Episode #186: A Unique Culture Always Enriches The Story {2}

Still continuing on the same theme, so it would make sense to keep the picture the same. This time, think of the glove reaching up and saying, "I've fallen and I can't quite touch that leaf dangling from the tree."

Today's post will expand upon a few sensitive topics that I decided to make an integral part of the story. I should note that this trilogy will be the first of my books that will have a trigger warning applied to it. I'm normally not a fan of either trigger warnings or censorship, but over the years, I've come to accept that the former will be necessary, but not the latter.

So, the first sensitive topic that I will talk about is lesbianism and bisexuality. Mostly the former has been woven into the story with at least four of my characters, while the latter has been woven into two of the previously mentioned four. To be fair, it was only a matter of time before it actually arrived at that point with both, since it was being greatly suggested/hinted at throughout the entire series that all four characters were either one or the other.

Now, I will be the first to admit that I cannot write those kinds of graphic scenes without going full adult movie entertainment on it, and that will simply not fly in this story. So to properly do it, I really had to go about like the movies from the 40's and 50's did (due to those nasty Hays Office rules), where certain things were strongly suggested off-camera, and write it up to that particular point, which is what I did. So I did what I do best, which was write intimately descriptive scenes up until that particular point.

Another problem that I had, was how to properly present/label those two particular concepts. Labeling was easy enough, simply because I really wanted to suggest what it was in plain enough language that people could understand it without getting offended by a particular word (and yes, people do get offended by words). So the phrase that I used, which is an actual undisputed truth, was "genetically predisposed to", which was tweaked to add in the latter topic of bisexuality.

The issue of how to properly present it was a bit trickier, as I was dealing with three different entities: Earth, the Aztecs, the Pod Planet. The Incans are not part of this list, as I haven't gotten around to getting any of the ruling elite involved. So I had to create three different scenarios to cover this hot button topic (yes, it's a hot button topic in the real world, so bringing it forward to here was a no-brainer).

With Earth, I decided for the sake of this story, to make it completely acceptable. No laws preventing any of those particular acts.

With the Aztecs, I decided to make it a little more nuanced, but fair. For example, I have the Aztecs pursing a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, in which even though they have laws on the books, they don't ask and you don't tell. The caveat though, is if someone makes a complaint, they're legally bound to investigate. However, both parties can receive the exact same punishment afterwards if the victim is found guilty, so it does discourage complaints being made (imagine the outcomes if this process was applied to the real world).

The Pod Planet is probably going to be similar to the Aztecs, in that there are laws on the books, but if a complaint is made, they will investigate. Beyond that, I haven't decided if a "don't ask, don't tell" policy will be added into the mix, nor the reciprocal punishment. I simply haven't had the need to go that deep, since none of the pertinent female characters swing that way (but I do have a man that might be in the closet, for diplomacy's sake though).

~~~~~~~

 Now, for the other sensitive topic. As I stated previously, I decided to create the monarchy strictly along matriarchal lines, in that only women can nominally rule. I say 'nominally' only in the sense that since men can't directly rule, they can indirectly rule, via the choosing of every new ruler, via The Royal Entourage. While every Queen can rule with absolute power, there are still complete entities that are off-limits as well as certain rules that must be followed.

There are a set of ironclad rules when it comes to this particular monarchy. I wrote these as such in order to turn the cliche of "behind every great man is a great woman" completely on its head, by turning it into "behind every great woman is an fragile man whose ego needs to be stroked to keep him in his place."

"The ruler should always be female, that they had to be at least a six and a half in the looks department prior to using cosmetic enhancements, and that sex is always to be weaponized whenever and wherever possible. In all forms. At all times."

So with the ironclad rule established, the Pod Queen has had to weaponize sex in all of its ugliness. Which means performing duties that she isn't especially fond of doing at all.  Such as performing a weekly risque promenade around the courtyard in clothing that would be more appropriate in a softcore magazine or a boudoir photo shoot than at a palace function. For both the courtiers, government officials and nobility, as well as for her subjects. Or, performing a monthly striptease at the afternoon government meeting. Again, part and parcel of the Queen's official duties: give a little to get a lot in order to stay in power.

The weaponizing of sex is something that I've used in varying degrees with a lot of my stories, simply because it gives my female characters another valuable weapon in their personal arsenal. Yes, I know that sounds crude, but I've been of the opinion that if you have it, use it to your advantage. Keep in mind this one salient point: in the majority of my stories, I treat men as both objects of desire and ridicule.

Next week, I will cover what kind of traits/ethnic background/personality that I've given to my characters.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #185: A Unique Culture Always Enriches The Story {1}

Somebody decided to be a bit cheeky and left behind a very grimy glove with a cheerful demeanor on the rusted out chain link fence post the other day. Kind of reminds me of the lyric, "You say goodbye, but I say hello!"

I thought for the next few posts that I would do a deep dive on what I had chosen to use as background character info and the like, for my trilogy project Hot Mess. I figure that this would be a great way for you the reader to acquire a more fuller and detailed picture on what I write and why I decided to take the trails less traveled to begin with.

For today's post, the topic of choice is background. Specifically, the personal background for which all of my characters were created from. In this post, I'm going to only describe the basics, as I want to save some of the odder details about each one for subsequent posts.

As most of you probably do not know, I am fond of creating businesses/corporations out of different kinds of concepts/cultures. I first became enamored of this idea after watching the movie, "Defending Your Life". I found the concept of the afterlife being like a judicial system very intriguing, so I decided to employ this concept to my stories. This has been going on sporadically for about a decade, and so far I have applied this idea of making concepts/cultures as conglomerates quite satisfying {one of my slushies features Heaven, Hell & Purgatory as large mega-conglomerates}.

With that being said, in this story, I decided to turn one of the cultures that I use as background info for two of my MCs, the Aztecs, into a large stable city-state conglomerate (think of the Italian city-states of the Renaissance era). Complete with all of the usual trappings associated with the Aztecs, I also added to the mix a debt collection business, which is run much like a bail bondsman's business, to be their primary source of income.

For another two of my MCs, I shifted gears just a little by going further south into the Americas, and chose the Incans to be their particular base of operations, as well as their ethnicity. Did quite a bit of research into the culture, so that the characters would be as realistic as I could write them, which included some customs, language and mythology, among others.

For a different set of two MCs, I decided to take a tiny shot at the concept of world building. I've read about it before, but never really had the need or desire to create one, since up until I started writing this trilogy, my stories never required one, as all of my previous stories took place on good old planet Earth. The basic idea was that some kind of palatial residence/kingdom was needed, since those two characters are privately and publicly called "My/Our Queen". The one serious plot twist that I applied to this concept, because you know that's how I roll, was to make this modern/misogynistic monarchy strictly matriarchal. This concept, along with a multitude of tangents, will be expanded upon in future posts.

Finally, the last concept that I decided to have some fun with in this trilogy, is genetics. One of MCs is a mother to the other. Sounds simple, right? How about we throw into the mix that the mother is actually the originator of the genealogical line and that her daughter is the actual end of the line? How about we throw in anywhere from a half to a full millennia into the mix as a beginning and end? I'm sure you're asking the screen, how does that fit? Well, the mother is a stereotypical Scandinavian, yet the daughter either originates from the Iberian peninsula or from the Americas, which can feature people who are not Caucasian.

The few remaining MCs and SCs (I think maybe six in total) origin base is good old U.S. of A., with a breakdown being the military and urban decay. So the only thing of note to elaborate on is that I did a tiny bit of research on the military and had some general knowledge of urban decay. The urban decay was a little easier to deal with, simply because we've all dealt with it in one form or another, with my case being that I worked in the south end of the city capital for a number or years (like almost 20), so I had a good grasp of the bad and the fugly.

That about covers the main background choices for about all of my character origins, save for the horses and some other peripheral secondaries. Next week's post will touch upon a few sensitive topics that may or may not offend you, depending on your personal view points.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #184.1: The Hardest Part Of The Story Is Done

I think water was found by Father Nature's diving rod the other day. Or a stick figure is missing their upper half.

The reasoning behind the ".1" for post numbering is pretty gosh darn simple: after completing part three of a four part series about my trilogy project, I'd managed to apply a bit of brain grease and completed not only the required back cover blurb for my upcoming novella that has the place holder title of Average American Novella, but came up with two possible titles as well. And since this is an extension of the previous post, well, there you go.

Naturally this required a bit of shuffling around the blog posts, which consisted of moving everything one week back. Twice. Why twice? Because sometimes when the brain goes on true auto-pilot (c'mon, I know you've experienced this from time to time, right?), you're so locked in on making sure, in this particular case, the dates being accurate that you forgot to make the numeric order of the posts are accurate too.

Now, enough about that. Let's focus on the here and now. I would like to share with you the reader, the blurb for my upcoming (we're shooting for a 2023 release) novella, as well as the two titles. The two titles in question are: The Lie Reveals The Truth and The Hidden Truth.

~~~~~

Dmitri was hip deep in an uncontrollable rage inducing beat-down and he was none-too-pleased about it.

Against his better judgment, he decided to do a very small favor for a friend and was now deeply regretting it. After experiencing bouts of extreme annoyance that quickly manifested into lethal bouts of extreme prejudice being performed, Dmitri was more than ready to torch the package he was carrying and deal with the consequences later.

But karma had other plans for him, as when he came upon a minivan to steal with an unwilling partner, the owner’s daughter suddenly took a shine to him. For reasons known only to her, Kaitlyn persuaded Dmitri to take her along, instead of his current partner, to help with the delivery.

Somewhere along the way, they became more than unwilling partners thrown together by chance. But could that deeper commitment somehow survive the dangers that lay ahead on their journey to deliver that package?

Now I know I have to do a bit of tweaking as the blurb clocks in at 157 words, mainly reducing the word count and re-adjusting the opening line yet again (6 times already before posting it to my FB page). But I really would like your opinion on which title would work best: a long title of five words or a shorter title of three words.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved

Episode #184: Why This Name For What You Write?

Welp, that certainly ain't Donald, Daffy, Huey, Dewey or Louie. Or even Mallard Fillmore. It's just a local duck chilling on a rock above the waterfall on a sunny afternoon back sometime in the early '10s.

I've always had a few problems in choosing names for my characters, in that trying to find the right one that actually fits the characters, has more often than not, eluded me. And when I do find one, I have a tendency to work it to death {ex: Nikia. Used it in what should be, when all is said and done, 6 books}.

And, what makes it even more adventurous, I have developed a strong affinity for names based in Europe (East & West) and Russia. Not so much as exotic, but simply more of a variety to choose from. 

To expand even further, I have dipped into mythology, mostly European, and European translations of American English names, and for ha-ha's, the occasional tweaked spellings of traditional English names.

A good example of this would be the names used in my Hot Mess trilogy: Myla (Greek/Roman mythology); Jhon (variation of John); Nyx (again, Greek/Roman mythology); Mateo (Italian for Matthew I believe); Bella (short for Belladonna); Ilka (cool name, Hispanic I believe); Adeola (no idea as to why I chose it); Thanatos (Greek/Roman mythology); Lady Nordic (generic Scandinavian) and Macha (Incan), to name just a few. But with those, names don't necessarily point directly to each person's ethnicity.

Anyways, the names I chose for my Average American Novella, fall along similar lines, and I would like to elaborate on my reasoning behind my choices.

Note: I like to point out one salient point about my stories: I enjoy writing stories that feature a diverse group of people. Always have and always will. It has nothing to do with appropriation, and everything to do with appreciation. I appreciate all the cultures that I come across and respectfully use. I try to do as much research as possible in order to present well-rounded characters/scenarios. That includes using names that can closely match up with a particular character.

Now, to elaborate on my name choices for the three MC's and two SC's, which are as follows:

1} Dmitri: I needed a good muscular name to hang on my 1st male character, who happens to be Black. I didn't want to give him a wimpy name because that would just make him into someone that you couldn't take seriously. Also, I really like male Russian names.

2} Kaitlyn: I needed a good name to hang on my 1st female character, who also happens to be Black. I wanted to give her a name that would make people think twice about not treating her with respect. Also, I really needed to use another name beside Nikia, which I spent the better part of a decade continuously using, for my badass female character.

3} Charles: This was an interesting selection, because I always thought it was a name that one needed to respect, whether you wanted to or not. I first heard of the name while watching "Little House On The Prairie". I liked it and filed it away for future use. It's the kind of name that when you speak it, it leaves a bitter taste of annoyance for an aftertaste. A great name for a villain, no matter what the ethnicity of the person is.

4} Andrik: Andrik is Kaitlyn's father. Again, it was an issue of coming up with a good muscular name for a Black man. So I went tip-toeing through some Eastern European names, and came up with this Slavic name.

5} Amaliya: She is Dmitri's sister. Not sure how I came up with her name, but perhaps it was a spelling tweak on a plain name. I was always partial to tweaking the spellings of traditional names, because I often found traditional spellings of first names to be rather bland. But because I don't like far out names, whether in the real world or in fiction, this was my happy compromise.

I do have two others that were chosen, but because those characters were basically fulfilling a need to move key parts of the story along (one for about four chapters in total and the other for one), there's really no need to delve into the reasons for choosing them. 

I hope you like my mini-dive into the reasoning used for choosing the names that I did. Tune in next week when I do a mini-dive into reasoning behind the ethnicities/cultures that I chose to use for my trilogy.

{c} 2023 by G.B. Miller. All Rights Reserved