Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 2

Calliopenjo said:

The thing to include in that good book is an opening that people won't forget.

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And an ending that surprises and satisfies, and a middle that keeps them turning the pages....

James D. Macdonald said:

And an ending that surprises and satisfies, and a middle that keeps them turning the pages....

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And good stuff in between.

caw

Izz said:

Tattooing it there might make it a bit hard to read when you need to remind yourself, mightn't it?

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Yeah, but I thought I'd put it right next to my brain... it'll seep in through osmosis

Uncle Jim, do you always know when an idea is novel-length, or do you sometimes have an idea that either ends up short-story length, or 150,000 words but you expected it to go the other way? I've always tried to set the length I want a piece to be in my mind before I write it, and when I get to writing it, keep it in the confines I first imagined as far as length. Doesn't always work, but I'm still a bit new at this, only writing for a bit less than 4 years.

Uncle Jim, I have short fiction question: What in the world is "speculative fiction." It says on Wikipedia that it overlaps different genres...but what makes it, therefore, different than "cross-genre" fiction.

Delhomeboy said:

Uncle Jim, I have short fiction question: What in the world is "speculative fiction." It says on Wikipedia that it overlaps different genres...but what makes it, therefore, different than "cross-genre" fiction.

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I'm not Uncle Jim, and could very well be wrong, but i've always thought speculative fiction to be an all-encompassing term for science-fiction, fantasy and horror, as well as all the in-between or, in other words, anything that contains a 'speculative' element.

Uncle Jim, I would like to suggest a variation on your classic three-point plot outline:

Y'all know the three-point-plot outline:

1.) Get the hero up a tree.
2.) Throw rocks at him.
3.) Get him out of the tree.

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Specifically, adding the following:

At the same time:
1.) Put the villian up a tree
2.) Throw rocks at him
3.) Have the tree crush him

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Thinking of it this way is helping me a bit with my current WIP. I'm finding it easy to think of ways a story is started off by things going wrong for the villian first ( someone finds the body too early (or jessica fletcher shows up ), a minion spills the beans, they get stabbed trying to kill someone and leave a blood trail, essential piece of equipment falters, monster gets loose )

It's a bit tricky, on the one hand coming up with rocks that can be dodged and on the other hand using them to batter down the tree, but it's helping me not write 'meanwhile, everything was going perfectly down in Bad Guy HQ'.

Delhomeboy said:

Uncle Jim, I have short fiction question: What in the world is "speculative fiction." It says on Wikipedia that it overlaps different genres...but what makes it, therefore, different than "cross-genre" fiction.

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"Speculative fiction" is a term used by people who are sick of arguing about what is sf and what is fantasy.

It also has the connotation of being science fiction after it's combed its hair and put on a clean shirt.

Laura Ann, before you throw too many rocks at the villain, you should review the Evil Overlord's list. This is the list of things he pledges not to do. It will improve your story greatly.

Here's a little tidbit that I thought about the other day.

Take it for what you think it's worth.

Let us speculate that you want to kill off one of your major characters. You wait and write and wait and write saying to yourself, I know I have to kill someone but I don't want to do it, yet!

Well, kill H/H early in the book, after establishing them as a viable major character.
Why?

In my thinking, your reader will then be on edge about who dies next.

Take away the feeling of saftey for your characters, early.

No one else has to die, but the reader doesn't know that.


You might find you like knocking them off.

RJK said:

Laura Ann, before you throw too many rocks at the villain, you should review the Evil Overlord's list. This is the list of things he pledges not to do. It will improve your story greatly.

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Sometimes the villain wins. The tree crushes the hero instead.

If it works, it works.

Keep the tree and the rocks, but the ending can be anything... surprise me!

Speculative fiction is science fiction wearing a three-piece suit.

Science fiction and horror are both sub-groups of fantasy.

No, fantasy need not have elves, dragons, or magic.

What is fantasy? It's what fantasy readers point at when they say, "This is Fantasy."

(At one time science fiction was what Damon Knight said was science fiction. Since Damon died no one knows what's science fiction.)

In Case of Emergency Break Glass:


42 Essential Third-Act Twists

Yo, and Wayne? Don't let a manuscript sleep over. Send it out again, right now (assuming you haven't already) to the next place on your list.

It's perfectly okay to mutter the ritual phrase in the direction of the place that sent the rejection: "Your loss, guys."

RJK said:

Laura Ann, before you throw too many rocks at the villain, you should review the Evil Overlord's list. This is the list of things he pledges not to do. It will improve your story greatly.

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I'm going to write an evil overloard monologue scene. I have no intention of -keeping- the monologue scene, but it should be fun to write.

See also:

Evil Overlord Plot Generator

Talking about plot generators: Here's a nice Crazy Conspiracy Mad-Lib. for the ones striving to write like Dan Brown. It doesn't look that difficult, does it?

ricmic said:

Talking about plot generators: Here's a nice Crazy Conspiracy Mad-Lib. for the ones striving to write like Dan Brown. It doesn't look that difficult, does it?

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I sense a major grudge against head docents.

Wayne K said:

Can I type the first chapter of a good book from a book on tape?

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I wouldn't know why not.

James D. Macdonald said:

See also:

Evil Overlord Plot Generator

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Tried that. What is a "browser reload button"?

You can hit your browser's Reload button for another set of plot ideas, though that's not the point of the exercise.

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ricmic said:

Talking about plot generators: Here's a nice Crazy Conspiracy Mad-Lib. for the ones striving to write like Dan Brown. It doesn't look that difficult, does it?

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That's clever, ricmic. I wonder if I could adapt the principle to Berlin during WWII.

euclid said:

Tried that. What is a "browser reload button"?

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Reload = Refresh

Wayne K said:

Okay Uncle Jim, one more question: Am I supposed to be picking up the keyboard and slamming it down an hour in? (I'm emotional)

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No.

And (okay two questions) Am I supposed to feel stupid?

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No. You're supposed to become enlightened. This may take time.

euclid said:

I wonder if I could adapt the principle to Berlin during WWII.

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I don't see why not as long as you don't forget to whack the head docent.

When celebrated Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon Sr. is summoned to the Olympiastadion to analyze a mysterious rune – drawn onto a beer mat next to the mutilated body of the head docent – he discovers evidence of the unthinkable: the resurgence of an ancient cult of the Thule-Gesellschaft, a secret branch of the NSDAP that has surfaced from the shadows to carry out its legendary vendetta against its mortal enemy, the Vatican.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed when a messenger from the Thule-Gesellschaft appears at the Deutsche Staatsoper to deliver a fateful ultimatum: Hand over the Shroud of Turin, or the exclusive clothier of the Swiss guard will be forced to tailor SS-uniforms. With the deadline fast approaching, Langdon joins forces with the Wagnerian and straight-faced daughter of the murdered docent in a desparate bid to crack the code that will reveal the cult's secret plan.

Embarking on a frantic hunt, Langdon and his companion follow a 821-year-old trail through Berlin's most sacred barracks and venerable beer gardens, pursued by a single-nosed assassin the cult has sent to thwart them. What they discover threatens to expose a conspiracy that goes all the way back to Adolf Hitler and the very founding of the NSDAP.

a bit long...

There is no way to explain the depth and breadth of my love for this forum right now. None.

Back when I first realized 'hey, I can write and be pretty damn good at it', a good friend pointed me in the direction of this forum. I read through Uncle Jim's long thread and then through the Reader's Digest version twice. I followed his advice to pick up Logical Chess: Move by Move. I mean, if Uncle Jim suggested it, it had to have some relevance, right? He even said so!

Except, I didn't see the relevance. It's a book about chess. About chess moves. I play chess (albeit probably not very well, I lose a lot) but not seriously enough, I guess, because the book sat on my shelf. I stared at it every day. It made it to my active bookshelf through two household moves but I still hadn't bothered to even peer inside at the table of contents.

I knew intellectually that a book on the theory of chess could help (maybe) but this was a book filled with chess moves! How could reading a book on chess moves possibly have relevance to plots?

At this moment I wish to officially kick myself (and open myself for public nose-tweaking) for not cracking this book open much sooner; for not truly and deeply trusting in Uncle Jim's advice and trying to read and understand. Perhaps I wasn't ready until now (after a third household move) to heed the wisdom, who knows?

In any event, I have read the first game. Not just skimmed it, as would be tempting with all that technical jargon, I set up a chess board and played the game, following Chernev's discussion on how of all the options to choose from for every move, why one was better than all the others, how some were weak and put you at a disadvantage, and how the one, strong move put pressure on the opponent.

And why it did.

My brain blossomed with the possibilities presented before me and my butt couldn't hit the chair fast enough to start writing.

I expect my chess game will improve as I keep reading, too.

Thanks, Uncle Jim. I'll do better about listening and following through from now on.

*presents nose*

*Tweak!*

Did you pick up Magic and Showmanship yet?