Tara Maya's Blog, page 49

How To Write A Series - 02 – Medium and Genre

 
<!--[if gte mso 9]></div>

The Final Test of a Novel

 

"The final test of a novel will be our affection for it, as it is the test of our friends, and of anything else which we cannot define. ... The story is primitive, it reaches back to the origins of literature, before reading was discovered, and it appeals to what is primitive in us. That is why we are so unreasonable over the stories we like, and so ready to bully those who like something else."


-- E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel

Sneaky Tricks To Create Micro-tension

I've mentioned before that literary writing tells stories about insignificant people doing uninteresting things--but in an interesting way. It shouldn't be thought that this means literary writing should be dull. Done well, it is not at all dull. It has to work hard to sparkle though, and those techniques are worth plundering even if you write in another genre.



As I was re-reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri, I was struck anew by how she could weave an ordinary event into a riveting...

What Purpose Do Novels Serve?

Art need not have any pragmatic purpose to be valuable, but my suspicion is that art is not useless. It performs a vital social function--but what?



One possible answer, specifically for novelists, is that through memoirs and novels (and all storytelling media, including the often maligned cinema, television and comic books) people can convey life lessons they've learned with enough richness and depth that real transfer of wisdom can take place.



Most people are poor at conveying their life e...

Oppan Klingon Style

Dear lord. Why am I watching this? Three times in a row?







There is, but of course, a translation from the Klingon:



Oppan Klingon Style



Klingon Style



qavan raHtar. be' 'IHqu' SoH. Qapla' jay'! Ha'

Kha-vaan rach-tar. Beh ich'khoo soch ka-plaa' jaay, chaa

I salute you, woman. You are a very pretty woman. F*cking success. Let's go!



'Iw HIq Datlhutlh. SoH qalegh. Qut, Qut. QeDpIn be' je. maw'.

Eeww hreek da-tlootl. Schoch ka-lerrh. Khroot, khroot. Kedepin beh jeh. Mao.

You drink bloodwine....

How to Convey Subtext in Dialogue - Part 2

"I think you've mistaken me for someone else. I'm not that man."



Subtext is the art of saying the unsaid and thinking the unthinkable. There are several techniques that authors use to convey this. Among others:



1. Secret dialogue.

2. Actions speak louder than words.

3. Catch phrase or repetition.



In this post, I'll discuss the first, possibly most common technique, secret dialogue.






Secret Dialogue
In the Fever series, by Karen Marie Moning, feisty heroine Mac and sexy antihero Jeric...

How To Convey Subtext in Dialogue - Part 1

We all live in a Yellow Obmarine.



Subtext in dialogue is the opposite of the obvious; it's dialogue in which what goes unsaid is as important as what is said. The opposite of this is not, but should be, called obtext. Screenwriters have a term for dialogue in which characters say exactly what they mean: "on the nose." I'll stick with obtext. Sad to say, obtextual dialogue, one obvious and true statement after another, usually sounds unrealistic, because people seldom say exactly what they...

WiP Wednesday (Blood)

Wing is coming out in ten days; sign up for my newsletter if you want a chance at a free copy.



I haven't done WiP (Work in Progress) Wednesday before, but I'm going to give it a try.



Here's a scene from the next book after Wing, the book I'm working on now--Blood, Book 6 of The Unfinished Song.



Not Umbral, but another villain, even more vile, sees Dindi:











A new taste touched his tongue.




He coiled the thread of light around his pinkie and licked
his finger. The magic was… fresh. W...

Character Motivation

Over on YAtopia is a good post on character motivation:

The problem with flimsy motivations is that they make the entire story unbelievable. Your characters don't have to do things exactly as the reader would do them - but they do have to act like a "normal person" would be expected to act. Without those believable motivations, the reader is unable to suspend disbelief. And when disbelief enters the mind, suddenly everything in the book starts to look sketchy.

So, how do you make sure your c...

What Kind of Writer Are You--An Inputer or Outputer?

"I've caught nothing, but I've had fun fishing, and that's what counts."




Most of us are familiar with the terms "pantser" and "outliner." Pansters write by the seat of their pants. Outliners make lists. Panstsers muddle through. Outliners plan ahead. Most of us combine the two approaches, and (little secret) a lot of us who start as pansters learn to be outliners.



But here's another way of looking at it. Some writers define their goals in terms of input and some in terms of output.



Outp...