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| Writing theory 001: presuppositions The rules aren't rules once you understand how they work. For example Jim Butcher says to make all dialogue blocks down to five words or less because that's how people talk. If you follow this as a rule sometimes it will make it better and sometimes it will ruin your *draft.* Following crazy rules and doing your best to make it work---the crazier they sound the more likely you'll learn something. So whenever a person tells you a rule don't gibber about the exceptions, but instead become curious as to what happens when you follow it. And for goodness sakes, save a copy before you do something. (Put the date in the file name year month day.) |
| Here's a trick from hypnotic marketing. And how to do it. The idea is that all's meanings of the word leak out into the mind so you can flavor a story with the tone and meanings that don't fit. So how to do it is to describe how your POV feels in the telly-est language you want. Was she left feeling crushed , isolated, forlorn, and hollow? If so you can use those words to describe what she sees. An isolated cashier... selling crushed seeds. She kicks aside the empty boxes and steps on the hollowed out shell of a coconut. Now of course you'd want to sprinkle these adjectives in through the text. And adverbs. Then if you like infuse them directly into the verbs. Maybe hollowed out shell is just a shell. And then notice stepped on appeared. The thing is that these terms hit and your mind will use them to steer to the emotion if there is anything that fits it. Adverbs aren't the enemy they just don't all belong in our finished work. Use them when needed. Look for the single word that does the work of both, of course! But a good way to find that better word is to add the adverb in the second draft. |
| Never heard of hypnotic marketing but I love your examples. |
ReplySo what I did was switch my hidden files to rate NPL since they have a lot of views that make me feel suss. And renumber them (Raven   ) which took a lot longer. I'm like no---that scene has her still on the road, it can't be after she's embedded in the city. I'm thinking that if I keep my frame---A scene where my protagonist is asked to tell her full story---then it might be obligatory that we get an epilogue where her story is judged, and she is judged. Something that typical members of their persuasion can be relied on to NOT do... but which fits their purpose. |
| You ever had that moment when you realize that none of your heroine's worries have to do with staying alive? When if she or the reader knew that she'd end up alive and in a position of leadership in ten, twenty years it would only increase the tension? Because the question is not will she rise, but will she be able to look herself in the eyes. Not even that--will her friends be safe around her? If the reader doesn't get that, when she stumbles over the faces of the people who murdered her family and they shift in their sleep. And she grabs a meat cleaver, and readies to kill the man who drove her uncle's friend insane--but Uncle Mack's ghost begs her to let someone else dispense justice. When the local nature priest says that fear is the least burden her courage will ever face. When she is upset that the 'pixie' is there to take her on an adventure rather than taking her spirit home to the White Gates. When she strides out of hiding to hurl insults at the pig-nosed urgans who are making jokes about turning her into stew (in their own language, which they didn't think she could speak.) While it's not the latest version, the above story is in "The People of Glass (Saga of Sigrun)"  I'm thinking of stealing the format from In the Name of the Wind, where we start with our hero discussing his story and then going back to his childhood. And you better believe I'll leave everybody hanging for the third book. But I don't even have the second one going. The first one is coming out of Novella form. But the open version is available "The People of Glass (Saga of Sigrun)" |
| I have a blank format that never fails to build a plot. Sometimes it's harder to fill out than others, and I just realized that it could be in the wrong order sometimes. But nearly every time I get a passable idea. And you can use it to plot out the villain's story and the supporting cast too, so it would be a lot. Four blanks/four sentence completions. I want to: (Possess/escape/revenge ____) So I _____ (Action I take) Hopiing that _____ (anticipated good result) Fearing that ______ (anticipated bad result) instead ______ (unanticipated result.) So I: _____ ... (ad denouement) Perhaps the hope and fear will work better before the action. It seemed to get me out of a stuck place where I did that. the thing is that you can just say the most banal things and follow it until dopamine and consequence build a story. This prompt allows you to follow a character around until he or she just gets to doing something interesting. Quote Hitchcock: "Drama is life with the boring parts cut out." It's also a good way to restart a plot because it's quick, you can just have the character tell you what they do and what happens. And then summarize all the time they spend being a wimp, sitting on the couch or the like. It's good for ADHD because it artificially forces you to follow one cause and effect line as if it is more important. That's how Neurotypical minds work, I think, and it tends to trigger dopamine (interest) even in those of us who are deficient. In the last case I had a budding romance with a woman who is afraid to go offworld but once you get her on your ship (for a joyride to the moon) she's drunk and 'accidentally' pushes you through a wormhole to be lost in space... she drank to get the nerve to go through the wormhole. If I write it they'll probably be bounty hunters chasing her. And she'll try to tell him she chose him because she liked him, but he'll have his doubts. Opportunistic much? I'm thinking sci-fi rom com?Sci Fi adventure. Next is to format that into a few scenes POV Goal Resistance disaster Change required Mood at the beginning Mood at the end Flavor words to sprinkle in For example: |
| Fifteen years my Nano hero has been fighting 😭 and today I realized thàt he was his own antagonist. He designed the protocol he is trying to defeat. The Empire listens to his input. But he hasn't raised his own standard of behavior. He thinks that nonlethal is good enough and that's what the Empire is doing: Stomping on people for their own good when their tech could just uplift. Th. e woman called to defeat his villainy supports it. Inured to bloodthirsty villains, gangsters and predators, she can't even detect his vicious side-though she can hear his conscience blaring the alarm. In fact, she does the same to him on the small scale. Psionic enchantments and manipulations to keep the bloodless conquerer from hurting people when he built THAT into his own DNA. So the enemy is us. Man v Self. |
| That moment when you're writing a novel set in your world's history. You're leaving foreshadowing for future books, and you're interviewing the people who lived in the shadow of a growing Big Bad Evil Girl, the wicked queen Medusa that decided her people were better off as a city of glass statues. I mean, I always knew that she had her reasons, that it was in her mind a mercy... little did I know that there was a festering allegiance among her people... dark and diabolical. I don't want to speak ill of the petrified, but her little infamous temper tantrum set back the wheels of fascistic evil by at least a hundred years. The one member of her family whose brand of mercy actually had the weight of wisdom... and I'll be darned if my characters don't need to use her as a cautionary tale for her niece's stab at being a Dark Overlord...  Well, just goes to show I'm not writing Star Wars... |
| Yoda cut it off. He didn't start early enough. Fear leads to hate... by the time you start with fear you're already halfway to the dark side. Attachment leads to hope. Hope leads to fear. Fear leads to hate... So as Carly Simon says, "I know nothing stays the same. But if you're willing to play the game, it will be coming around again." And of course: Kansas: "Dust In the wind. Nothing lasts forever (not the earth and sky) Don't hang on. All they are is dust in the wind." |
| Plot Prompt Method: Come up with advice. Make it as snappy and clever as you like. Then come up with somebody who doesn't get it. Then show them struggling because of their refusal. Give them a perfect moment when they realized that they needed to switch. Show the reward for doing the new, right thing. I didn't consciously do that with "Vivianca's Crossroads" but it would have worked like this: If you find yourself trying to subvert your organization's purpose, go find someone who is in line with it. Vivianca is a devil who is trying to save her bought souls from the punishments of Hell. For herself because deep down she loves them. Essentially she is a thief, embezzling souls. She doesn't want them to go to Hell or heaven because they'd be out of reach either way. She finds all herr stash has been confiscated--a menagerie of friends--and she is to turn over her latest victim. She begs the victim's Guardian Angel, Shariel, to help him but it's her place. Unfortunately bringing Divine Wrath upon the field of battle will kill her. All Shariel is allowed to tell her is, "If you love him it'll be worth it' and if she dies in doing that, "That would be... not worth it." Being a reformed devil is not an easy row to hoe, but I think we can see where it's going. And of course this is a perfect example of how a story conforms to these ideas even if the mental path was different. |
| So the AI rabbit hole is far weirder and stupider than anything from Lewis Carrol. It suddenly started telling me that my hero shouldn't kill his girlfriend. I'm like, what? That never existed in the text, so something is not right here. Really I have a chatbot in my brain and it doesn't always pass Turing but it has been trained on real experience however limited. What I was looking for was the interaction. Clearly the humas race isn't about to provide it, but neither will the bots. |
| I read a fascinating article today that posited that ChatGPT is essentially a mechanical cold reader--it does (accidentally) a bunch of the same things that psychics do when they cold read a crowd. (I haven't yet found anything better for being a writer's rubber duck than good old-fashioned morning pages, alas.) |
| ***WARNING MORO-RANT-IC DIATRIBE*** Failure to scroll may result in contempt or hilarity. You have been warned. If I can't call a time-travel drone strike on the man who built auto-incorrect---and I understand why. The laws of physics and the laws of human decency. But if I can't then surely we can build an AI that will charge them five dollars every time that it makes up bullshit characters in my typing. I have a Brannon and a Carolie. I have never written word one about BRANDON or CAROLINE. Who the absolute copulate are these people and why is this vertically violated Chromebook gibbering about them when it's supposed to be about my characters? And NO it's only on writing.com email that this happens... (Not blaming the StoryMaster; I'm sure it's Chrome. But if it was my brain it would be everything with that keyboard at least. That is all. |
| Interesting characterization fact: I used my understanding of the term "toxic" in toxic masculinity to help me characterize my little warrior's family. Sigrun's Aunt and Uncle did a lot of stupid. Heroically stupid, they tried to protect her from the angels she was talking to--and by extension, the demons that she was pissing off-- by gaslighting her. They kept telling her the angels she was talking to were imaginary friends. She didn't even know there were spirits other than pixies! This was bad enough that, when the demons had their fill, it got them killed. But they ALSO taught her to act tough in battle. AND they taught her that a leader has to decide when it is safe to feel again--and to do that by breaking down. They actively taught her that when it's safe, a real leader will be the first one to shed tears, to sob inconsolably. She has a warrior's code of masking fear and sadness, but it is NOT a toxic one. She knows when to let down her armor. Well, they can only teach what they know. What they know is not the right way to interact with the divine--at least, not till uncle Mack became an angel--but daily emotions? Yes. That they know. |
| Take a cue from hypnosis: Pacing and Leading The word "immersive" is for all intents and purposes the same as the word hypnotic. One of the tricks a hypnotist learns is called pacing and leading. A pace is a statement that is so obviously true that it automatically believed; a lead, is a bit more preposterous. By starting with the believable statements, and then weaving one that stretches credibility or doesn't fit, you help the reader believe what you say. I recommend a pattern of 3 paces to one lead, followed by a surprise, then 2 paces, followed by a zany twist, then a pace and a twist. The real point here is to keep track of how zany or incredible your facts are. If too many are incredible and unexpected, they'll leave the reader confused or disbelieving. On the other hand, if too many details are expected, you're going to lose the reader to boredom. When you get the right amount of surprise, they'll be rapt. The boy in the yellow pants pointed at the pink alligator crawling from the swing set. All the girls screamed and ran except Suzie, who picked up a fire extinguisher to bash the alligator's toothy face. The boy stopped her. The pink alligator was not coming at her but heading to the river. Suzie jumped out of the way and the alligator kept crawling over to swim. Another boy screamed "OMG he ate Johnny!" Sure enough the alligator tracks started from Jonny's shoes, but there wasn't a drop of blood by the swing set where Johnny had been. People screamed and cried. Then a girl in a pointy hat giggled and shook a stick at the pink alligator. Johnny appeared in the place of the alligator, roaring, "Raw look at me You're scared because I'm a tough alligator." The little girl witch laughed. "I don't think he knows he really was an alligator!" The difficult part here is counting the normal things (People screaming and crying) and the weird things (the alligator being pink). Or is it three things--there's an alligator, it's pink, it's on the playground. But hearing a string of stuff you believe causes you to settle in and believe everything the speaker says. Including the interesting worldbuilding stuff. That's the takeaway. That balance of verifiable and surprising is what builds immersion, and immersion makes for happy readers. |
| I knew that I was pulling the Lord of the Flies switch--the whole story is a good and evil battle with all the major players being kids. So I forgot that some of the readers would remember that my villain is maybe 14 and the hero is only 11. I forgot they weren't adults. I mean his biggest evil is how and when he chooses to be nice. He's not bullying people--he's cultivating an army of bullies for when they grow up. Kind of important to keep one eye on perspective. Even when you're setting up that kind of reveal. |
| So I've been talking with ChatGPT about a bunch of my stories. Specifically about a character who is a bastion of goodness, to the point where she made a deal with a devil to rescue an innocent. (Specifically for the fortitude to go somewhere where she was too goody-good to go. And the innocent turned out to be an agent of the devil in question--not the little girl but the demon possessing her--but that's *not* her fault.) It's just kind of ironic with ChatGPT being the devil of the creative world. Mostly GPT is blowing smoke and serving as a rubber duck. I'm not asking for suggestions, so much as descriptions. Still, that's how devils get you--offering services that do not compromise you. |
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