Not Your Daddy's Undead! (Possibly Your Great-great-great-granddaddy's Undead!)

by G Dean Manuel

Have you noticed that only some undead beasts are ever represented in any meaningful way? Vampires, of course. You can't spit without hitting someone writing a vampire story. Zombies are popular. But what about variety? Shouldn't we see more undead than the few that are represented on the big screen or the pages of a book? Here are a few that I think we should give a resurgence to:

Banshee- the wailing woman. A banshee's keening denotes the death of a family member. Several banshees keening foretells the death of someone particularly important or holy. A banshee's wailing can also warn that death is likely from a current endeavor.

Why are these creatures feared? They warn us against bad happenings. Now modern retellings say that hearing a banshee's keening leads to death. Older tales don't support this. Banshees, while called fairy, banshee literally meaning “woman of the fairy mound”, are not technically fairies. They are the ghosts of women who have: a.) died in childbirth b.) have been murdered. Some banshees have been known to attach themselves to family lines, particularly those of Milesian stock (those whose names begin with O' or Mac'). Here are some ideas for stories with banshees:

You have never seen your family banshee in such a state. Something has made it go absolutely bonkers. It didn't even act this way when Gran died.

You are visited nightly by a woman that looks upon you sadly and wails such a heartbreaking tune. You know that she is trying to warn you about something but you can't for the life of you figure out what.

You must gather up the sisters for a most hated duty. The Bishop has died. You and your sisters must keen his lament. But one refuses to go. A dark secret is revealed.






Dullahan- is a headless horseman! And you thought it was just a story by Washington Irving. Dullahans are members of the Unseelie Court. In fact, they were created by the court. They are either human or fey sacrifice. Heads are lopped off by golden ax and through rituals turned into a Dullahan. Such creatures typically ride a black horse and are followed by a wagon filled with accouterments of death. Their heads are said to be the consistency and color of moldy cheese and bear a ghastly, idiotic grin from one side to the other. They hold them under one arm, with mouths constantly working and eyes continually searching the night.

It is said that there is no way to bar a road against a Dullahan and wherever a Dullahan stops, someone will die. Usually, they stop and say a person's name and that person drops dead on the spot. Here are some story ideas that include Dullahan:

What if a Dullahan kills a person only to find out it killed the wrong person? Crazy antics ensue as they try to rectify their mistake!

An opportunistic mage is using a Dullahan as an unwitting assassin. Altering its assignments and giving it names of people that he would like dead.

A woman is visited by a Dullahan. She breaks down and tears and thanks him. He doesn't know what to do.


                                                    



Lich- A lich is a creature of such indomitable will that its life continued on to undeath. A lich can be almost anyone in life but is normally a person of arcane power. Sorcerers and warlocks. Through arcane rituals or demonic deals, they beat death itself and live on as a lich. Liches are commonly seen as commanders of hordes of undead minions. As such they make a great antagonist for stories! What are some ideas?



A young man finds a broach in an open-aired market while on a trip to Dubai. He intends to give it to his girlfriend as a gift. Unknown to him, it is actually a lich's phylactery (a receptacle for the lich's lifeforce). The lich will stop at nothing to recover the phylactery.

Does a lich always have to be mad? I say no. A family suffers from a terrifying curse that is passed upon the death of one cursed to the youngest living relative. To stop the curse, one member becomes a lich, so that there is no true death.

An ancient evil arises in the land and the only person with information needed to stop the creature is the man who was around the last time he was here but he may be just as evil as it. The MC must deal with a lich to find out how to defeat the ancient evil.






Wights- or revenant. Or a host of other creatures. From the draugir of Norse mythology to the barrow wights of the English myths, these are creatures of fascinating legends and dark curses. A wight is a creature brought back from death to fulfill some action. Be that to guard a barrow or tomb, to hunt down a murderer, etc... These creatures are undead killing machines. Don't get these confused with ghouls or other undead, that hunt humans for sustenance. Wights don't require sustenance. They are driven by an unholy need to fulfill their goal. They have wide and varied looks, but most are the desiccated corpse of once living, reanimated flesh. Barrow-wights might come with old armor and weapons. Here are some story ideas:



Using the revenant aspect, the returned, the undead returns to seek vengeance upon those who killed it and its son.

A barrow wight guards the tomb of its once-beloved lord through eternity. Can bonds of duty and love hold against the inexorable trudge of time?






Black Dog- Legends of black dogs originated in the British Isles. These dogs are described as spectral or demonic, larger than a normal dog, and having glowing eyes. They are almost always thought of as harbingers of death, even when they are thought of benevolently. This could be due to the fact that dogs have been seen as guardians of the Underworld for some time. Look at the different depictions of dog-like beings in such a position: Anubis(Egyptian), Gramr(Norse), and Cerberus(Greek. Sometimes they are associated with the Devil.



You can find them in a modern day setting on Supernatural, where they are called either black dogs or hellhounds. Here they work directly for Hell and come to collect souls from those who have made demon deals. In this instance, they are invisible unless you are being hunted or you have magical means with which to view them.

You can find them in literature in The Hound of the Baskervilles. Spoilers ahead. Now, while the hound in question was not a black dog, Doyle made use of the legend in the setting up of the murder.

So, what can we do to revitalize the black dog?

Well, you could use a black dog in a humorous way. They were known as familiars to witches and warlocks. What if a young witch had a pony-sized black dog as her familiar? Called him Fluffy?

How about black dogs as part of an Underworld Spirit Retrieval Unit? That could be fun.They track down rogue spirits that have found ways to escape the Underworld and seek to bring them back into custody.

What about a black dog as a central figure? What if, for the purpose of the storyline, is the spirit of a dog that died after some form of torment or abuse. The black dog is sent to collect the soul of someone who it once knew. One of its abusers. But when there, it sees the abuser's son who had been its only friend on the mortal plane. Decides to befriend the boy and break the cycle that got it trapped into an eternity of collecting souls for the Underworld.

Are there undead that you think should be on this list? Leave a comment and tell me and maybe I'll write them up in a future article!

Submitting a Story!

Going to take a slight detour this week and talk about making submissions. For those of you that have been reading my series on crafting a story, I'm not done. This is more of my side piece. One that my main piece is totally aware of and cool with because my main piece knows that I'll always come back to it.

Anyways, making submissions.

You took a much-needed break from your novel and wrote yourself a short story. Awesome! Now you want to submit that story to a magazine? What are some things you should know about before submitting a piece to a magazine? Glad you asked! Let's look at your story first...

Does your story have the 'it' factor?

When you are writing to submit to a magazine (or literary journal, e-zine, website, etc..), keep in mind some basic difference between short story writing and novel writing. These are important if you wish to get a short story published.

Short stories are shorter than novels. I know, you are saying, "Duuuuuuh." A short story is shorter but must still contain the essential parts of a story! Short stories aren't just scenes cut out of larger works, they must stand on their own. A short story must have a narrative arc that reaches some sort of resolution. If you are simply writing scenes, then the chances of your story being published are very slim.

First lines of short stories are much more important! You must grab a reader's (and magazine editor's) attention from the beginning and take them along for a ride. Editors have slush piles of unsolicited manuscripts and you are kidding yourself if you believe that most of them will always read the whole manuscript, every time. Most will give you a page, a paragraph, even maybe a sentence to grab their attention and make them want to keep journeying down the road with you. Make sure that your first line is an attention grabber.

After the first line, you gotta keep it going! No time to waste on boring stuff! Gotta spit hot fire. What does that mean? It means, unlike novel writing where there is an ebb and flow, short stories are more condensed. You don't have time to lose a reader for a paragraph so you can describe the effort she makes when painting her toes. No three chapters describing how your protagonist buried a cat. THIS IS SHORT STORY WRITING! (Sorry, channeled my inner King Leonidas.) You have to make sure there are no wasted words in your submission! Condense, make sure every word counts towards the end goal: Taking your reader for a wild ride.

I'm going to use a quote from Highlander to explain how your story should be: IT IS BETTER TO BURN OUT THAN TO FADE AWAY - Kurgan

Burn us with your brightness!

A Note on Editing and Beta reading...

If you are saying to yourself, just because this is a short story, I don't need to get it edited or have it beta read then you are wrong. Don't think that you are someone so special that an editor will not put down your story in deference to your brilliance. While most magazines will make minor edits, mostly in format, they will not accept a piece that is full of grammatical errors. Just like anything else you write, let someone else read it, several someones if you can swing it, get their opinions, incorporate the ones that you think are needed, then have a final run through with an editor.

Okay, our Story Sparkles... What's Next?

After making sure that our story is submission quality, now we need to find a magazine that will take our piece of writing. Time to do some research! You can Google markets where your submission would be welcome, spending hours slogging through the different websites to figure out which one to submit to... or you could cheat.

I'm going to suggest two websites, one paid and one free, for making finding a place to submit easier. The free website is Submission Grinder. In the website's own words "The Grinder is a submission tracker and market database for writers of fiction and poetry".A search engine specifically geared towards markets to submit your work! Now Duotrope is much the same but a pay to use version. Supposedly, because you are paying for it, it is more up-to-date but I don't see much of a difference in the two in my opinion.

It tells you all sorts of cool stuff, like if a magazine is even active anymore!

As far as choosing one, familiarize yourself with the content of each magazine. Websites usually have one or two sample stories that give you a rough estimate of the stories that they publish. Don't skip this step! It is a waste of time, both for you and the editor, if you submit something that they wouldn't dream of publishing.

We're ready to submit now, right?

At this point, with the magazine in mind, it is time to go over their submission guidelines. What? You're ready to send it off, it has been beta read and edited, it's perfect? Hold on! Submission guidelines give you information about formatting and information the editor wishes included in your submission. This is one of those points you can be auto-rejected before someone has even read your story. Follow their guidelines!

Remember, you are submitting to their publication. You follow their rules. That simple. Now usually, a good rule of thumb, is to include your name and contact info in the upper left of your manuscript and the word count (rounded to the nearest hundred) in the upper right.

Some websites, those ones that wish to support your further work, will want you to send in a bio. This should be done in the third person and give readers a way to follow you. Don't overdo it with your credits. Limit yourself to three relevant publishing credits. An example:

Badass Writer lives in Extraordinaire City with his wife and 1.5 kids. He is a multi-genre writer who enjoys skydiving in is off time. His sci-fi story "I'm a Teenage Ninja Toaster" was published in Cool Story Online. For the ladies, his romance story, "I'm Pretty Hunky, Aren't I?" was published by Random Romance publishing. You can follow him on Twitter @youwishyouwereme or on Facebook @badasswriterspeaks.

Now, after you've read their guidelines and have your story formatted the way they want it, now it is time to submit! Find out how they want you to submit: email, snail mail, Submittable (or some other analogous online submission system). Do your thing!

Notes for after you've submitted

You've submitted, now comes the most dreaded part. Being patient. Unfortunately, there is no getting around this part. The average time that your submission kicks around the system? Probably around two months. Unless otherwise noted on their website, ninety days is the industry accepted length of time one should wait before querying about their story. That is only if their website doesn't state something different. Don't annoy an editor if their website clearly states that they can take up to six months to get back on submissions.

Two terms you should familiarize yourself with are simultaneous submission and multiple submission. The former tells you whether the magazine allows you to submit the same story to other magazines. This is done with the understanding that you will immediately inform the magazine if your story has been accepted somewhere else. When a magazine allows multiple submissions, it means you don't have to wait until you hear back from a submission before you submit again. Many magazines do not allow for this, so make sure before you do this. If you don't see it, don't assume! Query the editor with any questions.

You should use some form of tracking for your submissions. It is very important! That way you aren't sending the same story out to places you've already sent it to and you aren't simultaneously submitting unless that is your intention and the places you're submitting to allow it. Most publications do not allow resubmission of rejected stories. Many don't want simultaneous submissions.

If you are rejected and it is a form letter rejection, don't take it personally! Most publication editors don't have the time to write a personalized rejection to each and every individual that sends a story into their publication. That would be insane. Rejections are part of the game, get rejected with class. Say thank you and move on. There is a right place for your story, it just might take a while to find it.

One final note, be careful where you post your work. Most publications will not accept work that has been in some way available to the public. That means if you post a story to Facebook or your blog, then you are disqualifying it from a majority of publishers out there.

Crafting a Story Part FIVE (Crafting a Great Antagonist Part B)

Powers

I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on this section as a villain's powers will be similar in their creation to a hero's powers. That being said, there are things you want to avoid when making a villain's powers. Avoid making overpowered villains! Let's talk examples:

Marc has created his villain ReallyEvilDude to face off against his protagonist TheGoodGuy. When choosing powers for his villain, he decides that he should have the power UnstoppableWorldEnder5. To counter such a power, TheGoodGuy must be given the power DeuxExMachina but through the use of such a power is able to end the threat of ReallyEvilDude and his ultimate power. World saved!

Why is that a bad thing, you ask? It is lazy writing. Anything that you have to cheat to defeat as the writer, is lazy writing. A villain should be balanced and concievably beatable. The heroes should struggle against their foe but in the end, they should reasonably find a way to defeat their foe through their own agency. That's right, a hero should be able to defeat a foe without outside intervention. Now, like any rule, this isn't set in stone but most dramatic stories are ruined when, even though the hero struggled through his heroic quest, in the end someone else had to save him from the Big Bad at the end. It leaves a reader unfulfilled.

Relatable

A good rule of thumb for any antagonist is that they should be relatable. What does that mean? A reader should be able to connect to an antagonist at some level. A parent who lost a thier child and watched the murderer go free because of the negligence of the court system who then targets the very officials that let the murderer walk free is a relatable character. We can empathize with what the character is going through and, while we may not condone such actions, we can see where the character would end up taking up the mantle of villainy.

But why make your antagonist relatable? They are the villain! Because it gives your story depth. When you don't feel for the person fighting your protagonist there is no tension. Evil dragon eats princesses and hero must stop him. Boring. Overdone. But what if the Mr. Evil Dragon was once a peaceful creature that sought to preserve the natural world? But through the continued depradations of the humans of blah kingdom, the dragon had to watch everything it tried to protect be destroyed. So, it kidnaps the princess to make the humans stop their actions and take notice of the destruction that they are letting happen. Suddenly, the dragon isn't the horrible, unredeemable evil that he was in the first plot line. It isn't just some ravening monster doing evil for evil's sake. Through a couple of lines of backstory, we've given it a soul. Suddenly, it is something that gives the readers pause when the protagonists finally confront it.

Last Thoughts on Antagonists

Okay, for anything else that I've left out, it will be the same as when you crafted your protagonist. Just refer to that post for further instructions. In the end, when you craft any character, your number one goal is to make it believable within the context of your narrative.A believable, well-developed character will enhance the quality of your storytelling. No person, ever, has said that the characters were too well-crafted and relatable...

Crafting a Story part Four (Making a Great Antagonist, Part A)

     So, we've got our protagonists and are ready to write our story. Or are we? If you have crafted a great protagonist, it is only fitting that you now make an antagonist that will challenge our newly minted protagonist. So, what goes into making an awesome antagonist that will give your hero a run for their money?

Archetypes: The Villain Edition

Remember when we were crafting our heroes and talked about archetypes? Well, there are archetypes that fit in the scope of your antagonist.

• The Ruler - Who doesn't love a despotic ruler? For them power isn't just a thing, it is the ONLY thing. This is the type of villain that loves to grind his opposition under his bootheel but more than likely does it through other agencies rather than himself. Examples include King Joffrey of GOT, Ming the Merciless of Flash Gordan, and Sebastian Shaw of X-men.
• The Temptress - The Temptress can be the ultimate spy or assassin. This is a female dominated archetype but that doesn't mean that there aren't men that are Temptresses. This archetype focuses on subterfuge and manipulation rather than brute force. Examples include The Evil Queen from Snow White, Emperor Palpatine from Star Wars, The Enchantress from Thor.
• The Trickster - This is another archetype that depends on trickery and manipulation rather than brute force. While the Temptress relies on sex appeal and charm, the Trickster is an archetype of traps and plans. Examples include The Riddler from Batman, Sweet from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Demon summoned during the episode "Once More with Feeling"), and Loki from the MCU.
• The Fanatic - This archetype is the least likely to be swayed by arguments from the protagonist. This is the archetype of the believer that knows their actions are for the greater good and is willing to go any distance to achieve their goal. Many serial killers fall under this archetype. Examples include John Doe from Se7en, Ra's al Ghul from Arrow, and the Operative from the movie Serenity.
• The Betrayer - Also known as the Heretic or the Traitor, this is the archetype that betrays their faith and ideals. They now fight against those things they hold dear. Examples include Horus from Warhammer 40k, Darth Vader of Star Wars, and the Warlock Lord from the Shannara Chronicles.
• The Beast - This is the monster archetype, one of unending hunger and rage. This is one of the simplest archetypes to write as it is usually limited in intelligence. Examples include Doomsday from Superman, Moby Dick from the book of the same name, and the Balrog from Lord of the Rings.
• The Mastermind - The planner or plotter. Usually, in control of several minor antagonists, he uses them to execute his plan to gain his goal. Examples include Captain Cold from Flash, Moriarty from Sherlock Holmes, and Keyser Soze from the Usual Suspects.
• The Corrupted - The once good fallen into the role of villain. This could have many catalysts. Disillusionment. Mind-control. The list goes on. Examples include Harvey Dent from Batman, Macbeth from Macbeth, and Saruman from Lord of the Rings.
• The Dark Knight - These are characters that believe they are heroes. They take a very extremist view of the vigilantism they may perform and are usually willing to kill for what they believe in. Most will adhere to a strict moral code that only they truly understand. Examples include Col. Nathan Jessup from A Few Good Men, Vigilante from Arrow, and Ozymandias from the Watchmen.
• The Devil - This archetype is for those that are the personification of evil. Dark gods, demons, etc... Examples include Pennywise the Clown from IT, Lucifer from Supernatural, and Wednesday from American Gods.
• The Mercenary - This is a person whose sole motivation is to be paid. Their services are to the highest bidder and so sometimes they can be defeated without bloodshed. Examples include Bullseye from Daredevil, Deathstroke from New Teen Titans, and Boba Fett from Star Wars.
• The Minion - These are the characters that are servitors of some Dark Lord. Examples include The Terminator, Xenomorphs from Alien, and Ronan the Accuser of Guardians of the Galaxy.
  
  

The Catalyst

This is a part of the antagonist creation that you do not necessarily share with the readers. The catalyst is the event that made the antagonist a villain. So, why is this important, especially if you aren't going to share this information with the reader?

The catalyst is something that informs every action of your antagonists. Magneto does what he does because of the concentration camps of Nazi-occupied Poland. His catalyst shows in every single one of his actions. And remember, just because you don't immediately share an antagonist catalyst, doesn't mean you won't. Down the road, if you do share the catalyst, you will be glad that you thought of it at the beginning to keep the character more consistent.

What goes into a good catalyst, though? Well, here are several types of catalysts that will help shape your antagonist:

• Tragedy - One of the most basic types of catalysts, such an event can make a villain of even the best person. Mostly this catalyst is instigated by the death of a loved one.
• Abused - The antagonist was abused in some way and that turned them down the dark path of villainy.
• Corruption - This catalyst is the whispered word within a character's ear. Too late, the character finds out that he has gone down a dark and unredeemable path.
• Mind-controlled - This villain finds themselves under the direct control of another. This could be from an object, event, or person.
• Indebted - The antagonist finds themselves owing someone a debt that they cannot get out. This is a common theme in Supernatural.
• Born to Evil - Maybe one of the simplest catalysts, the antagonist was born evil.
• Fulfilling a Need - This is a catalyst that is very tricky because your antagonist is not necessarily dark, just desperate. Look at Mr. Freeze from Batman, his sole purpose is to find a way to revive and save his wife. Nothing else matters and he's willing to do whatever to accomplish his goals. But he doesn't do anything that isn't directly related to saving his wife.

Now, when you are crafting your villain's catalyst, usually the best ones are stories that we can empathize with. What makes Magneto such a great villain is that we immediately understand why he is doing the things he does. We can see ourselves in his actions and, at some deep level, this frightens us because the line between good and evil is much thinner than we ever imagined. That is something you should strive to do with your antagonist, make them a dark mirror that shows us ourselves.

Avoid being a villain apologist when writing these catalysts and eventually backstories. Such stories are given resonance when it is a decision that is fully in the antagonist's hands that leads them down the dark path. Remember that these are catalysts, they are the events that made a character a villain and are not necessarily something that is still happening. A mind-controlled antagonist could have broken the mind-control but decided that he liked feeling powerful as only he could when he is a villain.

Eventually, every villain must be given the responsibility of their actions.

Crafting a Story, Part ONE

So starts a journey that I will endeavor to bring you along. I will be plotting, writing, then editing a story that will eventually be posted to this blog. In these series of posts, I will be detailing the steps I take to writing the story. Hopefully, you will enjoy the ride and find it helpful!

Inspiration

Where do we get inspiration? Well, for this story, the bolt of mental lightning came in the form of a conversation with one of my local librarians, Lisa. I find that the local library staff is a wonderful resource of information and underused by the vast majority of writers. It may be worth the trip to the local library to chum it up with your local staff.

Lisa loves to keep me abreast of novels that are coming out and tell about the newer ones that she's read. My eureka moment didn't come as she was detailing the plot of a story but when she told me the name of a book that she had seen, "Words on Bathroom Walls".

Bazinga!

(For those of you that don't understand, that's the sound of mental lightning.)

What was the idea, you ask? Well, it was a really simple one: Young girl finds prophecy on a bathroom wall. That's it, now let's see where we take it.

Developing the Idea!

Ok, the first step in developing the idea beyond its nascent stage is to flesh it out a bit. Let's expand!

First of all, we need to decide what kind of story we are writing. Science Fiction? Literary fiction? Well, we have a prophecy, so probably Fantasy is best. I decide to go with Urban Fantasy. That gives me a guiding principle. Now, there needs to be conflict. We can use the prophecy to set this up. What does the prophecy say and what does it motivate the main character to do? I start with asking myself some simple questions. What form does the prophecy take? What does it reveal?

I've decided that I want my prophecy in the form of a poem. It will be broken up into six quatrains, with every two lines dealing with a different time from one to twelve. So the prophecy will be heavily laden with the concept of time passing. This means that I will have to infiltrate my story with the concept of time: clocks, watches, people talking about it, etc.

Now that we have the form of the prophecy construct, we move on to the content of the poem. What does it show that the main character must do? My prophecy is counting towards an awakening. Each hour is metaphorical, not an actual hour. It tells of a seal that is breaking because of the dying of the warden and the need for a replacement. So, that's our main character.

So, now we have our conflict: Girl finds prophecy scrawled on a bathroom wall that starts her on a quest to replace a dying warden before a seal can be broken and an ancient evil returned to the world.

Characters

So, the last thing we will work on today is characters.

So, let's start with a little bit about the process. I've taken the day and just thought about the characters. Really brought them up in my head. My usual process is having a conversation with them. I find that it is illuminating when I talk to my characters, I find out all sort of fun stuff about them. Along the way, if they come up with something I don't know about, I familiarize myself with it. I don't hold with "write what you know", I hold with "write what you've researched well".

While those characters are brewing inside my head, this is where I'll start my plotting spreadsheet. First page: Characters.

I set it up to contain five points for every character in this story. These are character name, physical desciption, character motivation, powers, and notes. So, we start with the main characters. Well, she's a girl that reads some writing on a bathroom wall. What else is there about her?

I started with her name. Given that we are dealing with fantasy, I wanted to give her a normal name, because I have an inkling we are going to be dealing with Fey and there will be odd names aplenty. I settled on Theresa "Terry" Smith. I proceeded to give her a character description and motivations. One of the things I decided was to make her a teenager. She just turned sixteen. Also, to make her relatable, I decided that would spend a lot of time online because she suffers from social anxiety.

Now, someone needs to come to motivate Terry to follow the prophecy. So, I create my half-faerie warrior. I fall back on faeries because it is a subject that I'm well versed in. I like the idea of a half-faerie warrior, something that symbolizes the joining of two worlds, the mystical and the modern. His name should not be normal, I decided. I settle on the name Ghost Dog. I not only like the name but it will also be integral to one of the literary devices I will be using later. What powers can I give him that will make him stand out? He can't just be a warrior. Well, he could but I want to go for broke. How about a warrior with the power of tattoos? I describe him as being covered head to toe in Pictish runes and the tattoos of six animals. Under powers, I further define what each tattoo does and their limitations.

I create a few side characters. Friends of Theresa, Ghost Dog's campatriots and contacts, the faerie king he must deliver Theresa to, and my antagonist. Now, this will not be a complete list. I will continue to work on characters throughout plotting and may even find myself adding to the character list as I'm writing, but this gives me a good character structure from which to pull from. Decisions have to be made. Like, how many friends does Theresa have? She's a shy girl but also a teenager. I decide that in the real world, she'll have two. Online, she'll have several more but other than maybe one, they'll just be online monikers. I will not be detailing those here, I want to leave something of a surprise. I don't spend a lot of time, just getting the protagonists, the antagonists, and a few essential characters out of they way. When I start plotting out the actual story, more characters will make themselves known to me.

I will tell you one thing, the main antagonist of the story will be a guy named Gary. I decided that I wasn't going to name him anything crazy and would avoid the letters V, S, and Z. Apparently there are way too many villain names that start with those letters. Ok, we've got our basics, tomorrow we will start plotting!

A sample of my character spreadsheet.