A switch

John is the first over the line. He holds it up politely for Mary. Then she stands with her hands awkwardly held together while John goes over to the car. He’s very careful, doesn’t touch anything, just sort of bends at the waist and tries to see inside the vehicle. When he senses it’s alright, he waves for Mary to come over, then she does the same thing and he kind of frowns around at the place. They have a few whispered words, then I see John come back to me across the field. The wind is up and that scarf is whipping up around his head.

Hey, he says, when he gets to the car. Hey, could we possibly have the window open for him?

A few weeks ago, I saw this picture. It’s by the Swedish artist Simon Stalenhag.

I like the figure depicted here. Particularly the flashlight, that’s key.

For a while now, I’ve been writing science fiction stories. I was – and, in a way, still am – a very literary writer. I made a change recently through frustratio. Literary fiction puts a lot of stock in words/sentences/paragraphs, making it very hard to write naturally. Or, at least, that’s what I find.

Ten thoughts on Voice.

A lot is made about ‘voice’. This writer hasn’t found their voice yet. This writer’s voice is particularly powerful. Yadda, yadda, yadda. You’ve probably tied yourself up in knots over this. Don’t. It’s simple. It’s easy. Here’s what you need to know:

1. Voice doesn’t exist – not really, it’s a construct. Think of it like that. When you write, you’re speaking not as yourself, but as another self.
2. Help your voice out. Give it some guidance. In short, read. Good voice comes from good reading. Don’t be afraid to use other voices as a prop for your own writing. Consider it training wheels. You can take them off when you’re up and running.
3. That said, voice mainly comes from writing. Write a lot and ‘your voice’ will come.
4. What you leave out is more important than what you leave in. The audience knows you can do anything you want. So what you don’t do is more important than what you do do. Haha, do do.
5. And yes, that does mean you need to cut. Cutting creates voice. The better you cut, the better your voice will be.
6. On that note, don’t think about voice. Thinking about voice kills voice.
7. Instead think about message. Think about theme. Think about character. Think about plot. If you think hard enough, voice will come springing forth.
8. Read what you like. Write what you like. Don’t pander. Fun, as I said here, is your only measuring stick.
9. If you’re worried about voice, it’s probably because you’re not confident. Find the real reason for this. Do you feel like you’re ready for this? Are you holding back because you’re afraid of criticism? Whatever it is, find it and kill it.
10. If all else fails, get an aim. Ask what is the point of this? Is it entertainment? Is it to provide information? Find the answer to this question and focus on that. Focus on doing that with rigour, and lock voice away in a box. Voice can come out when it has something to say. Then it can go right back in the box.

The difference between literary and genre fiction

This is a debate which rages on and on: the difference between genre fiction and literary fiction.

It usually goes like this: genre fiction is too prescriptive, literary fiction is too pretentious, genre fiction is stupid, literary fiction is boring. Genre fiction is badly written for these reasons; literary fiction is badly written for these reasons. Stephen King usually gets mentioned. David Foster Wallace is sometimes mentioned too. On and on and on.

Before I go on I admit there are differences between the two. I also admit that some of these accusations are usually true. It’s true that most genre fiction usually follows a similar plot and set of tropes. It is also true that most literary fiction is boring.

Note the use of most there. I reckon the books we’re aware of (that’s pretty much every book you can touch in a book store, every book you’ve heard mentioned in conversation, all of those) I reckon about 70% of them are the norm. And these 70% fall for all the trappings mentioned above. That’s right, 70% of all literary novels are boring. 70% of detective novels broadcast plot moves from a mile away.

Fun

If we are to crash, we’ll be-

What Adam, what will we be?

Stretched sir.

Stretched?

Across about ten clicks of space.

Oh, I see.

We’ll be dead, sir. The pair of us will no longer exist.

Yes, I said. I can see that.

Correction: you’ll be dead.

Yes.

So don’t fail.

I looked at the monitor. We had about thirty seconds.

Thank you, I said.

A thought experiment.

When was the last time you had fun writing?

This is the question we should ask ourselves on a weekly basis. If we scan the week and see no blips of fun, then perhaps we should question what went on.

12. Boxes

To hit the daily dispatch goal, I have to dispatch daily. But I’m out of ideas, and I’m exhausted, word-wise; my head feels filled, hazy. So this is what I’m going to do, I’m going to make boxes – I’m going to make boxes and work within them.

I admit that most of this is shallow pyrotechnics of the worst kind.

What the main difference between a short story and a novel? Three sentences.

The main difference is length – short stories are naturally shorter and therefore require compression and a faster pace than a novel. The advantage of a novel is that you can afford to be a lot looser and lot more explorative. The advantage of a short story is pace and work load, you can get in and out very quickly – annoyingly most people ignore the short story and focus on the novel, this is foolish.

Not bad. Tell me why entertainment is good. 10 sentences all starting with the word ‘entertainment’.

Entertainment is often seen as a bad word. Entertainment, we’re told, mostly by the snooty heads, is shallow, stupid and bad for us. Entertainment is therefore frowned upon. Entertainment should not be frowned upon. Entertainment should be rightly praised. Entertainment should be the first touchstone of excellence. ‘Entertainment’ – as in this was Entertainment or this was entertaining should be a requirement of everything we watch, listen to, or absorb in any capacity. Entertainment is, according to the dictionary, the action of providing or being provided with amusement or enjoyment. Entertainment should be our sole quest. Entertainment should be considered hallowed ground, the holy grail, because being entertained is when we’re gooey enough for those other big words like ‘meaning’ and ‘happiness’ to sneak up on us.

Slipped up near the middle there, but we’ll let it slide. Why boxes? – 20 words exactly.

Boxes provide limitations. Limitations force solutions. And creativity is really just solving problems in interesting ways. Use boxes when stuck.

Paragraph

When I landed on shore, still reeling from the events which had occurred, I bicycled down to the local library and searched through the county archives. The library was a big, ugly-looking place with a set of pillars out front. Pigeon-shit coated its windowsills. Inside there was a sort of delicate, dusty silence and a librarian, Miss Tick I believe her name was, who watched me through half-moon spectacles and frowned while I wandered the bookshelves. After an hour or two, I hit upon a scuffed news report (at the bottom of one of those impossibly deep folders) and  devoured it whole. The story featured ‘piano prodigy’ Sebastian Eagerton and his father ‘renowned scientist’ Thomas Eagerton. It must have been a slow news week, because the paper dedicated three pages to it and a full-page photo of the boy and his father, standing side-by-side. No mother, though, I suppose she was out of the picture by that point.

When I first found out that Nabokov wrote on index cards, I thought that was a fantastic idea. I went out and bought a stack of about two hundred and decided I’d do the same thing. I was naive -this didn’t work the wonders I was hoping. I still do it though, when re-drafting, write out a paragraph per index card, and then again, and then a third time, until it’s right. I paper clip scenes together and then bind whole stories into one with an elastic band.

How disappointed I was when I found out Nabokov simply wrote to the bottom of the index card and then to the bottom of the next, regardless of paragraph length or density.

But I must have known somewhere deep down, that it was the paragraph I should be focusing on. That the paragraph was the thing that should gain my foremost attention. Because it is the paragraph, not the sentence, which is the most basic unit of fiction.

10. How to outline a story in ten minutes.

We had our annual DSET training on my second week of work. We all had to board a coach and ride about an hour out of town to the DSET training ground, which is really just a big empty department store with lots of fake merchandise in it. It’s the only building in a four mile radius. There was a line of artificial wind makers to the north of the building and an obstacle course right out front. Someone had hung banners around the place: An unsealed door is an open door! A DSET without a bungie cord is a lost DSET! And, best of all: Remember the V’s: Visory Protection, Vectorial Awareness, Vestibular Reinforcement!

In the morning, we attended seminars with staff from a golf course and the employees (including the manager) of Jupes, the department store my then girlfriend shopped at. The seminar instructor was a cheery man who made liberal use of his pointer. He taught us how to treat a flesh wound and the basic mechanics behind the DSsecuritytech.  

In the afternoon, we had a series of simulations to carry out, such as lock-down procedures and basic rescue missions. They wrapped us in safety clothing and turned on the wind makers for this. The air filled with sand in 7.3 seconds. We were given ten minutes to secure the place and do a brief register. Every piece of merchandise destroyed lost us points.

As a bonus round, we were made to trek out into the storm and save an ‘injured’ team member. An employee from Jupes failed to secure her visor and lost an eye.

An alright, but not yet great extract from my Mars Tennis story.

How to outline a story with five sentences.

Some people like to outline, some don’t.

I’m in the former. This outlining method enables me write good first drafts quickly and painlessly. Some may find it too prescriptive. That’s fine. That’s good. We’re all different and we can all live, arm in arm, together.

Even if you are a pantser or don’t outline, I would encourage you to try this method if you’re stuck. It takes ten minutes and the return is massive.

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Firstly, we need an outline sentence, so what your story is about overall. No names, just background and the main ‘want’ of the protagonist. So:

English teacher falls for step daughter.

One-legged whaler captain hunts white whale.

Two tramps wait for friend.

That’s easy. This and perhaps what you think your story should be about should be sticky-noted to your pc at all times, as a guidepost to help you steer.

With this in place, we can expand our general idea into a paragraph of five sentences. I believe a story should be a series of bad things occuring to a single character, until that character either ‘wins’ or ‘loses’. Here’s what each of the sentences should detail:

1. The general background of the story, the setting, the character, i.e. the stasis of the story. E.g. Dave wants a boyfriend.
2. The beginning of your story until the first ‘bad thing’ happens. E.g. Dave falls in love with Derek from work, but finds Derek is taken.
3. Now the characters reaction to the first ‘bad thing’, and then the second ‘bad thing’. E.g Dave decides to break up Derek’s marriage by framing Mark (Derek’s husband) for the murder of Derek’s cat, but then Dave gets caught by Mark and kills him.
4. Same again, until the third ‘bad thing’ which forces the ending. E.g. Dave goes out to the seaside to try and dispose of Mark, but then gets caught by Derek.
5. How the story is resolved. E.g. Derek kills.

What I find makes this outlining technique particularly effective is if the second and third bad thing are caused by the protagnist. So in this example, bad thing two is caused by Dave killing the cat. Then bad thing three is caused by Dave’s reaction to bad thing two.

From here I would make a scene list, so: Dave meets Derek. Dave finds out Derek has a husband. Dave sees the cat and decides to kill it. Dave breaks in, kills the cat in the kitchen, then Mark comes in. Discussion with Mark. Fight with Mark. Driving Mark’s body to the seaside. Getting caught by Derek. Gunfight. End. Then I would simply write out each of those scenes and tick them off as I go.

Now this is ideal for a short story, but perhaps a bit lacking for a novel. You may, for bigger projects, decide to turn each of these sentences into another five sentences or do an outline for each character, until you’ve got a greater number of scenes or the story is clear in your head. 

What I like about this method is that it makes plotting very very easy. It gives you a plan for the next few writing sessions and enables you to imagine the story as a whole. Most of all, it helps you envision the ending and know the major points to get there. This is vital. It may be subject to change, sure. It may not be for everyone, sure. But it does work for me. The next time you’re stuck perhaps you should try it.

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This method was not thought up by myself. It’s stolen. More information can be found over at: http://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/

He goes into a lot more detail about character bios and stuff like that. His outlining method is much much larger than mine, and would take potentially a month. The method I have put up top has helped me produce a lot of stuff in the past few months. Sharing is caring and all that.