Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Orson Scott Card - How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy

Today I'll finish up the advice from Orson Scott Card. What he says in this book applies to writers in all areas of genre fiction. What he ended the book was advice or almost lecturing in areas of a writer's life. I won't mention them all but if you want them all, find a copy of the book.

Of the 7 areas he gives advice Discipline heads the list. This is something I know very much about. Being disciplined as one strives for a career in writing fiction is a must. One can't wait for the muse to strike. Writing every day even when you do feel like writing is a must. I'll share a bit here. Writing can be an escape and for me it was. Almost 20 years ago, my husband was having major surgery. He had an aortic anuyerism at the point where the aorta leaves the heart. The doctor told me the surgery had a 50/ chance of success. The procedure took many hours. I'd brought a clipboard and the mss I was currently working on to the hospital with me. Writing during that stressful time allowed me not to think about what could or not go wrong. When I looked at what I'd written after that time, most of it was great. Would those words have been as intense if I'd not grabbed discipline and worked. I don't know.

Patience is another thing for a striving writer to hold on to. I doubt anyone succeeds over night, And there are those long weeks one has to wait after submitting a story to a publisher. But don't just wait, the trick is to grab onto the discipline and sit down and start a new story.

The final one I'll touch on is prospective. For me this means not allowing discipline to take over my life. There is more to life than writing.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Still with Orson Scott Cart - Narration

Still gleaning things of interest from How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. This time it's on Narration. That means getting the facts across. The one interesting comment from him speaks about how much to tell the reader. You don't want to leave the reader in the dark hole of not enough knowledge to follow the story. He recommends telling the reader jjust what the main character knows and no more. This is good advice.

Where I disagree with him is that he says the narration of needed information is different in writing science fiction and fantasy is different from other genres. He speaks of information dumps done in the tell fashion. I've seen this in other genres. Maybe it's not so bad as in the older stories I read, the ones where I tend to skip long passages of explanations of some fact. Seen this done in mysteries and in romances I've read. Places where the writer suddenly puts in dry passages of facts they feel the reader has to know. There are ways to get this information across.

One is through dialogue but that can turn into an information dump, too. When there are pages of one person explaining to another some facts the reader should know to keep them reading on. Using inner dialogue as in memories is another way to show this information but this two can become an information dump. Showing the character interacting with the new information can also turn into an information dump. Sure no matter what you're writing the reader needs to know certain things about the world you've created no matter where and when in time you're writing about.

Is there a solution? Maybe. I try to do this gradually and through the character's eyes. Does it always work? Probably not, but that's the fun of writing. Trying to make the stories and the information clear to the reader and to make it fun to read.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip ala Orson Scott Card

Once again I'm digging through Orson Scott Card's How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy for my hint of today. How does one know which of the patterns of construction spoken about in this book? "You must end the story the way you begin." is one word of advice that's helpful. Starting out with a Mileau story and ending in a Character story will confuse the reader. Reader confusion is to be avoided. But the development of the story type follows throughout the writing of the story.

Have you ever begun a story and partway through have found you can go no further? You may have chosen the wrong pattern. You need to sit back and look at how you've decided to tell the story and perhaps make a change. All stories could emerge using one of the four types Orson Scott Card mentions but one is right for the story, or perhaps right for the author.

To keep the reader reading there has to be suspense. Is suspense created by withholding information? Sort of but it doesn't mean hiding every scrap of information but in keeping a small secret and letting the reader know most of the facts. "There is no tension without information." This struck home, especially when I'm writing. What happens next? How is the character reaching the end? Knowing how the story will end keeps the writer moving forward. Step by step the reader should follow the characters and learn what they have discovered making them wonder what will happen next as the story builds to the climax.

So when you're deciding how to tell your story decide if it's a Mileau, an Idea, a Character or an Idea story structure you're telling. If you're wrong, don't toss the story aside, look at it again and change the focus or pattern and try again.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - More From Orson Scott Card

The fourth type of structure for a novel is the Event Story. These thoughts are spurred by How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. Just what is an event story. This is an epic story,

Something has gone wrong in the world, a dire event. The king is dead. The war has begun. An oath has been broken. A monster arises. Though there are events in many of my stories they are not the total life changing happenings like those in an event story. I have written one and the opening line of this story portends what will happen. "We have been betrayed." These words send four young teens into the world fleeing disaster and evil. This story is a fantasy but there are other tales in literature that are event stories. The event has occurred and the world of the characters is in chaos.

An event story ends when a new order has been established. Occasionally the old order is re-established or in rare instances chaos rules. In these stories often the triggering event isn't even mentioned. In my story the triggering event for the change is the birth of the two sets of twins, each with an affinity to one of the elements rather than they having affinities to all four like those before them.

Many times these stories start with prologues with lengthy explanations of the past events. These aren't usually necessary and often skipped by readers. The action should begin with the focus character or character, plunging them into the story and showing the results of the triggering event rather than going inch by inch through that event.

As Orson Scott Card says when you write an Event story, begin small and gradually introduce the larger picture of the particular world. Let the reader know and empathize with the hero, heroine or the focus characters.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Character Stories - Orson Scott Card

Once again looking at something learned from How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. This is about stories that focus on Characters. All stories have characters but not all stories are character stories. What makes the difference?

A Character story is about change or transformation. There are many stories where the main character remains essentially the same at the end as he or she was in the beginning. I've had critique partners tell me in some of my stories that the character hasn't changed. This is especially true when I'm writing a series with the same character. The traits of the character are established in the first book and remain the same in the last book in the series. This can often drive people who don't know the series in entirety but come in during the third or fourth story. But that's something the writer knows. These are not character stories.

A Character story begins when the main character realizes he or she must change. In some matter they have reached bottom and must change. Not always an interior change in their nature but this can also be a change in how they relate to their environment. Character stories look at the hero or heroine in depth. This doesn't mean other stories don't have characters that change but other elements of the story are more important. In a Character story, the character's change or development is the story.

The Character story begins the moment the main character realizes there is a need for change. The reader needs to be shown what or why the character has come to this conclusion but not for pages and chapters of the character's life leading up to the moment. Begin at the beginning or the triggering moment. The story ends when the character has made the change or when they sink back to their old ways and refuse to make the change.

Wednesday's Writer's Tips - More from Orson Scott Card - Idea stories

In the book  on How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy, Orson Scott Card talks about structure to stories. What exactly is an Idea story? This kind of story starts with a question that needs answers. I know I've written a number of stories that follow this pattern. These aren't what if kind of stories. Often found in mysteries the question there needing to be answered is who killed the dead person, or who stole the fortune. But the idea story can also be used in the many genres of fiction . Take romance and start the story with a man or woman facing a choice between two others and the question becomes Who will he or she choose? There may not be many of this kind of story since romance has evolved into the one man and one woman story.

When crafting an Idea story the question that needs to be answered should be brought in as close to the beginning as possible. Most of the time this is true but knowing the rules can help a writer know when to break them. In the first mystery I wrote and several others, the murder didn't happen until far into the story. Knowing when to spring the real question can be difficult. A reviewer once wrote about Murder and Mint Tea, since the murder doesn't take place until well into the book. "If someone hadn't killed her, speaking of the villain, I would have.

The one thing to remember about crafting an Idea story is that once the question is answered the story ends. That can be difficult particularly when the characters have become friends of the author.

The point of an Idea story is the question. Who killed Joe Smith? Where did that artifact arise, a thing that couldn't be part of this life? Both Jim and Harry are wonderful men, but who will Mary choose? What really happened during the battle? When the answer is learned the story is over.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip - Orson Scott Card Beginnings and Endings

Once again I'm looking at How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card.  Beginnings and Endings.

I'm one of those writers who needs to have a general idea of where a book will end before I begin. I'm also one of those writers who often begins the story in the wrong place. How about you? Do you have that kind of problem? The story I'm writing now has a prologue. I'm not a fan of prologues because often they tell too much or confuse me into not knowing who the characters are in the story? Sometimes they are involved in explaining the world the reader is about to enter.

Scott Orson Cord starts about the myth of the story or what happens and why. This is usually simple and starts long before the story begins and continues after the story ends. Sort of like this. In the past an event occurred causing a person or persons to act in a specific way and this brings on the situation or event that opens the story. The results of this long ago event may continue to influence happenings after the story ends. The writer has to pick a point along this line to start the story and one to end the story. This will give the structure of the story. The triggering event is known to the author but may not be revealed to the reader until near the end of the story. That depends on the structure of the story

The opening of a story creates tension and brings a need to know in the reader. The ending is the moment the the tension ends bringing satisfaction to the reader. Sometimes the writer begins too soon into the story and sometimes too late. Then the tension isn't present. There are times when a writer continues the story after the point where the ending should have been. So the writer must decide on the structure of the story.

Next week, I'll look at what Orson Scott Card looks on as the story structures and how they can help make a story grip the readers and keep them turning the pages.

Wednesday's Writing Tips - Orson Scott Card - Story Construction part one

Interesting reading in How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card and learning things that can apply to most genre writing. This segment begins a bit about Story Construction. What I've read has reminded me of many things that sometimes I apply automatically. Getting a reminder always brings them to the fore.

Part one of Story Construction starts with discovering who the story belongs to. Now when one sits down to write the idea may start with a character in mine. This could be Jack or Jill's story and discovering which one really has the lead can change as one mores forward with the story.

The hero or the heroine is the character the reader wants to end up the winner. Doesn't mean this person is the viewpoint character. The story can be told through other eyes. The main character could be teh villain, or what some people call the anti-hero. The main character could be someone who observes the action and watches the hero or heroine or villain stumble through life toward the goal.

How to choose is the question. There are some hints to this. Who has the most to gain or lose during the course of the action? The person who has the most invested in the outcome of the action is the one you want to focus on.

The viewpoint character has to be there when the big scenes take place. He or she must participate in the event and not be just an observer. He or she needs to have a stake in the outcome even if the outcome depends on other characters.

And you'll find as you write the character you initially chose to tell the story may not be the one you choose in the end or you may find you need more than one character to tell your story.

Wednesday's Writer's Tip ala Orson Scott Card - World Creation

There's much of interest in the bit I read about creating a world and I had to think about how it applied to other forms of fiction other than science fiction and fantasy. When having an idea for a story, one has to look at a lot of things Taking an idea from that small grain to become pages of words takes thought and planning.

The first thing is to look at the rules of the world you are creating. In a way, all works of fiction are fantasies since the writer's view of the world is what is shown. So what are the rules. In writing speculative fiction, the writer has to create these rules. In other genres, the rules are there but the writer has to decide which ones belong to the world they're creating. Take historicals there are certain conventions that apply to what the writer hooses to show. Customs change and there's nothing more troubling than to be reading a historical and have a modern kind of rule or convention creep in. Pulls the reader out of the story. The same goes for other genres. So the writer has to discover the rules. In contemporary fiction what does the law say about say wills, but is this the same in every state or country. Learning the rules via research is important.

Another important area is the scenery. Writing speculative fiction allows the writer to dream us worlds with more than one moon or with none. There are other areas where the writer can invent and explore. Scenery is an important ingredient of all fiction and the reader needs to be able to step into the scene and be there. Details are important and specifics rule. If you're writing about a hospital, a courtroom or any other setting be sure to bring in the senses so the reader will find familiar things in an unfamiliar setting.

So jotting down bits and pieces as you plan the story will add spice later whether the story takes place on a strange new world, the past or in the world where you live.

Wednesday's Writing Tip - Speculative Fiction - Orson Scott Card

Since I like to see what other writers say about writing and garner tips from their articles and books on writing, I came across How To Write Science Fiction and Fantasy by Orson Scott Card, a writer I've read a number of times. I also sometimes venture into this area, though I consider most of my writing as either fantasy or speculative fiction. Mr. Card  givea a nice overview of what comprises this type of fiction. I also believe one can learn about writing and improve by reading different genres and by hearing what other writers have to say about the craft of writing.  So here goes with the parameters of this genre.

A little aside, each of the major genres have many subgenres in their ranks and I know I've learned by looking at other genres.

What compromises speculative fiction.

1. Stories set in the future. Makes sense to look at these stories as being speculative.

2. Stories set in the past that contradict what is known about history. These are alternate Earth stories.

3. Stories set on other worlds.

4. Stories set on Earth but before recorded history.

5. All stories that contradict known or supposed laws of nature.

So if you want to write in this genre, you have a lot of room to experiment. I've written in several of the areas with 2 and 5 being my favorite places to let my imagination run free. What about you? Do you think about venturing into speculative fiction? Or are you looking to learn how to hone your own writing by seeing how writers in other genres create their stories?