JC Bybee

So recently I've been working on a new project.  Some of my readers will not be overly thrilled with me starting yet another thing, but it's what I have to do at times to keep the ideas flowing. Anyway, new project.  As some readers might know, I'm a big fan of gaming.  When I say gaming, I mean both varieties, tabletop, and video.  My new project is a tabletop game world. Now for those that aren't sure what I'm talking about, let me explain. There are various rule sets for tabletop games out there.  One of the more famous being Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).  There are others, such as the Pathfinder Role Playing game, Savage Worlds, Champions, the Dresden Files, and many more.  With most of these games, you get a set of rules that determine how you play the game.  In general, you have a Dungeon Master or DM, sometimes they are referred to as a Game Master or GM.  They are responsible for telling the story, giving the other players an ide...

Have all the stories been told?   If you are a cynic, then yes.   No one is saying anything new, all writers are just repeating a handful of narratives with a new paint job.   To a point I agree.   Generally speaking, new plots are hard to come by.   And I’m okay with that.   Here’s the deal, we all are influenced by what we read.   That’s all there is to it.   I’ve talked about this before, but it’s true.   Most writers try to keep reading, even while they are creating.   It helps, believe me. Where I diverge from the cynical side of the observation is this idea that there is nothing new, or nothing original.   Just because we are reading the same basic narrative doesn’t mean it can’t be done in a new, or exciting way.   Who the characters are, their flaws, their loves, their struggles these are the aspects that make a book/story worth reading. Even if the idea is still as basic as stop the bad guy before h...

This post is all about the physical problems that characters have that make them interesting.   As I’ve mentioned previously, conflict is what drives a story, and there are times when the conflict can arise directly from the character.   Ace’s PTSD, for example.    Ace was unique, because she’s an Exceptional.   They can’t have physical health problems, so I had to go down the mental health route.   This is the option I prefer to use for my characters when it is appropriate.   The reason is simple, I’ve had to deal with depression since I was about seventeen.   It went undiagnosed until I was almost twenty.   I was lucky to have people who recognized the symptoms and were able to get me the help I needed. This experience has influenced my writing as I’ve developed my various characters and plots.   When I first started writing, most of my main characters didn’t have flaws.   I thought they did, but I was just deceiving ...

I didn't have anything particular to add this week, so here's an update on my various projects: Hero Unit 3:  Fallout - plugging away.  My word count is around fifteen thousand now, and I'm hoping to have it land somewhere between sixty and seventy thousand. The Merit System - Still working on the Hero Unit side of the rules, the fantasy side is doing well, almost ready for another play test Dusk and Might - coming along, nothing major to report Dragon Knights:  Rise - started a major revision/rewrite a few weeks ago, it's finally getting some traction, so forward progress Bard's Beginning - also receiving a major rewrite, still haven't gained any forward momentum though, the ideas are there, but the story isn't coming together as well as I would like Fey World (working title) - haven't touched it in a while, one of those stories that has good ideas, but I'm still trying to find the plot... That's all for my major projects.  I'v...

When it comes to the end of a series I’m always of two minds.   There is my reader mind that is happy and sad at the same time.   Happy, because the story is wrapping up, and the characters are usually ending up in some form of happily ever after.   I’m sad, because for however long I’ve been a part of these character’s lives, I don’t really want that to end.   Then there is the writer side of things.   I ask, will this plot be satisfactorily resolved?   Does this feel like an appropriate ending?   I analyze the heck out of the thing.   This occasionally ruins the end of a book, but that’s the price I pay. The reason I’m addressing this point is simple; people have asked me if Hero Unit will have an end.   I’m not really sure.   If I was to follow the trend of a lot of the crime novels out there, a series doesn’t really end, at least not for ten or fifteen books.   It’s not like crimes stop happening.   Evil will sti...