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Post by Von K on Aug 23, 2017 18:02:20 GMT -5
Thanks Deuce.
Some opening hooks combine multiple elements too.
Nathan also links to Nelson's advice on building a 5000 word yarn based on a five part structure which makes a good complement to Lester Dent's classic four part structure.
Very interesting blog Nathan runs there at Pulp Archivist with some cool corollary linkage.
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Post by deuce on Oct 5, 2017 8:54:16 GMT -5
Pulp legend, Lester Dent, gives some advice on creating memorable characters: thepulparchvist.blogspot.com/2017/10/wave-those-tags-by-lester-dent.html "Find a tag. External tags are peculiarities of appearance, manner, voice, clothing, hobby, etc. Tagging is reliable stuff, apparently, judging by how much it is used in fiction, plays, radio, movies, books. The motion pictures usually apply a very obvious form of external tag to one or more characters. A supporting player in a film who goes around trying to do something--work a magic trick (aw, come on; pick a card) for instance--throughout the picture is an example of such a tag."
-- Lester Dent
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Post by Von K on Oct 5, 2017 18:47:33 GMT -5
Thanks for the link Deuce. Always good to hear more advice from LD himself.
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Post by deuce on Oct 5, 2017 23:57:25 GMT -5
Dragon Award-winning author, Brian Niemeier, has some tips on polishing one's prose:
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Post by deuce on Oct 6, 2017 0:00:05 GMT -5
Thanks for the link Deuce. Always good to hear more advice from LD himself. Glad you liked it. Ol' Les could crank out some pulp. By the time he wrote that essay, he'd been around the block.
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Post by deuce on Oct 17, 2017 13:04:09 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Oct 20, 2017 10:06:52 GMT -5
Blogger and author, Ryan Fowler, has collected some short quotes on writing, mostly from authors in the Neo-Pulp crowd: oldfadedtrails.blogspot.com/2017/04/collected-advice-on-writing-from-writers.html “I really don’t have any advice other to write, read, write, read then write and read some more. Keep at it and, if it’s really what you want to do, don’t be deterred. If you’re deterred, then you really didn’t want it badly enough.”
-- Peter Brandvold
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Post by deuce on Oct 21, 2017 23:59:30 GMT -5
CJ Cherryh on paragraphs: I think I can explain adequately with one simple analogy: cream and milk.
First of all, yes, it is the rule to paragraph when you change speakers in dialogue. Once or twice in your career you may find it useful to violate that rule, but that's what the readers expect.
Can you paragraph in the middle of a character's speech? Yes, and should. You then have to fight a sleepy copyeditor who sees no quote mark at the end of a paragraph and, being generous, gives you one. You may want to note that on your style sheet, that there is an instance of paragraphing during a long speech so the c/e is not surprised. The rule is, FYI, no quote mark at the end of the first paragraph, but another opening quote at the beginning of the next. To avoid tricking your reader, well, use your ingenuity.
How do you avoid that? You interrupt the long speech with...[parag] Representative Dawes coughed meaningfully. Representative Phillips' scowl had deepened. [parag] THEN reprise.
There are others.
Now, generally when to paragraph in text---think of an old-fashioned bottle of unhomogenized milk. White, mostly, except a layer of really thick white in the neck of the bottle, and up to the top. Take the bottle and shake it---set it back in the fridge, and wait a couple of hours. It's sorted itself out again. Skim milk on the bottom. Thick delicious cream on top.
That's how you know when to paragraph. You're thumping along telling your story and, wow! you hit a sentence you really want the reader NOT to miss. Yes! Paragraph here. Force that sentence to the top.
Cream atop the milk. Do that every time. And probably do it a few more times than you think you could get away with not. This 'shapes' the reader's experience into noticing the things you want him to notice---and maybe hiding the ones you don't, mystery writers. You can wield that technique like a finely honed tool, just putting the notice where you want it.
No paragraph is too short, if you want emphasis.
Back in school days with themes, you probably heard the term 'topic sentence.' Well, there really ain't no sich animal in fiction. We aren't on topics. We're directing a reader's attention to what has to be heard. And, within the meat of the paragraph, what has to be understood about that bit.
Does that help?
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Post by deuce on Oct 29, 2017 13:31:46 GMT -5
More tips from Hugo-winner, CJ Cherryh...
Writing 101: Transitions: passage of time...change of place.
Do not beat yourself up on Transitions. A good one can elude you for days, and once you do it right, it will exist as a very neat little 'join' that saves the reader days of trekking through the Great Thorny Desert noticing rocks and brush.
A transition of place is fairly easy. Insert an asterisk or 3 asterisks, whatever marker you use for a 'line break' inside a chapter, and assume that the last sentence before the line break was some sort of interesting bit, and that the first sentence after it will clue us in as to where or when.
'Environmental markers' like, oh, a broad view outward or close-in trees or a flowered teapot on the table or just Aunt Agatha's lead-in to an offer of cookies can remind us where we are, and don't be too obvious about a time or weather report, biut you can subtly make the point.
'Transition in time' on the other hand, can be a bear. You may use a line break, or you may just segue into that time-passage as part of the thought process of the viewpoint character. I write an 'internal third person' viewpoint, so anything he/she notices or doesn't notice governs what we perceive---or miss. If you're using a line break, you can use some of the 'transition in place' techniques to establish a time has passed. Or you can make it without a line break, depending on the needs of the story. Eg:
(They've just left the gas station.)
"They say route 12 is shorter..."
Some bit of business here...
Slow as they approach the turn..."Your choice."
"Was he sure?"
"Sounded like it."
"We can try it."
and without a break...in viewpoint.
The next two hours were grass and scattered trees, and no sign of civilization except an abandoned cluster of closed shops and vacant houses.
And a sign...
Not deathless prose or a great setup, but you get the idea. You just find a point you can build that two hour jump in...and also the fact that our two travelers are alone, low on gas, and quite isolated. It can work for hours and days. When you get into months and years, readers do expect slightly more fanfare about it and a stronger transition. But sometimes it can be that quick, and get your reader to a more interesting geography.
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Post by deuce on Nov 2, 2017 12:23:56 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Nov 5, 2017 16:12:32 GMT -5
Dean Wesley Smith looks at "writing at pulp speed": www.deanwesleysmith.com/the-new-world-of-writing-pulp-speed/Pulp Speed writing is a mind-set for writers who have cleared out damn never every myth and belief taught to them about writing by English teachers. A Pulp Speed writer loves to just tell stories, one right after another. So remember, no writer is the same as another writer. And if this hits you wrong, it might not be for you to even think about in any fashion.
Dickens was one of the early great Pulp Writers. And there were many along the way before the turn of 1900. It was then that the “literary” group split from the “writing for the masses” group of writers.
To the "literary" group, their writing had to be important, something to struggle to read, and only be published in leather hardbound books.
The "masses" group of writers just wanted to tell stories that would entertain readers.
-- Dean Wesley SmithThe "split" he refers to coincides nicely with the rise of William Dean Howells and his school of "literary realism". H. Rider Haggard and other writers of heroic adventure fiction were particular targets of Howells.
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Post by trescuinge on Nov 15, 2017 22:57:30 GMT -5
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Post by deuce on Nov 20, 2017 13:31:26 GMT -5
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Post by ChrisLAdams on Nov 21, 2017 10:01:26 GMT -5
That was a great piece, loved it. Been there done that. Had a drunk neighbor over one night who, after finding out I write, told me he had the best idea for a book and proceeded to elaborate between beers about a haunted house he grew up in.
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Post by Von K on Nov 21, 2017 15:53:49 GMT -5
There's a big difference in the scope and depth of ideas too. Some can fuel a whole series of books, and others just one book or only an incident. If you look at REH's stories, he often uses a rich mix of ideas even for a single short story.
Then there's the old discussion about which is more important - the ideas, or the execution?
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