General Q & A Session For The Authors

[Stevil2001]

I like Ann Leckie's discussion of "show don't tell": https://annleckie.com/2015/05/25/writing-rules-show-dont-tell/

It bears out in practice; I think her work gets the balance exactly right between immersing you in stuff and giving you exposition when needed.

 

[Christopher]

I like Ann Leckie's discussion of "show don't tell": https://annleckie.com/2015/05/25/writing-rules-show-dont-tell/

It bears out in practice; I think her work gets the balance exactly right between immersing you in stuff and giving you exposition when needed.

I basically agree. Leckie's problem seems to be less with the rule itself as with the tendency to embrace it blindly and without understanding, to treat it as an absolute stricture to be enforced mechanically rather than a guideline to encourage us to consider our options before we act. And that's a problem with any rule, not just this one.

 

[KRAD]

"Show, don't tell" is a very good guideline. Like all guidelines, it shouldn't be followed slavishly.

 

[Greg Cox]

In general, I agree with everything said here. One addition: a trap even experienced authors can fall into is to have important stuff happen offstage, so that we hear about it second-hand. "Ohmigod, have you heard the news? The king was just assassinated!" Better, IMO, to actually show the king being killed, and maybe even show that scene from the king's POV, then to have somebody tell somebody about it.

(To give credit where it's due,I remember reading this advice in some how-to article on thriller writing back in the early eighties. Possibly by Dean Koontz?)

That being said, an occasional paragraph of exposition just to establish some basic facts and background is not a crime against writing -- and can be a quick, effective way to set the scene and move the story along:

"Chicago in 1929 was supposed to be dry but wasn't. Prohibition was the law of the land, but there were no shortage of bootleggers and speakeasies if you wanted to drink something stronger than root beer. One of those of bootleggers was my uncle, who owed me a favor . . . . "

 

[JD]

I recently ran into a situation where I decided to add a little something to my story I've been writing, but once I added it, I realized I had to go back to rewrite a bunch of other stuff to make it fit. Is this kind of situation is pretty common for writers?

 

[Christopher]

I recently ran into a situation where I decided to add a little something to my story I've been writing, but once I added it, I realized I had to go back to rewrite a bunch of other stuff to make it fit. Is this kind of situation is pretty common for writers?

Yes, absolutely.

 

[Greg Cox]

I recently ran into a situation where I decided to add a little something to my story I've been writing, but once I added it, I realized I had to go back to rewrite a bunch of other stuff to make it fit. Is this kind of situation is pretty common for writers?

Oh, yes. I refer to these as "chain reactions" or "snowball effects." Where one small, seemingly insignificant change snowballs into extensive changes throughout the ms.

 

[100Pic]

I recently ran into a situation where I decided to add a little something to my story I've been writing, but once I added it, I realized I had to go back to rewrite a bunch of other stuff to make it fit. Is this kind of situation is pretty common for writers?

I’m no pro (far from it) — but I have found since I started planning my stories in more detail, this happens a lot less.

Diane Duane wrote a great blog post on her approach to outlining: https://www.dianeduane.com/outofambit/2020/07/25/outlining-one-writers-approach/

 

[James Swallow]

Oh, yes. I refer to these as "chain reactions" or "snowball effects." Where one small, seemingly insignificant change snowballs into extensive changes throughout the ms.

Oh yeah, and when someone says "can you just change this one little thing in the text?" without realizing they've triggered this domino effect of revisions...

 

[Christopher]

I’m no pro (far from it) — but I have found since I started planning my stories in more detail, this happens a lot less.

But it can still happen, and it's not a bad thing if it does. Your first idea of what the story should be is rarely the best one, because there's a lot that you only find out through trial and error, or new possibilities that you discover along the way. There's a saying that the first draft is always bad and it's in the process of rewriting and revising that you make it good. That's an overstatement, but it's certainly true that you shouldn't get too attached to your earliest ideas or be reluctant to change them if and when an improvement occurs to you.

My first original novel, Only Superhuman, was my second try with that character and premise after I realized the first version was inadequate and started over from scratch. My Arachne duology went through a similar process where I realized that I was taking the story in the wrong direction and massively reimagined the second half.

 

[Greg Cox]

Oh yeah, and when someone says "can you just change this one little thing in the text?" without realizing they've triggered this domino effect of revisions...

Oh, god, yes. The well-meaning editor or licensor who doesn't grasp what kind of snowball effect that one little change can make. Been there, done that.

 

[Stevil2001]

Yes, our editor on A Choice of Catastrophes said after we turned in the manuscript, "we think the aliens should be pre-warp," which would have made the entire plot collapse! Thankfully we talked her round on that one...

 

[KRAD]

I recently ran into a situation where I decided to add a little something to my story I've been writing, but once I added it, I realized I had to go back to rewrite a bunch of other stuff to make it fit. Is this kind of situation is pretty common for writers?

As others have said above me, HELL'S YEAH, it's pretty common.

Here's my favorite. I wrote a Command & Conquer novel that came out in 2007, the book being timed to be released alongside a new edition of the game of the same name. In 2006, I toured EA's offices and learned all sorts of cool things about their plans for C&C going forward, and talked about the plot for the novel and all sorts of stuff, and also got the game script.

One of the things in the game script was a mention of how, in the future of C&C, since America was under martial law, the press was government-censored. It was just one line in the script that mentioned it in passing, but I built the entire B-plot of the novel around that.

After I turned in the manuscript, one of the (many) notes I got back was that no, no, we still have a totally free press. That line had been removed from the game script some time after they sent it to me. So I had to rewrite that entire B-plot......

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

So I had to rewrite that entire B-plot......

Ouch!

Yes, our editor on A Choice of Catastrophes said after we turned in the manuscript, "we think the aliens should be pre-warp," which would have made the entire plot collapse! Thankfully we talked her round on that one...

Haven't even thought about that one in about a decade. Of course, thanks to CLB, we now know that

Spoiler: Espers are . . .

. . . actually carrying non-corporeal passengers.

 

[Stevil2001]

Ouch!


Haven't even thought about that one in about a decade. Of course, thanks to CLB, we now know that

Spoiler: Espers are . . .

. . . actually carrying non-corporeal passengers.

Well it was almost exactly a decade ago that it came out!

 

[JonnyQuest037]

As to doing it on the Internet, well, at least two decades ago, a random HotBot (or maybe AltaVista) search once took me to a very NSFW snuff-porn short story that left me pale and diaphoretic (and not in a good way). And it was festooned with pop-up ads for other porn, and even browser-traps.

About 20 years back, I created a character for a ST role-playing game. The session was taking place in the TOS movie era, and I wanted my character to have a connection with TOS, so I decided to make him a nephew of Yeoman Tonia Barrows and a protégé of Dr. McCoy's. While doing online research on what had been established about Tonia Barrows, I came across an S&M themed slashfic with graphic sex scenes between McCoy and Barrows. That was... odd.

Oh, yes. I refer to these as "chain reactions" or "snowball effects." Where one small, seemingly insignificant change snowballs into extensive changes throughout the ms.

This just happened to me with the short story I wrote for The Fans Are Buried Tales anthology (Edited by Peter & Kathleen David, also featuring stories by KRAD, Bob Greenberger, Michael Jan Friedman, and others). PAD asked me if I could eliminate a reference to Roddy McDowall, as he had passed away by the mid-2000s. I explained that my story took place in 1992, when RM was still alive and well. PAD told me that no, it had to take place in the mid-2000s to conform with Bob Greenberger's story. I told him I'd need a day to make those changes, as moving my story forward in time about 15 years would require changing several other contemporary references and reconceiving some things. It all worked out all right in the end, as I was able to change the Roddy McDowall reference to someone else who made sense and I managed to keep a reference to a Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (which stopped being a thing in the early '80s). I didn't have to revise as many things as I'd originally expected to, but it was definitely frightening for a couple of hours there.

 

[Cake Is Eternal]

I just discovered this thread and was hoping it isn’t too late to ask a question.

I am working toward becoming a professional writer myself. In the hopes of learning and growing as a writer, I read lots of reviews, both here on the board and in other places. My question is this. How does everyone handle the constant nit-picking and unkind criticisms that some readers express about your work? I don’t mean the helpful criticisms that we all look for in order to learn and grow and improve, I mean criticisms that aspects of your books aren’t the reader’s tastes or preferences.

I’m trying to learn how to deal with those myself by writing shorter think pieces and book reviews, to get used to putting my voice out there, before embarking on finding an agent for my book project.

 

[mastadge]

Not a fiction writer, but generally ignore unkindness and randos screaming into the internet. Write what you want to read. If you're given work for hire, write what you've been hired for. Work with your editors, to the extent that the process still exists in your circumstances. If you have a trusted group of beta readers or a trusted writing group (and no NDA or anything), trust them to find holes and relevant nits to pick. But, like, Amazon reviews and angry people poo-pooing your work on social media? I'd stay out of it unless you have a personality that can let things slide. In my field I have to stay out of the comments when my organization makes announcements on social media. I know the value of the work we do, and there's no benefit to spending my time getting into it in a vocal corner of the internet.

 

[Cake Is Eternal]

Not a fiction writer, but generally ignore unkindness and randos screaming into the internet. Write what you want to read. If you're given work for hire, write what you've been hired for. Work with your editors, to the extent that the process still exists in your circumstances. If you have a trusted group of beta readers or a trusted writing group (and no NDA or anything), trust them to find holes and relevant nits to pick. But, like, Amazon reviews and angry people poo-pooing your work on social media? I'd stay out of it unless you have a personality that can let things slide. In my field I have to stay out of the comments when my organization makes announcements on social media. I know the value of the work we do, and there's no benefit to spending my time getting into it in a vocal corner of the internet.

I’m doing all of that except staying away from reviews! Thank you so much for taking time to reply! I thought I could learn from the reviews what does and does not work, but it’s all so subjective!

 

[Kilana2]

Thanks to @David Mack for supporting a translation of the A time to....series into German. I'll buy the books in German again. The original editions are in a worn and used condition. New books look better on my shelf.

I hope your vote carries weight.... enought to close the deal.