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Post by deuce on Apr 14, 2017 12:01:45 GMT -5
It seemed to me that we could use a thread like this. We already have a thread on fanfic writing, but I didn't want to invade that. I also thought I might be posting too much about schools of writing in the "Cultural" thread. This thread really isn't about that, exactly. More about how various writers view the process of writing, what current markets are doing, writing tips etc. A good roundup of quotes about writing and fiction here: thepulparchvist.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-short-collection-of-writing-quotes.html
If entertainment means light and playful pleasure, then I think it is exactly what we ought to get from some literary work – say, from a trifle by Prior or Martial. If it means those things which ‘grip’ the reader of popular romance – suspense, excitement and so forth – then I would say that every book should be entertaining. A good book will be more; it must not be less. Entertainment, in this sense, is like a qualifying examination. If a fiction can’t provide even that, we may be excused from inquiry into its higher qualities.
— C. S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
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Post by deuce on Apr 14, 2017 15:03:17 GMT -5
"Give your readers two things: A reason to hope that things will turn out ok for your character, and a reason to fear that they won’t."
-- Misha Burnett
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Post by paulmc on Apr 14, 2017 15:30:25 GMT -5
Write. Don't talk about writing. Don't tell me about your wonderful story ideas. Don't give me a bunch of 'somedays.' Plant your ass and scribble, type, keyboard. If you have any talent at all, it will leak out despite your failure to pay attention in English. And if you didn't pay attention, learn. A carpenter needs to know how to use a hammer, level, saw, and so forth. You need to know how to use the tools of writing. Because, no, the editor won't fix it up. S/he will just chunk your thing in the shit heap and go on to somebody who can put together an English sentence with an appropriate sprinkle of punctuation marks. =====
Your books have often been described as "gritty and realistic." How do you achieve that?
You just write stuff the way it is instead wishful thinking.
-- Glen Cook
(https://www.sfsite.com/10a/gc209.htm)
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Post by emerald on Apr 14, 2017 16:35:44 GMT -5
"Never mistake motion for action." - Ernest Hemingway
“The impulse behind purple prose is to make everything larger than life, almost to over respond, maybe because, habituated to life written down, in both senses, we become inured and have to be awakened by something intolerably vivid.” - Paul West
"Whereas the truth is that fullness of soul can sometimes overflow in utter vapidity of language, for none of us can ever express the exact measure of his needs or his thoughts or his sorrows; and human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars." - Flaubert
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Post by Von K on Apr 15, 2017 11:35:09 GMT -5
Robert E Howard on ...
The secret of writing...
Where do you begin?
Character agency...
Plots...
Outlining...
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Post by Von K on Apr 15, 2017 12:47:02 GMT -5
The prolific pulp writer H Bedford-Jones was known as King of the Pulps, and the age of the Pulps was said to be over when he died in 1949. He wrote in 1922 that for the most part anyone can write a story:
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Post by Von K on Apr 15, 2017 12:55:37 GMT -5
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Post by Von K on Apr 15, 2017 20:01:39 GMT -5
David Gemmell:
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Post by deuce on Apr 16, 2017 11:32:54 GMT -5
Very cool stuff from everybody. Thanks! James Reasoner, REH aficionado and a man who knows how to crank out some fast-moving prose, reviews Robert Turner's venerable how-to manual, Pulp Fiction, in this blog post: jamesreasoner.blogspot.com/2017/04/forgotten-books-pulp-fiction-robert.html"[Turner's] main point is that rules don't matter as much in writing as making your stories entertaining, and you entertain your readers by making them feel an emotional response. After establishing that, Turner discusses how to make plot, characterization, setting, and dialogue all serve that end."
-- James Reasoner
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Post by trescuinge on Apr 16, 2017 21:44:22 GMT -5
As a writer, you don’t have to be the expert. You don’t have to have lived what your characters have lived in order to be convincing. Sure, Ian Fleming was a member of the League of Ungentlemanly Warfare. So when he wrote James Bond, he knew what he was talking about, but for every Ian Fleming sitting behind a typewriter, there are thousands of authors who are pretty boring. Raymond Chandler was a hard-drinking accountant, not a hard-boiled detective, and he defined a genre. Tom Clancy was an insurance agent. J.K. Rowling did not go to wizard school. However, Lovecraft did in fact commune with the Elder Things… I’m just sayin’. Larry Correia
monsterhunternation.com/best-of-mhn/
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Post by Von K on Apr 17, 2017 15:13:32 GMT -5
Thanks for the link to Larry's blog Trescuinge, plenty of great advice there. Thanks for the link to James Reasoner's post on Turner too Deuce.
And speaking of Raymond Chandler...
Raymond Chandler
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Post by Von K on Apr 17, 2017 15:21:25 GMT -5
And here's some great stuff from one of REH's favourite writers...
Jack London
Regular practice Focus Proactive inspiration Study of the greats Notebooks Work toward a life philosophy The three four great things
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Post by deuce on Apr 18, 2017 14:50:34 GMT -5
More excellent research from Nathan Housley: thepulparchvist.blogspot.com/2017/04/writing-for-pulps-walter-gibson.htmlWhat Walter Gibson is saying sounds very much like what REH said about the centrality of his characters when it came to him being able to write a yarn. REH was also an outliner, if not to the degree that Gibson was. I forget who pointed it out, but REH's stories are character-driven. Tim Willocks seems to have the same attitude.
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Post by Von K on Apr 19, 2017 2:31:48 GMT -5
I forget who pointed it out, but REH's stories are character-driven. Tim Willocks seems to have the same attitude. Here ya go
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Post by Von K on Apr 19, 2017 2:36:35 GMT -5
Thanks to Trescuinge for this one, he first posted a link to it in the Leigh Brackett thread. One of the finest writing tips you're likely to find this side of Sinharat from:
Leigh Brackett
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