A reminder that all writing is about every word doing its job and that becomes an even more pronounced skill when you are writing something short, like a poem or a story.
We do receive entries which are not 2,000 words long but 200 words instead - and that is an art form in itself.
The length means that the writers had to make every word do its job and discard every word, every thought, every element of the story that slowed it down. Those stories were stripped to their basics.
Did they lose anything for that? Not really. They may have left the reader to work out a lot, think through what they were being told and where it was happening, but many of them remained powerful pieces of writing for all that.
John Dean
Monday, 18 November 2013
GIving of yourself
I was teaching a class the other night and one of the writers was writing a story based around dementia.
My father suffered dementia in the years before his death and the story I was listening to struck home as real.
And why not? Emotion is something of which some readers are wary, preferring to read work without offering too much of themselves. However, for many others, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves in it somewhere.
And that’s why this story worked for me
John Dean
My father suffered dementia in the years before his death and the story I was listening to struck home as real.
And why not? Emotion is something of which some readers are wary, preferring to read work without offering too much of themselves. However, for many others, there cannot be fiction without a sense of themselves in it somewhere.
And that’s why this story worked for me
John Dean
Friday, 15 November 2013
Publishing new short story writing talent
We love short stories so much that we have published two cracking anthologies as ebooks, all featuring some exciting new talent from around the world, and edited by myself.
They are:
Global Shorts - an anthology of short stories taken from the early years of the Global Short Competition, available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=global+shorts+and+john+dean
Vegemite Whiskers - a selection of some of the finest writing from Australian authors who have entered the Global Short Story Competition, available at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=vegemite+whiskers
John Dean
They are:
Global Shorts - an anthology of short stories taken from the early years of the Global Short Competition, available at http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=global+shorts+and+john+dean
Vegemite Whiskers - a selection of some of the finest writing from Australian authors who have entered the Global Short Story Competition, available at
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=vegemite+whiskers
John Dean
Why minor characters matter
It’s worth remembering that minor characters are important to your writing and that you need to take care creating them.
They may only be part of the scenery but it’s worth drawing them well so think how they look and act, how they help the scene on, what job you want them to do.
And who knows, they may assume a greater importance? I worked with one writer who created a ‘bit part’ character designed to show how nasty the main character was.
That was all she was there for but, by the time she had stolen the scene, she had become a major character and the story had to be rewritten - and was the better for it.
John Dean
They may only be part of the scenery but it’s worth drawing them well so think how they look and act, how they help the scene on, what job you want them to do.
And who knows, they may assume a greater importance? I worked with one writer who created a ‘bit part’ character designed to show how nasty the main character was.
That was all she was there for but, by the time she had stolen the scene, she had become a major character and the story had to be rewritten - and was the better for it.
John Dean
Out of this world
Although we are not a specialist science fiction competition, we do get the odd sci-fi entry so what makes good science fiction? Here are some thoughts:
* The best science fiction writers create fantastic worlds but write about them as if they were completely normal. You need to do so as well.
* Make sure the reader is able to suspend disbelief. The plot and events need to be believable.
* Base your ideas on good science - that is what makes the best sci-work, it could happen. If a story comes over as impossible, you are moving into fantasy rather than sci-fi.
* You have to explain more as the reader needs more help to see your weird and wonderful world.
* Science fiction must evoke a sense of wonder in the reader. They must want to be in that remarkable world, to meet aliens, to travel in time and space
* Awe and wonder is all very well but what is also needed is a command of writing: bug-headed aliens does not negate the need for skilful writing
What makes bad science fiction?
1 The great Science Fiction editor John W Campbell said that a science fiction writer should never put beings into a story that are so far superior to Man that we cannot understand their motives, we cannot overcome their will or we cannot meet them face to face in a fair fight. It’s a rule that stands true today
Also:
2 Don’t try to re-create popular sci-fi stories. You can be more original than that!
3 Make your aliens alien but also make them realistic
4 No, it wasn’t a dream - no one waking up to discover they were in bed all the time!
Plenty of time to enter the November Global Short Story Competition at www.inscribemedia.co.uk
John Dean
Thursday, 14 November 2013
A spot of theory
Characters are central to our stories but there’s more to it than creating people. Here’s the science bit!
Characters fit into different categories, including:
Dynamic Character - a character which changes during the course of a story or novel
Round Character - a well developed character who demonstrates varied and sometimes contradictory traits
Foil - a character that is used to enhance another character through contrast.
Confidante- someone in whom the central character confides, thus revealing the main character’s personality, thoughts, and intentions.
Static (or flat or stock) Character – a character that remains primarily the same throughout a story or novel.
John Dean
Characters fit into different categories, including:
Dynamic Character - a character which changes during the course of a story or novel
Round Character - a well developed character who demonstrates varied and sometimes contradictory traits
Foil - a character that is used to enhance another character through contrast.
Confidante- someone in whom the central character confides, thus revealing the main character’s personality, thoughts, and intentions.
Static (or flat or stock) Character – a character that remains primarily the same throughout a story or novel.
John Dean
Back to the beginning again
As you know, I place great store on getting the start right for a stories - you have to grab the reader from the off.
The first rule of opening lines is that they should possess some or most of the individual elements that make up the story. An opening line should have a distinctive voice, some suggestions of the plot and a hint of characterisation. By the end of the first paragraph, we should also know where the story is set.
It can be a good idea to start as something is happening, so that the reader arrives in the middle of something.
If you want to begin a story with dialogue, keep in mind that you are asking a lot of your reader to get their head round your story as it is so rather than lots of dialogue, maybe begin with a single line then immediately offer additional context before proceeding with the rest of the conversation.
For me, good openings include:
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” — William Gibson, Neuromancer (you can see exactly where you are)
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” — C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (so intriguing)
“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” — Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups (also intriguing)
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.” — Raymond Chandler, Red Wind (a strong and distinctive voice from the off)
“We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.” — Louise Erdrich, Tracks (I defy you not to read on after that!)
John Dean
The first rule of opening lines is that they should possess some or most of the individual elements that make up the story. An opening line should have a distinctive voice, some suggestions of the plot and a hint of characterisation. By the end of the first paragraph, we should also know where the story is set.
It can be a good idea to start as something is happening, so that the reader arrives in the middle of something.
If you want to begin a story with dialogue, keep in mind that you are asking a lot of your reader to get their head round your story as it is so rather than lots of dialogue, maybe begin with a single line then immediately offer additional context before proceeding with the rest of the conversation.
For me, good openings include:
“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.” — William Gibson, Neuromancer (you can see exactly where you are)
“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” — C. S. Lewis, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (so intriguing)
“Once upon a time, there was a woman who discovered she had turned into the wrong person.” — Anne Tyler, Back When We Were Grownups (also intriguing)
“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.” — Raymond Chandler, Red Wind (a strong and distinctive voice from the off)
“We started dying before the snow, and like the snow, we continued to fall.” — Louise Erdrich, Tracks (I defy you not to read on after that!)
John Dean
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