Goodreads Sci-Fi/Fantasy Authors discussion
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Writing Tips
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Kerry,I've been seeing your writing tips on all my usual online haunts. It seems you really do get around! I think your list of writing tips is pretty solid, but I'm not sold on main rules of fantasy.
ie:
b. There is a hero or heroine who often is lost, unlikely, powerless at first or second glance, or unrecognized and therefore easy for the reader to identify with.
I am not sure that by following this tip an author will be "avoiding cliches like the plague". As fiction writers we have a lot of room to deviate from the status quo. And I am not sure that we have to subscribe to the lost hero concept (as explained above) to create an identifiable character. In fact, the last fantasy book that I read used your model and created a completely unsympathetic character who I could not stand, let alone identify with.
Also...
c. Things always end justly - though not always happily.
If things always end justly and not necessarily happily in a book, you run the risk of creating a story with a predictable ending. If you meant to say that a book's ending should be set up along the course of the story, then that would be a more meaningful statement. Just my 2 cents.
Kevis, I agree with you. Your story The Legend of Witch Bane was awesome in the fact that your main characters are not the impoverished and downtrodden peasant farmer rising up to save the day. And it worked out just fine.I've read (in Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon) that characters should have three things:
GRIT (persistence--otherwise you won't have a story),
WIT (attitude), and
IT (a certain amount of charisma that's larger than life, that gives them stage presence within the book, and that makes the story pop from the page).
You can find that in all walks of life--rich & poor, educated & not, or kings & peasants. You can have a bored princess in a castle who wants to run wild like a tomboy and her mother doesn't know how to tame her sassy tongue. Or you can have a peasant, working in the fields, dreaming about what might be just beyond that hill, and grumbling through his chores.
And a good example of a great story with an unjust ending is Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along-Blog. Awesome movie. Awesome ending. But it wasn't just or happy. But it was the RIGHT ending, all the same.
Rita wrote: "I've read (in Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon) that characters should have three things:GRIT (persistence--otherwise you won't have a story),
WIT (attitude), and
IT (a certain amount of charisma that's larger than life, that gives them stage presence within the book, and that makes the story pop from the page). "
Rita,
That is a wonderful quote and does a perfect job of summing up what makes a great character. Mind if I borrow it? ;)
Excellent! Thank you! I needed that to clear up my writer's block :)
One piece of advice I'd like to give is for authors to make sure that they know their characters. Some authors create note cards that feature a laundry list of their characters' attributes. Since I write mostly fantasy, I often write side stories that feature a particular character so I get to know them long before I work them into a novel. It might be a little eccentric considering no one's ever going to read my side story, but it is a very effective way to become intimate with my characters. And knowing your characters is critical to writing good fiction.
Kevis wrote: "One piece of advice I'd like to give is for authors to make sure that they know their characters. Some authors create note cards that feature a laundry list of their characters' attributes. Since I..."Hey Kevis, I completely agree--and this, in fact, is a tactic I used while writing First Cause. I didn't write a lot of anecdotes abou tthem, per se, but I did write little bios on most of them, in some cases including their birthdays and family members and personal tastes...as you said, even though they'll probably never be read by anyone except me and maybe my girlfriend, it really helped me get to know them three dimensionally and most of all helped me when I had to put together dialogue :)
So how would I go about procuring this aforementioned review from you? Check out my site: www.firstcauseproject.com and let me know if you'd be interested.
Thanks!
PW
I think it's obvious when an author is disorganized and not paying attention to detail in their work. I'm such a geek when it comes to remembering what each character looks like and how they behave. If an author has a character who's very shy, but suddenly throws themself on another person or really acts abnormally, I want to know why, or I realize the author doesn't know the character well. wow, is that weird? Does anyone else get disgruntled at lack of continuity in books?
Anna wrote: "I think it's obvious when an author is disorganized and not paying attention to detail in their work. I'm such a geek when it comes to remembering what each character looks like and how they behav..."Oh yes. Double yes. Drives me nuts and destroys the story pretty thorougly because it knocks me right out of that enchantment.
Anna wrote: "I think it's obvious when an author is disorganized and not paying attention to detail in their work. I'm such a geek when it comes to remembering what each character looks like and how they behav..."I don't know if I'm obssesive about it, but I do try to maintain continuity in a story, & if there is a change there has to be a good reason. That's the nature of the game, right? To tell the story of our characters & if there's a change describe how & why.
That's one of the reasons the book Meg has driven me crazy we're given this character with a deep seated fear & then without any provocation that fear is thrown out the window for no other reason than to move towards the action.
I create resumes/CVs on all my main characters so that I don't mix them. While I may not use all characteristics in the book, I know each of them quite well. The resume/CV idea comes from my Human Resource professional experiences, I'm sure.
Anna wrote: "I think it's obvious when an author is disorganized and not paying attention to detail in their work. I'm such a geek when it comes to remembering what each character looks like and how they behav..."I once got an earful when I told someone about my novels--not because she'd heard of or read my books, but because a very well known author (who shall remain nameless) had written several inconsistencies into that series. I haven't read the series myself but according to this lady the whole story line was messed up by the third novel and continued to get worse with subsequent titles.
I don't know if the other writer kept rereading her previous novels, which is what I do to help prevent inconsistencies in the plot. But I feel a bit like I 'took one' for the other author.
Phyllis wrote: "But I feel a bit like I 'took one' for the other author."Ouch. Not fair on you...
Nice list.
#3 says: 03. "Show, Don't Tell" should apply more to periphreal and static characters. The central character (or any dynamic character that will undergo changes) should fall under the "Show" more often than not.
I agree with this rule, but I think your definition is a little narrow. Showing and telling has more to do with the dynamics of the the scene. Yes, you do want to show your character development rather than tell us that your character is a jerk or a snobby princess or a sweet angel or an insane escapee from an asylum.
But showing also has to do with dramatization of your plot. Characterization can come out of that, but I don't think that is the focus. Also I think you want to show when it comes to side characters as well as main characters.