EXERCISE: Revisit advice? Shades of deja vu?

[mbarker]

 Original Posting April 30, 2018

Over here

https://madgeniusclub.com/2018/04/29/revisiting-advice/

There’s a column about going back and looking again at that advice you had seen before. As she points out, on the Internet, you are likely to be flooded with advice. But we all have some bits and pieces that really helped, or gave us direction. Maybe it was a friend saying they start with the ending, and then work towards that. Or someone saying they start with characters, and throw them into a plot. Or the mystery writer who admits that while they are working on the story, they try to make everyone suspects, and only pick the real one at the end? Anyway, some bits and pieces of advice about writing probably really worked for you...

So, today’s exercise! Make a list, or at least pick out one bit of advice that you really like, that has been your byword, your habit. If you can, find out or remember where it came from (let’s honor our sources, okay?). And write it up! Tell us what that advice is, what it means to you, how it has helped you... and then share that with the list. Come on, you know... that motivational poster about how hard it is to soar with eagles? That’s the one that keeps you writing? Okay!

Go, write it up, and post it here. Short, long, whatever, tell us the advice that has meant something special to you.

TECH: To backstory or not...

[mbarker]

 Original Posting May 16, 2018

Over here,

https://writingexcuses.com/2018/05/13/13-19-backstories/

The Writing Excuses crew talks about character backstory. You know, what happened to the character before the story? Now, some folks tell you to fill out this three page list of biographical questions, including the character’s childhood invisible friend and other vital info, before you dare to write a word about that character! And that’s for the bit parts! But, the Writing Excuses folks mostly seem to advise starting out with a much simpler broad picture of your character, and then discovering things as you need while writing. Or maybe not? Maurice, at least, seems to prefer more detailed backstory on his characters (3000 words for a 6000 words story?). And even Mary admits that you should have an idea about what their heritage is, what culture they live in now, what they aspire to, and what they think their culture is.

They also talk a bit about where and how to slip backstory in. In the backwash of action scenes, around the edges of an interaction, or maybe in dialogue? And then there’s flashbacks, good and bad?

I was kind of amused that no one mentioned the advice I’ve gotten about backstory which is pretty simple. Remember that it is a story first! In other words, a flashback, background information, whatever you are adding, remember to make it a story! Characters, plot, setting, just like the mainline story.

Anyway, I thought I’d ask, how do you handle backstory? Do you do a whole in-depth background for your characters, or just kind of wing it? This is almost part of the ongoing argument about outliner versus discovery writers, but focusing on how you develop your characters, and especially the parts of their lives that are outside the story.

I’ll admit, I tend to do a very sketchy background, if anything, and make up what I need as I write. But...

Which way do you lean? What tools do you use?

TECH: Staging Fiction (500 words) (Moldie Oldie!)

[mbarker]

 Original Posting May 18, 2018

Writer's Digest,  May 1990, had an article by Stanley Schmidt with the title, "Staging" Your Fiction. The subtitle reads, "A fiction writer and editor explains a technique for writing sharply written stories -- imagine them as works on a stage, and then write them down." Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it?

Stanley starts by pointing out that writers often are verbally oriented. However, many of their readers are less so. Frankly, readers mostly are not buying a novel or short story to admire clever phrases, they want to "experience vicariously something they cannot experience directly." What you're trying to do is make them forget that they are reading, and give them the illusion of being there. That's what "Show, don't tell" really means.

Stanley says that "I found that the most important key to making a reader see a scene vividly is that the author must see it clearly to be able to convey the illusion to someone else." Then he says that the best advice he can give is "Try rewriting it as a play."

Telling instead of showing really consists of several different kinds of faults. Describing character rather than showing it through dialogue and action, directly disclosing thoughts of non-viewpoint characters, summarizing dialogue as indirect discourse instead of quoting it directly, and speaking in generalities instead of specifics. All of these distance readers from the scene, and reduce the illusion that you are there.

However, in a play, you can't do these things. Nobody on stage tells you what kind of people the characters are. You watch them and see what they do and listen to what they say. So if your scene has you telling too much instead of showing it, recast the scene as a play, and you'll find you have to solve the problems. Then translate that back into a story.

Stanley gives an example of a hypothetical badly-written story. I'm not going to transcribe that here, but he translates a scene into a play. and then back into a story. It's a pretty cool exercise or discipline. Go ahead, take a scene that you have written,  and rewrite it as a scene in a play.  A few parenthetical descriptions of the setting and characters, an occasional parenthetical direction for action, but mostly, dialogue, dialogue, dialogue! Then take that and convert it back into a story. See what happens.

For extra points, Stanley suggests something that an actor and playwright friend suggested.  Don't just write it as a play,  write it as a play "without parenthetical instructions to the actors on how to say their lines." Wow!

There is a sidebar on this article. Basically, Stanley points out some of the differences between a play and a story. For example, readers can't see the stage, so you have to create it in their minds. Be aware that we have been talking about seeing, but you really want perceiving and experiencing. Good writers often consciously try to include three or more senses. You need to give the reader a picture, suitable as a setting for the action, and just enough for verisimilitude.

Okay, go for it.  Scenes into plays into stories! Show us what's happening on the stage in your mind. Make us one of the players!

Write!

TECH: The Science Fiction Attitude (moldy oldie) (750 words)

[mbarker]

 Original Posting May 30, 2018

Writer's Digest, pages 72, 70, 71 (yeah, they got fancy with the order) has an article by Ray Faraday Nelson with the title The Science Fiction Attitude: The Only Thing You Need to Write Futuristic Fiction. Oh, that sounds interesting.

Ray starts out with a little math problem! Let me quote it to you. It's not a hard one.

How many years have you been alive? Write down the number. Label it Figure A. (hint: small number, less than 100)
Before that, how many years were you not alive? Write down that number. Label it Figure B. (hint: big number, pushing eternity)

Then he suggests that you look at the numbers and think about them. Play with them a little, subtracting one from the other, get a feeling for how they compare. "You're looking at what I call the Cosmic Ratio." That comparison, that feeling for how much one individual human life is in perspective is the Long View. And then Ray tells us, "I think about the Cosmic Ratio often, particularly when I am writing science fiction, because that Cosmic Ratio is what science fiction is all about, what science fiction's basic message is."

Wow.

Then he points out that literary critics often criticize science fiction for the lack of characterization, the lack of memorable three-dimensional characters. Ray says that's not important. Think about the Cosmic Ratio.

Science Fiction can be funny, adventurous, romantic, sentimental, can include literally anything that has ever been or might be, and even things that never were and never could be, but it's always in the shadow of the Cosmic Ratio. That understanding is what Ray calls The Science Fiction Attitude.

Next, Ray says that to write Science Fiction, you don't need to know anything at all about science. Ray Bradbury doesn't know science, but NASA invites him to watch, and the media interviews him. Isaac Asimov knows a lot about science, but when he's writing science fiction, he goes ahead and has FTL spaceships and telepathic robots…

Ray even mentions that Marion Zimmer Bradley writes Science Fiction, but is actively opposed to science. She prefers magic. She actually is opposed to space travel.

Many science fiction authors don't even know much about mainstream fiction.

So, you don't need science, you don't need fiction, what do you need? You need the attitude. Look at The Cosmic Ratio and let it sink deep into your brain. "Then, even when you write autobiography, sticking strictly to the facts, the result will have the flavor, the color, the perspective of science fiction."

WOW!

So, if characterization is not so important in Science Fiction, what is? The background! That's right, world building, setting, all that good stuff. Except… Don't sweat the small stuff, the actual physical characteristics. Mostly?

"Actual practicing science fiction writers build planets by analogy." Ignore the boring facts, and give us something exciting!

Technology, gadgets, the 3Rs of Science Fiction: Rockets, Robots, and Rayguns? Again, use analogy. Star Wars spaceships are really World War II mustangs, spitfires, and so forth.

"Analogy makes things easier for the writer. More important, analogy makes things easier for the viewer or the reader. When I write for you, I have to draw my images out of the store of things you already know about or you won't understand a word I say.… I have to tell you about it in terms you already know. That is, I have to use analogy.

Now, Ray talks about trying to explain all the bits and pieces. Basically, he recommends against it. The practice now is not so much explanation, just go ahead and say the sun comes up a different color every day, or whatever you need to, and go on from there.

"My practice is to decide, at the beginning of each story, just how far I'm going to allow myself to stray from the path of current science." Set the level of unreality that you want to use.

"So, if you want to write science fiction, don't worry about science, don't worry about fiction as defined by literature professors; just think about where you fit into eternity, where you fit in relation to the distance between galaxies, how you shape up in the Cosmic Equation. Then look around you. And write."

Huh. Almost as bad as "Writing is easy. You just open a vein and bleed." Still, it does provide a kind of perspective on just what makes science fiction different.

So. How long have you been alive? How long weren't you alive? What's that ratio? How do you fit between the galaxies? Now... WRITE!

TECH: Standing On Your Head While Writing... (268 words)

[mbarker]

 Original Posting June 28, 2018

Some years ago, on TV, I saw a gentleman teaching drawing. He said that most people tell him they cannot draw, however, he had a simple technique which he said usually resulted in surprisingly good drawings. Then he demonstrated the technique with some students. He took a picture of someone's head, a typical portrait, and asked the students to draw it.

However, instead of showing them the portrait in the normal position, he turned it upside down. So the picture was someone standing on their head.

Oddly enough, this simple change resulted in surprisingly good drawings! The students were surprised at how easily they could draw this portrait standing on its head.

The teacher explained that he thought most people can't really see the picture because they know what they are looking at. They have an image, a model, an idea of what they're looking at, and they can't really see what is in front of them. However, turning it upside down breaks that barrier and forces them to really look at what is there.

So what does that have to do with writing? Well, all too often, I think our characters, our plots, our settings… We can't see them because the tropes, the mental models, our expectations of what we are looking at get in the way.

So, stand on your head. Then write. Break through those tired old cliches and tropes and expectations, look at what is in front of you with new eyes, and... write about it!

You might be surprised at what you will see, once you stand on your head to look!

Write?

TECH: How to Craft Compelling Stories (moldy oldie) (572 words)

[mbarker]

 Original Posting July 1, 2018

Writer's Digest, June 1990, on pages 32-34, has an article by David Madden talking about how to craft compelling stories. The subtitle says, "The best stories pull readers into a fictional world and keep them there. Follow these tips to create such stories – fiction that is instantly accessible, tangible, and real."

David starts by pointing out that readers want an illusion of reality in fiction. They want reality, but with extremes of action and emotion that everyday life usually doesn't offer. So you need to write stories with an urgency, that grab the reader and make them pay attention to your fictional world, that make them forget that they are reading words on a page.

David suggests that we instill such immediacy in fiction primarily in three areas, in structure, description, and writing style. Then he provides tips for each area.

In structure, we need to get off to a running start. Concentrate on captivating the reader, not the easiest way into the story. Check your openings for these elements. Clear and consistent point of view, so that readers know who they are seeing the story through. Conflict! Characters in conflict means action, and readers love it. Exposition and background. Unfortunately, those long detailed descriptions of characters and loving settings are not really all that interesting. "A single sentence, if well imagined and worded, can do that far more immediately." In real life, we pick up details, single observations, and slowly build the picture. Do the same thing in your stories. You might try burying some of it in dialogue, but be careful of the talking head dialogue.

Next, compelling description. Use action, moving objects, and make it come alive. Here are some other tricks you might use. First, charged images. These usually get built up throughout your story, and often tie everything together. Second, rhythmic, evocative descriptive sentences are much better than mechanical simple sentences. Third, use all the reader's senses. Visual is fine, but don't forget smells, sounds, feels, tastes… Fourth, filter the description through the point of view. Use the point of view, that character, to look at the scene. And, fifth and final, be brief.

For writing style, remember that you are guiding the reader. The way you arrange your words, phrases, and sentences builds a sense of immediacy. Here's some guidelines and techniques. State things in chronological order. Use active phrasing. Keep your transitions crisp. Yes, you want to mark the time and place, and move readers from one to the next. Do it quickly. Impinge phrases, run phrases and words into each other, forget the connectives. Juxtapose elements. Two words, images, or events separately may not have much impact, but side-by-side, see if you can evoke something else! Reversal, and surprise, are useful for keeping attention. Repetition is a good way to emphasize something. But, avoid distractions and deadeners. Yes, fancy words can be fun for the writer, but they're just a distraction for the reader.

Keep your fiction immediate. One way to avoid getting lost in your own wording. "You can, I am convinced, overcome much of this occupational hazard by imagining as you begin to write an audience of strangers. Try to feel their living, breathing presence, and respond to their craving for an immediately intense experience."

So. Make the opening drag you in, and then keep you there. Make the description come alive! And finally, tighten up the writing until it disappears.