Comments for SF Novelists

Comment on You keep using that word by Mary

Mary — Mon, 20 May 2013 00:42:25 +0000

For either one, I think the best way to develop them is learn how to make words jump through hoops, and then always be aware of the manifold possibilties of arranging words while writing.

Which is why I recommend pastiches as a good way to develop your own style.

Comment on You keep using that word by C.E. Petit

C.E. Petit — Sun, 19 May 2013 16:59:47 +0000

May I respectfully suggest that “style” and “voice” are also content-dependant? As an exercise in true horror, imagine 1984 and/or Animal Farm in the “voice” of Jean Genet… or even of Aldous Huxley.

This is the principle error of most MFA-in-writing programs. Yes, there must be a certain amount of practice that one doesn’t get in a traditional MA program in literature. However, practice does not make perfect; practice makes habitual. And if what one is practicing is not modelled on “the best,” what one “masters” is not modelled on “the best,” either. MFA programs need to include a lot more process-oriented reading in their curricula… but that would require instructors who understood it, too, so….

Comment on You keep using that word by Scott Seldon

Scott Seldon — Sat, 18 May 2013 06:34:14 +0000

No matter what you call it, I don’t think t can be taught. I think it comes from practice. It is when you stop imitating others and write as yourself. Of course you need to be proficient in the technical aspects as well. Not everyone finds it, but anyone can.

Comment on You keep using that word by Kari Sperring

Kari Sperring — Thu, 16 May 2013 12:15:28 +0000

What an interesting approach. Voice, or style or whatever is the thing that comes easiest to me as a writer — how I use words is hard-wired at some very deep level. And I can match other people’s style, too, though some are easier than others. But I don’t know how I do this, except insofar as it may be to do with how I relate to language in general/ If I’m exposed to any language for any length of time I start collecting things like pronouns, and sentence order and tense. It’s to do with rhythm and structure and pattern.
I can teach students to analyse style, but I’ve never tried to teach style itself — that would, I suspect, descend quickly into parody. I can teach them how to clean up their writing, how to shape it — but that personal voice? No. It does evolve over time, as Sam observes above, but for me, at least, it’s also intensely personal. I might, I sup[pose, be able to teach someone to write like me, if I had to. But that would be pointless, because they really need to write like themselves, and that’s…. well, it’s practice, but it’s also down to that personal connexion to language.

Comment on You keep using that word by Sam Graham

Sam Graham — Thu, 16 May 2013 11:10:37 +0000

Style/voice/whatever absolutely can be taught. Finding your own, that’s another matter… but I think exposure to, and analysis of, multiple style/voice/whatevers can help the process along. So, teaching helps.

I think the idea that SVW clicks fully-fledged into existence with an author suddenly “finding their voice” is a common delusion too, in reality it’s an ongoing process throughout the life of an author as their writing evolves.

And that’s even if they don’t make deliberate attempts to mix it up for different books.

I think you’ve nailed it in your final paragraph, helping people try different things, help them understand what they’re doing and see what resonates for them.

Comment on Three Authors Who Got Me Started by Scott Seldon

Scott Seldon — Thu, 09 May 2013 19:55:14 +0000

My first SF authors were Isaac Asimov, Brian Daley, and James Blish (the Trek novelizations). I can’t say which came first, but I suspect it was Brian Daley. Since then anything with tech and a good story, especially anything with a starship deck under the character’s feet, has me hooked. I just wish I had more time to read to enjoy all that is out there.

Comment on Noun of Nouns by Marie Brennan

Marie Brennan — Sat, 04 May 2013 22:23:56 +0000

Oh yes. “A River Flowing Nowhere” sat around for years before I recently started to have an idea to go with it.

Comment on Noun of Nouns by Bruce Arthurs

Bruce Arthurs — Sat, 04 May 2013 22:17:47 +0000

Does anyone else keep a list of “Cool Titles” they’ve thought of, to use as inspiration for stories as yet unwritten?

My old short story “Death and the Ugly Woman” sat as just a title in a notebook for several years before the actual story came to mind. The story I completed a few days ago, “Julius Jeremiah and the Time Machinist”, was just “The Time Machinist” on a list of potential titles for a number of months before the actual story started coming together in my head.

Comment on The Skill List Project: Exposition Preliminaries by Mary

Mary — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 02:25:37 +0000

Jane Austen also went for the opening lump -- in Persuasion and Northanger Abbey -- and more artfully than Star Wars. She did it so eloquently (and with a good leavening of irony in Abbey) that it was a pleasure to read in itself.

Comment on The Skill List Project by The Skill List Project: Exposition Preliminaries at SF Novelists

The Skill List Project: Exposition Preliminaries at SF Novelists — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 14:34:22 +0000

[...] Skill List Project: Exposition Preliminaries This is another post in The Skill List Project: an attempt to list all the skills involved in writing and selling fiction, particularly science [...]