The Screen Writers Strike is Showing That None of Us Are Getting Paid

Right now, everyone has their eyes on the screen writers and actors guild strikes that are going on. As with many such strikes, the participants are laying bare the greed of their employers, the shady things tactics being used to try to prevent paying them (attempting to bodyscan actors to use CG versions of them indefinitely, using chat bots to try to write scripts, full-on canceling films and series from being available so they don't have to pay residuals to the people who made those movies and TV shows, etc.), and most importantly how little creative professionals actually make.

Because I've been saying this for years, but I feel like this strike is dramatically opening people's eyes to the fact that creators of all stripes have been getting screwed by production houses, publishers, etc., to the point where most of us simply cannot make a living doing what we do. Even if we are experienced professionals with a long history behind us, the powers-that-be basically expect us to work for pennies, and then when we complain they make public statements about starving us out.

I am not a screenwriter, in the sense that I don't write for television or film. Nor am I a member of either of the two unions currently on strike. However, as someone who's been making my living for years as an author, I want to weigh in and point out that these stories people are hearing about actors getting ripped off for chump change, getting screwed over by contract technicalities, or being told to take pennies and be grateful for it? Yeah... that really is the norm. Not just for actors, but across all creative professions.

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!

Most of Us Aren't Big Earners

If you've been paying attention to what's happening, then you've likely seen a lot of actors sharing their stories about how dramatically underpaid they are, even for iconic roles that still echo in pop culture to this day. Whether it was David Fielding who only made $150 as the face of Zordon in Power Rangers, Mara Wilson stating that she makes so little as an adult actor that she doesn't even qualify for health insurance through the guild, or any of a dozen other stories that have surfaced during the strikes, the public has been reeling from the numbers.

Because, generally speaking, we only see the top earners, and we just assume that even if you're not at the top, then surely you still make enough to survive? Surely you do... but no. No we don't. Regardless of our field or specialty, a large majority of us barely make anything.

At all, really.

It doesn't matter what part of the creative industries you're talking about here, either. Because whether we're talking about the movie stars like Dwayne Johnson and Brad Pitt, top billing musicians like Dolly Parton or Taylor Swift, or authors like Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, etc., most people only hear about those who are at the top of the heap. You hear about them because they're newsworthy, but for people outside your industry, they become the perspective through which you see all those creatives. After all, if a handful of people at the very top are making millions and millions of dollars, then surely even the folks on the lower end are making enough to comfortably pay rent, and maybe save up for a house. Just like how football and basketball superstars may get $25 million contracts, but even the bench warmers are still pulling down 6 figures just for being there, right?

The strike has put an end to that belief by bringing the receipts... and it's my hope that it causes things to change. Not just in the sense that big studios, publishers, labels, etc., should pay the talent more, but also that the public should side with the artists, and do their part to help us keep making things. Because the unfortunate truth is that as things stand, we all basically depend on our fan base to help us survive. Whether that's helping us market our books, contributing to our Patreon accounts and Kickstarter projects, or just helping us keep our views/reads up so that we can attract sponsorships, the audience is what makes or breaks us.

Because without you all doing your part, none of us make anything. Pure and simple.

How You Can Help

If you want to help the folks currently on the picket lines, here's what you need to do. First and foremost, pay attention to what the guild is asking from the public. At time of writing, there has been no call for a boycott of anything, so by all means go see movies, stream shows you like, etc. This helps make the case that studios need actors, writers, etc., and it can still stimulate residuals for some people (even if those numbers are a joke in a lot of cases, as we've seen from the checks).

Also, consider donating to the Emergency Financial Assistance and Disaster Relief Fund for SAG-AFTRA. This is the fund that's helping people pay their bills while they're on the picket lines, helping them hold out against stonewalling from the corporations. And since some of the suits have come out and said they literally plan on starving out those who are protesting, you can do your part by making those CEOs eat those words.

Support The Literary Mercenary

For folks who just want to do their part to help keep me making more content, please subscribe/follow me in these locations:

- 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!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sci fi dystopian thriller Old Soldiers, my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects! You can also check out my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary for free audio dramas!

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!

Beware Repetitive Beats in Your Book

There's an old saying that if you tell a good joke, everyone is going to laugh at it. If you tell the same joke a second time, people won't laugh as hard. If you tell that joke a third time, nobody laughs. We all know why, of course; jokes make an impact when you first hear them, and after that the surprise, twist, or punchline that makes them really work, it doesn't hit as hard.

The same thing is true when it comes to our books... but when you're writing a novel, it can be easy to lose track of the beats you've already covered. And if you find yourself essentially telling the same jokes over and over again, your audience is going to lose interest, and put down your book before they even get close to the end.

Hmmm... wait a minute... have I had too many dramatic reveals?

Before we get into it this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! To be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, make sure you check out my Vocal archive for several hundred other articles about geek ephemera, weird history, writing, and more!

Don't Let Your Readers Go Nose Blind

We've all had those situations where we go nose blind to something. Maybe it's the smell of the dirty clothes hamper in your room, the garbage in the kitchen, or the cat box you keep meaning to get around to cleaning. Whatever it is, the smell hits you hard when you first walk into it. Over exposure and time, though, you acclimate to it, until your brain stops registering it as an important stimulus.

The same thing can happen with your writing, if you aren't careful.

Ah yes, a dramatic fight scene... again. I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, I think.

In the broad strokes of your storytelling, this can take the form of particular patterns and story beats that you keep coming back to. For example, if every love interest your protagonist has gets killed, pretty soon that is going to stop feeling poignant, and start to make your readers' eyes roll. If every time an old friend shows up to help they end up betraying someone, pretty soon it's going to feel like old hat. If every time our lead has sex with someone they end up falling deeply, madly in love with them (and that isn't some kind of curse that's relevant to the plot) it's going to get stale. Even if you end up having fights every three chapters, but those fights always feel samey instead of tense, that can get seriously boring.

Fortunately, the broad strokes are fairly easy to spot when you're writing a book because it forms a pattern. If a given situation occurs more than once in a particular narrative (or even in a series) that's when you have to review what's happening, and ask if it's different enough from the previous instance to keep, or if you need to change things up a bit more. This is especially true if the situations are similar, but the different iterations are meant to show how things have changed either for good or ill (relationships falling apart, a student who has mastered a particular fighting style, etc.).

What can be a tougher habit to break is when you fall into a particular pattern for what I'm going to call your book's choreography.

This is most prominent in love scenes and fight scenes, likely because you have to keep track of a lot of moving parts, and to be sure the audience can follow the action as the scene unfolds. However, it's all too easy to start using the same types of descriptions, and the same scene-by-scene beats, so that a given fight or sex scene feels like it was almost copied and pasted from previous sections in the book. And even when these scenes aren't blow-for-blow exactly the same, if they're similar enough then your audience may feel like you're just showing them the same thing again.

In this case, it can also be compared to the spectacle moves in a video game. Yeah, it was really impressive the first time you pulled out the head-snap-heart-punch-inversion-dim-mak maneuver, but after the 60th time of seeing that combo used on a character, the viewer is just waiting for the animation to end so they can get on with the game. The easy solution is, of course, to make sure that when you're going through your first round of edits that you bookmark scenes like this (or any other scenes you write that might bleed together in their descriptive details), and read them over side-by-side. Just as with the broad strokes, make sure that they're different enough that you're providing your audience with a unique viewing experience.

Think of the elements of these scenes like Taco Bell ingredients. Yes, everything is made out of the same stuff... but changing up those ingredients, even a little, can produce a significantly different experience that feels wholly unique, even if its components are the exact same as what's next on the menu.

Support The Literary Mercenary

For folks who just want to do their part to help keep me making more content, please subscribe/follow me in these locations:

- 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!

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 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!

"Old Soldiers" is Back (And The Hard-Boiled Cat Isn't Far Behind!)

I have a small confession to make. For the past year and a half or so, I haven't even considered working on a new novel. I've been writing short stories, audio plays, blog entries, articles, and a lot of TTRPG supplements, but the loss of both Eric Flint and his company Ring of Fire (both of whom were the publishers for 3 of my 4 novels) made me take a step back and seriously reconsider whether I could afford to keep writing books like that.

The desire was (and is) still there... but for a publisher I'd relied on to just vanish right out from under me meant I'd gotten a lot of cold water thrown in my face.

I tell you all of that because the first of my out-of-print novels, Old Soldiers is back! It went live on August 7th, and just seeing this book is going a long way toward getting my creative pilot light lit, I'm not gonna lie.

Serious, LOOK at this thing!

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!

Old Soldiers Never Die!

For folks who want a deep dive on this novel, consider checking out the entry I wrote when it was originally published, Defunct Supersoldiers, Dystopian Hellscapes, and More in My Latest Novel "Old Soldiers". For those who want a quick snapshot, though, the story follows Pollux, one of the genetically-engineered shock troops who survived the war with an alien species called the Hyperion. Massive creatures, myrmidon are decidedly alien in appearance (ranging from 8 to 13 feet tall, with eyes so blue they nearly glow, a noted lack of hair, and no melanin whatsoever), and the society of earth wasn't made with them in mind. Pollux is just trying to find a place where he belongs, and seems to finally be making some kind of progress when he becomes the target of a shadowy conspiracy. So together with his partner Medea, he calls on the last remaining members of his old squad to root out the truth, and drag it kicking and screaming into the light.

At which point, an application of force will likely be administered.

While I feel the novel is pretty strong on its own, there's more to this re-release than a facelift and a new company name on the cover. In addition to the novel itself, the re-released version contains the original short story "Heart of The Myrmidon," where I first created Pollux, his ruined world, and the bizarre, underground city of New Liberty. So if you picked up a copy during the book's initial run, there's now some bonus content in the new version for you to sink your teeth into (especially as the short story acts as a kind of prequel to the novel). So grab your new and improved copy of Old Soldiers today!

What About My Cat Books, You Ask?

Though some folks have peeked their heads in on this re-release so far (not as many as I'd like, but I'll take what attention I can grab), most readers have all been asking the same question... when are my hard-boiled cat books coming back into print?

Don't think I don't know who you are.

For those who are wondering, yes, both Marked Territory and Painted Cats are slated for a re-release in the near future. The wheels turn slow, but they are turning! I'll be giving you all word on those books as soon as I know about them, and it's okay for me to share.

As to whether I'll be penning additional adventures for Leo, I'd like to. I have several ideas that I was toying around with when Ring of Fire shuttered its doors, taking my books out of print, and taking my last royalty check with it. However, needs be when the devil drives, and that's going to come down to whether I have the time in my schedule, and the gas in my tank, to get back to novels once they start bringing in sales again.

So, while I'm going to do everything I can to make that happen, I wanted to take a moment to ask my readers to help me spread the word. Because with social media getting more restrictive by the day, I'm going to need all the help I can get to make this happen!

EDIT: Both books are now out, and you can follow the links above to get your copies if you wish!

One, Last Thing...

While we're on the subject of new books of mine, my first tabletop RPG "Army Men: A Game of Tactical Plastic" is now available for preorder on BackerKit as well!

Don't miss out on this one!

If you enjoy the kind of played-straight silliness of my noir cat, the raccoon mafia, etc., then Army Men is going to be right up your alley. And as with anything else I write, the more interest something generates, and the more sales it brings in, the more likely it is that I'll be devoting more time, energy, and wordcount to expanding that thing!

Support The Literary Mercenary

For folks who just want to do their part to help keep me making more content, please subscribe/follow me in these locations:

- 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!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned!

That's all for this week's Business of Writing!

If you'd like to see more of my work, take a look at my Vocal archive, or at My Amazon Author Page where you can find books like my sword and sorcery novel Crier's Knife as well as my recent collection The Rejects! You can also check out my Rumble channel The Literary Mercenary for free audio dramas!

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!

The Balance of Writing Space Marines

The space marine has become an archetype of science fiction. While the term often brings to mind the adeptus astartes from Warhammer 40K, the term has become common enough that it can be used to refer to any kind of elite warrior in a sci fi setting, ranging from the Sardaukar of Dune to the mercilessly-trained troops in the film Soldier. Even characters like Bucky Barnes as the Winter Soldier, or infamous video game protagonist Master Chief fall into this archetype. These warriors may be genetically-engineered terrors from beyond the stars, encased in a hardened layer of powered armor, or they may simply have been trained since birth in the harshest environments and doctrine... but they all represent a unique challenge for us as writers.

Namely that making your space marines work as characters can be a delicate process. So I thought I'd offer some of my insight on this subject today.

Before we get into it this week, don't forget to sign up for my weekly newsletter to get all my updates right in your inbox. Also, if you've got a bit of spare cash that you'd like to use to help keep the wheels turning, consider becoming a Patreon patron! To be sure you're following all of my followables, check out my LinkTree!

Lastly, make sure you check out my Vocal archive for several hundred other articles about geek ephemera, weird history, writing, and more!

My Bona fides

Before I get into the meat of this week's topic, I want to share some of my bona fides on this subject so that people know who it is they're taking advice from. Over the past few years I've penned a number of pretty popular unofficial short stories set in the grim darkness of the far future that heavily feature the adeptus astartes. Not only that, but I also wrote the novel Old Soldiers (which comes back into print today with a fresh new cover, and the original short story that inspired it), which is about a nine-foot-tall genetically engineered shock trooper attempting to integrate back into civilian life before he becomes the target of an insidious conspiracy that he and his former squad mates have to pull out by the roots.

Seriously, check it out today!

So if you want to take a moment and read through the preview on my novel (or check out any of the short stories below), feel free to do so!

- Waking Dogs and Broken Chains: These two stories follow the adventures of the World Eater Crixus. A traitor to the Imperium, he is disgusted by what loyalty turned him into. With his wrath turned on his brothers, he seeks to wipe out the mistake his legion has become once and for all.

- Blackest Knights: The black shields of the Deathwatch have bound themselves to service in exchange for wiping out whatever sins they previously committed. Some squads will have one, or maybe two, but Kill Team Errant is formed entirely of these warriors... and we soon see that their reputation precedes them.

- The Final Lamentation: The Lamenters are famed for their tears... but when a Black Legion ship takes prisoners from this chapter, they soon learn that the only thing more dangerous than a Lamenter with people to protect is one with nothing left to lose.

Firstly, Remember The Inhuman Aspects

As I mentioned above, "space marines" come in a lot of shapes and sizes. However, what sets them apart from standard soldiers or military personnel in a sci fi setting is that they are in some way inhuman. It's what separates the indoctrinated, unfeeling troops of the Soldier program from regular fighters like the colonial marines in Aliens; there's something other about the former that the latter doesn't share.

"Other" can take a lot of forms in this genre.

It's important, from the get-go, that you use this inherent alien aspect to make your space marine stand out. Whether it's mentions of their sheer size, the speed at which they can move, their unerring single-mindedness, or even the way they seem to speak more like machines than humans, anything that marks them out for your audience needs to be front-loaded. Don't hammer on it till it becomes the sole, defining trait of your space marine character, but make sure that it comes up often enough that neither the cast, nor the audience, forgets this character falls into the uncanny, even if they are still technically human.

As a final note, this becomes significantly more important if we're seeing things from your space marine's perspective. They should experience the world in a unique, unusual fashion that might be jarring at first, but which can suck your audience in. As an example, those who read Old Soldiers will find that our protagonist Pollux has an unerring sense of time and distance, as well as seeing things in extremely specific measurements. This is in addition to his body's unique need to absorb and eat certain wavelengths of radiation to maintain itself, on top of being a man of truly colossal size moving through a city that wasn't built with his dimensions in mind.

Secondly, Remember The Human

This seems like a direct contradiction of the first tip, but stick with me for a moment. Because another aspect of the space marine, whatever form it takes, is that they are (or at least were) human. No matter what genetic or cybernetic augmentations they've been given, what indoctrination they've undergone, or what horrors they've witnessed, beneath their gleaming armor and thousand-yard-stares beats the heart (or hearts) of a fellow human.

And that is where we can often lose our balance.

Speaking of the balance of humanity...

There are going to be stories where you may not want to delve too deeply into the human aspects of your space marine characters. If they're meant to act as antagonists, or if they're a huge threat that your lead has to overcome, you might be perfectly comfortable leaving them in Terminator mode. However, as we saw with the sequel to that film, humanizing our unstoppable killing machines can have a huge impact on the story, and it can add some truly poignant moments to a story.

As an example, take my short stories Waking Dogs and Broken Chains. In the former we see Crixus awaken from the haze of rage and pain caused by the Butcher's Nails, and decide he's had enough. He will no longer bow to the will of an uncaring father, or continue to fight for the sake of fighting. He sees, in that awful moment, the terrible, savage things he and his brothers of the World Eaters have become, and he is disgusted. He decides to wipe out as many of his brothers as he can, putting down the rabid dogs they've become. That's compelling enough in and of itself, and it gives us a handle on Crixus as a character. In the sequel we see more of his skill at arms as he faces off in a grudge match with his old sergeant... but we also see glimpses of Crixus's past. We see him among brothers in the early years of the legion. Not only that, but we see him as a child, bruised and bloody, willing to fight for his place on the line. And we're reminded that, deep inside this ancient warrior whose mind has been scrambled by centuries of warfare, and the electric flogging of his cerebral implant, is a child soldier who wanted to stand for something. Who wanted to be strong to protect people who were too small or weak to protect themselves.

Now, you don't have to go that deep into your particular space marine character's history or psychology if it doesn't create the effect you want on the page. But even if it's something like a glimpse beneath their helmet to see the remnants of a human face, or seeing them finally break their programming to do something human instead of something they were trained to do, that can add a lot of depth and poignancy to a character archetype that runs the risk of being too stilted and flat. Even something as simple as just showing fear, or sorrow, can do it if the jab is delivered at the right time.

Support The Literary Mercenary

For folks who just want to do their part to help keep me making more content, please subscribe/follow me in these locations:

- 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!

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 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!