Showing posts with label promise. Show all posts
Showing posts with label promise. Show all posts

Monday, May 18, 2015

Promises, promises

I've been listening to the podcast Writing Excuses for about as long as I've been writing seriously. It's been a tremendous source of inspiration and information for me as I've been climbing up the ladder towards becoming a published author. This year they're doing  a Writing Excuses Masterclass where they lead their intrepid listeners through the process of creating a novel from scratch. A few weeks ago one of their episodes was about using promises to outline a story. I've been thinking about promises in fiction ever since.

Promises of genre

The easiest to notice and understand, for me at least, are the promises made by genre. In a romance you'll always want two people who belong together even though they probably don't see it in the beginning. In the end they must end up together. Unless you're Nicholas Sparks but that's a whole other ball of wax.

In science fiction and fantasy which are the genres in which I feel most at home it has much more to do with the subgenre but even that's not a laser-proof indicator of what the story holds. Space opera in general promises adventorous good times and a happy ending with some sacrifices made along the way. It also promises some whizbang cool technology and space travels. The thing is though, that a space opera doesn't necessarily have to have a happy ending to be a space opera, nor does it necessarily need to be an adventure.

Epic fantasy makes different promises from urban fantasy which in turn makes different promises than steampunk. The problem with science fiction and fantasy as genres is that they're pretty young. They're still developing which means that the promises they make to the reader are not nearly as rigid as the promises more established genres like romance and thrillers make. Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach trilogy and Asimov's Foundation trilogy are both science fiction but they deliver a very different reading experience.

There are some few authors who manage to transcend the boundaries of genre to deliver a signature reading experience all their own. Neil Gaiman, Nnedi Okorafor and the aforementioned Nicholas Sparks are the three that come to my mind easily. But since most authors really, really aren't one of these people - I certainly am not - it's always a good idea to first and foremost keep in mind the promises made by the genre one has chosen to use.

Promises of tone

The second important promise an author makes to their reader is tone. Even within the same genre, the promises a dramatic story will give are entirely different from what a comedy gives. Robert Heinlein and John Scalzi deliver structurally very similar stories (according to Scalzi, this is by design) but again, the reading experience is very different. Tone can partly depend on the genre too. A children's book with a light and happy tone is more or less a must for anyone who actually wants people to read it whereas a YA book can be much more angst-ridden, although I'd still recommend adding lighter moments in there.

Of course there's more to tone than that. You couldn't write Sophie's Choice in a comic tone and expect people to go along with it. The dramatic material requires a serious tone. The same goes the other way too. Using a dramatic tone to narrate for example The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy would entirely defeat the purpose.


Promises of awesome

In my not so humble opinion the biggest promise every author ought to make is one of awesome. Whether that be in the form of transformative prose or the literal awesomeness of Howl's Moving Castle, it's important to endeavor not to waste the reader's time. If David Farland is correct in his theory of fiction being a form of emotional exercise then I think it's fair to say that we should strive to be worthy of that exercise. And we do that by being awesome. Although I'm not entirely sure that's something I know how to plan. Which is exactly what continuing education is for. 

What are the promises you like most? What are the promises you have most trouble with?

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Plot Goggles: The Best Tool I Acquired at Taos Toolbox

At a workshop like Taos Toolbox, so much happens that you could never relay completely just what you've learned. In truth, I don't know if you can fully comprehend all that you have learned for at least six months to a year, and even then you may not have the whole picture. Learning is like that. Things take time to seep into your brain.

But there are always some immediate takeaways. As I've mentioned previously, I went to the Toolbox with the distinct intent of mastering plot. While learning Plot Breaking, a Hollywood technique for hashing out major plot points, was probably the most practical thing I learned, there was a more conceptual point of realization that I think is going to help me as I move forward on this writing journey.

It's not a new concept, not even to me, but sometimes you have to see things multiple times and then see it from a different angle to fully understand. It's this. For a story to be emotionally satisfying, you have to make a big promise* in the beginning and then deliver an ending that is unique, but appropriate to the characters and situation involved. Oh, and the stuff that happens in the middle needs to be interesting and/or entertaining.

Sounds simple and obvious, right? That doesn't mean it's easy to do. How many movies have you seen that you've enjoyed, up until the end where it fizzles or lets you down in some other way? Same with books. And it's frustrating because you want to love it; instead, it leaves you wanting. And sometimes it's not just the ending. Sometimes the story goes wrong much sooner.

Take, for example, the movie Pacific Rim. If you love the movie, great, no offense meant here, but for me it didn't work. The prologue where the main character's brother is killed is interesting and moving and makes it look like this monster movie is going to have a little more depth than your standard monster action flick. After that, they deliver an illogical premise filled with contrived character arcs and a few ridiculous characters doing stupid things. It's not that I can't hang with this kind of movie, but the beginning promised me something else, so I was disappointed in what they actually delivered.

A better monster picture, in my opinion, is Megashark vs. Giant Octopus. The title lets you know this is going to be an absurd monster picture - so get your popcorn and be prepared to razz the movie all the way through because it's not taking itself seriously. Megashark delivers exactly what it promises, and hilarity ensues.

A great book that lost me, a little bit, at the end, was The Martian by Andy Weir. I highly recommend it, but the denouement (the capper at the end) felt slight. I wanted more emotional resolution so that I could cheer bigger and love this book. Instead, I have to say that I really, really like it – with this one little reservation.

As I look back at some of my older stories, I can see where I failed to deliver an emotionally satisfying story arc. Either the promise wasn't big enough, or the challenges not great enough or the end didn't fulfill the promise of the beginning. Going forward, I will be much more conscious of this. The best tool that I acquired in Taos was a pair of plot goggles that allow me to see story more clearly. I'm sure other attendees of Taos Toolbox acquired different tools, but this is what I am most grateful for.

*NOTE: When I talk about a big promise, I don't mean that you're characters have to be saving the world, but the stakes need to be high – for them.