. No one will ever want to read it.”

Finally, acceptance: “wow, this rewrite does work a lot better than the old one. Huh, look at that! I have a good story!”

It’s a roller coaster of emotions, that’s for sure.

I’d say I’m probably in-between depression and acceptance. I know changes need to be made. I know it’s gonna take a lot of work, but I’m bummed out by it. I’m at the point where doubt starts to creep in. I’ve already lost count of the draft I’m on, and I find myself questioning if it’ll even reach the point where it’s good enough to be published by industry standards. I’m going to make the changes. I’m going to push through and fine tune the story the best I can, but sometimes, you need a confirmation of hope, you know? That your efforts aren’t in vain.

I looked over my editors notes last night, 6/08/2023, and the anxious thoughts of the edits were getting to me. This morning, 6/09, I did my morning devotional in my car before I went into work. This was what it was:

I read that first line and immediately recognized it as the one Julie Lessman sent me in 2021. I’m a Christian. I was honestly looking for hope that day. Waiting for a “right song at the right time” moment from the radio. Something I associated with my story. What I got was much more powerful.

Call it coincidence. Call it faith, but if that’s not a reason to keep hope alive, I don’t know what is.

Guilty of Fraud

Ever feel like a fraud? Like you’re somewhere you don’t belong? “Oh, all these people are so much smarter than me. I don’t fit in with them.” Or “I don’t have the experience that they all do. How could I help in this situation?” Or maybe “I haven’t work on my stories in months. I don’t deserve to be called a writer?” It gets to a point where you’re faking it. Faking a smile or faking your confidence just to hide how scared you are or how isolated you feel. People tell you: Fake it ’til you make it, but those feelings of fraud have a way of coming back.

Last week, I had the great opportunity to attend a Writing Day Workshop. When I signed up for it at the beginning of the year. I was stoked for it. I just reached a new “record low” for my novel’s wordcount and hired a professional editor to take a look at it (and he still is). My novel has never felt so close to being done and ready for publishing. I was super excited. I even paid for some time slots to be able to pitch my novel to a couple agents.

That was back in February. Fast forward to now, June. When it came time for the Writing Day Workshop, I was as anxious as a warthog in a new environment. I haven’t work on any of my novels since February. Between getting full time at my zoo and other stuff going on, the time to write either wasn’t there or I had no motivation to. It ate at me, but I’m guilty of not picking myself up from my bootstraps and just getting to work on writing. So, when the workshop came around, I felt like a fraud. Like I didn’t have a right to attend because I haven’t been writing or why should I bother pitching when I wasn’t prepared for it? I felt like a fraud and I feared it showed.

Good thing the workshop was expensive, because the reason of not letting that money go to waste kept me going.

My family helped me make sure I had all I needed to attend and I was able to work on my pitch during lunch at work. When the workshop started, those feelings of fraud began to go away. I took notes through the whole thing, contemplated a novel I was stuck on based on what the classes were saying. And, you know what? The inspiration came back. The drive to set new goals and practice finishing. I still had butterflies in my stomach when it came to the pitches, but I was feeling more encouraged by the end of the first day of workshops.

Then came the pitches. I used the pitches I thought up at lunch. It was a new take on my pitches before. I hadn’t had the chance to try it out on anyone, but I felt it better described my stories than my pitches in the past. I pitched two agents over Zoom and the technical issues spiked my anxieties. I ended up having to restart my computer for one of them and couldn’t have my notes up on a separate tab up for either of them. I felt like I was pitching blind, going off what wording I could remember, and hoping I didn’t look like a fool in the process.

Both agents invited me to query them my novel.

For those of you who don’t know, that’s huge. I got the literary agents interested. I’m in their special inbox of “I met that author at a conference, liked her idea, and I want to read more.” I could still get rejected. I could send them my query and both decide they don’t like the project. Yet, when you’ve been feeling like a fraud of a writer for the past couple of months and you get two agents interested while you’re in a panicked and anxious state, that’s a victory right there. That’s a renewal of hope that even though you’ve been out, you’re not down.

While I’m using this post to share my victory, I hope moving forward, you don’t let feelings of fraud keep you from your passions. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been out of it for a while, you can always dive back in. I’m going to do that with my writing. Try a little every day to get some progress whether its typing up an idea or writing a paragraph of story. There’s a lot of waiting in the getting published process and through that waiting, I need to be working on what’s next. Practice finishing my projects.

Whether you’re a writer or whether you’re chasing another dream. Please remember: you’re not a fraud.