Further Sniping at Writing Advice

Here's a valid definition of a "story":

A story consists of characters that the reader can empathize with in a setting the reader can visualize who are then caught in a bear trap which they escape or address via dint of their own efforts and, in the process, learn something or change in a recognizable way.

Pursuant to that, the Monkey Method (an amalgamation of concepts distilled by Dave Freer):

You get 200 words to hook a reader. In that first 200 words you must establish a character (or characters) the reader can empathize with, build enough of a world for your reader to visualize the surroundings using all five senses (also called "grounding" the reader), and you must provide tension in situation enough that the browser will be inclined to turn the page to find out "what happens next" and thus become a reader.

Three language constructs that stick out to editors and identify beginning writers:

1) Beginning a sentence with a gerund phrase. (First word in a sentence ends with "ing")

2) "As" at the beginning of a sentence and used to denote incongrous simultaneity to actions.

3) Overuse of passive language constructs (i.e. weak "to be" verbs instead of rich action verbs).

Update and Thoughts for New Writers

Back from the Thanksgiving slide fatter and a bit sick. Ah, well, so be it. I stil managed to break 61k today on RD.

Knocked out the next page of T-Saurs yesterday to Kevin via Gmail.

I reworked an old short recently called Incursion. I'm happier with it now, but the original story and the revised story are actually two different narratives. I've done this before with ROGUE 8812, so it's not surprising. Original was about 3.8k. Revised version is 6.5. Go me! I completely blew by my 5k self-imposed target.

Just shoot me now. Then again, it didn't stretch to 10k, so I think I'll be grateful instead. Woot! Beer and pretzels time.

And let me say that writing first-person present-tense is tiring. Definitely not my favorite thing to mess with. I can do it, but I'm not pretentiously wit-waw-wawy enough to make it my life's work.

Okay, I said hints for new writers, didn't I?

Let's see:

1) No, if I don't want to use your new idea for a story, I really doubt a "Name" author will either. It's your idea, either you write it or it dies. If you work at it, it might even be a unique spin on an old idea.

2) Yes, it's been done before. Everything at some level has been done before. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it again, because this time IT'S YOURS. (Not mine. See item 1)

3) When all the wonderful writing advice is said and done and you're scared of putting words on a page, you've got to shut off your internal editor and write in your spoken voice. You're putting YOU on the page as a storyteller. Your "sound" and your impressions are what make the words unique. Editing can happen later. Write first.

4) One comment is a point. Two is a trend. Three is concensus. That having been said, if you can get three people to read your work and comment, you've already won at some level. Have a party.

5) To break in, you have to stand out. You stand out by having a clean, technically smooth manuscript that still has a "voice". In fact, "voice" alone can sell stories, so don't freak when you find boo-boos after you dropped the MS in the mailbox or e-mail outbox. If the piece has a soul, it'll find a market.

6) Guess what? Unfinished manuscripts don't sell, whether for shorts or novels. Some people have the Blarney blessing enough to sell novels on proposal. Unless you've been able to sell bridges on speculation, though, I can't recommend it. If you're gonna look for work in the field, prove your ability to produce.

7) Yes, once you have a name you can break SOME rules. No, you don't have one yet so quit asking and go send off some stories until you do.

8) Yeah, the market sucks. Unfortunately, it's the market you've got. So you either play or you spectate. Them's the rules, make your choice.

I'll type more later if the mood strikes and I'm not lynched.

Halfway

Cleared 60k on Rogue Destiny this afternoon. This is the theoretical "half-way" point in a 120k target length. How long the work will actually be depends a lot on what it takes to wrap things up and then subsequent editing. However, it's a kind of standard milestone for novel work.

It's also the most I've written on any one project. So, happy dance! I'm on the road to actually having a completed novel.

Writing update, 14NOV07

Okay, so what have I been up to lately?

Rogue Destiny's word count is now up to 58k. The elusive "theoretical" half-way point beckons.

I've updated my web site. Check it out at http://www.sff.net/people/dagarrison

I rewrote an old first-person present tense experiment called Incursion and submitted it to an on-line webzine.

Kyle's currently having editorial growing pains in his attempts to rewrite Revundane. I'm wrapping his head around things like cardboard characters, the effects of massive trauma and bloodloss, and building believable societal systems.

Outlining and Other Sins

There's an apocryphal tale out there in the orbit of Baen Books that tells of how a now-famous writer learned to complete his novel ideas from an older, wiser hand. I won't name names because I heard the story third hand, but the lesson is clear for those of us working our way up from the slush piles. The gist of the fable goes like this:

Rising Writer (hereafter referred to as RW): "I have a hard time finishing novels that I start. I keep jumping from idea to idea."

Old Hand (to be known henceforth at OH): "How many starts do you have on your hard drive."

RW: "Around fifty."

OH: "How many complete outlines do you have?"

RW: "Outlines? Oh, I don't use those. I write organically. The story flows from the character interactions."

OH, heavy sigh: "If you want to finish anything you start, do the damned outline."

Since the RW was co-authoring with the OH at the time, he had little choice in the matter and ended up doing his outlines. The rest, shall we say, is more or less history since he actually did start finishing stories and became an OH in his own right.

There's a lot of truth in this. Every writer writes differently, of course, but the longer and more complex the story, the more important it is that you have a suitable roadmap in front of you.

My personal process involves "sketching" out scenes and putting together ideas and characters first and then I go back and write a kind of overview outline that tells me where I'm going and how I intend to get there. To that I add character sheets, societal notes, and geography information in an electronic binder that allows me to keep my descriptions straight as I go along.

If you have an outline, you reduce the likelihood of getting stuck or losing your way. Not that things can't change as characters develop, but if you don't know where you're going, how in the hell are you going to get there? Character interaction alone won't do it because people by their very nature are chaos incarnate.

So, even for a character-driven kind of writer like myself, having some kind of outline counts as a "Really Good Idea".