All Hallow's Read

My poster design for All Hallow's Read 2012

http://www.flickr.com/photos/athenasotherpics/6294880139/

Halloween!

I love Halloween.  I always have.  I think it's the combination of creepy and candy - and, of course, getting to be someone else for a night. 

I think the disguise aspect of Halloween appeals to my writer sensibilities.  I feel like each of our characters are costumes we put on, extensions of ourselves.  Obviously the degree to which this is true varies for each character (I don't believe all fiction writers are creating Mary-Sue MCs* and implanting them willy nilly into stories) but I think it's a little bit true for all of them.

You may be wonder why I am posting my Halloween post now, rather than, say, a week from now. Two reasons:

One, Neil Gaiman has come up with the concept of All Hallow's Read (If you haven't heard of it, the idea is that you give someone the gift of a scary book on Halloween), and I wanted to mention it early enough to give everyone a chance to choose and buy a scary book, if they are so inclined.

Two, it's been a while since we had a writing prompt, and I thought that since November is likely going to be a slow month in terms of DevCo posts, now would be a great time for one.

It's going to be a relatively easy one, because we all have NaNoWriMo and other things (if I remember correctly, midterms) on the brain, but here it goes:

Write something about fall.  Anything.  Up to 1000 words, fiction or non-fiction, poetry, whatever.  The only real rule is that it has to be about this wonderful season we find ourselves in (unless you live somewhere where it's spring right now.  If that is the case, please write about that).  To be posted anytime between now and October 31st.  Fallish/Halloween pictures would be great, too.

*If there isn't already, there needs to be a male equivalent to Mary-Sue.  My vote would be for Billy-Dean.

I'm not sure if this counts as a prompt

I was thinking, as a kind of Christmas challenge, it would be cool if we each tried to write a 100 word Xmas story before midnight on Christmas. Neil Gaiman's Nicholas Was is proof that it can be done, but I know everyone is busy around the holidays, so no worries if you've got other things on the go. 'Twas just a thought.

If you wanted to make yours a horror story, I found some inspiration for you. Good lord, that guy is horrifying. Combined with the semi-scary classical Xmas music I'm obliged to listen to at work, I may just have nightmares tonight (or tomorrow, or whenever I sleep next).

Also, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Happy Solstice and a Merry Christmas /Winter Holiday of Your Choosing and a Happy New Year. Joys of the season to you :)

OH MY GOD

It's finally happened. They showed signs of rebellion, but nothing like this has ever occured. Yet. And now it has, and I can't stop grinning. I blame the fact that I created a character who was meant to be a bit mysterious and inscrutable.

Okay. I'm getting ahead of myself. Basically, the story goes like this: Today I sat down and wrote like a madwoman. I'm nearing the grand finale, I'm worrying about how I'm going to work certain elements into my story, I'm not sure I'll have enough plot left to fill 50k, and I haven't explained a lot of what seems like filler.

Then I come to the scene where my Mysterious Wise Woman character has to explain Peter's Very Important Backstory to Wendy. This is an important scene, even pivotal, and I've been looking forward to it for forever. I hit this scene with about two hundred words to go before I hit 20k, and I'm thinking, "I'll just start this, maybe with a bit of foreshadowing, get those two hundred words down without getting into the Very Important Backstory so I'm not tempted to stay up all night writing, and then I'll go to bed." Seemed like a sound and solid plan, right?

WRONG.

My Mysterious Wise Woman proceeded to dash off onto an eloquent and excellent tangent about my magical world, and, in doing so, managed to fill in a few of my plot holes, add some of my neglected elements, introduce a possibility for a WHOLE 'NOTHER GRAND FINALE past the one I already have planned out, provide reasons for the actions of pretty much everyone throughout the book, tie in the Very Important Backstory and Wendy's identity as a writer, add a darker, stranger, more Gaimanesque twist to the magical world and pretty much the whole book, and cast a sense of foreboding over what is shaping up to be the Final Battle (unless I run out of plot before I run out of words, in which case it will be the Penultimate Battle). And not one word of this did I plan. I don't think I even knew it was percolating in my subconscious until Erzebet laid it all out in black and white. I know where some elements of it came from (Coraline and Solemn Coyote's reviews on FP, to name two), but I had no idea that it would all tie together so nicely, and turn into such a lovely little piece of spine-tingling silliness.

So thanks, characters, for indulging in your rebellious urges. :D I'll be right back, though: busy sleeping. LIKE YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT FOUR IN THE MORNING, GUYS.

My Ten Rules

In response to Rhiannon's post, I thought I'd try to come up with the ten rules I follow (or should follow) in my own writing. Here it goes.

1.Be true to your characters. No matter what it says in your outline, if two of your characters feel like getting into a relationship, a fight or a submarine, there's nothing you can do to stop it, so don't bother trying.

2.Picture every scene like you're actually watching it take place. Don't describe everything, but know everything, like where your characters are standing, what they're wearing, how much money they have on them - everything. (I don't always follow this one, even though I should)

3. RESEARCH. It can always be put off, but before you start working on getting something published, make sure there are no gross factual errors, because if there are, it will lead to: a) never being taken seriously or b) Being published and taken seriously until someone feels like bringing up the fact that twenty years ago, you misrepresented some cultural ceremony and then having everyone suddenly mad at you.

4. Take breaks. Not when you're on a roll, in the zone, or whatever you call it. In that state, even peeing is not necessary, unless you can take a notebook to the bathroom with you... but when you get to that stage where you're convinced that if you just stare at a blinking cursor for a little bit longer, you'll have an epiphany and be able to finish the whole book, go outside and get some fresh air. Have a drink. Relax. Take a notebook in case of epiphany, but don't even look at it unless you have something to write down.

5. Do not intentionally use big, convoluted words that nobody knows the meanings of. It doesn't make you look smart.

6. Learn how to correctly use punctuation. Don't try to use punctuation you don't understand.

7. Use your language correctly. I'm not saying that you should cut out words like 'ain't', if they fit with your story, but know the difference between your and you're, know your theres and your tos and be conscious that a scruple is not a unit of measure and pronounciated is not a word.

8. Pay attention to details and be consistent. If you're writing a letter from the perspective of somebody in the U.K., for example, remember that U.K. English, U.S. English and Canadian English are all slightly different. Make sure you're using the correct language for the situation. This likewise applies to clothing styles (don't go throwing capes around regency England unless you're sure that's what they were wearing), music (in 1999, no one was listening to 1999 - at least not on purpose) and just about anything else you can think of.

9. Give your characters flaws. No one wants to read about some hot guy with great teeth and perfect muscles who never does anything wrong and then gets the girl (unless the girl is a less than perfect brunette who's actually stunning in her own way and mistrusts men - and it says Harlequin on the cover).

10. Creep people out. Just a little.

Ten Rules...

I was poking around Neil Gaiman's blog today, as I am wont to do, and in the recent past he posted a link to an article called Ten Rules For Writing Fiction.

There are more than ten rules/commandments. Actually, there are ten from several different authors. Some of them are complete bunk. Some of them are gems of wisdom. I haven't (yet) come across the one that essentially reads: "Break the Rules", or "Tell the Rule Makers to STFU", but I'm hoping they're in there.

Elmore Leonard (of whom I have never heard, but now I have someone to look up) has two rules of especial note:

3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But "said" is far less intrusive than "grumbled", "gasped", "cautioned", "lied". I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with "she asseverated" and had to stop reading and go to the dictionary.

and,

4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances "full of rape and adverbs".

Now, I can somewhat see what he's getting at there - there are definitely those who go overboard. At the same time, I fail to see why I can't use adverbs if I damn well feel like it. I've always used adverbs, to one degree or another. I try to keep them simple, just because I want dialogue to flow properly, but eradicating them entirely just seems...stupid. Plus, it's probably a personal foible, but I've noticed that, in the midst of books that follow those two rules, I find myself wondering what emotions I'm supposed to be feeling.

(One of) the most important thing(s) about writing is to find your own voice, that thread of style and phrasing and diction that screams to everyone that this work is yours, and no other's. Part of my 'voice' is the use of adverbs. So Elmore Leonard can lump it. He also writes westerns. So hah.

Seriously, though...the best rules about writing to follow are the ones you come up with after long years of practice. Everything else is merely a suggestion, and can therefore be treated as such.

Freedom of Speech

I was reading Neil Gaiman's blog and I came across this article, which is essentially about freedom of speech as it pertains to art, and his thoughts on the subject. It's an interesting article and it got me to thinking.

I got into this a little bit with my post about the new Irish blasphemy laws, but I think it's something that needs further exploring, especially given the name of our site and the revolutionary nature of the original English Coffee House.

Gaiman's blog entry seems to have spawned from a question regarding his opinion on lolicon (a genre of manga and anime wherein childlike female characters are depicted in an erotic manner) and the banning thereof. What Gaiman points out is that regardless of your opinions on what is being said, depicted or printed, what it all boils down to is the right to free speech and free art. As he points out, the law can't be precise. It can't decide this is bad, this is good, this is passable.

The Law is a blunt instrument. It's not a scalpel. It's a club. If there is something you consider indefensible, and there is something you consider defensible, and the same laws can take them both out, you are going to find yourself defending the indefensible.

I don't think it should be up to governments to decide what people can and can't say. I don't think there should be a can and can't say. Laws are made by people, people have opinions, feelings and gut reactions, so unless those things somehow all magically start meshing, some people are going to be offended by other people's art. The solution: ignore it, speak against it, post it on your blog and trash it. But silence it? Isn't that what they did to people who thought the earth was round?

Freedom to write, freedom to read, freedom to own material that you believe is worth defending means you're going to have to stand up for stuff you don't believe is worth defending.

Personally, I think this lolicon stuff sounds a bit weird, and now that I know roughly what it is (I had to look it up), I'm not about to delve into it to see whether or not it's worth taking the time to defend its merrits as art. The point is, people should have the right to produce what they want*, regardless of who might be offended.

As soon as freedom of speech goes, we're out of a job.

*As long as no one (including animals) is hurt or exploited in the production.