"Hooking the Reader through World-Building" with Brian McBride (Part 2)

Brian McBride is a Christian blogger, writer, and published author of a high fantasy novel geared toward the young-adult crowd. He is a musician, artist, and amateur photographer. He has recently started his third "official" novel, which is book three in The Starcrafters' Sagaand is editing book two. He writes fantasy, horror, dystopian, and science fiction of all sorts. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, his blog, and Goodreads.

    Sorry about the delay in today’s post! But welcome to the second post in this sub-series of Hooking the Reader! I hope you all enjoyed Scotty’s post last week!

    This post won’t be very long, but I’ll try to get my point across.

    #1 – Know your world.

    You need to know your world. Especially if you write in a fictional world, where the MC’s goal is to set off on a journey or a quest. You need to know where s/he is going/coming from. This will create a sense of realism that is needed in stories set in fictional worlds. How can you do this?

    Well, I like to draw rough maps to get an idea of where everything is located, which direction my characters would travel, what they might come across on their journey. Be organized.

    Also, know what the landscape is like. If your character ends up in a desert, know what the vegetation will be like, know your character’s physical limitations. If s/he ends up on a beach, know where your beach is. All fantasy worlds should have some realistic base. For instance, most fictional worlds maintain the North, South, East, and West directional markers. I keep these in Paradox as well. Why? Because your readers will know what you are talking about and they won’t spend half their time trying to remember what you said the direction for North was.

    #2 – Know your culture.

    What reader wants to read a book where the culture is a jumbled mess? Yeah, I didn’t think so.

    If you have multiple races (Elves, Dwarves, Wizards for fantasy; Aliens for sci-fi) know what their different cultures are like. Based off of lore and thousands of other stories, Elves are likely to live in forests or near water. Now, you could create your own Elvish culture, but this would create more work on your part. Not that more work is a bad thing. ;) Make sure that you organize your culture accordingly and in an intriguing way.

    #3 – Know your religions.

    If you follow the Go Teen Writers blog, then you probably know that they did a recent post on made-up religions. I’ll try not to plagiarize. ;)

    As with most other worlds, realistically, a world should have a set of diverse religions with their own beliefs, even their own cultures. Know what your different cultures and races believe. Do they believe in nothing? Do they believe in magic? Do they follow a God or some sort of religious leader? Be realistic.

    Well, that’s all I have to rant about today. Hopefully this post isn’t as non-sensical as I think it might be. XP

Monday Memes - September 9, 2013

As we go through this month's theme of world-building, here are some encouraging memes for you to contemplate.

Does your plot contain holes? Better patch 'em up before your plot sinks, dragging you with it!

“Backstory”: Hooking the Reader through Character Building with Brian McBride

    Wasn’t Scotty’s post last week terrific? Anyway, this post is going to be really short and to the point. :)

1.      Characters Have History.

Just like in reality, characters have a background, a history. The year they were born, major events that have happened to them over time. Good days, bad days. Creating a backstory isn’t necessary, per se, but if you want to give your story that 3 dimensional effect every story should have, you should at least know what your character’s history is, even if you don’t include it in your story.

A)    Keep a notebook handy with information related to your character’s history. For example, birthday, major events (the day s/he found out s/he had cancer, the day his/her father/mother/brother/sister died, etc…), and so on.

B)    Memorize this information. You should know every little detail about your characters. This will help your writing to remain consistent. For example, if you say your MC was born in July at the beginning of the book, but then you forget and say he was born in December. In this type of event, it’s good to know your character by heart.

2.      Characters Have Relationships.

Every character has a relationship with someone. Even if the relationship is a bad one. Characters have parents, siblings, boy/girlfriends, enemies, etc… This is an important aspect to reveal in a story. Your story’s antagonist should have some sort of relationship with the MC. Not necessarily a blood relationship or a friendship. Your antagonist could only be mildly associated with your MC and would still qualify as a relationship.

    Unless your character is meant to be a figurative “hermit” build relationships between him/her and other supporting characters.

    So, there you have it! Just some tips on how to give the backstory needed to your character. :) Be sure to leave a comment with questions, or anything really. I love hearing from you!

A Character’s Character: “Hooking the Reader Through Character Building, Part Three” with Brian McBride

Brian McBride is a Christian blogger, writer, and published author of a high fantasy novel geared toward the young-adult crowd. He is a musician, artist, and amateur photographer. He has recently started his third "official" novel, which is book three in The Starcrafters' Sagaand is editing book two. He writes fantasy, horror, dystopian, and science fiction of all sorts. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, his blog, and Goodreads.

    Today is the THIRD post in this month’s series on character building. And wasn’t Scotty’s post last Friday fantastic?

    How many of you know that character is a huge element in humanity? Your character is who you are. It’s your dreams, hopes, the way you think, talk, act. So in order to merge your fictional story with reality, your character has to have character, right? Character also helps with that 3D element I’ve mentioned quite frequently.

1.      Dialogue Reveals Character.

    The speech patterns of your MC will reveal who your MC is. If your MC doesn’t like another character, his speech should show it. Maybe s/he tosses out biting remarks, or gossips about the other character behind their back.

    Why is speech so important? In the real world, our speech is what conveys to the people around us who we are in our hearts. It reveals our attitudes and our emotions. It conveys our thoughts and our ideas. Without speech, where would humanity be?

2.      Action Reveals Character.

    Aside from dialogue, what your character does is the most important tool in revealing your character’s character.

    Have you ever seen a child through a tantrum in a shopping center? Such an occurrence would likely tell you that the child is a) used to have his own way, b) probably isn’t punished often, and/or, c) has not been taught restraint. The way a character acts reveals his/her true nature. Thus the importance of giving clear, revealing action to your character.

    Perhaps your character doesn’t like to talk to people; maybe s/he is an introvert/extrovert; s/he is obsessed with food, girls/boys; s/he could be a health nut. There are so many different ways to reveal your character’s character.

3.      Thoughts Reveal Character.

    No one in the real world can know another 

person’s thoughts. However, that’s the great thing 

about books; you know the MC’s thought 

patterns because you literally read their thoughts. 

This comes in handy when you want ro reveal 

your MC’s character on a level more personal to 

the character.

    You could have the character think “I always 

hated going on missions trips.” What does this tell 

you about the character’s character? It likely lets 

you know that the character isn’t the most selfless 

and isn’t very willing to serve.

    First person narrative is also very helpful for 

revealing the MC’s thought patterns.

    “I don’t want to cry, but the tears come anyway” – The character is aware of his/her emotions.

    For one who has mastered the art of writing, revealing a character’s character through thought comes fairly easily.

4.      Emotions Reveal Character.

    There are so many emotions one can have. And every one of them can reveal who you are, who your character is. If your character is sad about a family member leaving after visiting for a while, then likely the MC’s character would be that of a close bond with those s/he loves and a sense of the importance of familial relationship.

    It’s always important to use words that convey degrees of emotion: sad, happy, joyous, enrage, angry, upset, frustrated, etc… And if you really want to get “professional” about conveying emotion, don’t directly tell what emotion the character is feeling.

    “The small tear rolled down her cheek. She took a deep breath, trying to refrain from the trembling that threatened to take her body over by force.” And if the phrase you used doesn’t clearly determine between fear and grief, don’t worry. The scene around these two lines should reveal the situation and thus determine which emotion the character is feeling.

    Well, that’s all I have to say today. Leave a comment below!

Little Names, Big Stories: Monster

Little Name: Mirriam Neal

Big Story: Monster

Chosen By: Brian McBride

Goodreads Description: The year is 2053, and the world is recovering from Morbus, a plague that swept across the globe, destroying millions of lives. Eva Stewart is a promising young WorldCure scientist assigned to a facility in Alaska where she is made a Handler and given her own human Subject for research and experimentation. What she believes to be a step up in her career becomes a nightmare when she discovers writing on her Subject's wall. "I still have a soul." Soon, Eva is drawn into a horrific plot kept quiet by WorldCure, and as everything she knew collapses around her, she must discover the truth behind her Subject, her beliefs, and herself.

Why this story is such a big deal: I've known the author for a while now and was extremely excited when she released her debut novel, Monster, several weeks ago. I ordered it almost as soon as it was released and read it in no time at all. Monster is a thrilling roller-coaster ride. It was gripping, and epic, and intriguing, and an emotional monsoon. I see success not only for Miss Neal's future titles, but also big story, Monster.

About the Author: Mirriam Neal has been writing seriously since she was thirteen, although "seriously" might be taking it a bit far. She loves unique people, unique books, unique music, and plans to continue writing a wide variety of books for the rest of her life.

You can buy the book here!

The Written Word - Paradox

Kira Hellweg is a recent graduate with a passion for music, Jesus Christ, and (oh, yeah) writing. She is the unpublished author of The Legend of Harthore, which is currently in the editorial stage. Legend will be followed by The Legacy of Harthore and finally The Legion of Harthore to complete the imminent Trilogy of Harthore. To follow her coming adventures and writing, check out her blog, The Long-Expected Journey.





Welcome to The Written Word (TWW for short) on YAWA. This series (managed by yours truly) on our blog will be focused on the most important thing to the majority of our readers - the actual writing. Every Thursday, we will share an excerpt from someone's writing, published or not. To start, the five admins will feature sections of our own WIPs. We hope you enjoy our writing, and feel free to email us at yawriters.alumni@gmail.com if you'd like to see your own writing featured!


Welcome back, writers! On TWW last week, we saw the teaser for admin Sam Graber's WIP Korina of Two Worlds. This week, you all get to see an excerpt from yet another one of our admins, published author Brian McBride.

Brian McBride, sixteen-year-old native to Oregon, is a passionate Christian, writer, and an avid reader. Paradox is his first book in a series of high fantasy novels, The Starcrafters' Saga. When he's not reading or writing, he spends his time hanging out with friends and family, and playing the piano, drums, and the bass guitar. He runs a Christian book blog, Shattering the Darkness, and loves finding new teenage authors like himself.

Brian's writing centers around fantastic thrills, intriguing adventure, and mysterious twists, and ultimately, the destiny that belongs to each and every person on planet Earth.

In the distance, hooves pounded on the dirt trail. Hannah looked toward the source of the sound.

   “You mussst hurry. We haven’t much time…” The voice hissed.

   “I know! It’s not every day that an invisible being tells me to cut myself and give them my blood,” she said. Hannah took a deep breath and pressed the stick against her flesh.

    Hannah grunted. Blood trickled through the small cut that ran across her palm. She tossed the stick to the ground and stared at her bloody hand. “Okay. Now what?”

   “Jussst hold out your hand…” The black mist lunged for Hannah’s hand. To Hannah, it felt as though a leach had attached itself to her hand and was sucking her life away.

    Just then Alicia, David, Jake, and Valar broke through the trees in a full gallop. They came to a stop a few feet from where Hannah was standing.

    “Hannah!” Alicia screamed. “What are you doing?”

    “I’m not needed here. I’m going with them.”

    “Who?” Jake asked, searching for the people she spoke of.

   “It doesn’t matter. They promised me what Trand would not give me.” The gray wisps hissed when she said Trand’s name.

   Suddenly the mist was gone. Hannah looked at her hand, clean of blood. She inspected the cut, but there was nothing to inspect. Then thunder clapped behind her. She spun away from the group and toward the noise.

   Lightning shot through the canopy of trees and stuck the ground ahead of Hannah. She screamed and threw her arms in front of her face. The horses that the others were riding whinnied in fear. They reared and chomped at the bit.

    “Hannah! What have you done?” Valar shouted, terrified.

    Booms of thunder resounded through the air.

   A surge of electric light suddenly coursed through Hannah’s body. She went rigid and fell to her knees. Face in hands. She shook violently, and her mouth released a wretched scream.

Excerpt from Paradox

by Brian McBride

(c) 2013

Character Essentials: "Hooking the Reader through Character Building, Part One" with Brian McBride

Brian McBride is a Christian blogger, writer, and published author of a high fantasy novel geared toward the young-adult crowd. He is a musician, artist, and amateur photographer. He has recently started his third "official" novel, which is book three in The Starcrafters' Saga and is editing book two. He writes fantasy, horror, dystopian, and science fiction of all sorts. You can find him on Facebook, his blog, Twitter, and Goodreads.

    Welcome one and all to the first post in my second series, which our new admin/blogger S. Alex Martin (Scalex) will be writing with me (his post is next Friday… Look out!), Hooking the Reader Through Character Building. Today, I just want to run over some of the basic essentials of character building. So bear with me.

    One thing that every writer should know in order to write a terrific story is this: make your character believable! I’ll expound on this with the following points.

1.      Give Flaws To Your Character/s.

    For writers who have been active in the craft for a long time, this is kind of a duh! point, but it cannot be said enough. Unless your character is supposed to be “comically perfect”, you must, must, must endow your characters with flaws. You can’t slack off and think “Oh, no one will notice.”

    Even if all you do is scar your character’s face, at least you’re doing something to add depth to your story. And over time, if you work hard, you will refine your characters’ flaws.

    Here are some basic flaws, just to get you started:

A.    Physical; giving your character physical flaws is a surefire way to add depth to your story. Maybe your character isn’t a very good athlete, maybe s/he isn’t the “hottest” in school, or has stringy hair. Give your character a pimple for crying out loud!

B.     Emotional; giving your character emotional flaws is an excellent way to take your readers beyond the “skin” of your story. Maybe your FMC (Female Main Character) is a drama queen, or maybe she is depressed, emotional. Do something – anything – to give your character the emotional flaws needed to create a better story.

C.     Mental; giving your character mental flaws isn’t as urgent as the previous two, however in some cases it can add to your story. Perhaps your character is schizophrenic, suffers from depression, Alzheimer’s disease, amnesia, or dyslexia. You can see how this point does not apply to all situations, but consider if your character needs a mental flaw in order to create a better story.

2.      Give Emotional Depth to Your Character/s.

    Point 1B makes mention of this, but I’ll expound, for your sakes of course. Don’t think you can get by with “he sobbed” and “she screamed, infuriated”, it takes more than a few words to give your character the emotional depth needed to bring your story to life. Here are some sub-points to guide you:

A.    FEAR. Make sure your character is afraid of something. There is no person alive on this planet that fears nothing. Everyone has fears. Maybe your character is afraid of the dark, or of being alone. Maybe s/he is afraid of losing the people s/he loves. Think long and hard about what your character is afraid of. In the long run, you won’t regret it.

B.     LOVE. I’m a sap for stories that have at least a smidge of romance in them. That’s not to say that stories that don’t have romance aren’t good. Besides, love doesn’t have to just be romance. Realistically, there should always be someone that your MC loves; be it family, friend, boy/girlfriend. Examine whether or not your character has a close bond with someone else.

C.     HATE. Likely, the antagonist is the person your MC most hates, but think also upon material things your character might hate. Spiders, television, Doctor Who (cue the gasps. How dare I speak such blasphemy!). Writers must think about every aspect of their MCs if they desire to create truly 3D characters.

D.    HOPE. If you write dystopian, then the emotion of hope should be a major role in your MC’s life. Even if you don’t write dystopian, there can always be something that a character hopes for. After all, you want to portray your MCs as realistic human figures. Right? Maybe your character hopes to be a musician one day, or an artist, or a political figure (God help them if that’s the case). Hopefully, you’re so in tune with your characters’ personalities that you know exactly what they hope for.

3.      Think About Your Character’s Background.

    This is my third and final point for this post, but it is one I believe to be essential in giving your characters and your story the 3D effect needed to bring it to life in the reader’s mind. You need to consider the background information of your character. Where did s/he go to school? how old is s/he? Family roots? Race/ethnicity? Where does s/he live?

    If you haven’t already, consider including some background information while you are in your characters’ developmental stages. Trust me, 99.9999 percent if the time, you can’t go wrong.

Well, that’s all I have to rant about today, but believe me, I’ll have more for you next time! As I said, next week (Friday) Scotty will be writing Part 2 of “Hooking the Reader through Character Building” so hang in there! You can be sure that he’ll have some awesome rant prepared for you.

Creating An Epic Finale {Of Epic Proportions}: "Hooking the Reader, Part Three" with Brian McBride

Brian McBride is a Christian blogger, writer, and published author of a high fantasy novel geared toward the young-adult crowd. He is a musician, artist, and amateur photographer. He has recently started his third "official" novel, which is book three in The Starcrafters' Sagaand is editing book two. He writes fantasy, horror, dystopian, and science fiction of all sorts. You can find him on Facebook, his blog, Twitter, and Goodreads!

    What is one thing that we can all agree makes reading a book worthwhile? That’s right, the book’s ending. What kind of book ends with the main character (MC) eating a bowl of cereal? I’ll tell you what kind, one that isn’t very interesting. Although, that kind of ending could be interesting if it is written properly.

    I want to show you some ways that you can create an epic final (of epic proportions).

1.      Utilize Cliffhangers.

    A great cliffhanger makes a great story and it also makes you want to come back for more. If you loved the story, but there was a purposeful cliffhanger, then you’ll likely anticipate the sequel. Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes and Insurgent by Veronica Roth used the “cliffhanger method” perfectly.

    In Falling Kingdoms, you think everything is fine, that the story is wrapping up, then BAM! The MC is kidnapped. What kind of author does that?! A great author!

    In Inurgent, Veronica Roth made you think the story was over, but then she did a major plot twist that sets the reader up for book three, Allegiant. (Can’t wait for that one, by the way!)

    This brings me to my second point.

      2.      Utilize Plot Twists.

    As I said a few paragraphs ago, Veronica Roth introduced a major plot twist at the end of Insurgent which has caused me to be unable to wait until book three comes out.

    So why don’t YOU put a plot twist at or near your book’s finale? If you write the plot twist into the story correctly, what could go wrong?

      3.      Follow the “BAM Principle”.

    The “BAM Principle” is what I call it, and not just because BAM are the initials for my first, middle, and last name. ;) The “BAM Principle” applies best to any action/adventure genre (fantasy, sci-fi, contemporary, etc…) Basically it’s the principle that your story must end with a BAM! Or a BANG! if you will.

    Though this applies best to stories with some sort of action/adventure theme, it can also apply to contemporary inspirational, drama, etc…

    If you are a writer of a contemporary story and you want to end your story with the “BAM Principle”, here are a few tips:

     1 – Make your characters so likeable and relatable that the reader wants to come back for more.

   2 – If your character is undergoing emotional/physical/mental/spiritual turmoil throughout the storyline, resolve the ending in such a way that the reader is entranced and they don’t want the story to end.

    3 – Just when the reader thinks the plot has been resolved, insert another short climax, one that can be resolved in a page… or five.

    And now, here are some tips for using the “BAM Principle” in your action/adventure story:

     1 – Make your characters so likeable and relatable that the reader wants to come back for more.

 2 – If your character is undergoing emotional/physical/mental/spiritual turmoil throughout the storyline, resolve the ending in such a way that the reader is entranced and they don’t want the story to end.

   3 – Just when the reader thinks the plot has been resolved, insert another short climax, one that can be resolved in a page… or five.

      4 – If you write fantasy, don’t forget that ever-so-cliché battle scene. Because even if it is ever-so-cliché, it is still one of the most-anticipated scenes of epicness in a fantasy story.

      5 – Reveal a secret at the end of the story that makes way for a sequel.

    6 – DON’T answer all questions. Leave a few loose ends, but do it in an intriguing way, not an annoying way.

    Well, there you have it, ladies and gents! A few pointers on creating an epic finale of epic proportions.

    If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!