Goddamn shiny objects.

[squeequeg]

In theory, one of the best pieces of writing advice I've gotten is to examine how the authors I like write their stories.

I say "in theory," because I always get too damn distracted by the story itself.

Case in point: I'm attempting to rewrite a light space operaish story (space operetta? No, not enough puns), and so I'm rereading some of my favorite novels of the space opera-type. I go in with the noble intent of seeing how they construct a scene, how they mesh narratives together, how they work in description and science (or Science!) so that it isn't in indigestible lumps, how, in short, they make the story live.

I get about ten paragraphs in and I'm happily ensconced in the plot, my attention less on how it's done than on what happens next and isn't this so cool! Look! Zappy things!

I can occasionally step back and analyze some of the narrative, see how the structure works. But for close work, I'm in trouble. Maybe what I need to do is examine writers whose work I respect but don't get caught up in -- but then how can I learn how to write the stories I would love to read?

In other news, I've also discovered that attempting to rewrite a story when irritable and depressed does very little for the story. The space opera is much better now than when the group critted it; the Irish werewolf story not so much. At least it has a better opening now...maybe I can bludgeon it a bit tomorrow.

Comments

[magdalene1.livejournal.com]

Hee, you have described why I cannot be a Script Supervisor, ever.

A script sup watches the monitor and checks for all things continuity - which hand did what, which prop went where, which glass was at what level, what line someone took a sip or a drag of the cigarette on, where the eyeline matches are....

I can do that for about 30 seconds before I'm into watching the actors. "Hey, neat story!"

Thanks for the humorous and articulate summation of this syndrome. Maybe we need a long German word for "the inability to absorb stylistic or technical information about art because the art has sucked you in." Anyone? Anyone?

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

Geshsuckenentodieplottenshinie.

[ethicsgradient.livejournal.com]

What are your favorites from the space opera genre anyway?

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell. Now that I come to think of it, I'm not absolutely sure I know the boundaries of the genre very well, so there's every chance I'll end up miscategorizing something...

Stephen R. Donaldson's Gap series is sort of a paradigmatic space opera (hell, it's based on the Ring Cycle, for crying out loud), but I'm not always able to work my way through his novels.
Doyle and MacDonald's Mageworld series (ffeog and yhlee, this is part of why I applied to VP in the first place; I found this series in high school and latched on to it).
C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner and Cyteen series, though I'm really not sure if they qualify as space opera...see what I mean about genre trouble?
And I did like the first couple books of the Keltiad (Patricia Kennealy) though they suffer from a trait that irks the hell out of me usually: you can tell the villains and heroes straight off by how nice they are to the protagonist.

Now that I come to think of it, those are all series, and I'm not even sure if I'm categorizing them right. Any advice/recommendations?

[ffoeg.livejournal.com]

When you read, you are using reader mind. If you want to be using writer mind, then you have to be typing.

So retype a scene -- or a chapter, or the whole book -- of a book you like. It is an astonishing experience. (Not to mention the feeling of "Look! Nebula-winning prose is pouring out of my fingertips!") It works because you can't skip a word, and, since you type much slower than you can read (or at least I do), you have time to think: why that verb? Why a comma there? What does this sentence do for the scene

[stealthmuffin.livejournal.com]

I should probably try that. The one thing hampering me is that I'm developing RSI in my wrists, and I'm selfish about my typing time. If my wrists are going to be aching at the end of the day, then I should have written something; or at least that's how I feel sometimes.

[ffoeg.livejournal.com]

Ah, that sucks. Definitely be kind to your wrists. :(

Maybe try reading out loud?

[minyan.livejournal.com]

If not typing, maybe you can slow your reading down another way. I rarely write in books, but I've found that I read differently when I do. What if you picked a small section you really like - nothing larger than a chapter - and read it. And reread it. And reread it. Because then you know the plot and you can only get caught up in it for so long. and on the second or third go-round, read with a pen and underline things and draw balloons and sheep falling off the ends of the lines and choruses of wookies with vibrato or whatever helps?

I haven't tried this with a novel yet, but its the way I tackle stories when I'm having a hard time commenting on them.