Andrew Ferguson's Blog, page 25

6 ‘Six Word Stories’ for the 6th (vol. I)

If you've been following this site for a while, you will perhaps remember that I have occasionally written posts featuring 6 six word stories... Since I happen to think it's a great way to put the imagination through its paces (not to mention test my skills in brevity), I thought it would be a good idea if I made such a post whenever the 6th of a month happens to fall on a Sunday, since I only ever post on Sundays.And... I'll just check the calendar here and... yep, that's OK. If we do it this way, you should still only have to put up with one or two of these kinds of posts a year at most. So it's all good!

The End…?

It can be tough knowing when to call it a day with your fictional creations. Knowing exactly where and how to end your story in a way which is both memorable and satisfying is hard enough ... but if you've created characters and a world you're proud of, you might never want to stop. You might feel like there's a sequel, a trilogy or a whole saga of novels/films/TV series still to be written. Sooner or later, however, it has to come to an end - as all good things must.'But when?!' I hear you cry.It depends very much on your story.

Your Character’s “Thing”

The TARDIS is, after all, the Doctor's 'Thing'. It's what makes him stand out as a truly unique character. Many characters in fiction have travelled through time and space; many are aliens; many speak in BBC English but no one else has a space/time capsule disguised as a British police box. If anyone did, we would all cry 'Plagiarism! A space/time travelling police box is the Doctor's Thing!'Almost all of the most memorable characters in fiction have a Thing. It might be a physical object they carry, something they wear or perhaps even something they simply say. When one thinks of James Bond, we imagine a man who carries a Beretta 418 (though in reality, he did occasionally use other weapons) and drinks vodka martinis, shaken not stirred. Batman dresses like bat, drives a Batmobile and operates from a Batcave; no prizes for guessing what his thing is. Even characters from history are often assigned Things that make them recognisable when they are portrayed on stage or on film today. For example, one of the first plays I recall ever seeing included a portrayal of Henry XIII, who spent most of the play munching a turkey leg.

Typewriter: An Old-Fashioned Solution for Modern Writers

I guess there's not that much demand for word processors with virtually no functionality whatsoever. I found a grand total of three that ran on my PC plus one for Mac called Rough Draft (I don't have a Mac so I cannot tell you if it's any good or not. Let me know if you've reviewed it on your blog and I'll maybe reblog it for you). Of those three, one appears to no longer be available except as a fifteen day trial version and the other was a very clunky web-based app that I found needlessly complicated to use. The other problem with both of these apps was that they emphasised the look and feel of a typewriter more than the simple functionality -- which is what I really wanted.Then I found it.Typewriter - Minimal Text Editor.

8 Useful Posts on Fiction Writing

Sometimes, I just can't say it better than my fellow bloggers, and since it's been a while since I've compiled a 'list of things I like' kind of post (in fact, I don't think I've done it since the very first post I ever wrote for Penstricken; sigh) I decided that it was about time I did another one. And what better thing to list than some of the best story-writing related posts from other blog sites that I have found particularly useful or insightful in recent weeks.In reality, there's dozens of writing and fiction related blogs I like to read on a regular basis and there have been numerous posts I've read lately that I could include in this list. I could not even begin to list them all. This is just a selection of some that I have recently come across (not necessarily ones that were written recently) which proved invaluable to me.

Ten Writing Commandments

I'm in a cliché sort of mood today and since I don't want to burden the novel I intend to work on this afternoon with clichés, I'm afraid I'm going to burden you with them instead. Behold, my Ten Writing Commandments, predictably humorously written in a crude approximation of 'King James English' and with helpful expositions of each rule.Most of these rules are as old as the hills and are probably familiar to you. I am not, for one second, claiming to have invented any of these rules. However, this is a compilation of ten writing precepts, from a variety of sources, that I have found to be particularly useful to me. I should add that the expositions I have included are all my own.

A Fight Scene Worth Reading

In fiction, as in life, conflict between two characters often leads to fisticuffs. It can be an exciting moment in your story where the tension finally erupts and your audience are beside themselves with anticipation of what the outcome will be... Or it can be tedious, pedestrian, predictable and downright boring.

I am thinking particularly of fight scenes in novels, short stories and other forms of written fiction, since fight scenes in film and theatre are (at least to some extent) more a matter of choreography than writing. As a reader, I often find that even in the best books, it is badly written fight scenes that can really ruin my enjoyment of the story, whether it's a quick wrestling match between two minor characters or an epic battle between ten vast armies of elves, dragons, wizards and goblins. It's not that I think fight scenes are unimportant (sometimes they're necessary) or unexciting (well-written ones can be thrilling); they're just difficult to get right.

Presenting Your Characters’ Backstories

I was recently sitting at home with my wife when it occurred to me that if one of my schoolmates (whom I haven't seen in years) hadn't gone on holiday to Spain in 2002, I would never have got married more than a decade later.... A leads to B which leads to C, all the way up to Z and beyond. This is what happens in real life. In fiction, this needs to be compressed into a backstory. Where did your character come from? Who influenced them as he was growing up and throughout his life up until this point? And most importantly of all: what is that defining moment in their past that made them who they are today?

Preventing Phantom Protagonist Syndrome

Have you ever had a really great idea for a story that somehow seemed to die a little more with each word you tried to write? Ever had a thrilling plot with no obvious holes in it that you just couldn't seem to get off the ground? Perhaps, in addition to your thrilling and seamless plot, you also constructed a world so detailed, so complex and so marvellous that it would give Terry Pratchett and J.R.R Tolkien a run for their money; an antagonist whose diabolical scheme is sure to keep the reader on the edge of their seats; you've even managed to weave in a romantic subplot (which admittedly still seems a little half-baked, but it's showing real potential)... and yet still, you just can't seem to really ignite all that hard work into a half decent manuscript.

If any of this sounds familiar, there's a good chance that your story is suffering from a chronic case of what I have dubbed Phantom Protagonist Syndrome (PPS).

6 More Six-Word Stories

If you've been following Penstricken since it started in 2015, you may recall that on one occasion I set myself the challenge of writing 6 six-word stories using Thinkamingo’s Story Dice as stimuli. Since I am in an unoriginal sort of mood today, I've decided to do it again. The only difference is that this time, in addition to taking my cue from the story dice, I also intend to make each story a different genre, i.e. sci-fi, historical fiction, etc.

As before, I am using one die per story.