Tag: Writing

The Use of I

I chatted with a friend the other day about using the word “I” as a tool to get a point across. She gave up using the first person perspective in her poetry because all the people she critiqued it with- including college professors- thought that meant it was a true story from her perspective.

I was a little amazed at that. In stories or poetry I tend to use the first-person as a different way to tell the story, rather than a truthful telling, but it really made me think about the run-of-the-mill authors who use it in that way and things I’ve heard about first-person.

If 90% of amateurs use first-person perspective, are they writing what they know and doing a somewhat truthful account of something? That really lowers my value of some of those amateur fiction accounts. I think when the first-person is done well it can really sell a story (even literally!) but it isn’t often handled with the necessary care. I’m betting that’s why most of the fiction we see published is in 3rd person limited viewpoint (about 90%).

I am a storyteller. Just because I write something, doesn’t mean it exists anywhere but my mind. If you believe it’s real, so much the better for my ability to weave a tale. Never confuse the written words with the author behind them – the best ones will always make you wonder.

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Tools of the (Science Fiction) Writing Trade

Okay, I suppose it could be used for fantasy, too. Tolkien was revered as world-builder, even to the point of making real languages for his fictional characters. He did it before we had such tools as the internet to find helpful resources, or computers to type things on, or so many advantages today’s writers (and the fan world) take for granted.

Other examples of created languages include Star Wars and Star Trek, of course. It’s different to hear them on TV and expect them, but people really do create them for stories and books for a more realistic feel.

The Language Construction Kit

It’s organized as an outline, so you can get as crazy or detailed as you like. You can use it to provide a background, a more realistic form of naming strange characters, or just another way to annoy your English teacher during class. (Last example is not recommended!)

Linguistics is not my particular strong point, so a couple of the questions are lost on me. (Is your language inflecting, agglutinating, or isolating?)  For the most part it is very straightforward and inviting. I find it difficult not to dive right in and try it out!

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Power of Description

When reading, sometimes I take in the amount of description and say, “wow, i’m there.” Other times I feel like “where’s the story?”

Description is a difficult part to get right. Some people want to know every single detail, but a lot of us want the story to move forward. The question is, how much is enough and how much is too much? I find myself struggling with that time and again.

Science fiction and fantasy need a different amount of description than some other genres (say, chick lit). When I build a world from scratch, you’re probably going to want to know whether my critter has blue fur or brown scales or even different facial features. That doesn’t mean I need to spend time talking about my fantasy (human) protagonist’s long, dark, wavy hair every few paragraphs.

A lot of times if a detail isn’t used to further my story, I leave it out. I know I need more description in some of the my work, but it isn’t hurt me to get the story out first, then figure out the details that need to be woven inside.

The trick is balance, I think. Then always checking the story after the changes to be sure it still has the plot somewhere and not hidden by all the descriptions. Writers simply can’t describe their world for ten pages and expect the audience to hang out waiting for action. Then again, if we throw them the details in chapter 22 about the critter they’ve been traveling with for the entire book, it’s too late.

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Book Review: Hooked

Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go by Les Edgerton

My review


rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book has a conversational style that keeps you turning pages. I also found it to be thought-provoking about current projects I’m writing. It’s helpful to think about the beginning, but the author also makes a good point that most books about writing don’t include how to look at a project as a whole. I’d recommend this to any would-be writer.

View all my reviews.

All right- it took me a while to finish it. Part of it was that I had to think while I was reading it. I ought to devote more time to reading.

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What Not to Write

In trying to find that perfect idea, there are often things that stick out – that have been done before and catch a writer’s attention. I wonder sometimes if a lot of us, when starting out, haven’t put enough time and thought into making up our own worlds, so we jump off from someone else’s.

In writing books, they sometimes mention ‘red-flags’ that editors have just gotten sick of seeing. It isn’t to say those topics aren’t or haven’t been done well, only that they’ve been done so often (and so often badly) that you have to have a stellar manuscript to make it past the first page, or even the first paragraph. A good thing to remember is an editor only has so much time; they’ve been inundated with lame attempts at the same topics- sprinkled liberally, annoyingly with adverbs, containing cliches by the dozen, and descriptively painting details of a world for the first 21 pages. No wonder they have red-flag lists.

Here’s an example from the online science fiction magazine, Strange Horizons. My friends discussed it (writers discussing writing? oh my!) and it amused us. I like the organization of this list. I will admit to working on something similar to one of the items, but I’m hoping, of course, that it works! Always something to consider, especially when those rejections start pouring in…

Excerpt:

10. Someone calls technical support; wacky hijinx ensue.

  1. Someone calls technical support for a magical item.
  2. Someone calls technical support for a piece of advanced technology.
  3. The title of the story is 1-800-SOMETHING-CUTE.

19. Some characters are in favor of immersive VR, while others are opposed to it because it’s not natural; they spend most of the story’s length rehashing common arguments on both sides. (Full disclosure: one of our editors once wrote a story like this. It hasn’t found a publisher yet, for some reason.)

28. Strange and mysterious things keep happening. And keep happening. And keep happening. For over half the story. Relentlessly. Without even a hint of explanation.

  1. The protagonist is surrounded by people who know the explanation but refuse to give it.
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Writers on writing…

I should be writing.

That’s the name of the site and the podcast by Mur Lafferty. I listened to this podcast in the car yesterday, and I learned a bit about podcasting through the interview with Scott Sigler. The website has more information – a great resource for budding writers.

Scott Sidler was adamant with his last contract about wanting to give away his novel for free. But, wait, we’re authors for a living, don’t we need to make some money? He talks about the younger generation wanting things online, and he gets our feet wet with podcasting, for free, a chapter a week. His point is that although some will wait for the entire novel at that rate (3 or 4 months), others will go out and buy the book that is already available in the bookstores. He’s increased his audience that way.

Made me think about that novel I have coming out. With a Young Adult audience, it’s very likely that could spread the story to places I can’t travel to or otherwise might not reach.

It’s something I think I will look into and discuss with my publisher.

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Book Wrap-Up

Amazing. At some point you think you’re done, and you find the little things that are left. Almost done. I might even have my copy in a month or so. It doesn’t feel real.

I got the cover and I love it! It’s done well and very colorful. Sometime this week I’ll post it on site with a new page for the book. I know everyone’s been waiting patiently, but it’s finally here!

I must keep reminding myself this is really fast for a book. It’s only been a year coming.

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Demanding Attention

Not always, but often stories ideas originate from places writers can’t describe. We’re just walking along one day when it hits us, that something about that flowerbed looks fishy, and wondering why, and all of a sudden we’ve locked ourselves in our offices and you won’t see us again until we’re done.

Sometimes they sneak up slowly, weaving in and out of our thoughts. Others hit us over the head and don’t go away until we put them down on paper. (or type on screen, as we’re evolving to the computer age.)

Still, I often hear or see(in written form) people asking, “How do you get your ideas?”

Of famous authors, I think it’s because people want to know how to write the best-sellers. It isnt’ the idea, so much, as the delivery.

When people ask it of me, I figure it’s because I’m just a bit off-the-wall with my approach to things. I also guess they’re trying to understand my way of thinking.

It makes me laugh to think back to high school and remember when one of my classmates told me, “You just think wrong!” That might be one of my greatest strengths in my writing career. The wrongness isn’t the issue; it was a difference in the way I approached ideas. I enjoy writing to prompts to twist them to fit my purposes and come up with something completely off where others head with the same idea. I also like things to be unexpected – like in a short story I wrote where the Spider isn’t the monster but the protector.

Ideas are things of beauty, but even the best idea won’t be a best-seller if you can’t deliver it. I like to write the ideas down, put them in a slush pile, and look over them from time to time. Sometimes something sparks later, but often I don’t do much with them because of the new ones demanding my time and attention.

The best answer I can give is ideas come from living. The delivery takes work and often isn’t finished at the end of the first draft. Like everything worth doing, the passion the writer brings for the project is what tempers the idea into the product on bookstore shelves – and it is extremely rare that the author is the only pair of eyes to revise it.(Except, perhaps, for the self-publishing industry.)

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Hooked – Writing Guide

Hooked: Write Fiction That Grabs Readers at Page One & Never Lets Them Go

I got a new book. It’s about openings specifically, but it also encompasses the elements to make a whole novel rather than ‘pieces’ we often associate with writing exercises.

It is true we break everything into pieces. We talk about descriptions, or word choice, or dialogue as if we could separate those from the whole. While it is one way to get better, we find ourselves clipping those things and not seeing the entire project.

This book is a page-turner. It’s easy to read, clear to understand, and thought provoking. The woman who did the introduction mentioned another book by Les Edgerton about voice. I might have to find that one, too. I haven’t finished it yet, but I’m very pleased so far.

I organized my library a bit today, though I still have a long way to go. I could review a writing book every weekend for quite a while without buying any new ones.

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Editing…

Writing, or editing. It’s always one or the other that ocupies my time.

I took a chapter from 3600 words to 2500 today. Most of it wasn’t correcting passive voice, either, though I did manage that. My NaNo Novel from last November has a lot of things that need tightening, and it needs added conflict.

The difficult part is sometimes knowing what to cut and what to keep. It’s YA, and since it occurs in school I think I should have some details of school (I like to do little school details here and there), but I don’t want to beat the kids over the head with it, either. There is a balance between how much school and home life is good, I’m sure, but I haven’t found it yet.

I figured out the parts I want to focus on for this story, and I’m trying to dump the rest. I had an unrelated spelling test, so I deleted it in all its gritty glory. (Oh, don’t worry, there’s a copy. I always keep a copy of the original version in case I get rid of too much or I need to change the focus later. No use trying to remember what it was. I can compare drafts if need be.)

My original estimate was 2500 words per chapter, so I find it amusing to hit that now. I think I should be able to do that with most of the chapters in this book. Some of them are under right now – one of the drawbacks of a writing spring – but at least the story is down so I can tweak it as needed. I find it much easier to focus on the essence once it’s written.

Writing sprints like NaNoWriMo give a good opportunity to get the story down. Just can’t forget that it’ll need a few good edits when you finish.

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