F. Flobo Boyce

Hey everyone, Flobo here!

And as always, we’re are going to talk shop about your craft. Whether it’s writing, screenwriting, poetry or what have you, here’s hoping there’s some useful info you can pull for your own work. So without any further ado:

SEX DOESN’T SELL

When I was in college sitting in my government class, I made a bold statement that almost everyone disagreed with. You see, we were talking about why “The Media” (and I mean that in the way angst-y teenagers would say it) tends to focus on celebrity news and athletes as opposed to the geopolitical landscape. One student said the reason for that is because (in regards to the personal lives of celebrities) that sex sells. I of course, rebutted.

“I disagree Mr. O,” I said, feeling the lump in the back of my throat. “Sex does not sell, but rather it is desire that sells.”

I offered that it is because we as a people live vicariously through celebrities (and their assumed bank accounts) and athletes (and their assumed awesome bodies) it was our desire to learn everything about them that made the media follow suit. Or to put it another way, it isn’t the objective sex appeal of the supermodel on the sports car that drives sales (no pun intended), but rather the implication that buying the car would make girls that looked like the supermodel desire you.

Of course, I was a teenager so my actual analysis came down to this: “If sex just sold on its own, why hasn’t Rosie O’ Donnell graced the cover of Playboy magazine?”

Looking back, that comment was kind of mean. In my defense, until you’ve held the only differing opinion in a room of twenty peers with your social “back against the wall”, you just won’t understand.

Well, how about this? Guinness World Records has pegged this “book” as the most purchased book of all time. Can you guess what is?

Sure there's sex IN IT but......

OK, so what does that have to do with your writings? Well, let me put it like this. It’s okay to write about your attractive looking protagonists, or to have an extended courtship between two characters that are romantically interested in each other. It’s just that your audience deserves to be given reason to want to see these two characters together. “Romeo and Juliet” painted each of the star-crossed lover’s depositions clearly enough to the point where you DESIRE to see them together. Now imagine if Juliet got together with Paris or Romeo with Rosaline?

Snooze City…Population: The Audience

Wow, did I reference Shakespeare in two posts back-to-back? *Shudders*

The whole “Sex Doesn’t Sell” doesn’t JUST apply to romantic tales. Take my “best friend” James Bond for example. When you saw a James Bond movie or read a James Bond book you wanted to be a super spy. Why? There’s something cool about going out and risking your life for your country (or Queen and Country if you’re British). There is a reason why James is never depicted  filling out mounds of paperwork, or standing trial at war crime hearings. While showing the “sexier” part of the spy job, the audience “desires” to ride along.

Well, as for me, I didn’t speak up too many times in that government class. If only I had this blog back then. Oh well, live and learn, right?

Happy writings

–Flobo

Hey hey, Flobo here!

Today I want to talk to you about your characters. There are your protagonists (heroes) and there are your antagonists (villains). Most times these characters are on parallel trajectories, that is until they cross paths and all. But what about that character who was at once pegged a villain but saw the error of their ways? Or, perhaps even more interesting, what about those characters who slid into a darkness that they never recovered from?

There’s something magnetic about the fall of a good man/woman/character. In fact, most classical “tragedies” follow this formula. Imagine having someone who was at one time at peace with themselves slip into a situation that drags them down like quicksand. The stuff is legendary.

I’m going to catch flak for this, but I was never that big into Shakespeare. Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to never become an English teacher in order to spread that sort of blasphemy around. There was no denying his talent, but I appreciated Shakespeare’s work like how you would appreciate an oil painting in a museum. It was a joy to behold, but it was something that never really hit home for me. When I was tenth grade, the English class I was in tackled “Othello” and things began to change a bit. There was still loads of things that sailed over this brute’s head, but the downward spiral the character Othello went through, spawn from the initial thought of his wife’s infidelity, was something that still resonates with me.

What about in the Green Lantern arc “Emerald Twilight” where Hal Jordan (eventually retconned to be) possessed by the fear entity Parallax, goes on a killing spree, killing hundreds of other Corpsmen while in a blind rage? A desperate attempted to resurrect his home city (which had been leveled by Mongul and Cyborg Superman) was the tipping point for his path to darkness from hero to villain.

Or what about the music video for Cee-Lo Green’s “Forget You” where I nice guy was spurned by a lady he desired only for his character (in the video) to turn into a womanizing “Lady Killer”?

The video can relate to relationships in general. Friends of mine, male and female, have turned into “ladykillers/maneaters” based on being burned by the ones they loved.

Most of the time, the hero’s slip into the dark side could have been prevented. “If only Character B told our hero the truth”. Or, “If only Character C didn’t jump to conclusions and blamed the hero unjustly”. That’s the crux of the whole transformation:

Our hero gets hurt, and vows to never to get hurt again

As a writer, your character’s back story is one of the most important aspects of your work. Every character has flaws, and are all in some ways “damaged goods”. This, as crazy as it seems, makes him/her more “relatable” to your readers as I’m sure you already know this. While in the story of “Othello”, the character’s descent was the plot, I urge you for your own works to craft “smaller descents” for your characters. Maybe falling from the social totem pole in high school before the events of a story can explain why your hero isn’t trusting of people as an adult for example. I’m sure this would make your character more dynamic.

And dynamic stories sell. Or so I’ve heard.

–Flobo