John C. Wright's Blog, page 62
July 4, 2014
No one will ever read my books again
Once you find out what a lazy writer I am. Or maybe I am inspired by a genius no mere mortal can match! I report; you decide.
I have been “memed” by Mr. Fabio Paolo Barbieri
(see his answers here Superversive gives his answers here)
But I refuse to pass the chain letter onward, not because I don’t approve of chain letters, but only because I don’t have any friends. Also, my work habits as a professional writer are Simply Abominable, and so I urge you all, for the love of sanity, not to do as I do. Real authors write outlines, three drafts, and revise continually. I got my training as a newspaperman, where you did it right the first time, you have to put the paper to bed by press time, no excuses, and tide and time wait for no man, and baby ready to leave the womb waits for no mother.
1. Do you outline?
No. Would that I did! I wrote a plot synopsis for my most recent novel, though.2. Do you write straight through, or do you sometimes tackle the scenes out of order?
Straight through. I start at page one with my name at the top, pick the title, write the book, come to the end, and quit. I go back only to put the word count at the top.</p>
3. Do you prefer writing with a pen or using a computer?
Computer. I used to write everything out longhand, but it was inconvenient.
4. Do you prefer writing in first person or third?
No preference. If I want to spend time telling the readers a particular reaction, or if the story will be improved by limiting the camera to one point of view, I go first person.
5. Do you listen to music while you write?
Usually. Mostly j-pop from anime.
6. How do you come up with the perfect names for your characters?
I steal them from better writers, usually ancient Greeks.
7. When you’re writing, do you ever imagine your story as a television show or movie?
No. When writing a fight scene, I choreograph the steps, or draw a map on a napkin, so I know where everyone is standing and moving.
8. Have you ever had a character insist on doing something you really didn’t want him/her to do?
I try not to have personal preferences about what my characters do. Everything is driven by the plot logic, and my preferences are not consulted.
(Grammar note: Him/her is an abomination against English. I almost skipped this question out of pique. When the sex of the person is unknown or undecided, use ‘him’. Everyone except feminists knows ‘him’ refers to either sex except in the unambiguous case. See Strunk & White. End of argument.)
9. Do you know how a book is going to end when you start it?
No. I know that comedies end with marriages and tragedies end with multiple murders.
Usually I have a sense, or I make a decision, as to what type of story it is: the type of story dictates its end point. You read the invocation at the beginning “Sing Goddess of the Wrath of Achilles!” and that tells you what the end is—not when the Trojan War is over, but when the wrath of Achilles is passed.
For example:
THE GOLDEN AGE—This story is not about Phaethon, it is about the age in which he lives. The story ends when the golden age is over. If the story had been about Phaethon, it would have ended when Phaethon got his reward. If it had been a war story, it would have ended when the war ended.
LAST GUARDIAN OF EVERNESS—This story was about Raven loosing the love of his wife Wendy when he committed a murder to save her. The story ends when they are back together.
THE ORPHANS OF CHAOS—This is a prison break-out story. The story ends when the prisoners are free. It is not a war story; the larger issues of the Olympians and the Titans and their wars are not resolved in this book. It is not a love story: no one has put a ring on Amelia’s finger yet.
NULL-A CONTINUUM—This is a mystery story. Gilbert Gosseyn does not know who he truly is. The story ends when he discovers himself.
10. Where do you write?
On earth. The void of space is airless and cannot support life. This question was an easy one!
11. What do you do when you get writer’s block?
I don’t get writer’s block. That is a wrong model for what is happening. Writing is like fishing: you, the author, can control certain things, like the spot you stand, the bait you use, but you do not know what will rise from the unseen deep to take that bait. When you hook a fish, you examine it to see if you can use it. If not, you throw it back, and try again.
The bait is the conceit or point of your story. The place you stand is your world view. The river is the muses, or your subconscious, take your pick. The fish are the work product. If it is too short, you throw it back.
Writer’s block is what you do when the fish are not biting. You stare at the blank piece of paper without fear. Fearlessness in the face of blank paper is the whole of the writer’s craft. Anyone can be a writer who puts that fear aside.
What do you do when the fish are not biting? Me, I talk things over with my wife until she comes up with another good idea.
12. What size increments do you write in (either in terms of wordcount, or as a percentage of the fic as a whole)?
I have no idea. I don’t keep track of such things. If I am on a roll, I can get a lot done in one sitting. I almost have the discipline needed to quit writing at reasonable hour, roll or no roll. Experience teaches that the muse will be waiting for me patiently the next day.
13. How many different drafts did you write for your last project?
Just one. I write straight through. I rarely go back to rewrite, except at an editor’s specific suggestion.
14. Have you ever changed a character’s name midway through a draft?
Never. That would require revision.
15. Do you let anyone read your story while you’re working on it, or do you wait until you’ve completed a draft before letting someone else see it?
I show my wife each chapter as I write it.
16. What do you do to celebrate when you finish a draft?
Start my next project.
Celebrate? I celebrate when the check for the advance comes.
17. One project at a time, or multiple projects at once?
I prefer to work at one thing at a time, only because switching tends to lose my momentum.
18. Do your stories grow or shrink in revision?
I don’t revise. When an editor tells me to rewrite, I always prefer to add rather than subtract.
19. Do you have any writing or critique partners?
My wife.
20. Do you prefer drafting or revising?
I don’t revise.
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Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
The Last Castle by Jack Vance
The novella THE LAST CASTLE won Jack Vance both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and this was in the days when those awards still meant something.
I had occasion to reread this novellas recently, and was deeply impressed at how the passing of time has not outdated it. Now, in the middle of the second decade of the Third Millennium, these tales are half a century old: as if a reader who enjoyed H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS first published in Pearson’s Magazine in 1897 were to reread it in Analog in 1947.
Jack Vance is sadly less well remembered than other science fiction writers of his generation, for reasons which are not clear to me. I suspect part of it is the rather dark and mordant nature of his wit, and the mildly disquieting examination of the nature of mankind.
Since I had read the tales both at 15 and at 51, what I notice first and foremost is the nuances invisible to me as a child. This review hence may emphasize unduly elements that are minor, but which I as the reader note for the first time.
SPOILER WARNINGS. I intend to discuss the plot, surprise ending, and plot twists along the way — but since we are talking about fifty year old novellas, your pride as a science fiction fan should long ago have urged you to seek out and read such luminary and seminal novellas as this one.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
July 3, 2014
From the Pen of Sean Davis
This could almost be a haiku representing postmodern nonthought on the topic:
“Get your politics out of my bedroom!”
“Not a problem. I’m just going to grab my wallet before I leave.”
“The wallet stays, bigot.”
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/statuses/483647455662055426
And also this gem by Sean Davis, brought to our attention by a reader:
“Go bake my wedding cake. Then go buy my contraception. And after that stay out of my bedroom and mind your own business you creep, geez.”
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Dungeons and Perverts
James Wyatt, the designer of the latest Dungeons & Dragons starter set, is trumpeting how progressive the game’s values are:
And what could possibly be more authentically faux medieval than that?
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
The Wright Perspective: On Beauty
My latest is up at EveryJoe:
http://www.everyjoe.com/2014/07/03/politics/robbed-of-beauty-by-the-left/
I usually write about trivial things. This is perhaps the most important column I have ever written, because it explains the central mystery of our time: why our age alone of all ages of Christendom has no fine arts, no public effort to create and retain beauty.
Unfortunately, I sent in my first draft which was accidentally misfiled in my ready-to-send folder, and so the published copy left out the conclusion. (I sent this in today, too late, hoping the publisher would update the publication, but it was a tyro’s mistake on my part, very unprofessional. Alas.)
Here for my readers is the version of the column as it was originally meant:
Why do they adore such imagery? That answer is not difficult: the desolation of
ugliness aids the Leftist cause in a very real and very subtle way.
Imagine two men: one stands in a bright house, tall with marble columns adorned
with lavish art, splendid with shining glass images of saints and heroes,
mementos of great sorrow and great victories both past and promised. A
polyphonic choir raises their voices in golden song, singing an ode to joy. The
other stands in a slum with peeling wallpaper, or a roofless ruin infested with
rats, hemmed by feces-splashed gray concrete walls lurid with jagged graffiti,
chalked with swearwords and flickering neon signs advertising strip joints. Rap
music thuds nearby, ear-splitting, yowling obscenities. A bureaucrat approaches
each man and orders him to do some routine and routinely humiliating task, such
as pee in a cup to be drug tested, or be fingerprinted, or suffer an anal cavity
search, or surrender his weapons, or his money, or his name. Which of the two
men is more likely to take a stand on principle not to submit?
Which one will automatically and unconsciously assume that human life is sacred,
human rights are sacrosanct, and that Man is made in the image and likeness of
God? The man surrounded by godlike images? Or the man surrounded by mocking filth?
Which one, in other words, is more likely to fall prey to the worldview of a
dark world cosmos without meaning, without truth, without virtue?
The point of nearly a century of aggressive ugliness in the fine arts is to
produce disgust. (etc)
UPDATE: without a minute’s hesitation, the publisher updated the text. Wow. Things move quickly in the modern, electronic world — it is much more forgiving than the print world.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
The Wright Perspective: On Beauty
My latest is up at EveryJoe:
http://www.everyjoe.com/2014/07/03/politics/robbed-of-beauty-by-the-left/
Unfortunately, I send in my first draft which was accidentally misfiled in my ready-to-send file, and so the published copy left out the conclusion. (I sent this in today, too late, hoping the publisher would update the publication, but it was a tyro’s mistake on my part, very unprofessional. Alas.)
Here for my readers is the 2.0 version of the column, as it was originally meant:
Why do they adore such imagery? That answer is not difficult: the desolation of
ugliness aids the Leftist cause in a very real and very subtle way.
Imagine two men: one stands in a bright house, tall with marble columns adorned
with lavish art, splendid with shining glass images of saints and heroes,
mementos of great sorrow and great victories both past and promised. A
polyphonic choir raises their voices in golden song, singing an ode to joy. The
other stands in a slum with peeling wallpaper, or a roofless ruin infested with
rats, hemmed by feces-splashed gray concrete walls lurid with jagged graffiti,
chalked with swearwords and flickering neon signs advertising strip joints. Rap
music thuds nearby, ear-splitting, yowling obscenities. A bureaucrat approaches
each man and orders him to do some routine and routinely humiliating task, such
as pee in a cup to be drug tested, or be fingerprinted, or suffer an anal cavity
search, or surrender his weapons, or his money, or his name. Which of the two
men is more likely to take a stand on principle not to submit?
Which one will automatically and unconsciously assume that human life is sacred,
human rights are sacrosanct, and that Man is made in the image and likeness of
God? The man surrounded by godlike images? Or the man surrounded by mocking filth?
Which one, in other words, is more likely to fall prey to the worldview of a
dark world cosmos without meaning, without truth, without virtue?
The point of nearly a century of aggressive ugliness in the fine arts is to
produce disgust. (etc)
UPDATE: without a minute’s hesitation, the publisher updated the text. Wow. Things move quickly in the modern, electronic world — it is much more forgiving than the print world.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
From the Pen of Sean Davis
This could almost be a haiku representing postmodern nonthought on the topic:
“Get your politics out of my bedroom!”
“Not a problem. I’m just going to grab my wallet before I leave.”
“The wallet stays, bigot.”
https://twitter.com/seanmdav/statuses/483647455662055426
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
July 2, 2014
How not to Redeem the Wicked in Fairy Tales
This is perhaps my favorite essay written by my wife:
There has been a trend of late that I find quite disturbing. It is the “Let’s Redeem A Villain” movie.
Now, keep in mind, I am all about redeeming villains. Were I not, would I have married one of the Evil League of Evil? No. Certainly not.
In fact, I love redeeming villains. I have spent the last 25 years playing roleplaying games where I spend all my time, yes, you guessed it: redeeming villains.
Real villains, too. The kind that it actually take 25 years to redeem.
So, you think I would be part of the natural audience for movies like The Grinch and Malificent. Well, I would have been, had they been done right.
What do I mean by right? I mean: Had these movies been about a villain who was redeemed.
They weren’t. They were something much less interesting and much more demeaning to the villains. To quote Malificent….the real Malificent, these movies are:
“A disgrace to the powers of evil!”
Why is this? Let us take a look at these two movies and compare them with the work of a real master, the man who invented the villain redemption genre.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
June 30, 2014
God, Constitution, Sanity wins over Caesardolatry
Perhaps on another day I will read the opinion and give a balanced, professional, and lawyerly analysis of the ramifications. That is not for today. For today, we have a small jubilee, and shove a hemisphere of grapefruit painfully into the whimpering face of Caesar and the catamites of Caesar called the Press Corps.
The Hobby Lobby case was decided today with the only decision a sane Angloamerican Court ruling on American Constitutional principles could or should decide. What is astonishing and shameful is that this open-and-shut “Should Catholics Pay for the Abomination of Desolation?” case was decided both on narrow grounds and by a narrow margin. There are four Justices on the Supreme Court who are tone-deaf to the meaning of the First Amendment and the entire history of the English-speaking nation on this continent.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
Book Bomb! Boost the sales of Schlichter’s Conservative Insurgency
Join in the bombing! Today only! The Evil League of Evil needs your help!
http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/06/30/book-bomb-kurt-schlichters-conservative-insurgency/
Think of this as World War Z (the book, not the movie) only for libprogs instead of zombies.
I will ask the wife if I can afford to buy a copy.
Originally published at John C. Wright's Journal. Please leave any comments there.
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