Tragedy: Sometimes The Hero Dies (updated)

 I originally posted this April 1, 2012. It's worth reiterating. (updated)


Writing romance, the Happily Ever After (HEA) ending is expected. There are conflicts, setbacks, tragic events, but in the end the hero – against all odds – triumphs, right? That is our modern convention, the “formula” of a good romance regardless of genre. The hero and heroine ride off into the sunset victorious. But that's not real.

The ideal of a happily ever after fills much of our literature, not only romance. In action/adventure our heroes are beaten and bruised but they survive to kick ass in the final battle. In our mysteries the killer is caught, evil is thwarted, good is vindicated, and everything works out in the end. But some of our greatest heroes are tragic heroes. They live in a flawed world where sometimes evil wins. That's real.

Historically, tragic romance was very popular. In our modern society we seem to prefer rose colored glasses to the gray tones of life. We want epic fantasy where “should” prevails over “does.” We cling to our childhood beliefs of fairness and justice. Yet even now tragic heroes are our most powerful heroic icons. Though the accepted paradigm demands HEA, when heroes die audiences morn. They connect emotionally to the reality that life isn't an HEA Romance.

In the Alien saga Ripley throws herself into a vat of lead because she's infected. In the Matrix trilogy, Trinity's death is powerful, and Neo – blind and beaten – staggers away to certain death. Characters who are willing to die in order to battle evil and save others are our truest heroes, even when resistance is futile, even when evil seems to enjoy the final HEA. It is by their struggles that our heroes are defined, not their victory. Living on in a happily ever after world – as if nothing bad actually happened – often cheapens the hero's struggle.

My son the philosopher often takes issue with one of my favorite quotes, “What doesn't kill you makes you stronger.” He says that's a logical fallacy. What doesn't kill you can, and often does, leave you scarred and broken. For the hero to walk away victorious and live the good life with the heroine is often an unrealistic ending tacked on merely to satisfy the HEA requirement of modern literature.

In Tolkien's classic, Frodo and Sam don't retire to the Inn in Bree to tell tales, drink wine, and enjoy their victory. Frodo survives – though scarred and broken – and sails away with poor Bilbo. The Shire is no longer a peaceful and idyllic home, and Sam must say farewell to his beloved and tragic Mr. Frodo forever. The enemy is defeated, yet the scars remain – nothing is ever the same – there is no HEA for the heroes.

Today is Easter. Today week we remember what has often been called, “The Greatest Story Ever Told.” The hero triumphantly entering Jerusalem, the hero routing the temple of thieves and money changers, the hero standing before corrupt rulers and being nailed to a cross and left to suffer and die – his friends abandoning him. This is the week we remember the truth – “There is no greater love than one who will offer up his life for his friends.”

Easter morning we celebrate our hero's ultimate HEA, but this week we must take into our heart the struggle that brought that final victory. It is in the hero's life, his suffering and death, that we find wisdom. It is in taking up our cross daily that we give ourselves to others and live not for our own HEA but for theirs. Life is often tragic, and good seems to often fail, but it is not in the winning or losing that we are defined. It is in how we live. When that life is an all-in, willing to give up everything to hold our fellows up, type of life we become the heroes of our own story.

True heroes are not motivated by achieving a personal victory and enjoying their ultimate HEA. Their motivation comes from a servants heart. The true hero battles, and gives all, to the cause of others. These are the heroes who touch the deepest part of us. They stir our soul to join the battle, to lift up our fellow man, to give our life for our friends. In literature, and in life, heroes are defined by what they sacrifice not what they gain. Our tragedies and our reaction to them, not our HEA's, define humanity.

Those who follow my blog know that my son Joshua is being treated for leukemia. Life often throws you a curve ball and sometimes you get hit by a wild pitch. But one thing I will take away from this experience is that true heroes still exist. Good friends have lifted me up and kept me going this past year. Please, visit Indies Unite For Joshua, read the list of people who donated books and services to the campaign, then look at the list of contributors. These people are modern heroes. Support them, buy their books, visit their blogs, follow their twitter streams and "like" their pages..

We, and our characters, are ultimately defined by how we help others. Whether you are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, pagan, agnostic, or atheist – caring for others is the noblest of human traits. I praise God for all of you this Easter because all of you have shown me true love. The outpouring of support for Indies Unite For Joshua crossed all religious, cultural, and political boundaries showing that compassion is universal and has offered my personal story the chance for a real HEA.

Thank You.

xoxox

max

How much should I pay for publishing services?

Pricing of editing services, freelance writing, and design work is based on many factors. The most important of these factors is the particulars of the project itself. Developmental editing of a full novel is far different than proof reading a blog post -- as is ghost writing a technical manual as opposed to writing a magazine article. But there are some basic averages that can give you a ballpark figure of your costs.

One great resource is the Editorial Freelancers Association chart on common editorial rates. Yet a quick look at the chart gives a wide range of possible prices. $30-$40 per hour for basic copy editing at 5-10 pages per hour? Okay, my 90k fantasy manuscript is about 360 pages (250 words per page is an industry standard) so that would be $1080.00 - $2880.00. That's a wide range!

And what about design, layout, coding, or freelance writing assignments? The chart covers some of these as well, as do other resources you can find online, but again the range is vague. You could check out some of the publishing services like Amazon's CreateSpace. They offer basic copy editing for $120, for up to 10k words, or $0.012 per word. Hey! Now we are getting somewhere. But dig deeper.

For my fantasy manuscript that would run $1080.00! That's in line with the low end of the chart and my manuscript would get a very basic copy edit, perhaps running it through an advanced spelling and grammar check program a little better than what you get with MS Word. Now I don't know that for sure. An actual real person might read my manuscript, but you get what you pay for. You'll also notice that CreateSpace suggests multiple edits before you publish.

The industry's accepted path for a new manuscript is a developmental edit (if needed) followed by a good substantive or line edit, followed by a good copy edit, and perhaps some fact checking if it's called for. Now the price range for my 90k novel would be somewhere around $4000-$25,000 without the developmental work or fact checking! Now you can see why publishers are so picky as to what manuscripts they accept -- they shoulder all that editing, design, and printing costs!

The advantage of an Indie writer hiring an Indie editor/publisher such as Underground Press Publishing is a unique pricing paradigm based on the project itself, not industry averages or a set price-per-word. An Indie press like Underground Press Publishing can offer you the exact services you need and an unique price quote based on the particulars of your individual project. The price will of course be competitive when compared to similar services at other companies, but you'll only pay for what you need -- not a cookie cutter standard package -- and you'll get one-on-one access to your editor.

Now the ballpark figure I mentioned earlier is pretty simple to arrive at. You can expect to pay around $0.015/per word for copy editing and around $0.025/per word for more in-depth editing. Developmental work is better charged per-hour, as every manuscript is different, but it should average around a nickel-a-word overall. Book covers are art and can range approximately $250-$500 for a .jpg cover image ready for upload and freelance writing depends on the type and length, but expect to pay around $0.25/per word.

I hope all of this helps! If you have any questions, or need some free advice, drop me an email, catch me on twitter, or leave a comment here.

Creating Believable Characters: Getting My Geek On

To write consistent, believable characters a writer needs to be the character. There is a fair amount of role play involved. I credit my skill at character creation to the decades of playing role play games--pencil and paper, and later, online RPGs--beginning with Dungeons & Dragons way back in the 1970's when it first came out. Yes, I'm a geek.

We started playing D&D when it was a couple of self-published booklets, some dice, and a sheet of notebook paper. We also started playing with computers when the very first personal computers (PC's) came out and the graphics consisted of text and a flashing cursor. We dreamed of a day when we could play our games on a computer and see our characters on the screen.

I learned programing, first with a class on data entry in Junior High that used punch cards, then BASIC once computers became “user friendly” with the first PC's. But this isn't a lesson on the history of technology, or my geekiness. My point is, we build our characters from within ourselves and it helps to become your character as you write--though let's not get into the bad guys too much. OK?

I have two projects going presently. I'm still working on CybrGrrl 2.0 and I'm researching tech for a sequel to THE COLLECTIVE. When I wrote the original novels I researched artificial intelligence, in the case of CybrGrrl, and psychology in the case of THE COLLECTIVE. CybrGrrl 2.0 is much darker this time around and I'm relying on some of that psychology research and my love of games. With THE COLLECTIVE, the plot has tuned more toward technology and the shadow world of the electronic underground.

There's an old saying in literary circles, “Write what you know.” That is true, and a good place to start, but to keep your characters and your story lines fresh we need to learn what we want to write. It's important to know what you're writing about. You can't become your characters if you don't have the same knowledge base they have. We start out as writers creating characters much like ourselves or people we know, we grow as writers when we start becoming our characters so we can tell their stories.

Research, in my opinion, is the most important part of creating interesting, engaging characters and story lines. It also happens to be something I love. There is still a huge amount of the writer in the characters, but research allows us to grow and thus allows our characters to become more. That research can be learning new skills, acquiring new knowledge, having new experiences, or visiting new places. Often your characters can take you in directions you would have never gone on your own.

I've know authors who took classes in gun safety, self defense classes, even one who took a knife fighting course! Our stories and our characters give us the excuse to do things we might never experience otherwise. As for me, I've loaded up the Linux Kernel and I'm spending a lot of time on the command line these days. Programming also sharpens those editing skills. One misplaced semi-colon and your program crashes and burns!

Enjoy your research! Your characters, and your readers, will thank you for it.