Using The 5 Man Band In Your Stories

When your story has a main character, they are referred to as the protagonist of your story. A deuteragonist (a word a lot of us haven't heard a lot) is a term referring to a character who is secondary in a story. Sort of like how a superhero's sidekick is still an important character who contributes to the unfolding drama, but they aren't the one who's really in the spotlight. And for a lot of us, this is the traditional setup for our stories. We have our main character, a handful of support characters, the antagonists, and we're ready to roll!

But what about when you have multiple protagonists in a single story? Well, since they're all equally involved in the story, and they all have their own unique motivations and contributions, this is where you end up with a story about a team of individuals rather than any one person.

This is where we get into the 5 Man Band, which is a setup that I highly recommend you use for any team-based story you plan to tell.

Stay with me, and this will all make sense.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Who Makes Up The Five Man Band?

If you're a fan of tabletop RPGs (or my sister blog, Improved Initiative), then you're likely already familiar with the idea of the 5 Man Band, as it's used in the construction of the "ideal" adventuring party. And if you read a lot of military fiction, the 5 Man Band is your basic fireteam of 4, with a medic thrown in as number 5 in a lot of stories. However, generally speaking, the roles filled in a 5 Man Band include:

- The Leader: The team leader, generally the center of the team

- The Lancer: The foil to the Leader, and often a rival or antagonistic friend or colleague

- The Heart: The emotional center of the team. Often a medic or healer of some variety.

- The Smart Guy: The brains of the operation, often a tech savant, wizard, etc.

- The Big Guy: The tank, the Big Guy is strong, tough, or sometimes both.

This setup is extremely useful for stories with multiple protagonists, and especially when you need to rapidly differentiate them from each other even if there's a great deal of similarities between them. For example, consider Kill Team Errant, featured in my Warhammer 40K story Blackest Knights, which you should read if you haven't.

Our team features:

- Cadmus: Leader

- Phobos: Lancer

- Chiron: Heart

- Daedalus: Smart Guy

- Garm: Big Guy

Now, every member of the Kill Team is a space marine wearing the same, blank, gray armor. However, there are a variety of clues to let the audience know which member of the team is meant to fill which role, and to slot everyone in place in short order (this is a short story, after all, and I don't have infinite word count). If you're looking for easy, quick-fix solutions for your own stories, consider some of the following:

Names

Every member of the team has an alias taken from mythology, and the legends these names refer to are meant both as a signifier of their skill set, but also as a clue to their role in the 5 Man Band.

Cadmus was an ancient hero, and a slayer of monsters, making him a proud Leader. Phobos was a minor god of fear, making him the dark shadow to the sergeant, filling the role of the Lancer. Chiron was the centaur who taught philosophy and medicine to the ancient heroes, marking him as the team's apothecary (space marine medic), but also as the moral compass and heart. Daedalus was one of the great, learned minds of mythology who built the Labyrinth of the minotaur, and Garm was the hound of Hel who would drag back any souls that attempted to escape that realm.

Armament/Equipment

Weapons and armor (as well as other equipment) always has a symbolic representation in stories, in addition to any practical use it has for the characters in question.

For example, Cadmus carries a power sword of fine craftsmanship. This weapon is prestigious, as befits a leader, and it's clear that he is skilled with it. It also speaks to command, as officers have carried swords as sidearms both practically and ceremonially for centuries. Phobos, by contrast, uses a combat knife and a bolt pistol. Both of these are nasty weapons meant for up-close-and-personal killings, and they tend to work more for an ambusher and slayer than for a soldier or a warrior. Chiron only seems to have backup weapons, though we find by the end of the story that he's a psyker, a power which is extremely common for the Heart in this particular setup. Daedalus focuses on his bolt rifle and explosives, both of which are custom tooled to his exacting specifications, and which require a highly technical mind to make the most of in his particular fighting style. And Garm is equipped with a power fist, which allows him to strike devastating blows with one hand, and a boarding shield, which exacerbates his toughness, and ability to soak up punishment.

Manner of Speech

Every member of the Kill Team speaks differently, but the cadence and rhythm of their speech, as well as the choice of what they talk about, says a lot about them.

Phobos is irreverent, and cruel, which is a perfect opposite to Cadmus who focuses on the team, their goals, and coordination. Chiron attempts to solve problems with his words, and he is concerned with the morality of the actions his companions take. Daedalus speaks in an almost mechanical way, implying he's far more comfortable with facts, figures, and programs than he is with organic interaction with other people. And Garm... well, Garm barely speaks at all. Not an uncommon trait for a Big Guy, as the strong, silent type is a trope for a reason.

Show Your Audience Who Is Who

We're always saying, "show, don't tell," when it comes to our stories, but when it comes to tropes like the 5 Man Band it's extremely important to focus on that rule. Mostly because the trope exists as a meta-conceit. It's not part of the world itself (most of the time, anyway), but rather it's a tool for us as writers, and our audience as readers, to find a comfortable foothold to easily understand the mold a story fits into.

And it's also important to remember that all of these positions are flexible in terms of how they present to the audience, the traits that they have, etc. Your Big Guy might actually be the shortest member of the team, but he posses potent power as a psychic, or he's so dense nothing can truly hurt him. Your heart might be a gruff, foul-mouthed, stern parental figure who, underneath it all, truly cares for those around them. Your smart guy might be a gym rat who biohacks himself into the body he wants, in addition to being a multi-doctorate scientist, and your leader could be dark and brooding with their lancer a chipper, upbeat sort who always pushes them to do the most heroic thing.

If you haven't played around with this trope before, I highly recommend it... and that goes double if you're planning on writing squad-based military fiction, or party-based fantasy stories. It really saves you, and your audience, a lot of work!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

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- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Is Blue Sky A Haven For Creators? Or Just Another Social Media Mirage?

Social media has been in something of a spiral for creators the past several years. I talked about this a while back in The Reason Social Media Sucks For Everyone (Not Just Creators), but to catch you up on it we're caught in the middle of serious platform decay. If you've never heard the term, that's when social media platforms have sucked up a huge audience, and then the people in charge start tightening the screws in order to suck more money out of advertisers, as well as users on the platform. It's why Facebook has edged out more and more of your actual friends to show you ads, it's why Reddit has ever-more vigilant bots that attempt to stop you from sharing things instead of buying ad space, and so on, and so forth.

One of the worst, of course, was what happened to Twitter. The bird site was where a lot of independent creators spoke directly to their audiences, and where they made a lot of their online sales. And Musk, like any spoiled kid with an expensive toy, has been breaking it ever since he acquired it so that it's nearly useless for the purpose it was made for.

Enter our supposed savior... Blue Sky! A website that (supposedly) functions like social media was supposed to back in the glory days. A clean interface, a suite of perfectly normal features, and your feed is full of things from people you actually follow and subscribe to. It sounds like a perfect solution, but as we've learned well over the years anything that sounds too good to be true probably isn't.

So, what can I say about Blue Sky?

Well, I've been flying pretty high since I joined!

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more! And, of course, check me out on Blue Sky, since that's what we're talking about today!

What Has My Experience Been Like So Far?

I want to start with something of a disclaimer. I was never a heavy user on Twitter. I'm still technically there with just over 1,800 followers under @nlitherl, but I never really got much in the way of traction on that site. Even with participation in online follow trains, and being part of regular events like Self Promotion Days, I'm lucky to get any interaction at all on my posts over there. Usually 1 or 2 people will give something I share a heart, and maybe retweet it, but that's about it.

For comparison, I've been actually active on Blue Sky on @literarymercenary for a little over a week and change. I've had the account longer, but it was mostly dormant until recently when I started purposefully trying to expand it. At time of writing I've got only 72 people who are following me on there, but perhaps some folks reading this right now will be kind enough to push me toward triple digits. However, even with such a dramatically smaller audience, I'm finding that my posts are regularly getting a minimum of 4 interactions from people actually following me, and often it goes pretty well above that number.

So, absolute base numbers, Blue Sky is definitely showing promise, since it's outperforming the site it most resembles pretty much straight out of the gate in terms of people actually seeing and interacting with your posts.

Of course, those numbers are just one aspect of things.

Raw numbers and interactions do not a social media website make, though. With that said, Blue Sky does have some other features going for it that I feel are worth mentioning.

One of the things I find most valuable is that it has no trouble generating previews of images from your posts. A picture is worth a thousand words, and if a post you make has a black box or no preview at all, then no one is going to stop their scrolling long enough to register what it is you're talking about. When I shared my recent blog entry World's Oldest Profession... Is The Third Time The Charm? on both Blue Sky and Twitter. On the former, folks got a lovely preview of the shiny cover of the supplement, while on Twitter folks just got a bunch of text, and no image at all.

Seriously, check this thing out if you're a tabletop gamer!

In addition to this feature (which is pretty damn important if you're looking to expand your audience, make sales, etc.), Blue Sky has made statements that it won't allow content generated on the site to be used for AI scraping... which is something Twitter is apparently going to do. Blue Sky has an entire culture of blocking people who harass or abuse you without arguments and drama, unlike Twitter where not only is this kind of toxicity the day-to-day business, but there have been talks about modifying or outright removing the block feature.

Does this make Blue Sky perfect? No, don't be ridiculous. It's still a social media website, which means there are conflicts between users, there's technical issues due to the massive numbers of people they're onboarding, and there are going to be some features you want that aren't there, and there will be decisions they make you won't like. It's operating as an alternative to other websites out there, which means it is still a business.

With that said, if you're someone who has been dismayed at the state of websites like Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, etc. with regards to your promotional efforts, I would recommend at least reserving your place on Blue Sky. Whether you want to build up your following and use it seriously to try to reach a bigger audience, or you just want to keep it in your back pocket, it's certainly worth taking a little bit to set up your profile, and to reconnect with some folks.

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My Blue Sky

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

Obstacles and Problems in Your Stories

When we think about our stories, we often ask ourselves, "What is the problem?" However, as the Storm Writing School points out, there is something of a differentiation we can use to get more nuance out of this question. I was recently reading Problems Vs. Obstacles, and it really caught my attention.

So, let's talk about the differences between problem and obstacles in your stories, shall we?

It's a rather interesting question, it turns out.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

Obstacles and Problems... What's The Difference?

Before we get into the difference between these two things, we need to focus on an objective. Because the important difference between these two things is that both of them are connected to your story's objective, but they interact with it in different ways.

As an example, let's take the well-known story of Lord of The Rings.

The objective in the story is that our protagonists want to destroy the One Ring, and as a result destroy Sauron. The reason for this is that Sauron and his finger jewelry are the problem in our story, because a problem (by the definition we're using) is something that comes before the character's objective. And, just as importantly, the problem is what leads to the objective. Your lord of all evil exists, and he's being a problem that has to be taken care of.

Obstacles, by contrast, are things that get in the way of your protagonists actually achieving their objective. The distance to Mordor, that is an obstacle. So are the crows that spy on them, the storm that stops them from taking the mountain pass, the pursuit of the ring wraiths... these are things that arise to make it harder for the protagonists to get from where they started, to the point where the problem is solved.

While the difference between these two things is not always germaine to your story, it can help to have specific language to discuss the various moving parts of your tale... particularly when you're in the blueprinting phase of things. So if this isn't something you've put words to before, consider thinking things through using these terms to see where it gets you!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Craft of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list. 

If you'd like to help support my work, then consider Buying Me A Ko-Fi, or heading over to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page! Lastly, to keep up with my latest, follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, and now on Pinterest as well!

Artists Are Going To Need Your Help Now More Than Ever Before

It seems like every time I turn around there is some new crisis facing creative professionals. A handful of years ago it was the pandemic, and the fact that productions were being closed, contracts were being cancelled, and artists were struggling along with everyone else who was staying home and staying safe. Then it was the rise of AI, and how it was leading to layoffs as artists and writers were both being shunted aside by companies who were trying to give their jobs to programs that were not capable of doing them.

And now we find ourselves facing yet another crisis. A crisis that we are going to need serious help to get through, and that help is going to have to come from our audiences because literally no one else is going to swoop in to make sure we can keep making art. And just as with the previous crises mentioned, the one constant is that when times get tough and people need an escape from reality, that is where our job can have the biggest impact.

Strap in folks, this one is going to be a frustrating slog.

Before we get into the nitty gritty this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Lastly, to be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, don't forget to check out my Vocal archive for additional fiction, articles, explorations of weird history, and more!

The (New) Looming Crisis

Those who were paying attention to the latest presidential race likely heard the economic plans the next administration proposed. Namely that they wanted to cut as many social safety nets as possible, regardless of harm to the populous, and that they intended to put tariffs on any and all goods imported into the United States. These policies, along with all the other proposed plans, stand a good chance of cratering any progress made in the U.S. to recover from the last time this particular candidate sat in the big chair, and those ripples are going to spread around the world while shooting inflation up to worse levels than it was at before.

In addition to those economic policies, though, there is a lot of talk about book banning, re-defining and outlawing "pornography," and other attacks levied at artists who produce "certain kinds" of work (largely inclusive work, and especially work focusing on LGBTQ+ characters).

In short, a lot of artists are going to lose support, and right at a time when everything is poised to get a lot more expensive!

The math ain't gonna math, folks.

So what can you do? After all, you're going to be dealing with all of these problems too, and there's only so much money to go around.

Well, first and foremost, if you are one of those people who has some spare dosh at the end of the month (emphasis on spare, here), consider using it to support the creators you want to stay afloat during the coming storm. The most effective way to do this is by giving out tips on Ko-fi, or becoming a Patreon patron, as that direct support ensures the largest amount of your cash goes into their pockets. With that said, though, buying books, games, art prints, or other merch is also extremely helpful, and it means you get something out of the transaction other than the ephemeral feeling of knowing you made future art possible.

If you have limited funds (and who doesn't?) that doesn't mean you can't still help, though! If you have time, energy, social media, and an Internet connection, you can do any or all of the following:

- Consume Free Content That Pays The Creator: Whether it's Spotify, YouTube, Vocal.media or another platform that's free to use but which can still support people making things, use it. Additionally, make sure you turn off the Ad Block. Yes, it's a pain in the ass, but it's how creators make money from your traffic! If you don't see the ads, then it doesn't count as far as their bank account is concerned.

- Follow And Interact With Creators You Like On Social Media: Algorithms decide who gets popular based (at least partially) on our followings and interactions. So subscribe to people's YouTube channels, follow them on social media, and interact with their content. Leave comments on articles, posts, and videos, review things whenever possible, and make it clear people are listening. The machines will promote artists where this happens.

- Share Their Work (Clandestinely Or Otherwise): Creators depend on views, reads, etc., in order to earn money, and the more visible we become the better our chances are of finding an audience. However, if a creator's work is likely to be censored, then make sure you get physical or downloaded versions of it so that it isn't lost. Preservation is important, as well as support!

The thing that seems most frustrating for folks regarding this topic is that artists of all stripes require active support. It takes time, energy, and effort to really engage with a creator, and to do so in a way that will help them be more widely seen, and make enough money to live on. A lot of folks simply do not want to do this. They just want to passively engage with content as it comes their way, and then move on with their lives.

That's all well and good... but if you don't want to find yourself asking, "I wonder why that one author/podcaster/YouTuber I liked gave up and disappeared?" you should put in this effort to help. Because as PBS says, it literally takes viewers like you for us to keep our heads above water. Because without an audience, and the money they can generate, we cannot afford to make art. And if we can't afford to do it, then you aren't going to get any more of it.

And in the times that are coming, we're going to need all the distraction and escapism we can find!

Lastly, before I sign off for the day, I'd like folks to take a moment to watch episode 16 of Tabletop Mercenary, Audience Support Is A Reverse Iceberg. Because however much support you think someone has, I guarantee you it isn't so much that your efforts won't still make a difference. And if this is the sort of thing you'd like to see more of, subscribe to the Azukail Games YouTube channel so I can keep making more content over there!

Support The Literary Mercenary

If you want to see me produce more work, consider some of the following options!

- My Facebook

- My LinkTree

- My Weekly Newsletter

- The Azukail Games YouTube Channel (where I contribute video content)

- My Rumble Channel (longer videos that won't show up on YouTube)

And if you happen to have some spare dosh lying around, and you want to be sure my supply doesn't run low, consider become a Patreon patron, or leaving a tip by Buying Me a Ko-Fi!

Also, if you're curious about how to write for tabletop RPGs, don't forget to check out my show Tabletop Mercenary, which you can find on both the Azukail Games channel, as well as my Rumble channel listed above!

Like, Follow, and Come Back Again!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing! For more of my work, check out my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci-fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, the Hardboiled Cat series about a mystery solving Maine Coon in Marked Territory and Painted Cats, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife, or my most recent short story collection The Rejects!

 

And to stay on top of all my latest news and releases, collected once a week, make sure you subscribe to The Literary Mercenary's mailing list.