http://www.sffworld.com/forums/ en Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:33:46 GMT vBulletin 25 http://sffworld.com/forums/images/misc/rss.jpg http://www.sffworld.com/forums/ http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24610&goto=newpost Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:28:02 GMT Yesterday I came across the book linked to below, a Short History of Fantasy by Farah Mendlesohn and Edward James. It was published in July this year, which is very nice because it means it's an up-to-date overview.

I've been looking for years for a book like this, a good solid overview of the Fantasy genre, and I thought others might have as well so here's the link to the book, you can browse inside and see if you like it. First there's a section leading up to 1900, then 1900 up until 1950, then a chapter on Tolkien & Lewis and after that it gets more detailed, spending 20 to 30 pages on each decade.

It's still fairly short, I wouldn't have minded if it was longer, but still, the first such overview I've found if I discount the Encyclopedia of Fantasy by Clute from the 90's, which is out of print anyway and secondhand copies cost a bundle.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Histor...8798717&sr=1-1 ]]> Fantasy / Horror Mithfânion http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24610 http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24608&goto=newpost Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:56:27 GMT For me the ending can either either make or break the story. Unfortunately, most of the fantasy I've read is either incomplete or has a weak ending. Thus far I've really only read two finished series where the ending was satisfying (LoTR and Mistborn series). So this thread is just to get opinions on which complete series/standalone novels have the best endings in fantasy. ]]> Fantasy / Horror chokipokilo http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24608 http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24607&goto=newpost Sat, 21 Nov 2009 05:26:32 GMT Characters glue readers to stories. No character, no story. No interesting (to that reader) character, no reader.

So creating compelling characters is central to writing stories anyone will want to read. (Warning #1: you can't create a character someone won't dislike. Fact of writer-life. Don't worry about the occasional person who doesn't like your favorite character...as in real life, you don't need everyone to like you, only enough.)

If you're lucky, characters arrive in your head demanding to have their stories told. They talk to you (boy, do they talk to you!) and heckle you and argue for time on-stage with a speaking part even if you need them to be back row in the chorus with their mouths shut. But whether they do or not, here are some points to keep in mind about characters people (enough people) will want to know more about.

Effective characters, like live people, have back-stories--and, like interesting people you meet (unlike bores) --they don't spill everything about themselves and their backstory all at once. No...details come out as needed. Effective characters also have both innate and acquired traits, habits, behaviors. Innate are things they're born with (gender, race, size, intelligence, a few innate personality traits)--the brand new! shiny! unmarked car. Acquired stuff--what's happened to them, the physical *and internal* equivalent of the dings and scrapes and stains (why did I park under that mulberry tree where the birds...never mind...) They are not built of interchangeable parts, like a machine, but grown--with childhoods and family history behind them (exceptions exist in SF but they still have backstory.) They have likes and dislikes that make sense from their background; they have skillsets that relate to their background; they have interests...etc.

Besides observation (and writers are by nature snoops and eavesdroppers), psychology texts offer a solid grounding for writers who, perhaps, didn't have enough exposure to different kinds of people in childhood. Not talking abnormal psychology here, but simply the basics of development--what people are born with, how experiences affect basic personality types, etc. Pop psychology books will do, but read enough different ones that people don't instantly know you did a Meyers-Briggs profile on all your characters or gave them the first five psychological problems in that text.

Readers are intrigued not by the outward appearance (which writing can never convey as precisely as an image) but by the internal workings of another human heart and mind. And writing is superbly suited to deliver that particular set of data--something very difficult to do with images, where you can see only the outward behavior. Writing also shows the behavior (though not visually)...and the behavior must be linked to the character's innate and acquired traits in such a way that it makes sense--that the motivation is believable even if the behavior is surprising.

How much of this do you need? Much more for the main character or characters...less in each tier below that. You can think of it in terms of drama or opera: there are the principle performers, with lots of lines and action, secondary and lesser performers with fewer lines, and then those with no lines and minimal action. If the minor characters get too vivid, your main characters won't hold reader attention (and they must.) I tend to do more backstory on the place-holders than I should (as an editor told me about one of them, "All he does is offstage except getting killed; nobody cares about his sick mother, his gambling addiction and so on." I will probably always do more backstory on minor characters than I need to, but I find it fun and helpful. Just don't leave it all in the manuscript.

But the main characters...you need to know them, know more about them than you show (because they're going to do something you didn't expect, and then you'll have to understand it.) What are they afraid of? What secrets do they hide from their parents, their bosses, their families, their friends? When they wake up at three in the morning, what do they brood about? When they run into difficulty, do they think of it as a challenge and feel a surge of energy--or as another disaster, and feel an urge to dig a hole and crawl in? Where do they place responsibility for what happens, for the good and the bad things in life--on someone else, on fate, on themselves? What are their hot buttons? What is their most secret wish about themselves that will never be fulfilled (to be admired, to be a hero, to be beautiful or handsome, to be immensely talented in a way they're not?) What will they do if a mouse runs up their leg? If a scorpion falls off the ceiling into their lap? If someone in their choir drops dead in rehearsal? What talent you gave them are they not using, and why? Don't force these things on them...write a scene and let the character show you what he or she will do.

The more you observe real people, the more material you have to create believable and compelling characters. Characters enough readers will stick with for the length of your book. ]]> Writing E_Moon http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24607 http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24606&goto=newpost Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:12:54 GMT Some people have an almost allergic reaction to elements in fiction that sends them screaming into the night (or at least going "Yuck!" and tossing the book.) I first became aware of book cooties when someone told me, very proudly, "I don't read books by women!" And I said, cheerfully, "Oh--you mean it has girl cooties?" He glowered and stomped off.

Since then I've had people not read a book because it had pet cooties ("I don't read books with cats/dogs/horses in them--they're all trash") and military cooties ("I won't read a book with war in it") and run into other people who wouldn't read books by men (seems fair, if some won't read books by women--sauce for goose and gander...), wouldn't read books by Christians, people who weren't Christians (of their stripe, even), books with sex, books without sex, books in which an animal was killed, books in which a child was killed, and so on and so on.

So...book cooties--these elements that hit hot buttons and make people want to toss their cookies--seem to be a minefield that writers can't get through without infuriating/revolting someone. Puppies, kittens, rainbows, fluffy bunnies, dragons, elves, computers, forests, aliens, FTL flight, violence (too much, too little, none), politics (right wing, left wing, any), weapons (any), names they can't pronounce...princes, princesses, mad scientists, helpless maidens, maidens who are too butch, plus every form of government ever invented...all are somebody's cootie-phobia. (We actually had a good panel about that, somewhere that has vanished in my memory...)

And yet, every book-cootie I've heard of has been someone else's favored element...for every elf-hater, there's an elf-lover; for every person who loathes political infodump (you can tell which side of that one I'm on!) there's someone who will tell you how profound that same chunk of political theory is.

That being so, have you ever found a book that surprised you, lured you in, despite having one of the kinds of cooties you absolutely hate? Can you tell how it worked? How it got past your cootie-guard? If one book got past your cootie-guard, did that make you more or less willing to risk a few cooties next time? Or more vigilant to repel those nefarious cooties trying to take advantage of a crack in your defenses? ]]> Science Fiction E_Moon http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24606 http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24603&goto=newpost Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:30:12 GMT Please read before casting your vote(s):

Welcome to the voting threads for the November Flash Fiction Contest, theme "Hunger."

I liked how Sterling13 ran the voting last month, so we'll be doing the same thing this month.

Be aware that there are TWO voting threads, A and B. Please read all entries before casting your vote.

The Rules:
1) Even if you did not contribute a story, if you are a member of the SFFWorld.com boards, you are eligible to vote.
2) You may cast up to a total of 3 votes, meaning you can vote for one, two, or three stories. This covers BOTH threads; you may not vote three times in each thread.
3) You are not voting for 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. Each vote is equally weighted. You're simply voting for what you feel are the (up to) three best stories this month).
4) You may not vote multiple times for the same entry. Share the love!
5) Should someone vote for more than three stories or vote multiple times for the same story, I will attempt to contact them via PM and straighten things out. Should I not be able to reach them by the voting deadline, their votes will sadly have to be discounted.
6) Although it is not required, feedback on the stories is always appreciated. We're all in this not only for the joy of writing but in hopes of improving our craft. Any constructive criticism helps!
9) The author with the most votes at 11:59pm on November 30th shall be declared the winner, with all rights and privileges therefore appertaining, including full dictatorial powers over the December Flash Fiction Contest. Fax mentis incendium gloria cultum, et cetera, et cetera, memo bis punitor delicatum.

Happy voting, and good luck to all our authors!

Here are the stories for Thread B:

Morsels by Richard Dickson (DailyRich)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/3975p0.html

Forgotten History by Owen Jones (kater)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4015p0.html

The Lone Wanderer by Michael Morton (Dwagginz)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/3978p0.html

Grail Overfloweth by Sean Regan (TheGhost)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4013p0.html

The Quantum Shroud by Steve Jones-B5 (MrBF1V3)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/3992p0.html

Emaciated by Art Pacheco (suibon)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4020p0.html

Vitality by Christopher Alen F. (Fung Koo)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/3995p0.html

Infanticide by Victoria A. Rogers (NickeeCoco)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4011p0.html

Hunger and Thirst by Federico Patane (SuperFede)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/3998p0.html

A Pie Best Served Cold by Mike Hazelwood (Daddy Darth)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4003p0.html

A Hungry Theatre by Latete du Lion (Scorpion)
http://www.sffworld.com/community/story/4006p0.html ]]> Writing DailyRich http://www.sffworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24603