Writerly resources

Most of today's writing time was spent talking with a character. My original draft of the interview was 664 words (I made small edits when posting, so the word count won't match). I did write some story, too, but not much. Current project word count is 713, which means I wrote 219 words of the narrative today. Still, the day's total word count, including the interview, is almost 900 words. I'm happy with that.

I'm a compulsive theoretician. If I want to learn something, I read books. No surprise, then, that I have too many how-to-write books. Most of them are useless, but there are some worthy ones. The books I've found the most enlightening are

• Ansen Dibell: Plot (reprinted in "How to write a million", Robinson, London, 1995)
• Orson Scott Card: Characters & Viewpoint (reprinted in "How to write a million", ibid.)
• Orson Scott Card: How to write Science Fiction and Fantasy (Writer's Digest Books, 1990)
• Dwight V. Swain: Techniques of the selling writer (University of Oklahoma Press, 1965)
• For a different approach to Swain's teachings, look at Jack M. Bickham's Scene & Structure (Writer's Digest Books, 1993)

Also, a special mention goes to Ursula Le Guin's Steering the Craft (Eighth Mountain Press, 1998) which is so good I intend to do some of its exercises soon, and perhaps post some of my answers here.

But books are a finite resource: one read, you can only reread them. The best resources are online:

rec.arts.sf.composition

This is a Usenet newsgroup. I found to my surprise recently that I had participated in its founding vote (I had voted in favor, naturally). I started following it in 2000 and I have been on and off it ever since (mostly lurking, but I have posted there on occasion.

rasfc is full of professional and apprentice authors of science fiction and fantasy. What it, remarkably enough, lacks is spammers and trolls. This makes it a very rare thing, especially considering that it is unmoderated. Current contributors include authors Patricia C. Wrede, David Langford, Ryk Spoor, David Friedman, Dorothy J. Heydt and Alma Alexander.

If the group had a slogan, it would probably be "nine and sixty ways". As in, "there are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single of them is right" (Rudyard Kipling, In the neolithic age). Point being, while it is useful to discuss ways writers do their stuff, it isn't right to claim that a particular way is wrong; if a particular way works for you, swell. (I recently lost sight of this wisdom in a private discussion. If my discussion partner happens to read this, my apologies.)

The group also coined the word cat-vacuuming, an essential part of any author's vocabulary.

The group's single most valuable resource is author Patricia Wrede. I believe she has been asked to compile a book of her wisdom, and she declined. The world suffers a great loss there; but then again, all one has to do is tune in to the newsgroup and pluck the grapes of her wisdom.


Baen's Universe Slush

This is a pair of web forums at Baen's Bar. It is the official method for submitting fiction for consideration for the Introducing slots of Jim Baen's Universe. It also doubles as a writer's workshop, as all submissions are available for critique by the magazine staff and other readers of the forums. It seems to be one of the most effective online workshops available.

I have started doing reqular critiques there, mainly to exercise my internal editor so that she'll be content to leave my first draft alone for the duration :) I also find that critting other people's stuff enhances my own understanding of story stuff.

I'm probably forgetting stuff I wanted to include in this post, but it's already hours past my bedtime.

Here snippet snippet snippet

"Richard?" That came out better; her vocal cords seemed to be recovering. "What... why are you old?"

The man... Richard... grimaced. He drew in breath as if preparing to tell a hideous truth.

She tried to smile. "Nobody gets old in a night." And then it hit her. "Damn."

Richard nodded, pain evident in his face. "It's Two Thousand One Hundred Twenty Six, Lieutenant. You've slept for a lifetime, as you should."

Sixty years. That made Richard almost eighty, looking at the end of his time in this universe. And it was a bit longer than it should have been, too, as the projected time en route was fifty years.

"That's too long."

Richard nodded. "Yes it is. Can you sit up?"

Getting any response from the muscles was difficult. So had been the first ten chinups they made her do in boot camp, and she survived that. Slowly her knees bent upward, slowly she pivoted herself on her hips so that her shins lay on thin air. Old Richard helped her to a sitting position, but she jerked him off her as soon as she dared without risking an immediate collapse. Oh, how she ached for that simple piece of exercise.

She dropped herself on her feet and promptly started to collapse. Richard caught her and nearly failed to stop the motion.