Fantasy: September 24, 2014 Issue [#6566]
<< September 17, 2014Fantasy Archives | More From This Day | Print This IssueOctober 1, 2014 >>

Newsletter Header
Fantasy


 This week: Holding Back
  Edited by: Robert Waltz Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The most important things to remember about back story are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting.
         -Stephen King

But I'm going to try to tell the truth. Except for the parts I'm leav­ing out, because there's still stuff I'm just not going to tell you. Get used to it.
         -Robin McKinley

No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.
         -Lewis Carroll


Word from our sponsor

ASIN: B0CJKJMTPD
Product Type: Kindle Store
Amazon's Price: $ 4.99


Letter from the editor

I've written before of the importance of not telling your backstory up front. Starting with one or two characters and their actions is a much better way to hook readers and hold interest.

But there's more to it than that.

We're all familiar with the "mysterious past" trope, I'm sure - the one where the main character or his/her love interest or whatever is holding some deep secret that can never be told. And yes, sometimes it feels like a cheap trick to keep the reader's interest - but played right, it does just that.

Here's how to play it right, in my personal opinion:

1) Make it something extraordinary. If it turns out that the character lied on his tax forms, no one cares, not even if the reader works for the IRS.

2) Make it meaningful to the story, something that drives characters' motivations, either because they're trying to keep the secret, or because they're trying to ferret it out.

3) Know what it is from the beginning.

4) Drop hints. Throw in some red herrings.

5) Reveal it before the end.

Alternatively, there's the route Tarantino went in Pulp Fiction: There's something in that briefcase (or bag, or safe deposit box, or whatever). Maybe you, the author, knows what it is, or maybe not. What's essential to the plot there is not whether the container holds drugs or money or a new, free source of energy, but the fact that some people will kill to obtain it and others will die to protect it. Or whatever the plot is. Someone once asked me what I thought was in the briefcase, and I said it was a Plot Device.

In a case like that, revealing it can be an anticlimax. Sometimes you want that, but usually, in these situations, you only need to know that it's something that is valuable to someone.

Either way, when you do the reveal, the story's effectively over. So use it wisely.


Editor's Picks

Just a few bits of fantasy:

 Sleeping Beauty Open in new Window. [E]
For a contest to rewrite a fairy tale with vampires
by the solitude of numbers Author Icon


 In the Clouds Open in new Window. [E]
100-word story for OH WOW. For those times when all you can ask for is patience...
by BeHereBook Author Icon


 Prime Hector; or, Mozart Revisited Open in new Window. [13+]
A philosophy on music, Kafka-style.
by Cameleopard Author Icon


 Wishes and Friends Open in new Window. [E]
A young boy's first wish proves to be a blessing for this troubled Leprechaun.
by Elaine Lincoln Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor


 Letra and Cobar Trial of Faith Open in new Window. [E]
This is a short story of fiction of a myth.
by sopaw Author Icon


 Invalid Item Open in new Window. []

by A Guest Visitor

 
Submit an item for consideration in this newsletter!
https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form

Word from Writing.Com

Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
         https://www.Writing.Com/go/nl_form

Don't forget to support our sponsor!

ASIN: B085272J6B
Product Type: Kindle Store
Amazon's Price: $ 9.99


Ask & Answer

Last time, in "ZombiesOpen in new Window., I talked about zombies.

ENB Author Icon: Interesting topic. *Laugh* I think the same things can be said with ghosts only they're less real. I like to compare Tolkien's Ringwraiths/Nazgul with zombies because they both are in that undead state but yet so alive and vicious. Anyway...*Smile*

         Of course, the trick is putting your own spin on any of these monsters.


creatress Author Icon: Yeah. They really are the perfect monsters. I don't watch many zombie movies, so I never really picked up on any of the characteristics that you just shared until now.

         I actually haven't seen too many zombie movies. But I loved Zombieland.


writetight: I could not agree more, Robert, with your Fantasy newsletter concerning zombies. Humans have to have a healthy outlet for their hate. It's politically correct to take our base fears out on a zombie. Well done.

         What do we fear most? For many, it's death and dying. For others, it's whatever is different. For a select few of us, it's clowns. What many of these fears have in common is the element of the unknown. So we take the essential elements (death, the Other, and feature-obliterating makeup) and bingo: zombies.


Futrboy Author Icon: While the zombies we see are pitiful, shambling wrecks (most of the time), I believe our fear of Zombies is much more than just a fear of the Other. I think it's more of a reaction to changing times that are beyond our control.

When Universal Pictures began its zombie movies in the 1930's and 40's, zombies were slow-moving, mind-controlled slaves. It was no shock that most of those portrayed were black. The greatest fear in the movies was for a white person to become a zombie.

This, I believe, came from the Great Depression. Americans lost their jobs by the millions. The American Dream was dead in their eyes. A wave of despair washed over them, unstoppable. For the first time in a long time, a vast majority of Americans felt that they were not in control of their lives. Others, such as greedy fatcat bankers, held control of their fates. At the height of the Depression, I believe many people thought there was no end in sight. Movies like "White Zombie" showed that fear in no longer being in control of one's life.

After WWII, when the economy skyrocketed, zombie movies became passe, though they didn't go away. Then, in 1968, as America seemed to be on the edge of revolt with the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam protests and violence from domestic terror groups like the SLA and Weathermen.

In the midst of this came George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead." Again, no surprise that it was set in the South, the area that felt most threatened by the Civil Rights Movement.

Ensuing movies would exploit (and sometimes parody) things believed to be overwhelming America, like commercialism ("Dawn of the Dead") and corporate greed ("Resident Evil"). Even "World War Z" got it right once, with the scene in Israeli as the Israelis fought to hold back hordes that are thinly disguised Palestinians.

With the crisis in Eastern Ukraine, the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa and ISIL, among others, one can see unlimited potential for future zombie outbreaks.

[Submitted item: "Invalid ItemOpen in new Window.


         I see you've given the subject more thought than I have. Well done.


That'll do it for me for September. See you next month! Until then,

DREAM ON!!!

*Bullet* *Bullet* *Bullet* Don't Be Shy! Write Into This Newsletter! *Bullet* *Bullet* *Bullet*

This form allows you to submit an item on Writing.Com and feedback, comments or questions to the Writing.Com Newsletter Editors. In some cases, due to the volume of submissions we receive, please understand that all feedback and submissions may not be responded to or listed in a newsletter. Thank you, in advance, for any feedback you can provide!
Writing.Com Item ID To Highlight (Optional):

Send a comment or question to the editor!
Limited to 2,500 characters.
Word from our sponsor
ASIN: B083RZ2C5F
Product Type:
Amazon's Price: Price N/A
Not currently available.

Removal Instructions

To stop receiving this newsletter, click here for your newsletter subscription list. Simply uncheck the box next to any newsletter(s) you wish to cancel and then click to "Submit Changes". You can edit your subscriptions at any time.


<< September 17, 2014Fantasy Archives | More From This Day | Print This IssueOctober 1, 2014 >>

This printed copy is for your personal use only. Reproduction of this work in any other form is not allowed and does violate its copyright.