Michelle Scott's Blog, page 29
March 24, 2011
Beware the Info Dump
Back-story: it's the bane of every writer.
If you aren't familiar with the term, back-story refers to the events that precede the opening of a book. See, as much as we want to pretend that stories all have a beginning, the truth is, there is a whole series of events that happened before the book actually starts.
Take the Harry Potter novels for example. Even before we read about Hagrid dropping off baby Harry at his aunt and uncle's house in the first book, a whole lot of things have already taken place. Tom Riddle grew up and became Lord Voldemort who terrorized the wizarding world in turn making Harry's parents join the revolution… You get the picture. Every book has a thousand other stories behind it.
So the problem isn't the back-story per se. No, it's how to put all that back-story into novel without boring your readers to death.
Some beginning writers make the mistake of using what's called an info dump. That is, they spend pages and pages giving the entire lineage of the main character (and sometimes even all of his friends and neighbors) and the past five-hundred years of history of the magical kingdom the main character lives in, and the kinds of food everyone likes and so forth.
Yes, that's right – it's dull.
Right now, I am reading a rather fascinating sci-fi novel in which the author used conversation between characters as a way to relate back-story information to the reader. Now while this is much better than an info dump, an extremely lengthy conversation can rapidly grow boring as well. After a page or two, my eyes start to glaze over, and I can't remember which character was speaking.
When I am tempted to write too much back-story or depend too heavily on conversation, I try to do the following:
Keep my info dumps confined to a single paragraph, and then spread those paragraphs throughout the story so that they don't clump together.
Limit my conversations to a page. (That would be about 250 words.)
Find inventive ways to inform the reader. For example, if I was writing about a new type of game, I know that I don't need to list every rule. Instead, I'll try something like, "Ted's skill at finding victims in Carnage earned him the highest score in his school." It's okay to leave some things to your reader's imagination.
But whatever you do, just remember: stay away from the info dump!
March 21, 2011
Playlist for a Moody Writer
It's been raining a lot here in Detroit, and my ceiling is leaking in at least two different places which means I have to watch TV with a bucket on my lap. I'm also writing some nighttime, urban scenes. So I've been in a gloomy mood.
Whenever I think of a city at night, especially a city as empty and ravaged as mine, I think of cold, damp spaces and vacant alleys. Dingy expressway overpasses where traffic rushes along, ignoring those underneath who make their homes alongside the concrete pillars. Vast industrial complexes with the steady pounding of machinery that never sleeps.
This is why I have so much electronica on my playlist. To me, electronic music is like the city's heartbeat. The songs on the list, like Buried at Sea by MC 900 Ft Jesus, set the background for a bleak, industrialized city of enormous proportions. But there's also quiet heartache, like in Mad World by Gary Jules. The final song, Pink Moon by Nick Drake, reminds me of taking a road trip away from the city and (hopefully) towards something better.
If you have any urban tracks you'd like to share, I'd love to know what they are. I'm always looking for something new to listen to.
March 16, 2011
Spring Dilemma
Hyacinths Mean Spring
It's been a long, hard winter here in Michigan, but today was a glorious reminder that spring is on its way. Although the weather channel predicted cooler temperatures, it reached a balmy 52 degrees this afternoon. The neighbors were all outside chatting to one another, kids were riding their bikes down the sidewalk, and both my pets were frantic to get outside.
As was I! And it was today that I realized that my yearly dilemma was upon me. Every spring when the weather turns, I know that I should be inside working (books don't write themselves, after all), but it was just too nice to stay inside and be on the computer.
So I compromised. I went outside, but I worked in the yard, clearing all of the trash that the snow had kept hidden since November. So I was able to get rid of the icky mess of sodden newspapers that never were picked up, crushed soda straws and old plastic bags while at the same time feeling the sun on the back of my neck.
As the weather continues to grow more lovely, I'll have to force myself to stay inside and work, but I'd never trade this beautiful spring for more of our snowy winter.
March 15, 2011
How Star Wars Divided my Family
My soon-to-be seventeen-year-old son and I have made bickering a national past time. I realize that this is hardly surprising. But what may be surprising is what we fight about. For example, our top three arguments involve:
1. Leonardo Di Caprio. (My son: Why do you hate him so much? He's in three of your favorite movies. Me: Suddenly I need a reason to hate an actor? Can't I just give my opinion and be done with it?)
2. James Cameron. (My son: Why do you hate him so much? He directed three of your favorite movies. Me: One word: Titanic. That's all I'm going to say.)
3. Kirby (My son insists that those bumps on that pink, round video game character's head are hands. I say they're ears.)
But our quibbling reached new heights the other day when my son came into the room and turned on the TV. "I want to watch Star Wars 5," he said.
Star Wars five? Since when is there a Star Wards 5, I wondered. But when he switched to the right station, I realized that Star Wars five is what we used to call Star Wars two when the movie first came out in 1980. (That would be back when I was sixteen and arguing with my mother about why Steve Martin's Cruel Shoes was hilarious. Which it is.)
Call it Star Wars II or IV, I've seen the movie nearly a hundred times, so I felt obligated to give my son a running monologue about everyone and everything in the movie. Kind of like what they do with a director's commentary on DVDs. Only better.
I pointed out that Harrison Ford was much cuter in 1980 than he is now. And that Mark Hamill had been in a car accident and had gotten a new nose. That was why he looked different than he had in the first Star Wars. (Er, Star Wars IV). I explained how Carrie Fisher, aka Princess Leia, was now a snarky, recovering alcoholic who recently said that John Travolta is gay. (Seriously, Princess Leia. Was that really necessary?)
At that point, my son asked, "Do you ever wonder why the rebels hated the Empire so much?"
Of course I knew that answer. You can't have grown up in the 70's/80's and not known. I said, "Because they're imperialistic."
"Yes," he said. "But why was that so bad? What did they actually do?"
"They blew up an entire planet," I reminded him.
"But that was after the rebels rebelled. Plus, they blew up a rebellious planet. But what did they do to make the rebels so mad in the first place?"
Okay, there are answers to this, too. I vaguely recall Natalie Portman giving an impassioned speech on this very topic in one of the newer Star Wars. But, frankly, I was irritated. Back when I was sixteen years old, we all accepted the fact that the Empire was evil. We didn't ask why or go digging for fancy answers, we just believed it. Just like we believed that Darth Vader was bad. After all, the guy dresses entire in black, sounds like he's living inside an iron lung, and crushes people's windpipes with his mind. What more do you need?
But my son, product of a modern age and two parents who have taught him to be a free-thinking individual, wasn't about to back down. If he's asked to hate someone, he needs to know why.
Unfortunately, I couldn't give him answer. Mostly because I was now doing a little free-thinking of my own. Such as, if Leia was a princess in the former regime, didn't that make her parents king and queen? And if that was true, then Vader's new government was reacting against a monarchy which, in all probability, had been imperialistic in its own right.
Some things don't bear thinking about. And, quite frankly, if I couldn't figure out that Star Wars two was now called Star Wars five, I probably didn't have enough gray matter to comment on inter-stellar politics. But like most people who are (a) opinionated and (b) ill-informed, I stuck to my guns. "The empire is bad because it is. Let's just leave it at that."
But knowing me and my son, we won't leave it at that. In fact, I believe we've just added number four to our list of things we love to argue about.
March 14, 2011
Meet an Author Monday
Authors! Have a book out? Are you under contract for publication? Make sure you join in the hop. This is a great way to network your blog and let readers know who you are!
Here's how it works:
READERS:
* Follow as many authors as you like. Just follow the Linky list and hop from author to author. The idea is to find as many "new to you" authors as you can, and hopefully some great new reading material as well. Leave a comment as you hop from blog to blog! We'd love to chat with you!
AUTHORS:
* Follow the Meet an author Monday host (Cali Cheer Mom) along with any of the wonderfully talented authors on the list.
* You will need to enter your name and blog url into the Linky tool.
* Grab our super cute button and place it in a post. (THIS IS IMPORTANT!) If you don't create a post for the hop, your readers won't have a place to comment, and the hop will stop with you. So create a post, paste in the Linky code and start hopping!
* The purpose of the hop is to meet "new to you" authors and discover great new reads. Follow as many authors as you can. Leave a comment and introduce yourself!
* If you'd like to share the Linky list in a post on your blog ( Please do!) just follow the link and grab the code.
This is a Blog Hop! 8 entries so far… you're next!
1. Nicki Elson: An actual Deep Thought
2. Jennifer Lane, Interviewing Jessica McQuinn
3. Michelle Birbeck, all my writing stuffs!
4. Pararomance!–Kristin Miller
5. Whos Who and Other Fun – Jessica McQuinn
6. Jemima Valentino – Author & Book Blogger
7. Laura Kaye, Author – Release Date News!
8. The Reading Writer
A Note About Point of View
I'm reading an unusual book that I discovered via my Book Lover's calendar. (And, by the way, if you are ever looking for a gift suggestion for a bibliophile, the Book Lover's calendar is a terrific idea!) But while this particular book started out very promising, I was soon disappointed.
That's because, although the book was written from a first-person point of view (that would be when the protagonist uses 'I' and 'me'), the main character can see into the thoughts of everyone else. She has the knowledge of an omniscient narrator, yet she should not be able to see into anyone's thoughts but her own.
All of this ESP-style knowledge would be fine if the main character's name was Sookie Stackhouse, the mind-reading vampire dating waitress of the Charlaine Harris novels, but this is a work of realistic fiction, and there is no mention of how the main character knows what she knows.
Why the author was allowed to get away with the POV shift puzzles me since I would have thought an editor (or even an agent) would have spotted the problem straight away.
The other mystery regarding this book is whether or not I'll bother to finish it or simply move on to something else.
March 8, 2011
Thanks for the Shoutout!
February 22, 2011
Kindle Author
February 15, 2011
iGod
After buying my iPad, it didn't take me long to realize that the commercials didn't lie. There really is an app for everything.
Take religion, for example.
Recently, The Huffington Post reported on a new app that claims to prepare a person for the sacrament of confession. Although the Catholic church approves of the app, the official stance is that using it does not replace the actual sacrament. There's also an app known as the Bible Shaker which allows the user to pick a topic (anything from guilt to finances) and read a related verse. Then there's the iPhone app, the Mizrach Compass which will always point the user towards Jerusalem (and thus avoid accidentally praying towards Mecca).
Additionally, nearly every sacred writing is available as well. The Christian Bible, the Scriptures of the Ladder Day Saints, the Tanach, the Quran and even the Bhagavad-Gita can be accessed on iPads, iPods, or iPhones.
But does this plethora of religious technology really bring anyone closer to a higher power? Would, for example, my life be better if I relied on the iChing app to make my decisions for me? Can reading iBreviary or consulting a virtual prayer book or relying on the Hallalujah button (an app that plays Handel's Hallelujah chorus at the touch of a button), really bring me closer to God?
I seriously doubt it.
Margaret Atwood's futuristic, dystopian novel, The Handmaid's Tale, tells of a store called Soul's Scrolls in which pious people pay to have prayers printed and read out loud by machines. When Offred, the main character, is asked whether she believes these prayers have any effect at all, she thinks of the cruel punishment she's endured at the hands of a Christian theocracy, answers that they do not.
I agree.
While I do have my share of religious texts on my iPad's i-Library, I draw the line at buying Jesus Lives! or Bible Clock apps. To me, these things cheapen religion, ranking with such low-tech but equally obnoxious products such as 'Got Jesus' t-shirts and 'God is My Co-Pilot' bumper stickers.
Having an iPad full of religious apps does not make you a Christian any more than owning a cookbook makes you a chef.
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Photo credit: "Internet Buddhist" by uncorneredmarket - www.flicker.com
February 8, 2011
Happy Birthday, Jules Verne
I'm ashamed to admit that I've never read a single Jules Verne story. I have watched the Disney version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and the more recent movies, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in 80 Days. But I've never read a single one of his classics.Maybe I'll make that a goal this year, but until then, here are some interesting links Verne-related links:
- The Christian Science Monitor
- The Works of Jules Verne
