Etiqueta: How to write fiction

 Welcome to a cynical, pseudo-intellectual and… I’m out of adjectives, analysis. Anyways, welcome to this blog entry where I’ll tear apart… no, no really — some of the advice is good; a very well known and popular website on how to do stuff — without images. That if we don’t count the main image and… a good one Big Choma is lending me to illustrate one of the advice points.

NOT TRUE OR NOT REAL

The famous website starts by defining  fiction plots as not true or not real stories with true/real elements in them. Or as a tale from the author’s im

agination with allusions to real people or events.  Then, I guess that before I confirm or refute anything, it becomes imperative to take out the Larousse … but this is the translated version thus it is a Merriam Webster what I’ll be taking out the bookshelf. And maybe adding what is written in the Larousse to compare. First the Larousse[1].

Ficción. f. Creación de la imaginación: tu relato es una ficción. || Simulación.

Fiction. Feminine. Creation of the imagination: your story is fiction. !!  Simulation.

Imaginación. s. m. Del verbo imaginar.

Imagination. masculine noun. From the verb to imagine.

Imaginar. v. t. Representar idealmente una cosa, crearla con la mente. || Crear, inventar: imaginar un sistema de propulsión. || Pensar, suponer: imaginar lo que uno habrá dicho. || ~V. pr. Figurarse: se imaginó que era un sabio.

Imagine. Transitive verb. To represent ideally a thing, to create it with the mind. !! To create, invent;  imagine a propelling system. !! To think, suppose, imagine what one could have said. !! ~pronominal verb. To figure out: he imagined he was a wise man.

NOW THE MERRIAM WEBSTER

Fiction noun fic·​tion ˈfik-shən

1 a : something invented by the imagination or feigned, specifically : an invented story … I’d found out that the story of the ailing son was pure fiction.—Andrew A. Rooney

b: fictitious literature (such as novels or short stories). She was renowned as a writer of fiction c : a work of fiction, especially : NOVEL Her latest work is a fiction set during the Civil War.

2 a : an assumption of a possibility as a fact irrespective of the question of its truth, a legal fiction b : a useful illusion or pretense. It was only a fiction of independence his mother gave him; he was almost totally under her power—G. A. Wagner

3: the action of feigning or of creating with the imagination. She engaged in fiction to escape painful realities.

imagination noun imag·​i·​na·​tion i-ˌma-jə-ˈnā-shən

1 : the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality

2 a : creative ability b: ability to confront and deal with a problem : RESOURCEFULNESS use your imagination and get us out of here c : the thinking or active mind : INTEREST stories that fired the imagination

3a: a creation of the mind, especially : an idealized or poetic creation

b : fanciful or empty assumption 

Imagine verb imag·​ine i-ˈma-jən  imagined; imagining i-ˈma-jə-niŋ  -ˈmaj-nə- transitive verb

1: to form a mental image of (something not present). imagine accidents at every turn

2: SUPPOSE, GUESS. I imagine it will rain

3.: to form a notion of without sufficient basis : FANCY. imagines himself to be a charming conversationalist

4 archaic : PLAN, SCHEME intransitive verb

1: to use the imagination

2: BELIEVE sense 3 : to hold an opinion               

Summarising, we have two completely different things: reality and fiction. Which are, in fact, not as different as Hilary Mantel (historical novel writer) would say. After all, History is written by historians. And historians have their own likes and dislikes, interests and disinterests.

They can perfectly omit half of the living population from the registry of provable and important facts since it does nothing more than… give birth[2].

It might seem untrue, but along the 5,000 years or more of human history (written human history); women do nothing more than being pretty, give birth to kings, marry kings or seduce them. And such a concept is a bogus fiction. But it is also… HiStory[3].

Lucky Live (Lucas actually) decides to change and become a sensible sensitive man. He changes his bike for a bicycle so old it even has a grid to help ladies from getting their skirts stuck in the wheels. His hair is now long enough for a pony tail and he wears a second hand overall and stripped socks. Just the first day at school, Miss Piltz requests for a form to be signed by the parents. Lucky in his eagerness to be as transparent as possible…. Fills it himself under the teacher’s sight. His parents have given him and his best friend Ariadne (whom tells the story) some of these forms already signed as checks in blank; given that the two of them have proven to be sensible. Up to now. Lucas commits the treason of showing off this trust. Miss Piltz misunderstands it as forgery. Lucas is sent to the Principal’s. 

To Robert McKee in “The script. Story”; there is always a chasm between the consequences of the actions of the actors (results) and what they expect to obtain from those (the intentions). According to him, you can get this chasm by continuously changing POV or perspectives in a way that every character’s reactions or perspective end up being more authentic and original due to the need to face each character’s fate. Once characters are contrasted against someone else’s reality; they will fail to obtain what they intend since the other character will always misunderstand and react accordingly. This creates chaos. And more abysms between the character’s intentions and the results open about their feet.

This is the first abysm of fiction. The chasm between what the character does to obtain what they wish for and what they really get (very oftenly things go awry).

Chuck Wendig recommends to “block” this path between the character and their wish, in a way that it is practically impossible for the character to obtain what he wishes for. Our “ant” character must encounter as much resistance as possible without the wish becoming totally impossible.

It has to be almost impossible to obtain but only ALMOST. If the probabilities of getting the character’s wishes fulfilled are zero, our audience, will chose to abandon our alternate universe. In agreement, McKee explains that if the chances to get the wish fulfilled are null from the beginning, the audience will abandon the projection room without a second chance. 

TO GET IT REQUIRES EXAGGERATING. Second chasm of fiction.

Maybe I’m being too dramatic by calling it a chasm. Perhaps a crack. The point is that something shaped as a peculiar letter from a magic school instead of the usual invoice for your uncle arrives to the mail box… or it arrives directly into your hands. Sometimes some nightmare eaters decide that therapy isn’t for you, since they crave your nightmare for themselves. You must turn the ordinary into extraordinary. And still give room to the character to breath. They have to react properly. To just add and add happenings won’t create the third chasm. And the fourth divides good stories from master pieces.

In my opinion (and some others too); these two are not the only abysms. In whatever alternate universe or reality of fiction we can look calmly, sometimes with delight, at some character dying. Maybe we will feel irated or a little sad but… We aren’t in need of years of grieving to get over the fact of such death.

We will watch characters facing villains Kalashnikov in hand to defend democracy, free will and/or their best friend. This is the fun side of it.

The chasm between our favourite sofá and the stress of wearing the character’s shoes.

To jump from a moving train in the middle of a bridge when, at the same time, we move no muscle. We are happy and safe at home. I’m sure you have jumped off a swing in movement (no, not me, I’m a coward) and you felt exhilarated and adrenaline pumping. Would you jump off the train?

Would you get out from your house, Wi-Fi supplied to get yourself into a bombing episode without a single bar in your smartphone? Would you drop your coffee mug to get yourself immersed in human disposal to greet your hero? Would you happily hire a music band to declare your love to your crush? I don’t know why, but this last one seems traumatic enough to add a layer of eccentricity given the odds of getting some “no thank you”.

I remember an advertisement I watched in Sky which summarizes the idea perfectly. I don’t recall it verbatim and I didn’t have the wit to jot it down and we don’t have Sky here so I won’t quote. It was something alike:

<<Do you wish for the excitement of fighting terrorists, assassin cruel villains and play with exotic weaponry at the comfort of your home? Watch these movies…>>

Live and joy from the gut twist that fiction can get for you without risking your own skin in the front lines. Simple.

The last chasm is the most difficult of them all. It is the abysm between what the reader wishes for/anticipates through the reading and what actually happens.

Our experience (reader) against what the writer can do to enrich such experience with something different to a cliché.

Has it happened to you? To watch Jurassic park and know, with certainty, that Blue will end up fighting the experimental dino. And before it even happens, you already know what is coming next.

This a phenomenon linked to the happenings logic. An experienced reader (or film gourmet) knows where and when to anticipate what; just because they have watched or read their share. If they are not a writer themselves is only because they haven’t started to write anything. CAN YOU GIVE THEM WHAT THEY EXPECT WITHOUT GIVING IT AS THEY EXPECT IT?

How would you create these abysms? No, don’t like it. Don’t subscribe. This blog is pure nonsense.

Panic not! And there’s panic already creeping up your leg since I had to go and open my big mouth… Easy. There are blog entries and videos to the brim about how to deal with writer’s block that for sure is the same for designers.

And it is prone to happen; that from time to time and every other fortnight we run out of ideas. Usually at the beginning; when we’re still in lack of those muscles that get fatty after a year of pumping them. The writer/designer/drawer/engineer’s muscle which knows where is the IDEA and even smells it before it comes by. Or “in the half of the book” crisis or the “now what do I write?” crisis. 

To us, the rookies (no matter how old we’re), it comes as being couch athletes. We can’t even get up to get ourselves a glass of water. O to go and write/design because anything else becomes more attractive than designing/writing/drawing/WORKING. No matter how hateful it is. Like taking an old t-shirt and clean around. I hate cleaning… but I clean when I should be writing!

So long, do you wanna know how to focus and do what you must instead of counting reasons? First, a disclaimer. This blog entry is a mix of ideas by cathy Birch (The creative writer’s workbook), mine and someone else somewhere. The thing is, I don’t remember which is which. Thus, authorship is confusing, opaque and…let’s stop my mumbling.

1. GET YOUR ARSE OUT FROM YOUR CHAIR. Stop looking at the blank page (either digital or real) and get your brain to do something else. We tend to obviate the familiar stuff and thus we take it for granted. Such an action takes us to make mistakes. It is better to look at it again from some other angle.
2. Break the routine and do your eye gym ten minutes’ thing. You are not writing anything anyways, therefore you can distract yourself with something good for you health.
3. No, in this blog I won’t promote suicide. Physcal exercise is good for your body but I won’t recommend you to do aerobic stuff or to jump anytime your health forbids so. Ypu can always look up any virtual walkout and simulate walking there or to find a YouTube video without jumping. The most demanding and at the same time easy to do activity is yoga. That some postures take too much on back, neck and knees is something you need to reckon before trying them. Always check with your physician before taking any new exercise routine if you’re with any cardiac, knee, spine or cholesterol problem.
4. Clean. Mind’s webs disappear too by cleaning in real life. A dust free space is cleaner and healthier.
5. Do you have children? Play! For sure they have less of these “inner judge” inhibitions and much more ideas than you do. Besides, children have a very thorough logic and see black and white things. This can help to re-think what you know about a topic. Does it embarrass you? I don’t see why. You’re telling a story and playing is to have Guinea pigs to your advantage to try how good a story is.
6. GO GET YOURSELF A COFFEE/TEA/COCOA MUG. Cathy Birch says it is better to have wathever you might need hand reach and never waste time looking them up. However… if you’re already wasting time watching the blank of space, why not to give your brain a break? It can give it some fresh oxygen and an environment switch. Right. Don’t overeat. You will feel extra heavy and sleepy, more like napping than like placing your fingers over the keyboard. You will get fat… So what? An over weighted body feels like that.  Over weighted on the knees and on the legs. Gravity is more difficult to deal with to move it and cholesterol makes your muscles to produce lactic acid even quicker. Indeed, your choice.
7. Change location. Under the table, in some other room, the bathroom, anywhere but move yourself. Quite impossible if you do drawing or #D design but… you can always take a notebook somewhere else. Don’t complaint and better think: How can I go to work to other place? Anyways, to think over and over the problem isn’t going to solve it any faster when you’re stuck.
8. Do you feel pressured to increase productivity? Remember, we have been through quarantine. Some say they will never pay attention to such measurement again but even if we weren’t under such settings; you’re not under dead threat. Do what you can. Don’t hope for anything else.  As alcoholices do.  A day at a time, a page at a time. Keep your calm.
9. Go napping. Yur brain needs to sleep too.
10. If all the previous fail… GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING. Sometimes a faulty set up of the idea causes the flow to be obstructed and the story might not reach anywhere. If such is the case, START ALL OVER AGAIN.

Up to here. Any additional idea you might have is cherised. ALONG comments. Like, suscribe, take a pause to recycle. Ciao, ciao.