Okay, let’s have some fun. Not that we weren’t having fun for the previous 150+ episodes, mind you. But this is extra-fun.

Brandon, Dan, and Howard take the urban fantasy writing prompt about big-box stores and decide to brainstorm a story out of it. When we begin this ‘cast all we have is the prompt.

Then we brainstorm, plowing through setting, character, conflict, and story.

By the end of the ‘cast we’re ready to make a pitch to an editor and sell the book.

Okay, maybe not. But the book is totally ready for us to sit down and write. Or, better yet, for YOU to sit down and write.

Audiobook Pick-of-the-Week: Kitty and the Midnight Hour, by Carrie Vaughn, narrated by Marguerite Gavin

Writing Prompt: Take what we’ve done in this ‘cast and try to come up with a plot and an ending. Alternatively, take the list of competition films from the most recent Sundance Film Festival and pick six that are somehow part of a Fey plot.

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Transcript

As transcribed by Mike Barker

Key points: Brainstorming isn’t all serious. Sometimes it’s jokes, roleplaying, and silliness. Focus on the key parts: setting, characters, plot, premises. Don’t be afraid to go trope fishing, and pick ones you like — but put your own spin on them. Main characters need a life and goals that go beyond the plot of the book. Don’t forget that everyone is the hero of their own story — so what do the other people want? Where will it end, what’s the big problem? And don’t forget to wear a banana slug in your hair.

[Brandon] This is Writing Excuses Season Five, Episode 35, Brainstorming an Urban Fantasy.
[Howard] 15 minutes long because I forgot what I was supposed to say.
[Dan] And we’re all secretly wizards.
[Brandon] Okay.
[Howard] Mwahaha.

[Brandon] There was a lot of discussion among us offscreen about what to do with this podcast. We eventually decided we’re going to try and put our money where our mouths are, and try and do a quick, really fast brainstorm on a plot, a setting, and characters for an urban fantasy. We’re going to start with the setting because it seems like the consensus is we need to start there. So let’s start building a world bible. What is the premise? What are we going to do for our urban fantasy?
[Dan] Should we base this off of the writing prompt Howard gave us three weeks ago? With the big box stores…
[Howard] Big-box stores?
[Dan] Being the link between our world and the fay?
[Howard] That’s fine.
[Brandon] Okay. Big-box stores are the link between our world and the fay. Sounds good to me.

[Howard] All right. That’s good. Location? Just to make it easy on us for research, why don’t we say that the location is, like, Salt Lake City?
[Brandon] Salt Lake City works just fine for me.
[Dan] Okay.
[Brandon] We’re going… or maybe we could even… how about this? Since it’s big-box stores, Park City, particularly the outlet malls.
[Dan] Okay.
[Brandon] The outlet malls of Park City. Park City as an urban fantasy…
[Howard] I’m not as familiar with Park City, but that’s fine.
[Dan] That’s good. We can do Park City.

[Brandon] Okay. What are our major premises? We’ve got that the connections to the fay world are big-box stores, or maybe in this case, also outlet mall stores and things like that.
[Howard] Okay. Well, now let’s ask this question. Are the… the fay world? Is it an invisible world? Is it a world that is like a parallel universe that you step through and you’re now in fairyland?
[Brandon] I think we have to say it’s an invisible world that’s part of our world.
[Howard] Okay.
[Brandon] I want to go with that just because it feels right to me.
[Howard] That’s fine.
[Dan] Okay.

[Brandon] We can deal with this whole… the whole concept that’s been talked about before, that we talked about in our urban fantasy podcast… that fairies are real. They’ve been with us all along. The modern incarnation of them is dealing with…
[Dan] With an outlet mall in Park City.
[Howard] So similar to Spyderwick where you look through the hole in a… a naturally worn hole in a rock and now you can see the goblins?
[Brandon] Yes, but we need our own spin on it.
[Howard] Oh, I know we need our own spin on it. I’m just saying… so the fay are already among us.
[Brandon] The fay are already among us.
[Howard] Already among us. We are unable to perceive or interact with them…
[Brandon] They are the Wal-Mart people. That’s why they don’t fit in real well.
[Dan] Oh, man. The fay are frightening.
[Howard] Oh, my.
[Brandon] Those are a type of fay. Do we really want to go there?
[Dan] No, I think we totally should.
[Brandon] You know, the people that when you go to Wal-Mart…
[Dan] My favorite part of the Monster Hunter books by Larry Correia was that the elves were all these backwoods hicks.
[Howard] Well, they were trailer trash elves.
[Dan] Let’s totally have the fay be the Wal-Mart people. Which is why they all look like they’re dressed wrong at two in the morning.
[Brandon] When you go to Wal-Mart and those people…
[Howard] The greeter?
[Brandon] Yeah. And the thing is…
[Howard] Have you ever noticed how the greeter, you’re not entirely sure that he or she is human? I mean, at first glance, you say, “Well, that’s just an old person. I’m so glad that he or she has a job, and a very pleasant smile, and… oh, my gosh, is that a tail?” That happens to you guys, doesn’t it?
[Brandon] Yes. Every week, Howard.
[Dan] Every time. Jordo, check Howard’s medication again.
[Brandon] That’s because the fay are trying to fit in, right?
[Howard] Oh, we’re brainstorming. I thought this was an RPG. Yes, the fay are trying to fit in.
[Brandon] They’re trying to fit in, and they’re just not quite good at it, yet.
[Dan] Yeah. They don’t know how to dress, which is why they look like they’re half Hot Topic, half Salvation Army.
[Howard] Park City [laughter]
[Brandon] [inaudible garbled]
[Howard] Oh, my gosh. Park City, because we have urbanization happening in an area that just in the last 40 years was wild. So the wild areas of the world don’t just have wild animals living in them, they have the fay living in them. As we organize them… wow, I just turned this into an Earth first…
[Dan] Yeah, but we’re going to take it back because they actually love urbanization and commerce, which is why they hang out in the big-box stores. That protects them from us seeing them because of all the constant transactions of money.
[Howard] Is it the constant transactions of money or is it the fact that you have so many different kinds of product under one roof? You can buy lumber and you can buy plumbing and you can buy potted plants and you can buy a gas grill and a rake…
[Dan] And chips…
[Howard] And wood chips and…
[Brandon] Okay. So it’s this conglomeration of a lot of different topics…
[Dan] It’s the modern incarnation of the ancient market bazaar, where everything is all in one place.
[Brandon] Oh. So they’re comfortable there. I think that’s a really good reasoning for it. Okay. We’ve got something kind of interesting.
[Howard] There is a setting…
[Brandon] There is a setting.
[Howard] And we’re only four minutes and 45 seconds in.
[Dan] Well, fantastic.

[Brandon] All right. Let’s delve into characters, and just talk about what types of characters are common in urban fantasy and why do they work? What are we looking at?
[Howard] Typically, your urban fantasy doesn’t deal with a character who is powerful. You’re not dealing with a prince, you’re not dealing with royalty or a knight, you’re dealing with… well, like in the Dresden Files novels, he’s a private detective… he’s a wizard, he’s a member of that set. But often urban fantasies are YAs, so the protagonists end up being kids who are just a couple of years older than the target audience.
[Brandon] I will disagree with… well, often, I suppose works, but I would say it’s just as common in urban fantasy for adults. But I think you’re right… it’s less. I think the urban fantasies do tend to look toward the Everyman aspect a little bit more than the Superman aspect to an extent. Urban fantasy also does have the subgenre of chicks in black leather kicking butt.
[Dan] Which is a huge subgenre.
[Brandon] A huge subgenre. But even… we could even say Buffy was a part of that, and Buffy was an Everyman mixed with… here are these supernatural powers, now go kick butt.

[Howard] It wasn’t just Everyman. There was also an element of Hero’s Journey in Buffy. Where she is Everyman, but she has inherited the mantle of the Slayer. Now part of what we’re doing in this brainstorming is going trope fishing and picking the ones we like. I like the idea of somebody who has got the job at a big-box store. So we’re talking about somebody who is working for minimum wage, who comes from that Hot Topic plus Salvation Army culture there that you described. That’s frightening.
[Brandon] Well, no, we need to make the protagonist an outsider.
[Dan] Well. I… I’m… Okay. Let me say something really quick. I think that there are two very common character types that you’ll see in almost every urban fantasy. There’s the outsider being introduced to the mystical world. And there is the person who crosses easily between both. Sometimes one is the protagonist, and sometimes the other one is the protagonist. Both of those will always be there. If the protagonist crosses easily between worlds, then the newbie is going to be a sidekick who stands in for the reader so we can explain things. If you’re protagonist is the newbie, then the one who crosses easily is the mentor.
[Brandon] I’m going to say, we’re doing something kind of weird with this whole big-box stores. I really do… my gut instincts say we need the newbie to be our main character, because a lot of the ones that I see…
[Dan] I agree.
[Howard] Okay. That’s what I feel like.
[Brandon] That have a person that moves easily… they can have some really weird setting elements, but the tropes are very… like… are easy to explain.
[Dan] Well, and just thematically, if we’re talking about a minimum-wage worker, having them be the neophyte I think makes a lot of sense. It blends well.

[Howard] [snapping fingers] Okay. Here we go. We’ve got a newbie. The newbie is related to… son of whatever. Somebody who owns a hotel, there in Park City. Gets a job at the big-box store, makes friends with somebody at the big-box store, and gets his friend into a Sundance screening. Because Sundance happens at Park City. Okay? The friend from the big-box store is actually one of the fay, and is a huge fan of… name a celebrity…
[Dan] Celebrity of the week.
[Howard] Celebrity of the week. Okay. He got to sit next to them at a screening, and now feels that he owes newbie some sort of magical blood debt.
[Brandon] Oh, he’s got a boon from the fay.
[Howard] That’s our link. He’s got a boon from the fay.
[Brandon] Because he got him to go in and sit next to Christopher Nolan at a screening of the new Batman film.
[Howard] Right.
[Dan] Awesome. Or Guillermo del Toro at the new Hellboy movie, and he sat next to [garbled] “You got that right! You got that right, too!”
[Howard] “How did you do that?” Guillermo del Toro holds up a little rock with a hole in it… no, no, no, no, no.

[Brandon] Okay. No no. Let’s boil this down. We’ve got something really good here because what our plot is becoming, is it’s becoming kind of an Alice in Wonderland type of trope where we’ve got a main character who has unwittingly gained this powerful boon which is going to give them all kinds of problems. It’s kind of the reversal of fortune… it’s a monkey’s paw sort of thing. The friend thinks he’s giving this great boon, but it’s going to turn into something just terrible. That is actually a pretty solid plot for us to go with. The boom is… I am granting you three wishes would be too obvious, but I’m granting you a say in the fay court for 100 years or something like that.
[Dan] Or it could be, “You introduced me to Guillermo del Toro, I’m going to introduce you to Titania.” Or Oberon.
[Brandon] Yes. Something like that.
[Dan] That has… Morgan le Fay… some person that is cool in their world, but incredibly problematic in ours.
[Howard] Maybe the connection in there is that our newbie loves reading, and has read some fantasy book that has a character in it and mentions, “Oh, I’m really loving this book. I really love this character.” And friend… fay friend… “Oh, well, how would you like to meet her?” “What?” “Well, you introduced me to Guillermo del Toro.” “Are you serious?” “Of course I am serious. When have I ever lied to you?”
[Dan] I am physiologically incapable of lying.
[Howard] Come with me to the lumber stacks behind the shoes…
[Brandon] Yes. Behind the shoes. Then she takes a liking to him, and suddenly he’s her consort or something like this.
[Howard] Okay. We’re at chapter 2 now.

[Brandon] But wait, we need to step back from this. First of all, we need to do our book of the week.
[Howard] Yes, we do.
[Brandon] And Dan has our book of the week this week.
[Dan] Our book of the week is Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn. I met Carrie Vaughn, she’s a wonderful person, and this book… I did not think I would like, but I devoured in one afternoon. It was great. The basic premise is that Kitty is the… she has a nighttime radio call-in show that is kind of flagging in the ratings. She is also a werewolf. When she starts talking about the supernatural stuff, rather than getting fired, her radio show becomes incredibly popular as various supernatural people who are hiding from the normals start calling in and discussing all of their problems. It’s a fantastic book. It’s a great series. Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn.
[Howard] That’s a way better premise than our big-box stores.
[Dan] I know. Kind of makes us look stupid, doesn’t it?
[Brandon] That’s all right. Ours doesn’t actually have to be published.
[Howard] Well, and ours has just taken 10 minutes. Well, 30 man minutes of the brightest minds that this living room has to offer.
[Brandon] Yeah. Anyway. Go to audiblepodcast.com/excuse to start your 14 day free trial. Support the cast. Download a free copy of Kitty and the Midnight Hour, which is a fantastic urban fantasy book which is playing with some of the tropes, and taking part in them, but doing something really fun and new with them. Which is what we see a lot, working in urban fantasy.

[Brandon] We’re going to keep on this.
[Howard] So we need a story.
[Brandon] We really need a better character. I really feel we need a stronger character. Who is this person? What’s going to be different about them that’s going to just make them somebody other than our generic?
[Howard] Is he maybe college-age, but not attending college, and super interested in… what? Physics?
[Brandon] What’s he interested in that nobody else is interested in? [Garbled]
[Dan] Well, we could do a twist on that one, and say college age slacker, living in Park City, could be a ski bum/granola, who once he’s introduced to the fay world expects them to all be very green, save the Earth… and they’re not.
[Brandon] That’s fun.
[Dan] So he’s interested in something that the fairies are not and the elves.
[Brandon] Right. He wants to… ends up wanting to start a green revolution among the fairies to preserve their natural habitats, maybe? I don’t know. Another thought that occurred to me would be… you mentioned this hotel thing and that he’s able to get into some of these things? What if he’s part of an old family in Utah? That… he’s like a son of one of the Marriott’s or something like this?
[Dan] Yeah. A lot of old silver mining families in Utah.
[Brandon] And they have a tradition that everyone in their family for reasons they don’t explain has to go get a job at the Wal-Mart. Because they know about this, and they initiate their new members by… so he’s like, “Why do I have to work at the Wal-Mart? I mean, I’m kind of a… I’m a ski bum, but I’m also hooked up.”
[Howard] So it’s kind of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer, you are a newbie, but you also have royal blood or something that’s…
[Brandon] Well it could more be like this, the whole idea of we need to make sure that everybody has some familiarity with their… because we do business dealings with them. So, son, you have to go do your apprenticeship working at Wal-Mart because that’s going to be important to you someday when you inherit the company.
[Dan] This is the easiest way for us to tell you about the reality of the world.
[Howard] Well, we picked Wal-Mart. There is not a Wal-Mart in Park City at the outlet mall, is there?
[Dan] The outlet mall.
[Brandon] The outlet mall… whatever it is we decide to go with… so there’s kind of…
[Howard] Note in story bible — research this better so we know.
[Brandon] Yes. So we know exactly where it is the person is working.
[Howard] Are there shoes next to the lumber stack?

[Brandon] Yeah. One more. Let’s give us… what does our main character want out of life? They need a goal, other than the plot of the book, in order to start feeling fleshed out and more with it.
[Howard] Okay. The… you have to go to work at Wal-Mart is… there’s like an inheritance clause for the trust, you’re not a member of the trust until… we are cutting you off for two years, and you have to go get this job and stick it out for two years without taking handouts or breaking any of these other rules, all of which are designed to get him to kind of meet the fay or whatever. So his goal is to get his money. Maybe his second goal is… you talked about the whole green revolution thing. Maybe his second goal is, “Man, I hate what my family has done. This is just wrong. They’re perpetuating the urbanization of these mountains. I need to get all of the family’s money. I need to destroy the trust, and turn the fay…
[Dan] Now that’s cool. First of all, I like the combination of moneyed privilege dude who is also a kind of slacker, hackysack granola guy, but then having is ulterior goal be to destroy his family because of their horrible stripmining legacy or whatever… that gives him a really dark edge that I like.
[Brandon] Okay. We really don’t have much time left, but to go further with this, we have, like Howard said, chapter 2, but we really don’t have a major plot of this story yet.
[Dan] Yeah. This is the point, if I were writing this, where I would immediately try to figure out how it’s going to end, and then start building toward that.
[Brandon] [garbled] Majorly wrong.
[Howard] What I would do is, I would try and figure out what it is that the fay want. I mean we’ve talked in general terms about what they like, but do they have ulterior motives? Are there plots and politics among them? Is there a really interesting fay character there? Then I start looking at the dialectics introduced… the current generated between these characters, and that drives me towards an ending.
[Brandon] Yeah. Where I would probably go for this, just off the cuff… he meets with this person. She is assassinated the next day. A subgroup of the fay who say our interactions with the humans are corrupting us and tainting us pinpoint him as being behind it, or maybe the interactions. Suddenly, you’re part of this big whole fay war that may be starting because he shook hands with Titania or something like this. It needs to be a major problem for this book to start working into.
[Dan] Cool. That includes the next year’s Sundance Film Festival as your closing climactic scene.

[Brandon] Yes. It Happens at Sundance. That would be awesome. I do think… why don’t we just say this? Your writing prompt this week is to take what we’ve done here…
[Dan [Come up with an ending.
[Brandon] You need to come up with a big problem. Come up with an ending. What’s the big problem? What’s the story really about? We know who it’s happening to, you have your first two chapters, and you have where it’s occurring. Now give us a real story.
[Howard] Alternative writing prompt. Go through the list of films shown at Sundance. Pick six. Determine why these six are all related to a fay plot.
[Brandon] Wow. That could work, too.
[Dan] Alternative alternative writing prompt. Were banana slug! Because the classics will never get old.
[Brandon] Wear them? Like across your body? Like clothing? Out of [garbled]
[Dan] Yes.
[Howard] We’re done.
[Brandon] We’re done. This has been Writing Excuses. Thanks, folks. Goodnight.