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. 

Dealing With "White Room Syndrome" In Your Writing

When it comes to writing, it can often feel like you're trying to keep a dozen and more balls in the air at the same time. You have to remember your plot, your characters, the relationships between them, the rules of your magic or sci fi technology, who actually committed the murder, and so on, and so forth... and sometimes you end up dropping a ball.

And if you're not careful, this is how you can wind up with a story that suffers from White Room Syndrome.

Where is this story happening... exactly?

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!

Could Your Story Be Happening In An Empty White Room?

The meaning of this phrase is pretty simple; if the story you're telling has no details about where it is, or the environment around it, then you're basically setting your tale in an empty, white room. And that can be a problem because while the characters, interplay, plot, dialogue, etc., are all very important, they need to have a background to put them all into context for your reader.

Is your story set in a Victorian asylum? A remote mountaintop cabin during a snowstorm? The crumbling back alleys of a major city? Harlem during the 1930s? All of these things are details that we need to know as the people reading your story.

The where and the when is often just as important as the who and the why.

I've found two, reliable ways to avoid White Room Syndrome. The first is to make sure you inject a little bit of scenery and context as the story goes. This works best when it comes to stories that are very action-forward, so you want your audience to focus on what your characters are doing rather than explaining where they happen to be. So in this instance you might focus on a car chase, filling in the details as you go. While the banter between the cop and her partner, the exchange of lead, etc. is clearly front-and-center, you can fill in descriptions of the city they're driving through, names of the streets, and even pointing out iconic buildings or landmarks if they're germaine to the directions. Even working it into dialogue, such as when handing off the bank robbers to uniformed officers, having a character say something like, "New York's finest, late to the party as usual."

The second method (and the one I use most extensively myself) is to front-load your audience with a description of the location your story is in as a way to really set the mood. Whether it's the fantastical streets of Kintargo in my story Devil's Night, or the bowels of the corrupt starship in my Warhammer 40K tale The Final Lamentation, I grab the audience by the shoulders, and hold them face down in the place they happen to be. And the reason for that is that both of these stories start in the calm before the storm, just before the action really starts to take place. So it acts in the same way as an establishing shot, rather than opening up a story in the midst of a an action scene's frenetic pace.

Neither method is better than the other, and you should experiment with both. It's just that the former gives your readers flashes of information in between action beats, and the latter is the central focus of the stage before the play actually begins. Both are quite functional, but it's all about choosing the best tool for the best job.

Also, for folks who are curious to hear about the problem of White Room Syndrom from a tabletop RPG perspective, check out episode 27 of my show Discussions of Darkness below. And if it's something you find you really jive with and you want to support, then consider subscribing to the Azukail Games channel, sharing the video link around on your socials, and maybe leaving a comment or two to let me know how you found the show!

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!

Authors Are Viruses (And We Need Help Infiltrating The Wider Population)

We've all had that moment in our lives where we have seen something infecting the population. It started with just a few people, or maybe in a particular region, but then it started spreading. Maybe your younger siblings picked it up from their friends at school, and brought it home. And you and your parents, no matter how you tried, couldn't avoid it forever. Maybe it didn't get past your defenses, but maybe it did. And then you were a carrier, passing it on to your friend group, your extended family, and so on, and so forth.

Maybe it was a boy band whose catchy lyrics infiltrated your brain like an ear worm. Maybe it was a book series you didn't have an interest in, but the more you heard about it, the more you wanted to know what the fuss was all about. Or it might even have been that movie everyone had an opinion about, and you just had to figure out what it was for yourself.

Authors (and other creators) pass from person to person like viruses... and if we can't find a hold, and spread to the point where we've infected a sizable enough population to sustain us, we fade away and die.

These are the booster shots that help keep us vital.

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!

All About "Going Viral"

We've been hearing the phrase "going viral" for years. Artists or properties are, "viral sensations," and that's how we hear about them. And it makes sense. The idea is that a piece of art, a book, a story, a video, etc., has infected an audience. People who witness it, whether they become genuine fans or they're merely participating "ironically," spread the material. They share it with their friends and family. They post it on their social media pages. They put links in the comments section of articles and videos, and they talk about the thing in question on forums.

They are acting as carriers, and the more people they expose to the book, creator, etc., that they like, the more of a chance there is that new people will get infected as well. Not everyone, of course. Some people just don't get infected, no matter how many times they're exposed... but enough of them will.

For the love of god, shut up about that book, already!

The problem that a lot of us are running into these days is, well, it's becoming harder and harder for us to spread our signal, and it is having a real, detrimental effect.

Consider, for a moment, the way social media worked 5, or even 10 years ago. It wasn't perfect, but the algorithms at least attempted to make sure that people who followed you would see the posts you made. Facebook groups, subreddits, and even YouTube as a whole was focused on doing things that kept users connected to the creators and contributors on their platform. Twitter was, arguably, the king of this era because it allowed you to have direct access to creators and celebrities, no matter their status.

These days, though, social media platforms are focused more on promoting sponsored content, and creators who give them money. If you are one of those influencer-level folks (100K subscribers/followers or more) you are still surviving and spreading a bit, but even those operating at this level are having their signals throttled.

And all of the new-fangled social media platforms that have come out? They quarantine users, making it impossible for you to spread to them unless someone brings you and your content inside their bubble.

Whether we're talking about Discord, BlueSky, or a lot of other, similar platforms, they separate users from one another. Unlike platforms like old Twitter, which could have popular posts absolutely rip through the feeds of its users, spreading from person-to-person extremely quickly, Discord and its close family have everyone separated onto their own servers. So while you might have localized outbreaks if a particular piece of media gets popular within a particular server, you are not going to have the sort of spread you could have on open platforms with active discoverability, where people can rapidly transmit something to one another across groups, friend connections, etc.

All of this is to say that the modern landscape we're all trying to survive in is not the one that existed even a few years ago. If that old landscape was one where hordes of zombies ran roughshod over the whole of the land, we're now in one where obstacles stop populations from coming into accidental contact. What that means is that, if we want to get an old-fashioned virus going, then someone has to purposefully go into communities where people are, and start biting them.

Sadly, if we do that as creators, people will often do their best to shut us down or kick us out because they don't want to be our Patient Zero for what we're making. Which is why, at the end of the day, what we really need are other people to start the infection going for us. And that is really hard to get folks to do.

So if you're one of the many folks out there who are wondering what you can do to help a creator you like, just bite someone on our behalf today! Make a social media post, leave a review, subscribe to a channel, and tell your friends and family about a thing we made that you think is cool. Maybe they won't succumb to your bite and become one of our fans... but maybe they will. And if you bite two friends, and they bite two friends, then pretty soon you'll be responsible for your own viral event... and we need all the help we can get!

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.