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Post by deuce on Jun 11, 2017 20:49:15 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jun 13, 2017 8:11:34 GMT -5
Advice from author Charles R. Rutledge:
1. Write like you. We all imitate at first but don't try to be the next Stephen King or Lee Child. Be the only you.
2. Get things off to a fast start. I'm easily bored in reading and writing. I want stuff happening from the first paragraph if possible.
3. Something has to matter to someone. Someone in the cast has to be emotionally invested in the outcome of the story. Doesn't have to be the protagonist, but somebody needs that tie.
Finally, one I stole from Elmore Leonard. Leave out the parts people skip.
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Jun 13, 2017 11:50:33 GMT -5
Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. I could go on ad infinitum... Great advice.
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Post by deuce on Jun 15, 2017 10:11:42 GMT -5
Nathan Housley, a student of the pulps and the craft of writing fiction, has an interesting post here: thepulparchvist.blogspot.com/2017/06/quick-thoughts-inward-and-outward-focus.htmlHousley mixes some of his own astute observations with plenty of great quotes from other writers. "A good writer can watch a cat pad across the street and know what it is to be pounced upon by a Bengal tiger." -- John le Carre
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Post by deuce on Jun 21, 2017 20:13:31 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jun 24, 2017 14:21:12 GMT -5
Some grammar tips from the excellent CJ Cherryh: Convenient toolkit for those confused by may and might.
If it fits better in package A---it's may. If it fits better in package B, it's might.
1. PACKAGE A: [possibly, today, will, shall, really, likely, foreseeably likely] may
2. PACKAGE B: [if only, should have, would have, could have, should, would, could; yesterday; not so likely.] might.
And as a general rule, if your main sentence is present or future, you use 'may,' [might isn't absolutely wrong, but it means it's not really likely to happen.]
As a general rule, if your sentence is talking about the past, you can't use may. The chance of it is gone. Buh-bye. You can't reach back and change it. No matter what, coulda, shoulda, woulda doesn't change a thing. It's 'might', like it or not.
"May' indicates a situation can be changed. These tricky verb forms are an expression of possibility or degree-of-realness. May or might can be used to express how likely something is---but ONLY with a present or future tense verb. It may work---expresses likely-it-will. It might work---expresses doubt. Got it?
With a past tense verb ruling the sentence, you have NO choice but might, because the chance has totally expired. Nada. Dead. No escape. "If he had gone to the left, he might have avoided the accident." Expresses a possibility that has grown wings and flown away. Got it? Saying 'may' is just wrong, wrong, wrong, because you have no time machine.
Newscasters and narrators really should just wipe 'may' out of their vocabulary. Professionally, since they're reporting on recent history, they can't use 'may' at all---what they're talking about has already happened. And since 'might' can be used with present or past, it's always right in ordinary conversation.
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Post by deuce on Jun 29, 2017 7:41:48 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jul 10, 2017 19:09:07 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jul 17, 2017 8:59:29 GMT -5
Robert Turner, a working writer and the author of the well-regarded Pulp Fiction, had some things to say about using emotion: To me, the condition of being entertained is a comparative state. It is being aware, the opposite of being bored. If you needle a reader’s emotions, he cannot be bored. There are many ways to do this. The more of them that you learn, the more powerful and successful a writer you will become. That is why, forever after you have sold your first story, you will constantly study people and other writer’s work, to learn more and more of the tricks of getting at people’s emotions.
-- Robert TurnerRead more here: thepulparchvist.blogspot.com/2017/06/emotion-and-entertainment.html
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Post by Von K on Jul 17, 2017 18:22:45 GMT -5
Thanks for the linkage Deuce! I tried tracking down Robert Turner's book but no luck so far. Seems to be unavailable on Amazon now. It seems his advice would make a great complement to round out Lester Dent's. Hope this next link of mine isn't overkill for this thread: www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ_Yq-hCQ9kmCiNdDeIrbgA/videosIt links to a great series of 12 one hour lectures on youtube by Brandon Sanderson, one of the top epic fantasy writers (he was comissioned to finish the late Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan's widow). He lectures yearly at the BYU, and was previously himself a student there at the time when David Farland was lecturer. Very generous of them to post these lectures online for the benefit of aspiring writers.
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Post by deuce on Jul 18, 2017 7:27:12 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Jul 22, 2017 12:03:41 GMT -5
Bryce Beattie of StoryHack magazine has posted Nelson Bond's "pulp story formula". Bond was a respected and prolific pulpster. Some good advice in there, IMO. www.storyhack.com/2017/07/17/another-pulp-story-formula/ Get going with a bang! Remember, you’re writing a short story, not Gone With the Wind. You can’t waste words, nor will the editor permit you to waste his or the readers’ time. Your first thousand words must tell who are to be the central characters of this work-of-art, when the story takes place, where the scene is set, what the problem is, and set the question as to how the hero expects to take care of it.
-- Nelson Bond
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Post by deuce on Jul 29, 2017 13:53:39 GMT -5
Christopher Paul Carey, an author whose fiction I enjoy a great deal, has this to say: If you've been working on a novel since you were a teenager and you're now an adult, as painful as this may sound, put it in the trunk and start something new. Trust me, it will be a freeing experience and you can apply what you've learned over the years to a fresh work, making it infinitely better than the old, stale one. I've run one-on-one writing workshops for the past several years and I can't tell you the number of times I've heard unpublished writers saying they've been working on their novels for X number of years (usually between seven to fifteen). That's just too long. You're too close to it and the chances that it will be worthy of readers' time are slim indeed. But don't despair: the experience hasn't been wasted and working on a new project just may give you the boost you need to finish your first novel in a timely manner.
-- Christopher Paul Carey
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Post by deuce on Aug 6, 2017 21:10:42 GMT -5
Russell Newquist has an excellent tip for indie authors: Stop Whining. russellnewquist.com/2017/06/marketing-tip-stop-whining/Newquist nails it. I see this all the time on social media/blogs. ERB didn't whine. REH didn't whine (OK, maybe to close friends, but not to his public). Lord Dunsany didn't whine. Haggard didn't whine. When an author is "public facing", that author should either be interesting -- which means not whining -- or shut up. Charles R. Rutledge is an author who does it right. He doesn't live the life of an international mercenary or secret agent. His life is fairly quiet -- it would appear -- but what he does say about it publicly is interesting. And he never whines.
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Post by deuce on Aug 23, 2017 12:52:45 GMT -5
More good advice from pulp legend, Nelson Slade Bond. This time he looks at "narrative hooks": thepulparchvist.blogspot.com/2017/08/nelson-bonds-first-thousand-words.htmlHe knew how to write a sellable pulp tale and sold to numerous markets. Just check out his SFF biblio -- which doesn't count his other work in various genres: www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?456
In order to interest the editor, must you start your story with action? "Boom boom" action, I mean. There are stories and stories; some demand a fast-action opening, others call for slow development, still others strike a neutral balance. Every yarn is a different problem; by the nature of the story you mean to tell, you must determine what type of opening is the most suitable.
-- Nelson Bond
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