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ksmithDiscussions of writing in sartorias's blog, scene-building and plot and beginnings.
One of the comments led me to Carol Emshwiller's webpage and her essay about ignoring what she called writing cliches, such as starting a scene with action,or showing rather than telling. An interesting piece, although being more of an action SF writer (and how did that happen, I want to know?) I confess that I see problems with not starting with some sort of action. Not necessarily explosions--we can wait, oh, 10 or 20 pages to get to those *g*--but some sort of tension or hint to the reader that stuff is bubbling just below the surface and will punch through as soon as it finds a fault to exploit.
I haven't read Carol's work, and for all I know she may do that and not call it action. I think 'tension' may be the better word here, because adrenaline and bloodshed are not necessarily involved. Just something to clue in the reader that all is not well. It may be descriptions of surroundings or events through the POV's eyes that strike the reader as odd, or rushed, or not quite right. Actions decribed as perfectly normal by the POV that the reader knows aren't run-of-the-mill. The sense that something's off--if I didn't insert that in the first few paragraphs, I'd feel compelled to rewrite those paragraphs. I think many genre writers would. The key is conflict, of any sort, not necessarily action-as-motion. If a chapter or section or story doesn't clue in the reader fairly quickly that something isn't quite right, there's a good chance that reader is going to set the work aside. Yes, you can overdo it. You can also underdo it, a too-faint ripple that no one notices but the writer. But I think you have to do something, and the tone of the work helps indicate the degree to which it needs to be done.
That leads into another thing we discussed, namely the inability of some writers to explain the writing process. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! I try, but more often than not I fall back on the "You'll know it when it happens" which leaves folks who haven't the experience frustrated. For those of us who write by whisker-feel, it's a skill that grew with time, which we can't quite define. Other writers can spell matters right out, and I envy them sometimes. I am often left shaking my head after such an explanation and murmuring "That's what I do," because when I do it, I'm not thinking about the mechanics or running down a To Do list. I'm just doing it. Luckily, there are writers who can define those things--they wrote the How To books that got me started, and have helped others as well. I just keep wandering down hallways in the dark, sniffing the air and pausing when I hear a sound.
Another thing I blame that discussion for is triggering what may be the first line for a novel that's slowly taking shape. Don't want to give it away now--formation is too fresh and it may dry up and blow away at any moment. But it's there, and I like it so far, so it is Good.
One of the comments led me to Carol Emshwiller's webpage and her essay about ignoring what she called writing cliches, such as starting a scene with action,or showing rather than telling. An interesting piece, although being more of an action SF writer (and how did that happen, I want to know?) I confess that I see problems with not starting with some sort of action. Not necessarily explosions--we can wait, oh, 10 or 20 pages to get to those *g*--but some sort of tension or hint to the reader that stuff is bubbling just below the surface and will punch through as soon as it finds a fault to exploit.
I haven't read Carol's work, and for all I know she may do that and not call it action. I think 'tension' may be the better word here, because adrenaline and bloodshed are not necessarily involved. Just something to clue in the reader that all is not well. It may be descriptions of surroundings or events through the POV's eyes that strike the reader as odd, or rushed, or not quite right. Actions decribed as perfectly normal by the POV that the reader knows aren't run-of-the-mill. The sense that something's off--if I didn't insert that in the first few paragraphs, I'd feel compelled to rewrite those paragraphs. I think many genre writers would. The key is conflict, of any sort, not necessarily action-as-motion. If a chapter or section or story doesn't clue in the reader fairly quickly that something isn't quite right, there's a good chance that reader is going to set the work aside. Yes, you can overdo it. You can also underdo it, a too-faint ripple that no one notices but the writer. But I think you have to do something, and the tone of the work helps indicate the degree to which it needs to be done.
That leads into another thing we discussed, namely the inability of some writers to explain the writing process. Guilty! Guilty! Guilty! I try, but more often than not I fall back on the "You'll know it when it happens" which leaves folks who haven't the experience frustrated. For those of us who write by whisker-feel, it's a skill that grew with time, which we can't quite define. Other writers can spell matters right out, and I envy them sometimes. I am often left shaking my head after such an explanation and murmuring "That's what I do," because when I do it, I'm not thinking about the mechanics or running down a To Do list. I'm just doing it. Luckily, there are writers who can define those things--they wrote the How To books that got me started, and have helped others as well. I just keep wandering down hallways in the dark, sniffing the air and pausing when I hear a sound.
Another thing I blame that discussion for is triggering what may be the first line for a novel that's slowly taking shape. Don't want to give it away now--formation is too fresh and it may dry up and blow away at any moment. But it's there, and I like it so far, so it is Good.
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Date: 2004-06-10 08:33 am (UTC)Then again, there was the one that started with "Yes, he is a Mad Scientist and I am his Beautiful Daughter", so he can do it both ways :)
Asking a writer to explain the mechanism of writing is, more often than not, futile--as with any other kind of artist, if you have it in you, you could do it instinctively, and instincts are hard to quantify. Of course, just as Edison said about genius, writing is mostly 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration, but without the crucial 1%, you don't have the chance of liquid helium at room temperature/pressure of pulling it off. All the writing courses and books in the world will not make you a writer if you don't have the writing bug in you.
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Date: 2004-06-10 09:27 am (UTC)Sounds similar to the opening Chandler used in The Big Sleep. Not very exciting opening passage as Marlowe describes picking out his suit and shirt and dressing just so and combing his hair and tying his tie very carefully, and the Reader wonders where the heck this could possibly lead when along comes the line, "I was calling on *mumbley* million dollars."
I don't know if I would push that technique more than a few paragraphs. Again, it's genre dependent, and folks who have reached the point where they're selling their laundry lists can push matters further.