Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

Status
Not open for further replies.

Jules Hall

Re: yes it is

Exposition is a bad thing if the reader doesn't want to read it. So, it definitely depends on your audience. Hard SF readers can take (and often expect) more exposition than other genres -- an example is a book I recently read, Wheelers by Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen. This book is written by two prominent scientists, one of whom (Jack Cohen) is particularly well known for his work on potential forms of alien life. I would have been disappointed if it _hadn't_ had large chunks of exposition about the aliens involved in the story.
 

James D Macdonald

Re: exposition and dialogue

Why is exposition necessarily a bad thing?

Exposition is a bad thing if and only if the reader doesn't care about the information.

First, make the reader care. Then you can get away with a block of text where the narrator just sits there and expounds if you want to do it that way.

Look at Moby-Dick for a novel that's 99 44/100% exposition.

If the reader is going to skip over the paragraph looking for the next interesting thing, then the writer doesn't need to put that paragraph there to start with. Leave out the things the reader is going to skip.

The first question is: Do the readers really need to know about Sadie's unfortunate automobile accident? If so, do they need to know about it explicitly? Can it be summarized in a sentence? Or will it be better brought forward through a thousand subtle things, in the gestures she makes, in her word choices (both the things she says and the things she doesn't say)?

This is the art, my friends.

Does word of Sadie's accident advance the plot?

Does it support the theme?

Does it reveal character?

Now: Find a favorite book. An author you really enjoy. Someone of whom you say "I wish I could be him when I grow up!"

Take that book. Go through with a highlighter and mark all the exposition. See how that author did it.

Guys, over the course of the last darn-near ninety pages and nine months of discussion I've handed out lots of assignments. Show of hands, here: How many of you have done them?

<scold> Yes, learning to write is difficult. Yes, it's time consuming. Yes, it feels like you're back in school. I'm only recommending things that I've personally done, and that through my own experience I've found useful in understanding writing and becoming a stronger writer. Guys, this isn't a joke. Do the flippin' work. </scold>
 
Last edited by a moderator:

James D Macdonald

Re: Career Commentary

You want an open anthology?

Guidelines here: www.cascadiacon.org/Anthology.htm

To be published by Windstorm Creative. Make sure you read their guidelines too.

Next assignment: Write a story for this anthology and submit it.

Will your story be bought? Probably not.

But I promise you, the only stories that will be bought are the ones that were written and submitted.

Unwritten stories never sell.
Unsubmitted stories never sell.

After that, it's a matter of skill, craft, and luck -- but less luck than many people would have you believe.

This is getting far afield from novels. But only way to get professional sales is to a) write professional-quality prose, and b) submit it to professional markets.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

maestrowork

Re: or if

If your backstories are more interesting than your main story, then you have the wrong story.
 

James D Macdonald

Re: or if

If your backstories are more interesting than your main story, then you have the wrong story.

Amen, brother.

===============

This falls under Category 12 in the list of Reasons Books Are Rejected. A working editor explains:




1. Author is functionally illiterate.

2. Author has submitted some variety of literature we don’t publish: poetry, religious revelation, political rant, illustrated fanfic, etc.

3. Author has a serious neurochemical disorder, puts all important words into capital letters, and would type out to the margins if MSWord would let him.

4. Author is on bad terms with the Muse of Language. Parts of speech are not what they should be. Confusion-of-motion problems inadvertently generate hideous images. Words are supplanted by their similar-sounding cousins: towed the line, deep-seeded, incentiary, reeking havoc, nearly penultimate, dire straights, viscous/vicious.

5. Author can write basic sentences, but not string them together in any way that adds up to paragraphs.

6. Author has a moderate neurochemical disorder and can’t tell when he or she has changed the subject. This greatly facilitates composition, but is hard on comprehension.

7. Author can write passable paragraphs, and has a sufficiently functional plot that readers would notice if you shuffled the chapters into a different order. However, the story and the manner of its telling are alike hackneyed, dull, and pointless.

(At this point, you have eliminated 60-75% of your submissions. Almost all the reading-and-thinking time will be spent on the remaining fraction.)


8. It’s nice that the author is working on his/her problems, but the process would be better served by seeing a shrink than by writing novels.

9. Nobody but the author is ever going to care about this dull, flaccid, underperforming book.

10. The book has an engaging plot. Trouble is, it’s not the author’s, and everybody’s already seen that movie/read that book/collected that comic.

(You have now eliminated 95-99% of the submissions.)


11. Someone could publish this book, but we don’t see why it should be us.

12. Author is talented, but has written the wrong book.

13. It’s a good book, but the house isn’t going to get behind it, so if you buy it, it’ll just get lost in the shuffle.

14. Buy this book.​


Go here for the full article and discussion. (I've recommended this site before. Really, go there, and do a couple of weeks' reading.)

============

Other examples of "Author Has Written the Wrong Book" might include Little Women by Tom Clancy.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

maestrowork

Re: exposition and dialogue

How do you know you've written the wrong book (some people do try though and "succeed" -- Patterson's new romance novel, for example... *sigh*)? Or that your story is boring/mundane/been-there-done-that?

We tell writers to "write what moves them" -- however, it's usually too late in the game when we tell them, "your story is boring. And it was called Little Man Tate in its past life."

It comes back to a question I posted earlier -- what makes a reader turn the page and not think he's seen the show before? "Interesting people doing interesting things" still doesn't explain it for me.

Writing is art -- that makes the "what works and what doesn't" even more baffling.
 

James D Macdonald

Re: exposition and dialogue

I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that question, Maestro. If I had the answer, I'd bottle it and sell it -- after I'd drunk a whole lot myself.

When the answer comes back, "Isn't working," all we can really do is use different words in another order to tell a different story. Maybe the next one will be better.

This is why we have to be introspective, and honest about our works. If we learn nothing, likely we'll keep repeating the same mistakes rather than finding new and original mistakes to make.

============

PARTICIPATE IN COPYRIGHT RECORDS PROJECT SURVEY

The Copyright Office is conducting a survey to improve the process of searching the public records of the Copyright Office and making them more accessible to the public. The Office is studying the potential for converting the analog copyright records (1790 to 1977) to digital format and making these records accessible via the Web. Your input will help define the priorities and requirements needed to accomplish this goal.

The survey is available on the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov. Click on "Please take our survey" under Hot Topics.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

JoannaC

Re: or if

I especially liked #4. I cannot tell you how many posts to my writing group begin with a short "summery" of the story contained therein.

I think the problem I was having with Kelley Armstrong's book was that she goes to such lengths to set up Clay as Elena's "demon lover" who pulls her between two worlds that she seems to overlook the fact that Elena was with Clay before she knew he was a demon. It's all very well to play up his "demon" traits (temper, imposing physique, lack of understanding of human empathy) to contrast him with Elena's ideal normal man, but she was a regular girl when she fell for him. I would have liked a bit more detail on just what would make the human Elena fall for such a lug.

I think that sometimes too, you can be disappointed when the book is not the first you have read by the author and you compare them. The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie McDonald was I suppose an okay book, but compared to her first book was VERY light on plot. Pretty much one thing happened, and there was this espionage subplot that did not work at all. It was not a terrible book but compared to her first, it was pretty dull.
 

SRHowen

Raises Hand or Not

LOL

James, I have not done the exercises--can I be excused, please? I've really done them all --well almost all, before--in one form or another. And I do work as an editor, and I do have a degree, and I am published, and I do have a good "real" agent (you can vouch for him), and I do have a novel out there and 9 others under my belt--almost 10 now. Me thinks I know how to write--though there is always room for improvement.

LOL

On exposition: I am not advocating that a person uses long paragraphs of author voice to tell back story--but only bits here and there to give what's needed. All we need a brief word--The cashier reminded him of his ex-wife. Nasally voice, over permed hair, and the same bobble headed laugh. Maybe he could find a different checkout line.

What do we know --he was married. His ex-wife was a ditz--or he thought she was. And that he wants nothing to do with the ex-wife or anyone that reminds him of her. It hints at a deeper hurt than he is admitting to himself at this point.

If you keep it to a line or two and work it into what the character is doing at the time, then you can tell a lot about the back-story--the what came before the middle where you are.

So often writers get caught up in the -- I have to set this up, but I want them to know. It goes back to what James said. If it doesn't advance the plot you don't need it.

Shawn
 

James D Macdonald

Raises Hand or Not

I wouldn't tell you, Shawn, or Jim Ritchie, or Karen Ranney, or any of the published pros how to write -- all I promise is that people who read this thread will know how I write, and if some can learn from that enough to move from not-yet-published to published, then good on them!

Not that any of us are beyond learning new things....
 

SRHowen

LOL

ahh I am so relived--:ha

I agree. The best way to learn to write is to try it like someone else, and if that way doesn't work, move on until you find the way it works for you. Eventually you will find your style and method --but only after a lot of misfires.

Of my first short story--a very helpful beta reader said--hey this reads like an excerpt from Nancy Drew.:smack :ack

When someone said, hey move over King here comes Shawn, I knew I was getting somewhere.

When an agent said--I love the almost Slaughter House Five like moments, and then went on to accept the work--I knew I'd done it.

But it took several completed novels and misfires to get there. And I only got there through many exercises.

Do Jame's class assignments--they can't hurt. They can only help.

Shawn
 

JoannaC

Re: or if

I have been reading the Nora Robers biography/companion, which I found at the used bookstore bargain bin for $4, and she says she wrote 6 novels before she finally got one published. So everyone starts somewhere. I remember thinking that was why Nanowrimo was such a good idea, because you can't write 50,000 words and fail to learn anything :) Nora Roberts is also an excellent example of the "butt in chair" method of writing. That's how she cranks out 6 or 7 books a year---writing from 9 to 5. She says int he interview that it is her old Catholic school work ethic and that "Sister Mary Responsibility" does more for her writing than "inspiration." I know that some writers tend to dismiss the genre stuff, but I am not one off them, and I have to give Nora Roberts credit for being arguably the hardest-working and most diligent writer I have ever heard of.

And I quite agree with her on the responsibility issue. I see nothing wrong with saying okay, I can be an artist but part of that is making the art fit in with the editorial guidelines. One of Nora's Harlequin series was printed across four lines, one book per line for four months. She had to research the requirements of four separate types of story instead of just writing them all for the same line. And she puleld it off. That's dedication.

Joanna
 

Gala

Imitation

<blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr>The best way to learn to write is to try it like someone else, and if that way doesn't work, move on until you find the way it works for you.<hr></blockquote>

This is so wrong.

IMHO.

<img border=0 src="http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/wink.gif" />
 

espz

The assignments

Would it be horrible to ask for a recap of your assignments, Jim?

I have several bookmarks/favorites linked inside different threads that I like to go back to for reference here, but I'm pretty sure I don't have all the assignments straight, and I can't be the only one!
 

James D Macdonald

Re: The assignments

Yeah, it would be horrible, espz. But that doesn't mean I won't do it....
 

James D Macdonald

Re: The assignments

The over-all assignment: Write every day.



Assignment One Get, read, and play through Logical Chess Move By Move.

Assignment Two Go to a bookstore, watch readers selecting which books they want to buy.

Assignment Three Retype the first chapter of your favorite novel.

Assignment Four Read The Sun, The Moon, and The Stars and Misery.

Assignment Five Watch Sweeney Todd In Concert

Assignment Six Get and work through a high school review grammar workbook; get and read Fowler's Modern English Usage Dictionary.

Assignment Seven Memorize the Hollow Crown speech from Richard II.

Assignment Eight Watch Minority Report and L.A. Confidential.

Assignment Nine Read Red Harvest. Watch Yojimbo, Last Man Standing, A Fistful of Dollars, and Miller's Crossing.

Assignment Ten Learn how to do Celtic Knotwork

Assignment Eleven A round-up of books, movies, and articles. Watch the movies, read the articles, add the books to your library.

Assignment Twelve Build a model.

Assignment Thirteen Read one book from each year's best-seller list.

Assignment Fourteen Watch a movie a night for a month.

Assignment Fifteen Diagram a sentence from A Visit From St. Nicholas.

Assignment Sixteen See a stage play, watch a movie, watch a magician.

Assignment Seventeen Watch two particular episodes from X-Files and Millennium.

Assignment Eighteen Bake a lime pie.

Assignment Nineteen Memorize The Walrus and the Carpenter while wearing a paper hat.

Assignment Twenty Highlight the exposition in a published novel.

Assignment Twenty-One Write and submit a short story to an open anthology.

Assignment Twenty-Two Write your novel!
Okay, I did all that. Now what?

You've finished your novel, then?

Submit it, following the publishers' guidelines, to paying markets. Send it out 'til Hell won't have it.

Meanwhile, start work on your next book.

Our dialog-only story. (http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/vamphead.htm)
 
Last edited by a moderator:

SRHowen

Clarification

I don't mean to copy anyone--what I mean is to try others writing methods.

Some outline, some don't and so on.

Shawn
 

Zed Lopez

Re: The assignments

over-all: sketchy. I haven't written every day. But I wrote yesterday, and as soon as I post this, I'm going to go write.

#1: I just got my Logical Chess this week.

#4: I read The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars.

#6: No, but I am a Grammar God. Still, I'm sure I could benefit from reading Fowler's cover-to-cover.

#9: I recently read Red Harvest and watched "Miller's Crossing" and "A Fistful of Dollars"; I have "Yojimbo" out of the library now.

#19: I already have "The Walrus and the Carpenter" memorized, but I did it without a paper hat.

Further behind than I realized...
 

James D Macdonald

Re: the Assignments

Okay, I did all that. Now what?

You've finished your novel, then?

Submit it, following the publishers' guidelines, to paying markets. Send it out 'til Hell won't have it.

Meanwhile, start work on your next book.
 

MiltonPope

Re: the Assignments

You've finished your novel, then?

---------------------------------------------

My bad. I should know I can't tell deadpan jokes from this distance.

I've done only a few of your assignments, but I'm still working on them. And the novel is coming along all right.

Thank you VERY much for all your advice here.

--Milton:b
 

James D Macdonald

Re: the Assignments

Milton, what I want you and every writer to do is this:

Think about your craft

Practice your craft.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.