Spalluccipedia: Kanor

 Welcome to this month’s little Spalluccipedia article. Today, I want to have a chat about the big bad of Sam’s world, the hooded, brooding figure that is Kanor.

For me, something that can really make a story is having a good villain of the piece, whether it be your Lex Luthor or Kingpin of the comic world or, say, a Sauron of a more literary universe. One thing, though, that really gets the audience to connect to the villain, is understanding why they do what they do. We see that with the above-mentioned adversaries and, as Sam’s world progresses, we start to get hints of that with Kanor. As I say in the video, this is a person who halted paradise. He stopped heaven and Earth from becoming one. Surely he had to have a very good reason?

His creative origins go back to my teenage years when I was writing stories about this vampire called Claw who was battling through a post-apocalyptic land in order to take out its ruler, Kanor. These stories, over the years, have morphed into the Bobby Normal series and the Divergent Lands series and, as we travel through the post-Divergence land that Kanor created, we see that it truly is a horrible place in which to live as a human. 

One thing that I am really enjoying doing with the big bad of the Spallucciverse is leaving a breadcrumb trail of clues as to his identity. I would love to hear your theories in the comments below.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

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Take care and keep looking out for what lurks in the shadows…

A.S.Chambers.

Writing Workshop: Be Flexible

So, hands up if you’ve set out on a path to write a particular story in a particular way. You’ve sat down and planned it all out, right to the smallest detail. You’ve micromanaged the interactions of your characters. You’ve set in stone themes that you know need to be explored. Hell, you’ve even got a title and a cover sorted for your grand project.

Then, horror of horrors, your main character goes and does something expected. They fly off piste and find themselves in a situation for which you hadn’t bargained, experiencing emotions that you didn’t realise that they have, hurtling to a conclusion that you didn’t foresee.

What do you do? It is very tempting to try and drag them back to this Magnum Opus that you had planned, to bring them back to the Light and convert them to the one true religion of the way you see their universe running. You can insert twists and turns that will force them to comply with your intentions, making their life hell until they finally bend to your will as their creator.

The problem is, in the long term, it just won’t work. You end up sitting staring at your screen, gawping at the words you have spent the last month frantically typing, trying to bring your story back on track and you come to the devastating realisation that it is utter garbage. In trying to divert the story back to where you want it to go, you have made up unrealistic scenarios, created over-convoluted plot twists and changed your protagonist into a warped and hideous two-dimensional simulacra of what you actually intended them to be. 

And, this is where the dreaded writer’s block sets in. You have dug yourself into a hole and thrown away the shovel. There is no way out. You just sit there and weep.

However, it is all easily avoided. If your story takes a turn that you did not expect, then explore that twist. Never forget that writing is a creative art form. It is not a precise science where an equation states that if you apply one element, another must automatically follow. Let your characters evolve like letting a child grow into their new experiences. Don’t be afraid to play around with new ideas. Write them up, examine them, see if they work. If they’re absolute pants, then save them somewhere and try again to see what else might happen. 

It is crucial to be flexible. In doing so, you will let your story, and indeed your own writing style, evolve in a much more natural way, producing deeper content and far more believable stories.

www.aschambers.co.uk

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Writing Workshop: Location

I just want to have a quick word today about the importance of location when it comes to writing, especially in works of fiction.

It is supremely important when we set our story somewhere that the place where it is set actually feels believable. This can be a real tripping point for books. We may be enjoying the characters, the dialogue and the plot, but there is something that feels somewhat askew, something that we can’t quite put our finger on. More often than not, it is the place where the story is taking place, most likely because it feels vague or unbelievable. It could be that the author has set a story in a city that they have never visited, so it lacks the smell of local cuisine or the sights that one would expect to see from that place’s landmarks. This would be like me setting my stories in New York. Sure, I’ve seen it on the television and in films, but there’s no way that I could do it justice. It would feel like a cardboard cutout of the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty which have been smeared in hot dogs and bagels! Or it could be a fantasy land where the writer is basically making it up as they go along, so the reader just does not feel engaged with a wishy washy background to an otherwise decent tale. The reader just sees elves and orcs battling it out on a landscape which is continually changing shape and not adhering to ever-changing arbitrary rules.

So, my suggestion, when you are starting out, is to take a place that is familiar to you and use that. It could be your country, your town or even your house. Explore details of the surroundings and look at what they mean to your characters. Include things about these places that are special to you, and your love (or even, hatred) of those places will shine through in your writing and help the reader to engage with your story.

This is why I set the bulk of my stories in my hometown of Lancaster. It is familiar to me; I know all its little quirks and details. I can then bring these in a neat little package to my readers, the vast majority of whom have never been here, and they can immediately pick up a sense of the city and its surroundings. Plus, they can see how the location affects my characters such as Sam Spallucci, my investigator of the paranormal.

Have a go. See how you can get on. Take somewhere that really means something to you and just play with it.

www.aschambers.co.uk.