Amazing Creators: Jem Zero!

I am pleased to say that this is the very first edition of my Amazing Creators segment that I will have up roughly once or twice a month. Short fictions and updates will be sprinkled in between. For the first interview I bring you the lovely and talented, Jem Zero. Ze is both a writer and artist much like myself. I found it really cool that we have even more than that in common being that we both fight disability to survive and forge forward in life. Jem has an active twitter and website (note the highlights as links). I had a few questions for zir and lets get to them.



1. Tell us about how you became a writer and artist. Age and ideals. Influences. That sort of stuff. I have been writing since I was the tiniest kid; I first learned to use a keyboard around 6. It was in my blood. I was a better writer than I was an artist for a long, long time. My art still isn’t really that good (in my opinion) though I do make a decent living from it. When I was in middle school I was angry at not being better at drawing, so I started lying about having been better in the past, which made no sense. I was really easily embarrassed as a kid, is all I can say.

2. Tell (what you can) about your current success about to be published? What do people get to know. The story is a romance that takes place in Canada and is about religion, growing up, and polyamory. This was actually my first novel after years of failures, aborted attempts, and focusing on a lot of fanfiction because I was too scared of my own ideas. It’s a double success since the first novel I ever finished is getting published.

(The story sounds really interesting. Be sure to watch Jem's twitter feed for updates on release)

3. Since you're an artist, will you be doing the cover? No, the press has their own artists. My style isn’t really what I’d want for the cover, anyway.

4. Galaxy Zento is big on disability and equal rights support. As I understand, you are an activist as well. What can you tell us about that? I’d like to get more involved in disability activism. At the moment, my main involvement is mostly on a local trans health board. I also write about accessibility and LGBTQ+ rights in my articles. I plan on reaching out to the Governor of my state about the ableism in some new healthcare legislation, so we’ll see how that goes. Other than that, I’ve done petitions, crowdfunding, and emails/phone calls to legislators where necessary.

5. Where do you hope to be in 5 years? I really hope to be in a position where my disability isn’t constantly putting roadblocks in front of me. I don’t wish to be “not disabled,” just that I’ll have found workarounds to a lot of the health problems that keep me down. I want to be published, and I want to be able to get advances to work on future books (that’s the dream, right?) and I want my art career to be solid enough that I can financially support myself and my fiancée (who I hope to be married to by then)! I’m getting a certificate in accounting to supplement my creative endeavors, so I’d like to be someplace with that, too.

6. And tell us about you and your family in general. I live with my mum, since I’m currently too sick to run my own life. Also present are my sibling and my fiancée. I try not to give myself shit about living with mum because I know plenty of cultures have much closer family units and children will stay with their parents their whole lives, with caregiver roles shifting as they age. I’d like that. My mum has always been very supportive of me. My sibling is also autistic and queer, so we have a lot in common, even though we argue a ton. They get along really well with my fiancée, which I like to see. I try to encourage them both to create more. I want to see them confident in their own abilities. My mum is a Celtic Monk and hand makes prayer necklaces, and is very crafty in general. I’m not crafty, so I always admire her creativity.

A bit more specific stuff about me: I’m a lesbian and nonbinary, and I use ze/zir pronouns. I have a physical disability and also cognitive/neurological disabilities. I have a lot of pets! I love creepy crawlies and don’t get why people find snakes, spiders, and rats to be scary or gross. My work is very queer-positive, with a lot of focus on body acceptance, sexual empowerment, and deconstructing norms. I make my living doing portraiture, which I find very soothing, but I’d like to get deeper into illustration and get better at other styles. My biggest barrier is finding the right photoshop brushes.

(Jem was kind enough to explain to this old man how ze and zir work. They are essentially used like 'she' and 'her' while be being considered neutral in their application. I found it very interesting as I never knew this. Galaxy Zento is inclusive and respecting of others world and personal views.)

7. What do you think is important for people to realize about a disabled creative like you or anyone? My biggest thing is deadlines and instructions. Many times, I don’t get clear instructions because the editors don’t think about it, or assume someone has more experience or familiarity than they actually do, or because they think it could be inferred. I try never to assume things, because if I assume wrong it’s the end of the world (in my head). Sometimes I need deadline flexibility, or advice, or a really specific explanation of what I need to do, what I could do, and what I should not do. Lack of communication is my biggest problem with editors.

Many don’t seem to understand neurodivergent people’s limitations or needs. A problem I ran into a while back was having a deadline that was too flexible. The client said “by January” and then insisted she meant “before January.” We had a big disagreement about it and she ended up dropping me, which was actually a blessing in disguise because she was seriously underpaying. But it made me realize that having a deadline to aim for is better than having indefinite openness, even if I need some wiggle room.

Excellent interview and I thank Jem for being a part of it. I would like to add it is important to remember that people are people before anything else. That includes skin color, sexuality, size, shape, religion or political view. If we could all remember that people are people first we could transcend so many barriers and be a much happier people. I think Jem is a shining example of this and a fantastic start to Amazing Creators! Thank you so much Jem! We'll see you online!

OH hey, as an added and super note, you should check out Jem's Patreon!

Seeking Amazing Creators

I want to do something for my fellow creators out there. By creators, I mean writers, authors, artists, illustrators, and more. Who knows who or what I will find, but that's the idea. Of course there are some parameters.

I'm looking for the types of creators who fit the vision of Galaxy Zento. So I won't be seeking out things like romance, erotica, historical fiction, nonfiction, memoirs, or westerns. Does anyone even write westerns anymore?

I'll be looking for fantasy and adventure in several venues. It is possible some romantic work may fit there as well as some mystery. I'll also take horror.

In art I'll be seeking the most creative and unique styles I can find. Yes, comic book art will be high on my list, but not my only target.

You do not have to be published to gain my interest in writing about you. You do need to have something I can show off about you. That can be a website and some photos of your smiling face. The more you have, the more I can show about you. Follow that with details about what you do, maybe some snippets of your current work in progress and whammo. Article! All I ask for me to write about you is that you share what I write about you in this blog with all your social media. It can't get easier than that.

I write all about you and you share. Simple and effective.

Articles of this kind will be titled "Amazing Creators" followed by your name (or whoever's name).

And that's it. Want to be considered? Just send me a message on any of my social media or comment on this blog. Give me links to your website, FB page, and twitter if you have any of it. Instagram works too.

Let's do some good for creators!

When you have to do it yourself

I want to talk today about the realities of tackling huge projects by yourself. I'm going to compare to some professional advice in my talking points. The general consensus is that you should never do it all yourself. You should employ other professionals who have the skills where you don't (if you don't) to make your project (board game, novel, comic) the best shining example it can be. This is solid advice because the environment you are trying to enter is a no holds barred battlefield of very high expectations.

Now, truth be told, I'm not alone. I never have been. But in getting started, I was the only one to do all the writing, planning, and art. I'm a rare example that I do have artistic skill to tap into on top of my writing abilities. Not many people can be a one man band. There are factors to take into consideration here as well. Factors that most people don't think about.What I do also requires a solid work ethic and never give up attitude.

Why go solo in the first place? It's a fair question. Who in their right mind would want to do all this work on their own? That includes facing the critics of that work. Remember, this is the internet and critics aren't known for playing nice. You will feel like you've been ganged up on in the parking lot. We'll get to dealing with that later. For now, why go solo? The answer is deceptively simple:

Life. The issues of your life may prod you forward or make you decide it's just not worth it. What if you have a dream you want to make reality, but your life has become a ticking clock? Maybe you have terminal cancer? Maybe you have the onset of Alzheimer's? Or maybe, yes maybe, you have multiple sclerosis. My critics don't think MS is very serious. But then, they don't have to struggle with esophageal spasms that make it hard to talk, swallow, or breath. They can walk and will likely still be able to walk tomorrow. MS is a disease that destroys your nervous system. It's definitely a ticking clock. Over 400,000 people have MS in the US alone and it is robbing people of their life skills and indeed their very lives. See life expectancy results HERE.

So what do you do? In board games the experts say not to release your game to the public until it has the very top of the line graphic art and the structure is as perfect as you can make it. It even comes down to a money thing. If you didn't spend thousands on your artwork, you shouldn't release your game. But your own artwork is not stick figures. In fact you've been recognized for your work in the past and you can make a pretty passable product. Maybe not the Picasso of graphic art, but there's another plan for that. What do you do? Just give up and never bother because you can't cough up the funds they expect? Your life is not like theirs. You are on a ticking clock that may well mean you can't get all of your story out.

Turned up noses are frustrating, but you can't let that stop you.

My advice? Build it anyway. That's the path that will require the most courage and guts for sure. Not everyone can do it the way the critics expect or the way that the professionals suggest. Their's is not the only way. That's what I did. I did the very best I was capable of and made the game available. Why? Because at least I did it. It's my accomplishment, not theirs. If MS takes me out next year, I made an accomplishment. I beat MS to the punch. It wasn't about making a million dollars on my games. It was about putting out something fun, and doing it against the clock I have to live with. I would challenge any of my critics to live with what I live with and still manage to publish four books (soon to be five) and two games.

Granted, I've tried a lot of things that just didn't work. But doesn't everyone? The point you have to remember is that it's your accomplishment if your life has the same kind of issues in play. You can try to wait until you can pay your way in, or forge your own path while you still can. Under the circumstances, which way sounds better to you?

Another factor to how I have forged ahead, is that I have a product I can show in much fuller form to those who I may enlist to make it even better in the future. Here's an actual quote I received:

"If your project is so great, you should have no problems getting artists to jump all over it."

Spoken like someone who has never tried it. Don't listen to comments like this.

Everyone has to start somewhere and everyone has to take the factors of their actual lives into consideration. That's whether you dump your life savings into it or just your life. If everyone restricted themselves to only what is the most perfect of perfection to make the critics happy (can't be done), no one would succeed at anything. History proves that. The best of the best, forged their own paths even when told they would fail by onlookers and the "gurus who knew all". There is no reason that you can't do the same if you refuse to give up. That's when you just have to take it on yourself.

Character Development: My Formula

How do you create all these characters? This is a question I've been asked many times. I have dozens to an easy couple hundred characters in my head. I joke that they haunt me and it's pretty much true. As I think about it, how to develop characters can be the difference to a seemingly living thing and a flat piece of paper. Here is how to create that believable character with depth and bring it to life.

Think of everything that makes up a person; right down to the smallest detail. That is what makes up a character.

Appearance: A character's appearance sets the stage for how other characters will react on sight of him or her. Is he a dusty dirty vagrant with torn clothes and matted hair? Or is he meticulous and refined in an expensive three piece suit? Maybe she's more casual in a comfy t-shirt and jeans with holes in the knees? Don't forget to accessorize with jewelry, handbag, or maybe an expensive pair of boots. For an exercise in how people look, just go to any public place and look around. I'm not suggesting you engage in staring contests, but think about what stands out to you as you see different people. For people that really stand out, go to People of Walmart and look through the photos. Imagine how you would describe their appearance in writing.

Behavior: How does your character act and react to their surroundings and other characters? What are his or her standard emotions. Happy go lucky? Constantly irritated? Paranoid? Different people have different ranges of behaviors. It's important that those behaviors interact with setting, events and other characters. Reactions are an important part of those behaviors. How does your character react to a lost puppy or getting a parking ticket? How do they treat people around them depending on how much they care? What if they just don't care? Behavior is the glue that holds your character together and connects all of what they are. For exercises in human behavior just go to Youtube and start watching videos of the things that people do. Ask yourself how you would write about those behaviors and attach them to your character.

Now we get more in depth:

Quirks: These are the aspects of your characters behavior that stand out and add spice to their "makeup". Take my character, Nyhtwulf, for example. His greatest quirk is a love for foil wrapped cream cheese. He eats cubes of the stuff complete in the wrapper. He doesn't understand why humans take the wrappers off. To him, that's part of what makes the treat so delicious. Special  habits that help define your character and give it depth, make them more believable as a living and breathing thing. I once knew a lady who was a heavy smoker. Whenever she exhaled the smoke, she did so through her nose with her tongue sticking out. She had no idea that she stuck out her tongue every time, she just did it. Everyone has nuances to them that make them who they are. Quirks, habits, or what ever you want to call them can be seen in everyday life easily. You don't need a lot of them in one character either. Treat them like salt in a recipe.

Beliefs: What does your character believe (or not) in? Are they ultra religious? Maybe he's an atheist? Does she believe in unicorns? Beliefs are not limited to the religious alone, rather a full scale way of life. Belief extends to political standing and ideals. At their very heart, belief defines a character's alignment of good or evil. Consider the beliefs of a narcissistic sociopath. Such a person believes that all other people are lesser beings, put on Earth for their personal use or amusement. The Bushido Code is a way of  life for ancient samurai.  Political parties, psychological studies, and religions are fine ways to look at belief.  To see belief in action, look to social media like Facebook. What's going on on your friends pages that play to belief?

History: A character without personal history is either flat or a background character. History speaks to the character's life experiences. You can go back in their life as much as you wish to give him or her history. Events of childhood shape a character for who they are today. Past mistakes lend to experience and shape how future choices are made. Depending on the story, characters don't need a great deal of history. Some stories have a greater history on their own that guide and build the characters. History that overshadows the personal. That's okay, so long as characters have believable reactions to those events. For an example of how personal history looks, think back on your own. What events of your life, shaped who you are today?

Fears: Not all characters have major fears, but some will and it really helps define and bring them to life. My character Blacktide has the power to disintegrate any solid matter by touch or even at range. When his powers manifested in his youth, they killed his parents. Blacktide has to be ever vigilant that he not touch people without precise control of his powers. Even with help of a psychic connection with Nyhtwulf, the fear of hurting innocent people is alive in his mind always. Don't forget that a phobia is great for character development too. Major fears should be sparing, but natural fears fit everywhere. Fears go hand in hand with a characters greatest concerns about the world they live in. Take today's concerns for great examples. Do you know anyone who is worried about war in the Middle East or the job market? How would you write about these things to flesh out your character?

Trials and Tribulations: Characters need problems and life events to react to and interact with. Not just the main antagonist of your story, but other things too. Trouble paying the rent on time? Looking for a job in a hard market? Health problems? Or maybe they just have spontaneous runs of bad luck? Problems create empathy with the reader. I know when I read about someone stubbing their little toe on a door jamb, I instantly empathize. Who doesn't know what that feels like? But don't forget that they need triumphs too. They need those upswings that we all hope for in life. We all need that lucky quarter on the sidewalk from time to time. They may be small and not in line with the major focus of your story, but they make your character come to life.

Relationships: Very important for how characters interact with each other. Are they best friends or casual acquaintances? Love, hate, friendship, disdain, all important factors and they change from character to character. Who they like and dislike and how the interact build on all the characters involved. There are many examples already written here and you do your own study in public or on social media. You can even see how that changes based on the circumstances of the conversation. We all know people on social media tend to be more bold than in person.

My list is certainly not the only way to look at character creation, but it's filled with the general basics. It's often the little things that make characters believable and alive in the mind of the reader.

Writing: How to choose an idea and go forward

It's the creative's curse. You have so many ideas in your head for a story that you just can't sort them by thinking. So what do you do? I had this awesome question recently and realized I needed to put it here to help others. Here's my suggestion.

When you have so many ideas crashing around in your head that you can't sort them just with thought along, you need some writer's tools to help you out.

Get a notebook and label it "For Writing Ideas Only". Feel free to decorate it, color on the cover, whatever. But inside, is only for your writing ideas. Keep it where you can always find it.

Make a list. Jot notes on each idea as you remember them. You don't have to make it long winded half story length stuff, just notes. That way, when you do pick a project and complete it, you can come back to your notes and pick another one.

But how do you choose? That's on you. There is really no best way to choose what your first project is going to be. All of them are likely begging you in your head to be completed. You will have to make your choice and then focus. Yes, focus. One of the hardest things a creative can try to do. But do it you must in order to make any headway on that first project or any after it.

One thing I suggest, after you've brainstormed all those ideas and written them down; is to put them away and leave them be for a few days. Come back and look them over later after writing them down. You may find new perspective on your ideas that needed time to gestate. You may find the act of writing something down as a resolve to the mind storm. You've given your ideas a kind of tangibility that allows them to be dealt with easier.

Will this make the ideas stop whirling through your head? Um, no. I'm afraid there is no cure for that. You can only hope to organize them a little and find a path to move ahead.

So what are you waiting for? Grab your notebook and get to jotting down those ideas!