What to do with particularly fine passages

Read over your compositions, and where ever you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.

Samuel Johnson 1709-1784

A Book for Today: Samuel Johnson by Jeffrey Meyers

How To Write in Active Voice

Much advice for new writers includes the admonition to: Use Active Voice. This advice basically calls for replacing He was happy with his present with His present made him happy. However, much of this advice stops here without clear instructions showing what habits to develop to avoid passive voice.

In order to avoid voice, a writer must become skilled in finding a variety of subjects to write about. For example, unskilled writers make this common mistake: when a scene includes a single character, they use that character as the subject of every sentence. Skilled writers naturally employ a variety of subjects.

Alban inclined his head and turned, a few long-legged strides taking him down an alley. The last step became a leap, air and light imploding around him as his form shifted. Crimson light colored alabaster skin as he reached the rooftop and disappeared from Margrit's sight.

Evening sunlight shone a brilliant gold, making Margrit's eyes ache as she squinted against it. The bitter aftertaste of bile hung at the back of her throat and her stomach churned, making her eyes water at the acidity. She clutched the soft sealskin against her chest, running before she was even aware she was moving. Escape seemed paramount.

Truth vs Drama

Not so long ago there was a scandal when a writer published an inspiring autobiography of their recovery from a life of poverty and drugs when the truth was revealed: the story was fiction.

Some people were very upset and others merely confused.

Where were you?

The author's defense was that it was a great story, why does it matter whether it was literally true or not? Certainly many novels start with the conceit of telling a true story.

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank...

Many writers get lost in the balance between drama and truth - all writing (fiction and non-fiction) need a balance of both. Most writers have a preference, much like a preference for right- or left-handedness. Something unconscious but obvious to everyone we meet. Some writers are closer to Mark Twain - great storytellers, truth be damned, while others, think of your college textbooks here, completely ignore the narrative and stick to the facts.

You might imagine that this is the way of the world and the chasm between fiction and non-fiction will never be bridged. That is not true.

First, there is an enormous demand for non-fiction books with drama and human conflict (beyond the novel alluded to above). Think of all the biographies (A Book for Today: Skakespeare by Bill Bryson), histories (A Book for Today: The Irregulars by Jennet Conant, A Book for Today: The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson), and all popular science and math volumes (A Book for Today: Group Theory for (non) Mathematicians). Non-fiction with a strong narrative and drama can be very popular, and without it, you have textbooks (the number one reason people hate school).

Similarly, good fiction needs to have the feel of truth whether it is a child's fantasy or a political thriller.

I notice many beginning writers, especially in speculative fiction, become so enamored with their ideas (truths) that they ignore the demands for drama. All the ideas, no matter how inventive and enlightening, can make up for a dull story.

Foriegn Language Phrases in Fiction

If you feel the need to include foreign language phrases in your writing, three options are available:

1. The foreign phase can be immediately repeated in the character's or narrator's thoughts as in:

Hola, he shouted.
I turned around wondering while he was saying hello to me.

2. The foreign phrase can be obvious from context as in:

Before the meeting started the scientists bowed and said Konichiwa, to each other.

3. The foreign phase may be used in a way where the literal meaning meaning is optional as in:

When he hit his finger with a hammer, he screamed Merde.

Glossaries should never be employed in short stories. Even novels with glossaries/dictionaries at the end should be written to minimize the need to reference the lexicon. However, in the case of a novel, the reader might invest in learning new vocabulary for a term that might be used dozens of times. Such an investment is excessive for a short story.

The advice for foreign language can be also applied to technical jargon.

It can also be applied to obscure vocabulary.

What happens next vs What's happening

Every story teller starting before Homer found a way to sustain the reader's interest. The author might think of this as suspense (Will Phileas Fogg get around the world in 80 days?), or mystery (Who dunit?), or story arc (What will happen to Tom Sawyer after he paints the fence?). The driving force might characters (Jane Austen) or the plot (Jules Verne) or even setting (J.R.R. Tolkien). While the choices are seemingly endless, every writer most find a way to keep the pages turning.

One way or another, the reader is driven forward by What happens next? We may wonder about the fate Pip or Jurassic Park or Middle Earth. Almost any technique is acceptable . . .

except one: What's happening?

The characters may be confused (Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice) or and reader may be misled (red herrings), but the reader can never simply be confused.

If the reader is asking What's happening? instead of What happens next? the writer has failed and most readers will simply discard the book. Reader's will tolerate many kind of puzzles, except the one asking what is happening in this story?

Four Plot Types (from Orson Scott Card)

There four types of stories or plots.

The Travel/Quest Story: This story is most concerned with places visited. The story begins when the trip begins and end when the traveler returns home. Think of The Odyssey. The story is about the Sirens and the Cyclops - strange inhabitants of strange places.

The Mystery/Puzzle Story: This story is most concerned with answering a question. The story begins when the question is asked and ends when the question is answered. Think of murder mysteries. The story is about answering the question: Who is the murdered and why?

The Character Story: This story is most concerned with the characters. The story begins when the character feel compelled to changed and ends when the character either settles into a new role or accepts their former role. Frank Capra's It's a Wonder Life is a perfect example, starting with George Bailey considering suicide and ending when he accepts the movie's title.

The Crisis/Disaster Story: This story is most concerned with some crisis or disaster. The story begins with the crisis and ends when the crisis has been resolved. Much of history is presented with this plot, especially wars. Wars start with an invasion and end with a treaty.

A fifth plot structure used by beginning writers is the Meta Mystery/Puzzle Story. This story is most concerned with reader guessing what the writer is writing about. The writer intends to increase the suspense and interest by keeping the reader guessing.

But that is not so. Suspense comes from having almost all the information - enough information that the audience is emotionally involved and cares very much about that tiny bit of information left unrevealed.

CREDIT: These ideas are abstracted from How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card. In spite of the book's title, it contains excellent advice for all writers - one of the best How to Write ... books ever.

Asperger Syndrome - Who cares about your story?

"The lack of demonstrated empathy is possibly the most dysfunctional aspect of Asperger syndrome." This is not only a problem for people, but it is also a problem for protagonists. While the viewpoint character might simply be a narrator, generally, someone (this protagonist) in the story must care deeply about the outcome. (For a general discussion of protagonists and viewpoint characters see How to Write Science Fiction & Fantasy by Orson Scott Card). A Book for Today: Keeper of the Keys by Perri OShaughnessy is an example of a novel that suffers from this problem.

As I critique stories on Critters, the wonderful site for aspiring and published SF&F authors, I notice that many beginning writers expect the plot or setting to keep the reader involved and overcome the characters own ennui and lack of involvement with the story. As much as the next reader of SF&F I am interesting the a unique world or a mystical or scientific conundrum, but without the human/alien empathetic connection, the story devolves from a narrative into a exposition and the line is crossed from fiction into non-fiction genre and boredom sets in.

A similar problem occurs when the character cares, but is merely an impotent victim. Readers can rarely empathize with characters who float hopelessly in the current of fate.

Nothing is less worthy of publication that writing which in the characters are not engaging and the information is pure fabrication.

The Dangers of Plot Outlines

Certain genres, such as mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction, place particular emphasis on plot. New writers are often encouraged to write detailed plot outlines (just about as often as they are advised to ignore plot outlines and just write, letting the story evolve organically). In the end, each writer must find their own approach.

However, if you feel yourself drawn to plot outlines, this warning is for you. The only writings that rest entirely on plot are the riddles you learned in preschool and those story problems in you middle school math books. Beyond these all story telling hinge on characters, characters and characters. Even novels with complex plots (Dickens, Delinsky, Christie, Grisham, Patterson immediately come to mind), the characters drive the story.

The risk of a plot outline is that the author forces the characters to behave as the plot demands instead of visa versa. As a story unfolds, the primary questions in the author's mind should be what will the character do next? Even when the reader imagines they are reading to find what happens next, they are really want to know what the characters will do and what will happen to them.

Never let the plotting drive the characters actions.

Writing: Show or Tell?

Show, don't tell!

This is the most common advice given to new writers. The is terrible advice. For example, two excellent thrillers I recently read, (7th Heaven and The Secret Servant) happily disregard this sage advice. The proper advice is Show or Tell. As the plot unfolds, the author must decide to either show or tell. If the two are combined, the readers will be bored by the redundant exposition. When an action in abridged with a telling summary, the emotional commitment is lost. When a telling summary is extended with a showing digression, the pace is lost. The author must commit to either Show or Tell.

Here is an example from classic Elmer Gantry by a Nobel Prize winning author. After dedicating two chapters to show us Reverand Gantry's first church. The next short chapter begins by telling:

A year he spent in Rudd Center, three years in Vulcan, and two years in Sparta.

Six years of plot gone in one sentence! This is the power of telling!

For each step of your plot, make a decision: Show or Tell, both not both.

Characterization: Five Rules

These five rules are from How to Write Tales of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction, a book that has excellent advice for all fiction writers in spite of a title that emphasizes genre fiction. These rules (much abridged) were written by Dean R Koontz. I always prefer advice from successful writers, not amateurs or academics, and Dean Koontz certainly qualifies here.

• Your character must not act irrationally and must not get into trouble merely because he makes stupid decisions.
• Your character must not be passive.
• Your lead characters must not be supermen or superwomen whose actions always succeed.
• Your characters ... must have lives outside the central story.
• Your lead characters must not be concerned solely about his own fate.