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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario. An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"  Feel free to comment and interact. |
| Utilising Present Day News In Stories So, you see a great story in a newspaper, on the news, on a news site, and think, That would make for a great story! What do you do? Well, duh - you write the story! Okay, it's not that simple. You have several approaches available to you, so let's look at them. 1) Writing The Story First, you can write the story. Now, if it's a non-fiction retelling, you do you, but this is about fiction. So, we are talking a fictionalised account. If it is the actual story and you are recounting it, you need to have your facts right. You cannot make up facts. You might be able to get away with making up conversations, maybe add some extra characters, but if you are simply retelling a story in your own words as a work of fiction, despite it being fiction, the court system has proved you need to have your facts right or you could be sued. This does happen, though, and there are a lot of stories out there written with a real event as the story basis. Some things to be aware of, though: * just telling the story is journalism, even creative non-fiction; you need to have a twist on it; * you need to be a fast writer, because otherwise it will be dated; & * writing about the main players involved can be fraught with legal danger. But it is worth considering. 2) Basing On The Story The most common thing to do is to base your story on the actual story. What happened can be the same, but certain large details are changed - especially the people involved or the time it occurred - and so it is no longer the actual event/story, but something adjacent and with enough of the original story there that readers understand where it is coming from. This is really common in science fiction, by the way. However, because it has allusions to a real world event, it can become dated as well. You do still need to be aware of everything about including real people in it ("20240526 Using Real People In Fiction" ).3) Using The Story As A Scaffold This is when the story beats follow the event, but everything else is changed. This is the safest and the most common way to go. You know what happened, so use that to base a story on with completely different characters, setting and timeframe. It also means that, if well-written, it won't date the story. Given my druthers, this is the way I'd go. 4) A Jump-Off For An Alternate History This what alternate history is: "20240912 Alternate History" .In this case, you use the events of the story as they happened, making sure you keep to the facts... until you have a deviation, which sets up an alternate history world. You need to be very careful with living people portrayals, as is the case all the time, but once it becomes alternate and there is a degree of speculation, courts have been a little kinder to these works. Because you are deviating, as well, there is less likely to be a dating of the tale. How does this work in practice? Let's look at all four of the above, and use the January 6 2021 attacks. 1) A journalist watching the Jan 6 attacks and wondering what has happened to the USA. 2) In 2017, Trump didn't win and there were attacks on the Capital at his subtle instigation. 3) In 2004 in El Paso, Texas, John Smith didn't become mayor, and he convinced his supporters to storm the town hall. 4) In 2021, the attackers took the building, and Trump used his supporters to hold the entire country to ransom, forming a dictatorship in the process. This is simplistic (and all have been written, which is why I used them as examples), but shows how one real-world story can influence the writing of some works of fiction. Extra I have collected weird newspaper articles and stories for nigh on 40 years (I actually started in 1984), and have 36 scrapbooks filled with them. They have resulted in maybe half a dozen stories and exactly 0 published works. So, while this does seem something that could help, and is something I persist in, I have to say, for me it does not work as well as I had hoped as a teenager. Still, you might have greater success than me. And i reckon it is definitely worth considering. . |
| Alternate Writing Markets As a short story writer/ novelist/ columnist/ (bad) poet, I tend to write with a particular audience in mind. My work appears in books and magazines and online spaces, where the work is chosen/curated by publishers/ editors and I (mostly) get paid, even if a pittance. I have also discussed in the past writing screenplays and stage plays. But there are other things you can write that can lead to markets for your writing. So, let’s look at a few you might want to investigate. First is one I used to do. I wrote for a few professional wrestling organisations. Yes, wrestling. The matches in wrestling do not exist in isolation. There are stories to create reasons for two (or more) people to fight, and stories intertwine, allegiances shift, you need to be able to make changes when injuries occur or people leave – it is an intense and fascinating world to write for. Second is another one I used to do – write choreography for performance acts. It’s not just a matter of putting together a bunch of things that look cool; you need to make the way things work follow a narrative that can engage the audience. Cool stuff loses impact; a through-story helps keep them engaged. And third is the last one I have done before, and that is stand-up comedy. It used to be that you could get on stage and tell a string of jokes, but the alternative comedy of the 1960s saw that change to stand-up routines having a through-tale of sorts. So, you need to be funny, have funny jokes, and have them somehow be connected. It is not as easy as it sounds! But it is so much fun performing your own words and having a crowd laughing. So, next is writing for video games. I have an acquaintance who does that for one of the local companies, and he tells me that it is not easy, but when you see your work on a screen, it is so satisfying. It becomes like a choose-your-own-adventure writing task, but all choices either end in death or at the same final boss. Complex, but worth investigating. Next is something that used to be huge, then almost died, and is not coming back, and that’s audio plays. They used to be for radio, but now more and more podcasts are doing it. Now, this is different to stage and screen writing, because you need to include audio clips and there is nothing visual. You have to paint a word picture through dialogue and audio atmosphere. I have always wanted to try this, but am not sure really if I could, so I haven’t. Next is writing for graphic novels. This is an interesting thing to try, and I have done a course teaching how, but have not done one. As the writer, if you work with an artist, then it is completely collaborative. You have a story outlined (which is why I struggle) and work together on characters, scenes, visuals, dialogue, etc. However, I know at least one company in Australia used to get people to write for them, and then they assigned an artist. You need to write with a panel system, the 3*3 panel, and with merged panels thrown in to stop boredom, with descriptions of the images, then trust the artist. The Australian company used to do horror comics with 4-6 stories per issue, so it wasn’t a full graphic novel; I believe some might exist in the US still. And finally is writing poetry for slams. This differs from just writing poetry in that there has to be a performance component. When Kate Tempest does their script for their slam performances, they include body actions, sounds they have to do, facial expressions, where they move, etc. It is even more involved than a stand-up comedy script! Back “in my day” a poetry slam was just reading a poem loudly. Nowadays, it is full-on performance. So, I hope that intrigues some people to give other options a go. . |
| Know Your Audience I do know this does not apply to every writer, but for those who it does, this is something that I have found doing some editing is an issue amongst writers. This is answering the question: Who are you writing for? I realise a lot of writers just write for themselves. That is excellent; you should always be your first audience. And if you do not plan to show it to anyone else, great. But as soon as you put a piece of writing out there in the public, or to a group of people external to your circle, then you have an audience. Knowing your audience is key to reaching the people you want to reach. Now, I have already discussed writing in the young adult sphere ("20240510 Writing Young Adult Fiction" ), so I won’t re-invent the wheel there.First, though, some writers feel their work is so great or “so important” that everyone needs to read it. It’s why you get publishers closing to open calls because these morons feel their work should be submitted everywhere. When I worked for Static Movement (a spec fic press), the amount of stories that did not fit (a) the word count, (b) the theme of the anthology, (c) the spec fic genre, or (d) all of these, was insane. It still happens, and most of these writers are religious (99.99% Christian) writers who feel the need to convert everyone to their belief system. Well, sorry, but no-one’s work is so important. There is no such thing as a book that everyone has to read, no such thing as a book that suits everyone, nothing like that. There is such a thing as individual taste, needs, wants, beliefs, etc. Whenever I see those lists “100 books everyone must read before they die!” I look through and realise (a) I will have read maybe 10 of them, and enjoyed 5, and that the title is wrong. There is no such thing as a book you HAVE to read!! Sorry. It gets on my goat. But it does lead to this topic: know your audience. I can’t tell you who the audience is for any different work. It changes from culture to culture, county to country, even region to region, town to town! But you need to know who you are writing for. So, personal example. I write predominantly horror, and my main market is the USA. As such, I need to be aware that too many Australianisms confuse United Estatians, and that even words in English (the UK brand) have different meanings. It is still a thing I am learning, but I am getting there. Of course, as my works set in Australia, I cannot use US terms (like “cookie”… in Australia that is not something you eat… unless you’re a cannibal… but you do you) because it is not realistic, but I need to ensure some things I avoid. I also need to limit my use of terms like “God” and “Jesus” when spoken in a non-ecclesiastical arena. In Australia, they are part of children’s programming; in the USA, it’s as bad as “fuck.” But I am learning my market. So, what does this mean to a normal writer? First, only submit a story to a trad publisher who it’s a good fit for. Logical, but too many ignore it. Second, make sure if there is the option of stating what sort of rating a story has, err on the side of a higher rating. A PG film in the USA is often a G film in Australia, for example, so calling an Australian G-rated story PG is erring on the side of caution. Third, give your story the correct genre. “But my story has no genre!” I hear a lot; then call it ‘mainstream’ or something like that. Don’t give a romance story to someone who only reads body-horror. But many do… Of course, you can write for more than one market, more than one country, more than one culture. My stories sell in the US, Australia and the UK, set in Australia, but (it seems) appealing across cultures because I do not push the one Australian culture as the be-all and end-all. However, when my stories are way too Australian, they are a much harder sell; this is just something I have learnt through trial and error. USians have an advantage as theirs is the largest reading market in the Western world… but, even then, I have heard some Texan and Floridian writers struggle to sell to publications based west and north. That cultural divide still exists in one country. Then comes the hard bit. Do NOT try to write a story for every single genre and culture. It will not work. Write your story with you, the first audience, in mind, and then, if you want it to be read by a wider audience, consider these four things: 1) the age of the reader you want, 2) the genre/s you want the story to fit into, 3) which country/ culture you want to read your story, & 4) is it a good story? Good story first, audience second. Always. Now, I know I didn’t say anything to help you find an audience, because it is too individual. But, once your work goes into any public arena, the audience is a part of the process. Don’t annoy them. . |
| Self-Insert Characters This came up while discussing characters during NaNoWriMo prep. I linked to a old post about the perils of the Mary Sue/Marty Stu character in writing (right here, for those playing at home: "20240215 Mary Sue/Marty Stu (Gary Stu)" ). However, are all self-insert characters a Mary Sue/Marty Stu?Simple answer: No. The Mary Sue is idealised and perfect and can do nothing wrong, and if something is done wrong, it all comes out right (perfect) in the end. They have more powers than everyone else, are cleverer, more intelligent and either "fix" the broken boy or end up with the dream-boat main character (especially in Mary Sue fan-fiction). They are just too perfect. Sometimes the writer is smart enough to make the character not look like them, but what they look like is what the author wishes they look like. Just too wonderful for words. However,, there is still the fact that some people insert themselves into their fiction. This is not just people writing from a first person PoV; this is when a character is so obviously the writer. This is perfectly fine. My first long works, there were definitely characters who were me. In one I was the MC, in another I was the MC's off-sider. As a beginner writer, it made writing characters easier. But a writer might also want to write their own fictional universe with them at the centre, a fictional autobiography. And, again, that is fine. The main thing, though, is that you are not perfect, so your written counterpart should not be perfect as well. And in stories that resonate with readers, the characters grow or change, so make your self-insert grow or change. They need to make mistakes. They need to not know everything. They need to really foul things up at times. They need to not be the centre of everything, able to do everything needed. Basically, like all other characters, they need to be realistic! ("20240214 Notes On Character" )So, if you want, feel free to self-insert! Just remember you are not perfect, and no character should be perfect. Don't Mary Sue/Marty Stu yourself in your work! . |
| Outside In Plantsing So, yesterday, I looked at a plantsing technique: "20241006 Chasing The Cat" .This reminded me of another plantsing technique I've seen used by writers, and so I shall explain that for completion. Outside In! This is a technique best utilised with a computer; doing it by hand would make this tedious as it could involve constant rewrites. In this technique, plan the beginning and the ending of the story, as well as the protagonist/s and antagonist/s. Write these two sections of the work, opening and closing. Plan what comes next from the beginning, and what comes before the ending. Make any changes to what is already written due to these new sections (especially introducing secondary characters). Write these new sections. Repeat, planning what comes next, and what comes before, making relevant changes to what has already been written. Keep going until the two sections meet in the middle. Some points:  Sections are not necessarily chapters. They might be part of a chapter, a few chapters, whatever works for the writer. The recommendation is that no more than 3 chapters be written in a section at a time. The rewriting and adding section is important, because things will occur while adding new bits that will affect the ending or need clarification at the beginning. Having the main characters (antag/protag) is important because these are not things that can be easily rewritten into a story. The opening first written does not have to be the final opening, and the ending can have things added afterwards to tie up loose ends. This technique involves a lot of rewriting, and because it is done from two ends, a complete rewrite is often done at the end. While some writers have an issue with the complete rewrite, for those not averse to that, this technique can help a plantser. This technique keeps a definite end of the story in sight and keeps a story on track, even though the middle bits are only planned piecemeal.Anyway, that's another technique that could help the plantser/plotser (definitions here:"20240120 Plotting and Pantsing" ). |
| Chasing The Cat I have gone through various plotting styles, and also explained how I am a pantser when it comes to writing my stuff. What some people don't seem to understand is that pantsing involves no prep beyond what sits in my head. I have people telling me to plan now the ideas, but that is now how writing works for me. We are all different. Stop telling me that I write wrong. Here's an explanation of the terms: "20240120 Plotting and Pantsing" .But what about plantsers, those who do a bit of plotting and bit of pantsing in the same story? Well, that's what I will be looking at here - one technique for plantsing (plotsing, plontsing, whatever you want to call it). I introduce to you: Chase The Cat! This technique involves a planned first chapter/ opening, then a loose series of ideas for the next two chapters. This gives three chapters with some sort of plotting done, though how comprehensive is up to the writer. Once you have written chapter 2, go forward and increase the detail of the chapter 3 outline, and then write outlines for chapters 4, 5 and 6. Once you have written chapter 5, go forward and increase the detail of the chapter 6 outline, and then write outlines for chapters 7, 8 and 9. Keep doing this until you have finished. Now, some people do 4 chapters instead of 3, and I have even heard of doing 5 chapters, but it seems 3 is the most common. This way you are not planning too far ahead, just enough to make sure you know where your story is going. An alternate method of Chasing The Cat is that you do all of this, but you also outline the very end of the story. This, the proponents say, gives you a clear direction for where the story is going while still chasing those next outlines. What all of this does is it makes sure that you do not feel tied into an outline you end up rejecting anyway, and you don't waste your time planning something that is going to be discarded. You also do not need to be tied to the ending you outline here, but it can help some. And that is for Plantsers! |
| NaNoWriMo Okay, this is going to be brief. Regular readers of my newsfeed posts will know I have issues with NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month. There has been a litany of things that have turned me off.  They had issues with their forums involving inappropriate behavior by moderators. One moderator had multiple accounts and used these to harass others. An incident arose in Melbourne (Australia) and they took one side over the other when both sides were equally at fault. International communities were made to feel like they were lesser, not only as members but as writers. They banned the use of Discord as a way for regions to communicate, instead pushing their toxic forum (which is closed as I write this). They refuse to state that the use of AI to write stories whole-cloth (and therefore, theft of the work of others) is wrong. They require regional leaders to report people to local authorities if they break the law, which means gay writers in Saudi Arabia are no longer welcome to do NaNo, for example.And on a personal level: I wrote an email to them and the response I received made me feel like “my type” is not welcome in the NaNo. My type? A white, middle-class, atheist, middle-aged male. We are the problem with the world (not so much the atheist bit, but that is seen as nasty by them anyway), so if we feel like we are excluded, then that’s because we deserve it.So, now that I have been negative, what am I writing this for? Because I am doing naNoWriMo this year. I promised an ill friend that I would accompany her on her first attempt to do it, and so I am doing it for her. I will encourage her and boost her and get her over the line. As for me… I’ll make it. The goal is hardly a challenge for me. This brings me to the crux of this post: To those who are doing NaNo, the goal is to write 50k words in 30 days, at 1667 words a day. Look at that goal. It does not say you need to finish a story. Just that you need to write 50,000 words of a story. Or you can rebel and change the writing goal, or write a series of short stories or poems (though that is more NaPoWriMo). Yes, technically, it should be 50k words of a novel (the No means Novel, after all), but by now people just write whatever they feel like, and push for 50k. We have a prep going on here at WdC ("October Novel Prep Challenge" ) that I was volunteered to do, though I do not think I am any good at this sort of thing. That will help those who plot get a handle on their stories, and pantsers like me might even see something to it (I’m not doing it; I can’t see how any of it will help me personally). Note: not help me; everyone else, especially plotters, will find it invaluable.But, and this is important, I do hate the “competition” aspect of NaNo. You “win” if you crack 50k words. Great. But that means you are said to “lose” if you don’t. That is rubbish! Every word you write is a good word you have written, and one more you have written that you have not written before. So many people claim they are going to “write a book”, but never do, so if you get words down, then you are ahead of the vast majority of the population. And just because you don’t crack 50k words in November doesn’t mean you stop writing. Keep working on it – you’ve got the base for a longer story. And it is only a first draft, so it does not have to be perfect. Not at all. Other drafts can occur at any time – this is 50k words of a first draft. This whole “winners and losers” thing sucks big time. I hate competitions and contests at the best of times, but making a challenge into a win/lose situation just reeks of elitism. So, write, do NaNo if you desire, or unofficially if not (which is what my region has opted for) and just remember: All writing is good writing! |
| External Writerings IX Time again for my external writerings. Clicking can help me out in my vain attempts to be a real writerer. Celebrating the films of James Earl Jones. Songs about various forms of legging. Songs about mirrors! Songs about naked and nude things. Songs about the sky. And, finally, a bunch of brief album reviews of the albums I liked from this quarter. Hope you enjoy them! |
| Hemingway On Info-dumps Recently Max Griffin 🏳️🌈 did a quite comprehensive and well-written newsletter (and subsequent Newsfeed note - "Note: View this Note") about info-dumping. And I’ve brought it up in the past as well. So, looking through my notes et al., I found this: Something quite popular at the moment is "Iceberg Videos" - where you go deeper and deeper into more and more obscure information. They can be fun, infuriating and, generally, are useless and don't do what they say. But the concept is also used in writing, especially description and world-building. And reading a lot of things by unpublished writers, some books online, some other works, I think this iceberg is worth considering. The Hemingway Iceberg Theory Of Writing. Yes, Ernest Hemingway... in case you thought it was named after Mariel or Margaux... Based on the fact that, traditionally, 90% of an iceberg is said to exist under the surface of the water, this can best be summed up by: Hemingway said that only the tip of the iceberg showed in fiction—your reader will see only what is above the water—but the knowledge that you have about your character that never makes it into the story acts as the bulk of the iceberg. And that is what gives your story weight and gravitas. (Jenna Blum, The Author At Work, 2013) What this means is you can do all the work you want on world-building, but don't just info-dump it to tell your reader. Too often, I see this: You've created this magnificent world and these characters, and, goshdarnit, you're going to let everyone know all the work you've put in! Well, it's generally boring. If you think your story needs that much exposition, especially at the beginning of the tale, then maybe look at how your story starts. I would also include the overly detailed character descriptions so many beginner writers seem inclined to foist upon their readers. I know I'm going to cop abuse for this (I always do when I mention info-dumps), but I think this is important. If you are writing for yourself, great, do what you want. But if you are writing for an external reader, then maybe take Hemingway's advice into consideration. Just a thought. |
| Story Structure Writing Methods (Personal) There has been a lot of chatter in newsfeed and on newsletters about the writing methods people use. Do you use Socrates' 3-act structure? The Hero's Journey? Freytag's geometrical shape? Crisis-Conflict-Resolution? Some other style of writing? How do you structure your stories? Why do you use this and not this? You should try the snowflake method! You need to do the rising action method! People who don't use one method never sell! Magazines only look for this other method! In the end, do you use the Freytag's Pyramid, The Hero's Journey, Three-Act Structure, The Dan Harmon Story Circle, The Fichtean Curve, Save the Cat, The 7-Point Story Structure, The Snowflake Method, or some other method? So... what method do I use? No idea. And, more to the point, I do not care. I just write. I have an idea, and I write it. I don't think about anything like structure. I put in what needs to be in there. I know some of my stories seem to utilise the dictates of certain methods, it is only because my story-telling fell into that. In my opinion, looking at a story-writing method and sticking to that stifles creativity. Just tell a story. If it's good, people will like it. if not, they won't. If you're lucky, it will sell. if not, then it won't. This whole "which story structure writing method do you/ should you use" argument takes away from the one thing that we are here to do: Write a story! |
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