Month: September 2011

Community: An African Perspective

Published on by Bryan

The United States was founded on common principles: above all, was a respect for freedom of ideas and ideologies, the desire for a place where people could be who they are, practice what they believe and live in peace with others who didn’t always share those views. 10 years after a day which shook our ideologies and changed our nation’s future forever, when I look around me at our country, I see a place which all too often fails to resemble that ideal, and I find myself wondering where we went wrong. In a society torn apart by ideological warfare, where political parties demand tolerance while being intolerant of anyone who disagrees with them, I often find my mind drifting back to the time I spent in West Africa. My four trips to Ghana from Summer 2000 through January 2004 had a profound impact on me. And above all else, what sticks in my mind is the amazing sense of community I witnessed there.

Although the continent of Africa is home to more cultures and diverse tribes of peoples than any other place on Earth, in studying those traditions, a few common themes come out, and one of them centers around a traditional concept of community. Many African tribes share a concept of community in which all community members are one–living, yet to be born and dead (aka the ancestors). Each of the three is a valuable member of the community and must be taken into consideration in regard to daily life and activities. Libations are often made to the ancestors during difficult times to ask for their favor or appease their disappointment. When someone commits adultery with another person’s spouse, the offense is not just against the spurned spouse but against the entire community, and amends must be made to the whole community, not just the spurned mate. By committing a crime or sin (call it what you will), the offender has broken the unity of the community and peace and oneness must be restored.

Consideration is also given to the unborn in making decisions. After all, they are future members of the community and decisions made now will affect them. Mistakes made by the elders today could become the responsibility of unborn community members of the future. How often do we hear environmentalists argue that bad stewardship of our environment is a crime against our children and their children? How often do we take it seriously and listen? For Africans with this sense of community, it is very serious indeed. And what would such an idea do to the concept of abortion as choice?

In looking at our own divisive society, I wonder how much better off we’d be if we shared these Africans’ sense of connectedness. How much better off would we be if we considered how the poor spending habits of our governments will affect future generations? How poor environmental policies will destroy nature they might have enjoyed and perhaps even lower their quality of life? How much better off would we be if we seriously considered how our actions might shame our forefathers and the yet to be born and acted accordingly in decision making? I don’t know about you, but I suspect we’d be doing a lot of things differently.

Wherever there are human beings, disagreement will result. There are always those who take different views of morality, religion, economics, etc. For many societies, the solution was monarchy or even dictatorship. Centralized control in many forms left no need for time wasted debating or considering the diverse opinions and/or feelings of the masses. But the United States was founded by people who found such practices abhorrent. After all, human beings are intelligent (well, most of us) and capable of rationalization and careful consideration. They are capable of dialogue, study, learning from mistakes, and most of all, compromise. Watching Washington, D.C. these days, however, it seems like the humans running our asylum are incapable of any of these things. Compromise least of all. It’s all about one ideology winning over the other–one group being a winner of the minds and hearts of everyone else. Is that even realistic? Think about it. How often have you been with a group of people where everyone was in total agreement about everything?

It’s been a while since I’ve had the chance to visit my friends in Africa, but I often wonder what they’d think of our current situation. For the younger African generations, heavily influenced by Western culture as they are, it would be just as abhorrent as for the older traditional Africans. After all, both groups aspire to ideals: both, to the ideal of free society with diverse people living in harmony; and the former, especially, to a society wherein respect for each other is a driving force in everything. It’s not that African communities don’t have arguments and disagreements. Those are unavoidable amongst humans. But the way decisions are handled and the regard in which the community is held, influence greatly the way people respond during such conflicts–the actions they take, the things they say, etc. And the mitigating attitude drives them toward one another rather than away from one other, unlike our modern society.

If you ask me, we could use a little unity in American society today. We could use a little harmony. We could use some compromise. We could use a sense of legacy and respect for our elders and the yet to be born. For me, what’s missing is the sense of community these Africans knows so well and the ensuing sense of responsibility to the whole community. Do we really care what consequences our actions bring to anyone around us? Do we really seriously consider that? If you’re happily married or a parent, you probably do, at least sometimes. But given present divorce rates, that’s still a smaller percentage of the population than we need it to be if we hope to live in the harmony and respect our nation’s Founders envisioned.

People whose only glimpses of Africa come from images in National Geographic or tv news programs tend to regard Africans as primitive peoples who live in mud huts, run around half naked and have little or no education, not to mention little or no food. But those of us who’ve spent time there have seen them as far more. In traditional African societies, the people take care of each other. When one family is starving, the community comes together to make sure they’re fed. If one person has extra, he shares with the community so that all may benefit. It actually resembles the descriptions in The Bible from Acts 2 of the early Christian church. When disputes arrive, they resolve them by sitting down together and talking. They seek compromise where it’s possible. They seek restitution where it’s necessary. And in every case, they restore unity and community above all. Those who refuse to accept that must leave the community.

I wonder if our leaders in Washington ever really think about the “for the people” they are supposed to be governing for. Can a body of people who make their own salaries and determine their own raises, who live prestigious lives of privilege really consider life for a person on unemployment or a homeless child on the street? Do they really consider how the decisions they’re making affect those people’s lives at their very core? Do they even care? It’s obvious that lately the idea of Washington folks sitting down and working out their issues is practically a fairy tale. How much better would our country and world be if they could just manage that? How much better would it be if they went a step beyond and actually considered the entire community? Instead the leaders of Right and Left spend time keeping us so focused on our differences that we fail to remember we have more in common than we do different. And it tears us apart.

The Africans’ ideas of community seem less primitive to me, in many cases, than our own, at least in this regard. I think we could benefit a lot by modeling our community after them. After all, restoring a sense of togetherness and unity would go a long way to reunite a country being torn apart at the seems by competing ideologies unwilling to compromise. And how can we hope to stay one nation if we can’t find ways to live in harmony despite our differences? It seems to me the consideration of others we’ve lost is a major factor in our present difficulties. Perhaps a little “African community” would go along way toward restore the core values of our country and our sense of its greatness again.

Reflecting back on the terrible events of a decade ago on this very day in New York, I remember how that tragedy brought us together. Looking now at how ideological forces are working so hard to tear us apart, has me reflecting on what we’ve lost. More than one kind of innocence has gone from us in the past decade, and I, for one, want the second kind back. Because 9/11/01 above all was a day that reminded us what it meant to be Americans. We cannot live in ignorant self-assurance that we are not threatened by terrorists, yes, but I hope we can stop living with the internal threat of ideological terrorism. Do we remember that anymore? If so, let’s start living it. That’s just one man’s opinion, of course. But I think my African friends might like it. For what it’s worth…

 

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, the collection The North Star Serial, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. He’s also the host of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog.

Write Tip: 8 Tools For Using Humor In Your Fiction

Published on by Bryan

Humor can be an important part of both character development and reader engagement. When used well, it can endear both writer and characters to readers. When used poorly, it can ruin an otherwise successful tale. Here’s some tips for how to use humor effectively in your stories and novels.

 1 ) The Running Gag– This tool is one of the stand-by tropes of good comedy. Typically employed following the rule of threes, the running gag will repeat three times, with each one increasing in absurdity and corresponding laughter inspired. The first two act as set-ups for the big pay off of the third. Study any sitcom or romantic comedy and you can always find running gags used to great effect. For example, a character slips on a banana peel on the sidewalk in front of his paramour’s door, embarrassing himself. The next time he goes there, he looks around carefully to avoid something similar but this time, something falls from above, knocking him down. The third time, perhaps during the finale of the story, he winds up ignoring the fear and facing running after her behind a banana truck whose cargo is falling out scatters across his path, leading to all kinds of slippery footwork. This is a basic slapstick example. Most running gags or more complicated. But I think it gives you the idea.

2 ) The Love-Hate Relationship– Nothing brings out humor better than two characters thrown together who are constantly at each other’s throats–not in the “I want to choke you to death” sense, but rather in the “hurling biting insults and cutting down” sense. Watching them each attempt to outdo the other can be mined for great humor and,  at the same time, used to build character. One of the best ways is for them to exploit each other’s flaws for their comments.

3 )  The Flawed Character– No one’s perfect. We all know this about ourselves. Your characters become more real when you also show this about your character. And the worst part of flaws? The way they embarrass us or put us in difficult situations where we look bad in front of those we want to impress. Exploit these situations, and you’ll find all kinds of humor in them. Another advantage is that readers are drawn to characters who are flawed in relatable ways. “Oh man, I know just how he feels!” That response endears your character to your reader and draws them into your story. It’s just part of using your character’s humanity to build empathy and sympathy and connect him or her with your readers, which, in turn, keeps them more involved and interested in your story.

4 ) The Subverted/Misunderstood Context– While creating empathy is helpful, at the same time, your character needs distance from readers for them to see the humor. If they identify too much, they won’t laugh at the humorous situation in which the character finds him or herself. It helps to have the character see the humor in the situation, nor matter how painful it may be, but again, make sure it is not too painful or offensive or the readers will be turned off. Key to this is subverting or applying misunderstood context. People interact daily with different worldviews and understandings of the context in which that interaction occurs. Mining that for misunderstandings and humor or allowing circumstances to subvert one character’s correct understanding of the context can be used to mine humor in the situation for readers.

5 ) The Fish Out Of Water– There’s always humor to be found in situations where a character is put in situations or places with which he or she might be unfamiliar or even made uncomfortable–a priest visiting a crack house, for example, or a Sunday School mom in an NFL locker room. The interactions with other characters who are comfortable in that world and even the character’s reactions can be used for great humorous effect.

6 ) Exaggeration– Exploiting a character’s perspective through exaggeration is a great tool to create humor. Pushing the character to the edge of their limits can result in funny reactions, dialogue and situations for readers and interesting ways of building or wrapping up a scene. It makes everything a bit more outrageous, but to use it effectively, everything the character does needs to have elements of exaggeration throughout. It starts small and builds to be most effective, until they are pushed to a point where they explode (figuratively, of course, in most cases).

7 ) Surprise– Another great tool is the element of surprise. If a character walks into their apartment to find all their furniture turned upside down or a totally unexpected situation, or if events unfold in ways that catch both characters and readers by surprise, humor can result. The surprise can be either physical or emotional, but as mentioned above, it can’t be too painful or offensive that it would alienate the reader. The character’s discomfort is fine and can be used for humor, but the reader’s own discomfort has more limits and must be carefully considered when using any of these tools. Be sure to arrange the elements of the scene to maximize tension and release. This will make the effect of the humor more powerful.

8 ) Satire/Parody– South Park, The Simpsons, and many other popular TV Shows employ satire and parody to mock socially relevant attitudes or even current events and point out flaws or ironies in these situations and you can too through your characters and plots. These two can be tricky to pull off well. Avoiding preachiness, for example, can be hard when it’s a subject on which you feel passionate. Take great care never to push the humor too far. Most especially, allow readers to draw their own conclusions. A few prompting remarks can be carefully exploited through dialogue but don’t overdo it. Especially if you yourself have spoken out publicly about such issues, readers will tend to see right through it and the moment may be destroyed. Still, satire and parody are classic humor tropes which should always be a part of your toolbox when writing humor.

So there they are: 8 Tools to be employed in adding humor to your fiction prose. Like any tools, using them takes practice and development of skills. Some do tend to have more natural instincts than others, but like most tools, these can be learned and incorporated instinctually into your writing arsenal. Despite being age old methods, they remain popular because they consistently work. If they work for other writers, you can be sure that, when done well, they’ll work for you.

For what it’s worth…

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, the collection The North Star Serial, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. He’s also the host ofScience Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog.

The Worker Prince: Moses Meets Star Wars Why?

Published on by Bryan

When I was growing up, I loved stories. I loved been read to by my parents and grandparents, reading with others, etc. But a few select stories connected with me in a special way. I loved The Mouse & The Motorcycle series, for example, and The Littles. At an even younger age, I loved Richard Scarry’s books and Dr. Seuss. But when I got older, when those books became “less interesting,” the stories which stuck with me and still do today were two in particular: space opera and Bible stories. The adventure and heroics of space opera always thrilled me. I loved the laser gun fights, the fighter duels, the damsels in distress and, most of all, the good conquering the evil. In some ways, that last point in particular relates a lot to the Biblical stories I loved–stories of men and women relying on faith to defeat the enemy of disbelief and evil. I thrilled to the story of Joseph and his many colored coat. Loved the story of Zaccheus the wee little man. I loved the story of the leprous Roman officer who doubts Elisha but winds up cured. And I loved the story of Moses.

I remember the first time I saw Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments. Is it any wonder I became a Heston fan, in spite of his fanaticism for the NRA (which I loathe)? I really loved the way he played heroes. I loved the power of his voice, his facial expressions, the way women swooned after him. As Moses, he was a strapping hero, bringing to life a larger-than-life character in a way only a larger-than-life movie star could. Later, he did Planet Of The Apes, which I also loved. I liked him so much, I even found watchable The Colbys, something few Americans at the time did, which explains its immediate cancellation.

So it’s no surprise that teenaged Bryan, the creative dreamer, came up with the idea which became The Worker Prince– an epic space opera about a prince who was born a slave and discovers his secret adoption as he begins to learn who he is. Given the coming of age nature of the story, and the fact that no space opera thrilled me more than Star Wars, capturing the feel of Episode IV: A New Hope became a natural fit in my storytelling pallet as well. I had to create an adventure younger Bryan would love.

Given that both Star Wars and the story of Moses involve religious conflicts of sort, that aspect also seemed natural to my world building. The current evolution of societal attitudes toward Evangelical Christians, in particular, seemed the perfect backdrop. With Evangelicals being marginalized and labelled incorrectly as “fundamentalist” by many on the Left, for disagreeing with the Left’s attitude toward abortion, homosexuality, etc., it points to a possibility of an “us v. them” which could very much become even more of a reality than it is today, as I posit in the story. Such a conflict is ripe with emotions which are very strongly felt by each side, embuing the situation with the perfect tension and level of division for a story like mine. A fan of West Wing, I found myself also imagining how political aspects of the conflicts already described could play into and complicate the story. Thus, both political and personal betrayal and scheming play significant roles in the plot and ensuing complications.

Although I would have loved to have robots characters more predominant, I stuck to the background bots such as waitbots, cabbots, barbots, etc. because who can compete with R2D2 and C3PO? I sure didn’t want to try. I did what blasters and fighters, although my VS28s differ a bit from the X-Wings, I believe. And I did want speeder bikes, thus Skitters were born. But I also borrowed from Superman, Back To The Future and even Robert Silverberg’s Majipoor saga in my world building and settings. In part, I wanted to pay tribute to all those stories because they’d thrilled young Bryan so much. But I also wanted to have a familiarity I knew they’d evoke, yet make them new by making them my own. So the Skitter chase through the forest was born as was the airtaxi race between Davi and his rival Bordox. The opening scene where Davi’s parents, Sol and Lura, send him to safety in the stars evolved. As did scenes of the VS-28s in battle.  Readers familiar with scenes from those other sources will recognize the tribute but also see that I’ve made scenes of mine own out of the borrowed elements. It evokes fun memories but it’s still a unique tale.

As I wrote, I referred a lot to Lord Valentine’s Castle in worldbuilding and the Timothy Zahn Star Wars books for reference in writing action scenes. I also borrowed pacing, of course. And like the films mentioned, my heroes are humanized with humor. They are imperfect, struggling with their role of being heroes. But, at the same time, they are the kind of people readers would like to hang out with and know. They’re friends in the making, you might say, and the comments from readers which please me the most are when they express their fondness for the characters that way. Because like Star Wars, Superman, Lord Valentine’s Castle, Back To The Future and the story of Moses, The Worker Prince wouldn’t work without the characters at its heart. Ultimately, they are who the readers connect with and how their interest is maintained through all the twists and turns.

Above it all, though, I wanted a story, like the classic science fiction I grew up with, which could be enjoyed by people of all ages with parents and children watching together, discussing, and sharing their impressions with each other. As a result, I avoided profanity, sexuality and extreme violence. The story does have sexual tension and romance, and it has violence. People die. People get hurt. And characters are truly evil in their attitudes and actions. But I worked hard to tell a believable, intense story without including elements which might alienate a portion of the desired audience. So far, per all feedback from beta readers, critics, etc., that seems to have been a success.

As I hold the finished book in my hand, and as I continue writing the sequels The Returning and The Exodus, I am still amazed to see it all come to fruition from that teenager’s dreams. It’s a life long accomplishment in a way, and one I am quite proud of. The book is far from perfect prose, of course. I am a beginning novelist, and it is my second novel, the first to be published. But as imperfect human beings, writer’s work can always be criticized for weaknesses. What I hope is that the strengths still outweigh that and will capture your hearts and imagines in ways which enable you to overlook the few faults which exist in the craft and author behind it.

In any case, that’s how The Worker Prince and The Saga of Davi Rhii came to be. I hope you enjoy them as  much as I have enjoyed writing them. For what it’s worth…

Bryan Thomas Schmidt is the author of the space opera novel The Worker Prince, the collection The North Star Serial, and has several short stories forthcoming in anthologies and magazines. He’s also the host ofScience Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Chat every Wednesday at 9 pm EST on Twitter, where he interviews people like Mike Resnick, AC Crispin, Kevin J. Anderson and Kristine Kathryn Rusch. He can be found online as @BryanThomasS on Twitter or via his website. Excerpts from The Worker Prince can be found on his blog.