Learn Writing with Uncle Jim, Volume 1

Re: Interest

More great stuff, Jim - thanks!

I don't really get the whole "theme" thing, though - I guess I just don't think that way. I couldn't tell you the theme of any of my favorite books. By that I mean, I've never put down a book and said, "Ah, the theme of that one was man's inhumanity to man," or anything like that. Do you? For example, what is the theme of Silence of the Lambs? Or Moby Dick? I'm not saying this to be argumentative; I'm simply curious as to how you pick out a book's theme, because I simply don't break books down that way in my mind.

Also, you say to state it early. But how? Can you give an example?

I wouldn't be surprised if my stories have themes, which are probably obvious to those who look for them. But I can't say I consciously try to create or communicate one. I'm just trying to tell a story, which can have all sorts of inherent unspoken messages.

Anyway, all these are questions, not arguments. You look at this aspect of writing differently, but I'm eager to explore this idea.

Thanks again for this tremendous tutorial!

-keith

Re: Interest

i think you, jim, mentioned earlier that theme is one of those must-be-there things, but that it should be subterranean rather than explicit. there is clearly a great grand theme in moby, but i don't remember melville just saying it. yet now you're saying say it explicitly up near the front. i guess i share keith's confusion on that spot a little.

pix -- thanks for the update on your writing! where'd you find your cool picture?

Re: Interest

Qatz: The picture under my username? That's a picture I painted digitally.

On theme

Recall that this series of posts is on writing, not on analysing or criticizing someone else's book.

Yes, the critics will try to figure out your theme. They may be right, they may be wrong. However, you, the author, will be right whenever you state what the theme of your book is because you are the author. When you are revising, you will know what to strengthen, what to cut, and what to leave alone based on how relevant it is to the theme.

Take, for example, our own book (I can speak authoratively on this, being the author) <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0812517040/ref=nosim/madhousemanor target="_new">The Price of the Stars</A>.

The theme, stated explicitly in the <a href="http://www.sff.net/people/doylemacdonald/POTSEXPT.HTM" target="_new">prologue</a>, is "Family Matters," or "Blood is thicker than water," with a strong undercurrent of "Planned Revenge."

(If I were writing the book today, I'd have folded the Prologue into Chapter One, since I've learned that many (most?) readers skip prologues.)

A term y'all may not know is quadrigia. That's a four-horse chariot, with the horses all side by side. If any of the horses is stronger, or faster, or slower, than the others, the chariot won't run straight. It takes a skillful charioteer to drive one.

"Quadrigia" was also a medieval term for a theory of sermon construction. The four horses of this quadrigia were the literal, allegorical, moral and spiritual (or mystical) senses. The sermon had to function on all four of those levels, simultaneously, and equally. If any one were faster, slower, stronger, or weaker, the sermon would run off-course.

I'm a believer in hidden structures. You can do worse than to have your novel function on those four levels, simultaneously. Remember, to stand out from the slush, your novel has to have more, and be better, than 98% of the other manuscripts that are piled on the editor's desk. Adding levels of meaning, layers of discourse, a structure, will make your novel stand out.

Writing is a skill. It is an art. Some people can do it unconsiously, but I can't. I'm the calculating, analytical kind of author. So far it's stood me in good stead.

(The book we're quoting from here was continuosly in print for a decade.)

Here's the first page:

<blockquote>

On the naming of names, and finding my own meaning.

On the naming of names, and finding my own meaning.

Nothing happens by accident in a book. The author chooses each word, each image.

Let me explain what the words mean in the brief excerpt above:

First, night. This is the dark night of the soul, the time when the powers of evil are exaulted.

Now... Waycross. On the allegorical level, this book is a refutation of the Manichean heresy. Yes, this is a Christian book. Wanna make something out of it? The name is all the clue you need: Waycross is the Way of the Cross. That's my spiritual level.

Innish-Kyl is taken from an Irish song, the Inniskillen Dragoons:

A handsome young maiden of fame and renown,
A gentleman's daughter of Monihan town,
As she rode by the barracks, this beautiful maid,
She stood in her coach to see dragoons on parade.

<Blockquote>
Fare thee well, Inniskillen, fare thee well for a while
All thy bright borders of Erin's green isle
When the wars they are over we'll return in full bloom
And you'll all welcome home the Inniskillen Dragoons.
</blockquote>

Do I expect the readers to know this? Of course not. It's sufficient that I know it. It'll be a structure for me. (We'll return to this location "when the wars are over," and the main character is a "maiden of fame and renown.")

Beka is Rebecca, a Biblical character. Rosselin is Rosslyn Chapel. Metadi is a contraction of Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.

These provide meaning for me. If there is meaning for the author, the reader will know that meaning exists.

Claw Hard means to struggle.

Cashel and Raffa sound like cash and raffish, temptation and frivolity that have been left behind.

Thus I define my book, and so start in. The rest of the scene is from the standard furniture of science fiction, subgenre space opera.

Re: Dracula

i see your main distinction ... plausibility ... but isn't it just that, if one is willing to suspend disbelief for a second, that makes Drac such a great book?

Not plausibility, but realism. All fiction needs to be plausible, lest the read say "Oh, come on!" and throw the book against the wall. (That's another reason why you can't use real life straight in fiction. Real life doesn't have to make sense ... fiction does.)

Re: Learn Writing with Uncle Jim

hey, what's your opinion on character profiles? once again, i can't write without them. what info do you put in yours? and do you use one for minor characters as well as major ones?

Age, description, eye color, and any details that I learn about the character in the course of writing the book.

Yes, I do them for minor characters as well. This is because the minor character doesn't know he's minor. To the minor character, the story is about him, and he's the good guy.

(Y'all know what a hero is, right? It's someone who's made the "hero's journey." That is, someone who has gone to the realm of the dead and returned. See Odysseus for example. While the term has expanded to mean protagonist, consider making it literally true that your hero has gone on that journey. (You can do this in symbolic terms.) This will resonate with your readers who are, after all, the products of thousands of years of western culture, whether they know it or not.)

Re: Outline

When I was in high school, there were times when we had to do essays and we had to turn in an outline. I'd always write the essay first, then the outline.

This can work, too, for your full-length fiction, as a tool for finding plot-arcs that don't go anywhere, loose ends, not-fully-justified actions, and other plot-related bobbles.

Re: do you use software to help w/outlining?

every time I go for the novel, which is what I've always wanted most, I get stuck after a few pages.

I give you permission to write scenes out of order. Later on, you can move 'em around with your wordprocessor. (In the old days, authors would literally cut-and-paste whole chunks of prose. It got messy.)

I also give you permission to write badly. So long as your fingers are moving on the keys, you can write utter tripe. It's okay. You're going to revise it anyway, right?

What I don't give you permission to do is not write. When the Muse comes to your house, she expects to find you sitting in your chair in front of your typewriter. If you aren't there, she'll just go on to the next author on her list, rather than go looking for you.

Make time, every day, and during that time be at your keyboard. There is no substitute for the BIC (Butt In Chair) method.

Re: Outline

Sometimes you have a piece of writing that feels like it says what you want, or like it says part of what you want to say, but it doesn't come out to the proper end, or it's missing some point or conclusion it ought to have but which you somehow can't identify.

At those moments, it can be very useful to take the piece of writing and reduce it to a paragraph-by-paragraph descriptive outine. Where a paragraph continues and elaborates a point begun in an earlier paragraph, indent that entry in the descriptive listing.

Make sure your descriptive listings actually describe what's in the paragraphs. If you can't make them do it, you have a problem with your paragraphs.

If you can't tell the specific thing a paragraph is saying or doing, it's a bad paragraph, and should be deleted. Take any essential factbits that were in it and redistribute them into other paragraphs where they're appropriate. If you can't find appropriate paragraphs, either those factbits weren't essential after all and should be deleted, or you need to write the paragraphs in which those essential factbits are essential components.

When your outline is done, study it until you see what needs fixing. Proceed from there.

Re: Outline

I have a specific, nit-picky question. How do you manage all different versions of your novel at any given point in time? Do you date each file in a specific directory, etc.?

Especially if you are not sure which version you like better yet.

Re: Outline

I work with the current version in hardcopy, and the hardcopy version is the official one.

My wordprocessor allows me to sort files by date, so I know which is the most recent one I've fooled with.

<hr>

Another note on fonts -- for reading copies, sometimes I'll print out the novel in some font and size that I'm not used to -- Times New Roman double column justified singlespace, for example, to get a look at the text with a fresh eye.

Re: Outline

I have a question.

Are prologues really death to an unpublished writer? I have a prelude that begins my book. Its not forty pages of dry backstory and history, it is a scene. A scene that takes place about 50 years before the main protagonist's story begins in chapter one, but provides some insight on what is to come.

Is that so wrong?

Re: Outline

Are prologues death to an unpublished writer? No. Bad writing is death to an unpublished writer.

You merely have to remember that many of your readers are going to skip the prologue and go straight to chapter one.

If your prologue, or prelude, is vital to the story, call it Chapter One, and have Chapter Two start fifty years later.

Regardless of your decision, the first page of your prologue, prelude, or first chapter has to reward the reader enough to lead him/her to turn the page with rising interest. Even if they're just following along out of idle curiosity, at least they're following.

<HR>

A note on editors. Editors are not the enemy. What they are is readers' advocates. Think of them as a class of super-readers. Evading the editors is tantamount to evading your readers; a foolish course to take.

The great mass of readers out there in bookstores and libraries are relying on editors to do two things: a) guarantee that someone other than the author's mom liked the book, and b) the book was fully formed and polished before it arrived on the shelves.

Just as no one reader will like every kind of book, editors are not a monolithic block. You have to find the fit between your work and the right editor. This can be frustrating; the frustration level can come down a bit by choosing your markets carefully. (I've seen astounding things in the slush heaps at major publishers, things that made you wonder, "Hmmm.... is this guy going through Writers' Market alphabetically and it was just our turn?" because he should know that a house that publishes adult novels isn't going to be looking for a children's spelling book.) Send your stories to places likely to buy them! (Yes, it does pay you to read books that come out from a publisher you're considering.)

(Another note: a cover letter won't sell your novel, but it can certainly sink your novel. A cover letter that contains the words, "I think you'll find my book far better than the kind of trash you usually print" isn't going to make you any friends.)

(A personal note here: When I read slush, I take the cover letter and put it on the bottom of the stack of paper, unread. I don't want to go in prejudiced in any way. If I'm still reading at the point where I hit the cover letter, then I read it, and pass the story up the line.)

(Later, I'll give you an example of A Perfect Cover Letter.)

<hr>

Take home lesson: Editors are readers. They are your audience. Anything I say about readers, you can substitute the word "editor." Anything I say about editors, you can substitute the word "reader."

Re: Outline

Bad writing huh? Damn, I am so screwed!

Thanks Jim. You pretty much confirmed my suspicions on this topic. I have considered changing it to "Chapter One", but it really isn't. Honestly I think it will grab the reader, if they don't just skip it.

Re: Outline

Ilandur, you've just been told that readers frequently skip prologues. Believe it. Now think: if the readers automatically skip past the prologue, it's not going to grab them no matter how well-written it is.

The sad truth is, most prologues can be cut entirely without detriment to the book, and cutting them often improves it. There aren't many plots that actually need to include a scene that takes place decades before the main action. If you really truly do need that scene, do something like having a character narrate it as a story at some point in the book.

Here's a basic rule of exposition: Never tell the reader something before he or she wants to know about it.

Here's another rule: Reader are interested in setups and backstories because there's a story happening inside them.

Here's a third rule: Start with the story. Then continue with the story. Add in worldbuilding, backstory, setup, etc., only insofar as it's needed in service of the ongoing story.

How does this affect prologues? Because the only way your prologue is going to grab the readers is if the story kicks off right then and there. If you get the readers involved in this episode, and then instead of going on with it you hand them a fiffty-year gap in the narrative, they're going to justly feel misused. And if you don't kick off your story in the prologue, you're almost certainly explaining a bunch of stuff before the readers are interested in hearing about it.

Look, you asked, so I'm telling you: You are committing an error. Kill the prologue. Strip out any essential material that was in it and redistribute it within the main narrative.

Re: Outline

I hear you, I have heard it a lot.

This prelude is a good story in its own right, and it relates directly to the rest of the story. It just doesn't involve the protagonist, but rather his ancestors. I really can't see a way to "sprinkle it in" (I have heard that a lot too). Its not just an info dump, its a scene. It wouldn't work as a flashback because the characters involved aren't dealt with directly until far later in the series.

I don't skip prologues personally. I will skip a preface if it is just information about the writer or his approach to the book, and not the story. However, if the prologue is part of the story then I read it without fail. So I don't know that I buy the "common knowledge" approach that the bulk of readers don't read them.

Re: Outline

If the characters involved in the prologue aren't dealt with until far later in the series, maybe this is the first chapter from a different book. Try this: Drop the prologue, and see if any of your beta readers say "Hmmm... seems like there's something missing."

On the series: write each book as if it were the only book you'll ever write, as if the others don't exist and never will. Sure, they can all be part of a bigger universe, but give each book a beginning, a middle, and an end that's all its own, and is fully satisfying.

These are things I've learned by experience, by getting it wrong and learning better.

Re: Outline

I personally think Sofi's giving you some really good advice, Crow. Start the story where the story starts and back into the background stuff later on. If it is important to the story or characters, you will find a way. If not, it wasn't worth it.


It's been a pleasure. See you later.

:hat

Re: Outline

Ill, I have conflicting ideas on your prolog. The first good idea is to cut it and see if anything substantive is lost. If not, save that scene in a little folder for possible use in another story.

The second is to simply cross out the word "prolog" and write in "Chapter one." That's what I did.

The last is that you should do exactly what you want to do. Follow your instincts and make your own mistakes (if that's what it is). In the end, your own instincts and tastes are all you have going for you, and I think you should hone them as best you can.

Of course, I haven't seen your work, so I don't know what would be best. But trust yourself.

Re: Outline

Sad,

It's so damn sad, but its true. I pulled down a dozen of my favorite books off the shelf and about seven of them have a prologue. All of which I have read. So prologues DO get published. But...

Last night a buddy of mine came over and checked out my work for the first time. What was the first thing he did? Flipped to Chapter One.

:ack

I guess it depends on the reader. I am making the prelude chapter one.

Re: Further

Okay, Jim. This is where I start using caps and try to act more respectable. I am wondering if you would like to expound on your discussion of characterization in the context of research, backgrounding details, "cultural" content, and description. I could use more along these lines and having read the string up to this point, I am hopeful you will think this apt or might work it into your preexisting plans, in your usual accomodating way.

For example, in your Christian book you gave the first page or so. I was impressed by the absolutely solid research for your thematic structure. As applied to character?

I have the early part of the tiger book in very rough draft. It has some literary and perhaps commercial merit. I need an honest beta-reader. An accomplished writer such as Sofi or James would be perfect, someone I can trust, or a volunteer or whom you think. SC, you're busy with your own stuff, and this is just way too bloody for you now, so please don't even think about it. Tigers can be tough -- very, very tough. :ack
The genre is mainstream, Robert Stone updated. Think also, French Connection and Buddhist mysticism. :smokin

Appropos of outlines, this. As someone said, the initial writing and outlining have to go hand in hand for organizationally challenged people like me. The outlining step is crucial for me to know what it is I'm writing about, though. So ...

In what I call my broken-mirror style of writing, there's one scene fragment here, one fragment there, the arrangement dictated by dramatic pacing, and pretty soon they all add up to a (supposedly) coherent whole. It's taking Jim's index cards, shuffling them, and playing card tricks with them. This can also lead into traditional scenes. My tiger book is mostly traditional, but has at least one large part (I realized today on the park bench outside the Lourve) that better lends itself to broken-mirror treatment.

With that thought, today I started two parallel outlines, one chronological (in the sense of following placement in the text< not necessarily temporally) and the other logical. The logical outline is the whole story in detail, put down in sensible blocks. This would be Jim's heavy outline, or a version of it. The chrono part of the outline just says what has been or will be written down. When things get complex later on, it's good to have these two skeletons to compare with each other so you know what's on one body that needs be said on the other.

There is a third outline, also mentioned by Jim, the three-dimensional topographic outline that shows plot development and tension, which might best be done by computer program. At some point the first two outlines may pale in comparison to the complexity of the story itself, or just get outpaced, and then maybe only the high-tech one can really do. At this point the instinct of the writer would seem to have to take over and finish the thing up in good form. A good ending, however minimal it might be, is essential to a good story. It is also, in my experience the hardest thing to do. But a strong story can lead to a strong ending, by its very nature. The interlocking widening gyres.

That's what I came up with on the bench. Jim? :hat

Re: Further

I have the early part of the tiger book in very rough draft. It has some literary and perhaps commercial merit. I need an honest beta-reader.

No, qatz, at this point you don't need a beta reader. At this point you need a finished draft.

Don't wear out your beta readers. They are gold. Give them the best, most polished version you can.

I mentioned, briefly, using a flowchart. I didn't go into it in great detail, but I think it might be a direction you might explore. Here's an <a href="http://www.cpuinc.net/~rcjhicks/" target="_new">example</a> of a flowchart on a written source. See also <a href="http://www.technologyevaluation.com/request/main_edge.asp" target="_new">http://www.technologyevaluation.com/request/main_edge.asp</a> for a freebie.

Re: Further

That is VERY interesting James.

I am a programmer by trade (for the moment) but for some reason I never considered using a flow chart to plot the progression of my stories.

I'll have to try that.

Re: Further

another thought on outlines: when i started my second novel, i wrote a basic idea of what i wanted to do. then moved onto a basic ah-it'll-do outline and i started my story. but then it just didn't feel right, like you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink, feeling. so i made another outline and found myself adding a new character, (i made the new character the bad guy). then i got stuck AGAIN! I found myself just going in circles. so i made ANOTHER outline and low and behold! the new bad guy said, i don't want to be the bad guy, make me the good guy! so i reversed the two roles, making my original good guy the villian, and the once villian a good guy. i gave my new good guy more responsibilities and now, i think everyone is happy. (at least i hope, i'd hate to see my characters go on strike again.:teeth )

you know, i saw a documentary of dickens on PBS the other night. it was really interesting, and the documentary gave some of dickens writing hints. he would act out his stories as he wrote them and make up voices for all his characters. (his daughter actually saw him standing in front of a mirror acting out a character, then he'd run back to his study, scribble some words, then come back to the mirror.) it was really cool, because he got so lost in his stories, that he believed they were real, forcing the reader to believe they were real. and the doc. also said the same thing about minor characters, don't let them think they're minor. let them think they're major. in the story scrooge tiny tim has only one line, yet he's the most popular character. good points, uncle jim.
kim