Janny Wurts's Blog - Posts Tagged "writing"

Here's the "insider view" of where 'THE PROCESS OF AUTHOR' was yesterday (picking up the ENTRY an opening scene, just prior to the last chapter's finale finish, mere pages away, with the champagne bottle chilling...which scene, by today, (WAHOOO!) is set well underway and picking up thundering pace ---


So what IS fascinating here at the writing desk?

The starting line: (shrug) (yay, no e mail from the editor asking why it's NOT DONE ALREADY!!!! eep, grin, nearly there, sprint, sprint, gotta sprint c'mon IDEAS - rattles Muse, Hard...)

Gunshot to start the race with deadline pressure:

Ah, OK, here's just the sweetener, an atmospheric bit to open the scene, with the first concrete ACTION line looming, still...crunch. Stop, Pause. (the catalysts for the explosive next step are still morphing) - plod through the options: idea/nah/idea?/nope/IDEA?/Better, not quite/IDEA???/almost, kick it back/kick butt some more, daggonit, because - sorry, muse, that (idea) just did not cut it, too slooooow, and just NOT enough IMMEDIATE BANG! NO LIVE CHARGE/ I_D_E_A???/nearly, but top it!!!! (yup, I am such a freaking task master. I hate stuff that just goes bouncy, bouncy boring me with mere 'adequacy' this, then that happening with out a revelation to pique it....) the story step has to surprise ME to burn the fire hot enough.

It's like hit miss/hit miss/hit miss, hit, bang thumb, hit, whap, ouch, not right, no way good enough - (frustrated grumble,) HIT HARDER - ah HAH!!!! NAIL THAT BIT - but, crestfallen, there's only a partial spark, here, so, back to it - hit and miss again, no ignition, yet, and just keep chasing mental thought tails in blasted circles till the launching explosion Happens.

Conversations with the muse are SOOOOO boring for outsiders. Grin. My creative day isn't nearly filled with news worth mentioning. Or stuff I can talk about.

Makes for pretty dull correspondence - a whole other UNIVERSE to draw on, and it has to stay "dark" till the book is out....probably friends have concluded, "she's obsessed"....perhaps not the case, but the nature of the job.

And You, lucky reader - have surprises in store - when I get to the finish....(soon!) (dreams of a champagne cork popping)

Made available access in the cloud, a new audio interview with Janny Wurts -


http://www.mixcloud.com/RadioEarNetwo...

We're reading (or writing) fantasy, right? So why should an author bother with research? If it's a make believe world, does 'reality' matter?

Yes.

If the mythscape is to work, it does need to ground itself within the contours of the four seasons, and be consistent with the natural world we know UNLESS there is a reason that the created world is different.

We live in a modern era of electric light, powered transport, refrigeration, and many another convenience that lets us 'ignore' vital rhythms of the natural world. If a fantasy takes place in a simpler time with a less technological backdrop, then food becomes intensely seasonal. What can be moved without spoiling, and the work that can be done in a day by hand raises a major league array of limitations. Not only will such 'differences' from the world we know make a fantasy more vivid, the added hardships imposed on the characters and situations can intensify the action and make the read more memorable, provided the information is integral to the tale and not just there to stuff pages.

The made up parts must fit together seamlessly with the 'real' bits of history, helping to suspend the readers' sense of wonder and belief.

When it's 'wrong' - it can shatter the scene, even drag down an otherwise great tale.

I am a sailor - once I read a story in which the author described a sailing ship becalmed as "unbearably silent" - and that totally ruined the tension, turned on my cynical eye, and made me doubt everything else on the page. Why? A becalmed sailing vessel is NOISY. Everything that is normally under tension by the wind is flopping loose, and the sheer random racket of stuff banging and squeaking totally shatters the nerves. How much more tense and trying for the characters would this scene have been if the author was not lazy and had done the least little bit of reading up on the subject?

Among the most common errors - horses. Few books handle them well, and fewer writers have the least idea of what it takes to ride, care for, and maintain a large animal, far less how far it can go in a day, or how fast, for how long, before losing its stamina. And riding? Lord love the ignorant, I've YET to figure out how in heck you can 'knee' a horse while astride. Anatomically the contortion is plain, ridiculously impossible - yet the phrase, 'kneed the horse' has been made into one of the more comical fantasy cliches.

Don't get me started on weapons, armor, or maps! That soapbox would sink the Titanic.

So many stories could have been that much more creatively alive if the shortcomings and quirks of the subject matter had been taken into consideration - too often, such detail becomes a shamefully missed opportunity.

Fortunately, there is help for the writer who wants to get the details right.


Horace Ponii wrote a lovely, short manual with fantasy writers' research in mind, all brought together from personal experience. Horses and Farms For Fantasy Writers is well worth the read.

The following list of titles have been invaluable to me, over the years:

Seamanship in the Age of Sail: An Account of the Shiphandling of the Sailing Man-Of-War 1600-1860, Based on Contemporary Sources

Arrows Against Steel: The History of the Bow and How It Forever Changed Warfare

Lost Country Life

Albert C. Leighton's Transport and Communication in Early Medieval Europe Ad 500-1100

The Writer's Guide to Everyday Life in Renaissance England: From 1485-1649

For working with distances, transport of armies, and general handling of large forces over terrain, I found the shorthand manuals made for serious war gamers a great deal of help, as those books formulated such facts and figures based on historical evidence.

Questions can be posted using the link below throughout the afternoon and into the evening. I will be answering LIVE at 7 PM CST until whenever, picking up stragglers tomorrow.


http://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comme...


Bring your questions and your enthusiasm, your controversy and your curiosity. Door prizes for best questions.

Ever wonder what fantasy and SF authors presented to editors before a book sold? This book is a compilation of the outlines, descriptions, notes - that actually were pitched to publishers to sell titles before the books were written.

A lovely look at the inside, behind the scenes generation of ideas - with a long list of known books by name fantasy and SF authors.

Included: the description for my standalone fantasy title, To Ride Hell's Chasm, bought before it was written by HarperCollins Voyager.

Print version on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1614...

Kindle version on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00S...

My chance to pay it forward to the community, and to celebrate the release of Destiny's Conflict in print, and the Empire series in audio: I'm doing an AMA! at r/fantasy.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comm...

Post your questions any time, I will start answering live at 7 PM EST - late comers welcome.

All of my experience (4 decades) in the field of fantasy publishing and illustration is available to you, any question on the novels or stories, or anything else strikes your fancy - new to the forum? No problem, all are welcome, and there will be door prizes!

Put my experience to work for you! Ask Me Anything today at r/fantasy, featured for NaNoWriMo.

All questions welcomed - about writing, the biz, or

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comm....

Late comers will be answered, too.