Reviews, Recipes, and Random Slices of Life

4th Street is over. Thursday night (playreading) through Sunday afternoon of instructive and/or entertaining panels, interesting people I have met a time or two before but generally don't know well enough to feel relaxed around, and generally worthwhile but exhausting writerly goodness. Can I have a weekend to recover from my weekend?

...probably not.

And next weekend is CONvergence, which is more of the same, though the pressure there is more "large and impersonal crowd" than "smaller crowd that will probably notice if you do something particularly stupid."

I have fewer panel notes this year than I have in the past, perhaps (hopefully) because I've internalized much of the writing techniques and wisdom that was discussed. Much other good stuff went on, too. I hung out and chatted with many people that it was good to see again. Wrote 8 handwritten pages on the Inner Mongolia desertification/unspoken love story. Jo Walton gave me some great advice about selling Vicesteed. I got a full-blown story idea (that I didn't really need)--something about my brain processes "shouldn't" and "can't" as a challenge. Grr. "Can't write a story where the POV shifts every paragraph without section breaks or indicators." Oh yeah?. Stupid brain.


Panel Notes

What Should I Be Reading

* Go through the list of Hugo nominees (not just winners).
* See also the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
* And I took photographs with the audience suggestions, which I'll post later.

How do you know when a story's going wrong?

It's wrong if....
* at the end, everything you believed about the characters is wrong.
* the story is clearly not going anywhere, you don't get the feeling that things will connect, and so forward momentum is not created.
* it begins with chapters of introducing characters and setting.
* it's got a tentative narrative/narrator.
* the actions/dialog are out-of-character--especially since you need to build consistency and trust in the existence of a character.

Don't describe how everyday things are (or have characters talk about it), unless it's in a time of flux.

Don't explain how X works on a technical level if you're likely to get it wrong. Instead, describe how it feels, smells, etc.

If the reader will have doubts, you may have a character express them so they can be answered--as long as you're not introducing new doubts in the reader.

You need to learn to separate the effect you planned a thing to have, and the effect it actually does.

If your characters are being stubborn, something's wrong with the story.

Don't worry about the outline--contracts for what a book is about are totally negotiable after signing.

If you're having a problem with something, try backtracking--it probably starts earlier than you think.

Powerful characters always do something immediately when something dramatic occurs arises.

Beware the plot that advances by going to another location in each chapter! This can lead to a plodding pace.

Recommended reading:
* Magic and Showmanship - Henning Nelms
* How I Wrote the Name of the Rose - Umberto Eco (this may be an apocryphal book--I certainly couldn't find it)

Mixing genres

Some talking about metastasizing trends, and being able to spot them by similarity of cover art on paperback book shelves. I wonder if YA post-apocalyptic is metastasizing? Seems a lot of it these days.

You can use genre expectations to make people fill in the wrong blanks, then reveal how you subverted it. This may work better in movies/short stories? Hard to pull off in a novel without angering the reader.

Figure out the pacing/beats expectations for genres--keep pacing and beats but change what actually happens as a way to mix the genres.

Beware the structure/pacing/beats that will lead readers to expectations that you don't want.

Reading:
"Gun, with Occasional Music" - Letham

Beyond promotion: Reputation management

Comport yourself knowing that others will see you as "So-and-so, expert and writer," not just as So-and-so.

A columnist gig is an excellent way to gain reputation.

This panel also reminded me that what makes a blog good is a person talking about what they find cool and interesting--for a writer, make some of that stuff "cool things (similar to my stuff [this part not explicit])."

How does the medium affect the story?

Borrowing technical terms from other media (theater, magic, music, dance, etc.) and using them to structure writing may expand the writer's toolkit. (Yoink--added to writing challenges file.)

Fantasy vs. Progress

Don't forget history's failed uprisings.

Fantasy--where moral concerns have physical consequences.

Acknowledge the problems that modern technology solves:
* Pregnancy rates/childbirth fatalities
* Labor hours

When you figure out you're having trouble with researching/developing a good answer to a thing--that's what you should have fun with (where fun is a creative experiment).

Beware creating a "timeless" setting. Where is the entropy/devolution/evolution?

Especially don't refer to a native culture as "timeless!"

Reading:
"The Coroner's Lunch" (for a time of upheaval)

Submit, or die!

Recognizing the delaying, self-sabotaging, procrastinating behaviors and seeing them as what they are--fear--is essential.

Try procrastinating by writing! Sometimes your brain just wants to procrastinate, but doesn't care from what.

Reading:
Switch - Chip and Dan Heath

Second thoughts: The morning after

Remember that fashion comes around again, and people complain about it.

In modern times, increased diversification in availability may have led to many different types co-existing in fashion, sexuality, etc--small groups are equally visible as large majorities.

Don't make your fantasy world substitutes too convenient, e.g. contraceptive tea that is easy and has no complications.

Point of view: How not to suck

Aaaand...I'm still recommending Kate Griffin's The Madness of Angels as the best fiction with a really original POV out recently.

In 1st person exposition, make sure you set up why and how that expository lump is occurring.

In true omniscient, knowing who's telling the story and what there agenda is--is crucial.

Show an unreliable narrator, don't tell him. Show him lying to someone else.

Shifting to present tense at the end can be done for immediacy, a folktale effect, or to indicate madness.

The new cliches

A cliche is only a cliche if it bothers us.

Cliches:
* People falling into disagreement and squabbling instead of working together.

Alien abduction (and in the Victorian era, faerie abduction) has been used as an explanation for why people behave not as the society would say they should.

Reading:
For how powerful people really act, read Alan Clark's diaries.

How to Make Your Problems the Fun Part

Instead of invisible, standard minor characters, ways to get info, or minor plot devices--make it interesting! This can also be where you get the little subconscious plot hooks that you can pick up later.

You must identify your problems in order to have fun with them.

Character voice--what they take for granted or not--can contribute a ton to setting.

Turn setting into little stories instead of huge lumps of exposition.

You can use a character motif/symbol/theme as a way to go forward when you're bored or stuck, e.g. knives, water, fish.

Think of five awesomely gonzo things to put in the plot and use that motivation to get to the point you can put them in.

Playing with voice is a good way to have fun.

When Do You Stop Revising

When you get stuck, go back to the beginning and rewrite/edit until you're unstuck (note: may be hazardous to plot hooks).

Quickly revise at the end of each chapter to remove the really bad stuff (see same hazard as above)? I may try this--not sure I'll be able to see it that soon, but it's possible. Interesting approach.