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Progress report

Progress report

We jumped a big chunk of text with a “fill in here” note.

It feels good, and it’s allowing us to get back into the story.

It’s funny how you can become so focussed on getting a particular scene done that it stops you cold.

It will be interesting, when we are done, to see if we even needed that scene at all. I suspect not.

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On writing

I, We and the grammatical intracies of me writing about us

If you are a grammar guru you probably take one look at this blog and go, “Argh,” and never come by again.

Sherylyn and I were discussing grammar the other day over a bottle of wine. (I know, I know. We both need lives.) Specifically, we were discussing parallel construction. One example Sherylyn used was:

“I went to the beach; we had a good time.”

This should be either:

  • We went to the beach; we had a good time”, or
  • “I went to the beach; I had a good time.

I commented that this blog is riddled with that particular grammatical problem, because I often talk about me, the person, and us, the writing team—all in the same post. Often I start off talking about me, and use ‘I’ as the pronoun, but then I get on to writing and switch to ‘we’.

Sometimes, when I’m really conscious of it, I’ll take out the ‘me’ and make it ‘us’, but that’s not really fair to Sherylyn. These are my opinions I am talking about, not necessarily hers. Other times I change the ‘we’ to ‘me’. Again, that’s not fair to Sherylyn, because ‘we’ write, not just ‘me’. So in the end I generally leave it as ‘us’ and ‘me’.

I am sure, because of this, the writing in this blog sometimes comes across as quite poorly written.

So be it.

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On writing

Literary fiction is just another genre

At a function the other night started talking with someone about books and reading.

“I read a lot,” he said.

I am always interested in readers, and what they read. “Oh, what type of books do you read?” I asked.

“I only read literary fiction,” he said. “I don’t read genre at all.”

It was early in the night, so I just smiled and said something polite and we moved on to films. (He watched arthouse films. Are you surprised?)

It depends on my mood as to what I reply when someone tells me they ‘don’t read genre, they only read literary fiction’. That night I wasn’t up for an argument but pick me at a time when I’m in the mood I will say to you, “If you read literary fiction then you do read genre, because literary fiction is just another genre, really.”

Genre, by its definition, is commercial fiction. Many of these people who never deign to read genre fiction are actually saying they don’t read commercial fiction. Yet many of the writers they place on literary pedestals were actually the popular writers of their times. William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens.

Jim McCarthy puts it well over at the Dystel and Goderich’s Literary Agency blog in Jim McCarthy on Literary and Commercial fiction.

Wikipedia describes literary fiction thus:

a term that has come into common usage since around 1970, principally to distinguish ‘serious’ fiction (that is, work with claims to literary merit) from the many types of genre fiction and popular fiction. In broad terms, literary fiction focuses more on style, psychological depth, and character, whereas mainstream commercial fiction (the ‘pageturner’)
focuses more on narrative and plot.
Wikipedia entry for Literary Fiction.

I didn’t realise that literary fiction was so ‘new’ a genre (or a style of fiction, for those who wish to argue).

Or, as one blog commenter once put it (and sorry, whoever you are, but I didn’t record your name, or where I read it):

In literary fiction the character’s journey is internal. It’s about the way a character grows or changes.

The very fact that it can be described in seven words says to me it is just another type of genre.

  • Literary fiction—focuses on style, psychological depth, and character
  • Fantasy—stories set in fanciful, invented worlds or in a legendary, mythic past
  • Romance—feature the mutual attraction and love of a man and a woman

and so on. All these definitions come from Wikipedia, by the way.

Look at the novels in your nearest large bookstore. You will find a science fiction/fantasy section, you will find a mystery section, you will find a romance section. You will also generally find a literary section.

I rest my case.

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On writing

A good beginning is only the start

Like most writers, we are too close to our own work to really critique it well. The writing we do usually sounds trite unless we let it sit for six months. When we come back then we usually think, “Okay, this writing isn’t as bad as I thought it was,” or, “This is terrible. How could we write anything so bad?”.

I can’t pick a bad beginning in our own writing, especially not if I have written it. Sherylyn is a little better, but for both of us it takes ages to write something that isn’t bad. One thing we both do agree on is that while we can’t tell our own good or bad beginnings, we do know what works when we read it elsewhere. It’s a pity that what works for one doesn’t always work for the other, but when we both agree on a story that starts well we usually both read the novel and enjoy it.

One on-line forum that I am a (not very active) member of allows writers to post excerpts of their work.

A sidenote here. This is one of the first forums I joined. I was not long out of Critters, and even though I lurked for a couple of weeks, I jumped into the feedback section of this forum way too early. Posters on this forum did not want serious critiques of their story. What they wanted was praise. I gave a fairly detailed critique of a story I read. It was too detailed. What I should have done —and what I notice others do —is praise the story if it has promise and not add any comments if it has none. Occasionally someone adds a couple of high-level suggestions, but that is all. Moral of the story —it is important to understand what the posters want before you add critiques. Not only that, you need to know just how serious you are about getting feedback. If you want real feedback, don’t use a forum like this one.

But back to my tale.

I couldn’t write yesterday. I procrastinated by flicking through the stories on this forum. Some of them were typical high fantasies that began with a prologue told in omnipresent point of view, others began with a long exposition to set the scene. Some wrote in an archaic, “Here there be angels” type of way, others with lots of descriptive three-syllable words. For most of them I skimmed the first two paragraphs and then move onto the next one, because the openings were rather ordinary.

And then … an opening paragraph that made me sit up and read. This was good, really good. Right from the first two words. It opened with a bang, and kept going the same way. This story showed real promise and it packed a lot into that first chapter. Had I been in a bookshop, I would have bought the book right then and there.

It was so good I promptly scanned the rest of the forum for anything else she had written (and I’m fairly sure it was a she, both from her forum name and from the way she wrote). I found chapter two of the same story. Bliss. It was just as good as chapter one. And chapter three. These were strong, beautifully drawn characters with a story that pulled me in, and she hinted at so much back story that I lay awake for two hours last night thinking about it. The back story hadn’t slowed down the main story at all, but the author had hinted at so much, and made me want to know what was going on and what was going to happen.

This girl was good enough to be published.

Sad to say, she stopped at three chapters.

She had two other stories posted. One went to five chapters, the other to three. Both of them were good. The other two were not as good as the first, and all three needed some work but the stories and characters in all three books were compelling.

I admire any writer who has a voice that strong and good, but she had started three great stories and then just stopped.

Now I understand that she may have decided not to go any further with any of the stories. We ourselves find that if a story is not working we often know around the end of chapter three. But I don’t think that was the reason this writer stopped writing, and some of the comments on the earlier posts implied that she had done this before (older posts were archived). I think she’s just not in the habit of going any further.

What a waste.

Categories
On writing

More thoughts on the publishing industry, a bookseller’s view, and worry about the written word

Last night I watched the last episode of series three of Medium. Like any good series, they finished the story but they left a whole lot of plot lines unresolved. I wanted to know what would happen and was interested enough to go to the official NBC Medium site to see what plans they had. All I wanted was a quick ‘yes, there is more information’ or ‘no, there’s not’. But the bulk of the site is videos and the written information is pretty extraneous. I didn’t want to sit around all day watching videos in the hope that I might learn what I needed to know.

Then, this afternoon I read a thought-provoking article by Jim Huang, co-owner The Mystery Company bookstore, reflecting on 20 years in bookselling and how he views the publishing industry today. Jim was talking about mysteries, but everything he says could equally apply to science fiction and fantasy—with the one exception that at least SFF does number their series books, or at least until the series gets so big that the numbers are embarrassing.

I think Jim’s article is spot on, if a little depressing. I wrote recently about the future of books, and whether or not they will exist in the future and if so, in what form. I think we are on the cusp of some form of change, although I have no idea what, yet.

Some of that change has to be in the direction the NBC Medium site has gone. Less written word altogether, more videos and other media. You can see it on blogs, for example, which used to be written words. Then pictures appeared. Now a lot more video and audio is popping up.

I’d like to think that some of that change will be books, still printed (or ebooks), print on demand.

Change is inevitable. Change is often good. Let’s hope some of that change in the bookselling industry translates to a better distribution of mid-list books, and more money for mid-list authors, so they can make a real living out of it. Because although I love a good movie, nothing beats sitting down with a good book.

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Progress report

Progress report

Latest excerpt posted. Cannot believe the book is moving so slowly. Life and work deadlines keep getting in the way. Like many would-be writers, I so want to live that dream of being able to work full-time on your novel. However, there are mortgages to meet, bills to pay.

I have set a new goal. Complete the initial write of draft three by the end of this year. Let’s see if we can do it.

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On writing

The novel you remember reading may be totally in your imagination

Memory colours your perception of what you read, so that what you remember is often better than that the original. Over time you forget all the bad bits and all you remember are the good bits.

This often happens with books you read at defining moments in your life.

As a teenager I devoured all the science fiction I could. Science fiction was big back then, fantasy considerably less so. One of the stories embedded indelibly in my memory is Robert Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky, the story of a generational starship on which there was a mutiny some time in the past. Most of the current inhabitants have no idea of the original mission, no idea that their world is a starship and no idea that they have already arrived (almost) at their destination.

It was a brilliant idea back then and it still is now, and I remembered it as such.

I re-read the book last year and hated it.

It was so … ordinary is the only word I can think of, and the way Heinlein wrote about women they may as well have been pieces of furniture (except, of course, that you couldn’t have the Adam and Eve thing going without the girl).

Yet that doesn’t detract from the fact that it was a brilliant idea at the time. Just because Heinlein’s books (or that one, anyway) don’t stand the test of time does not mean that he is not one of the early masters of science fiction, and had a big hand in shaping it.

Another writer recognised as one of the masters of science fiction and fantasy is Fritz Leiber. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser come highly recommended. I recently picked up the First Book of Lankhmar, an omnibus of their adventures and I’m really struggling to read it. I doubt I will finish it. Yet for many people this is one of the great fantasy series.

I think of it as the ‘Beatles effect’. To most people who were teenagers in the 1960s the Beatles were a super group. They were around at a time of major change, and impacted a whole generation. Yet to others who did not come of age through that era, it’s, “The Beatles. Right. They had some good songs, yeah, but so what.” That doesn’t denigrate what the Beatles did, or how they changed music, but that is not relevant to the listeners of today.

In today’s music world the Beatles might well find it difficult to sell music today.

Leiber and Heinlein would almost certainly not be published.

Victoria Strauss, talking about a recent fake submission hoax of Jane Austen writings says:

Popular tastes and interests shift, often very quickly, as does literary style. Yes, people still eagerly read Jane Austen–her books outsell many popular present-day authors–but they do so in context, as classic literature. It’s hardly a wonder that a 19th century novel, written in 19th century prose, couldn’t find a home when presented as a new novel by a previously-unpublished modern writer.

Whoops — they did it again, Victoria Strauss on Writer Beware.

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On writing

Characters are everything in your story

One of my favourite all-time literary characters is Robin Hobb’s Fool, from her Tawny Man series (and the Farseer books, and he also makes an appearance in Liveship Traders). And yet, I nearly didn’t read the first book.

I had not read the Farseer (Assassin) books at the time. I got Fool’s Errand out of the library on one of those sweeps that I do when I am looking for something—anything—to read. Pick up a book; yes, it’s a fantasy; no, I haven’t read it; yes, it’s standalone or the first in a series. I read the first few pages, thought, “Ho hum, just another introspective story about some guy who has powers. Boring,” and put it down again.

Sherylyn is more forgiving with books. She picked it up too and actually read far enough into the book to meet the Fool.

“You have to read the Fool,” she said, and I trusted her taste to read enough of the story to become interested.

So after she finished the book I picked it up again, skimming the first bit until Fool came into it, and I read it avidly from there.

I have read these three books probably a dozen times since (and I read the start now, too). They rate highly in my all-time list of favourite novels.

What makes these books so good? The relationship between the two main characters, Fitz and the Fool. And not just these two, but every other major character in the book is fantastic. There are lots of characters to love—not too many to hate, and I like that in a book —really decent, well-rounded characters with a lot of depth.

It helps that there’s an interesting plot behind this, not to mention a well-crafted world, but it’s still the characters that drag me in. It’s the characters that pull me back to the story time and time again.

And to think that I nearly didn’t read the novels to begin with.

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On writing

How do you find new authors?

Earlier this year Howard V. Hendrix, the then vice president of SFWA, created quite a storm when he wrote that he was

… opposed to the increasing presence in our organization of webscabs, who post their creations on the net for free.

Howard Hendrix, posted on Will Shetterley’s Live Journal, 12 April 2007

Now I’m not going to talk about whether I agree with him or not. GalleyCat, over at mediabistro.com covered it pretty well for me. What I do want to talk about is where we find new authors, because I find a lot of mine on the web, at those very same sites of those people Hendrix calls webscabs.

When I was younger I discovered new authors through the pulp magazines—Asimov, Astounding, The Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy. I discovered Connie Willis through FireWatch, A Letter From the Clearys and The Last of the Winnebagos. I discovered Vernor Vinge through a novelisation of Marooned in Real Time in Analog. I could go on and on.

If I found a good writer in the magazines I would buy their novels without even worrying about whether the book was any good or not. I was seldom disappointed.

Some of the magazines have disappeared, some have stayed (even if not in the same format), and new magazines—particularly the ezines —seem to come and go. Even so, I don’t read them any more.

I used to buy books on spec, too. I would go into the specialty science fiction/fantasy bookstores and just browse. I’d pick up anything that took my fancy, or that the bookseller recommended. Those old stores have gone now, forced out of business or online by the high cost of shopfront premises.

I go into the big chains like Borders—the only local bookstores left now—and there is nothing I want to read.

So where do I find new authors now?

The truth is, I don’t find as many as I used to. Of the new books I do find half come from personal recommendations of friends, or from a scoop-through at the library. (I’m sure you’ve done it. Go to the shelves and pick five books at random, or five whose covers you like, or five authors whose names begin with ‘C’. Take them home and you may get one book you like.)

The rest of them come from the web. I find an author whose blog I like, or someone who has posted a sample chapter or three on line. It draws me in, and I’ll go search out the book.

I think this is probably the way of the future.

Categories
On writing

Stereotypes are sometimes real, you just can’t write about them

Just because stereotypes exist in real life doesn’t mean you can put them into your novel.

The street is full of men in classy suits today. Black or dark charcoal is in. Not a navy suit among them.

The men wearing them are cocky, confident and loud. The single women—there is only ever one woman in each group, and they all wear smart black pant suits—never get a word in.

Some of the conversation I overhear is egotistical. Boasts about how they will exceed their targets, boasts about what they will do in the future.

They turn out to be real estate agents, here for training.

Of course they are, I realise. They behave exactly the way you would expect a group of real estate agents to act.

They were one big stereotype.

Had I written about them in a novel, of course, I would have to change many of the characteristics. Otherwise I would have been told to cut the stereotypes.