Science Fiction & Fantasy author
Design something that does not exist. Here are some items to choose from.
Once you have selected what you are going to create, describe it being used as a routine item or concern in a character’s life.
Every writer’s frustration is getting the grammar and punctuation
correct. Without it, our readers can’t follow the road we have prepared
for them. Even a grammarian/English teacher needs to check her work
regularly and review rules. One of the best books for assisting both
the conscientious beginner and the experienced writer is a text that was
on the recommended list for a college class I took: Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference. I have returned to college several times picking up
different certifications and degrees, but this is the best writing reference text I came
across over the years.
This is a compact
text, about 6 1/2 x 8 inches, held together by a comb binding, so it
travels well and lays flat. Cost is a bit steep, ($50.00+ on average),
but grammar evolves quite slowly, so you have time to wear it out. So
dictionary (or word book: see my previous post on spell friendly dictionaries, July 11, 2012), thesaurus, A Writer’s Reference, if you
write anything and care about writing well, have them in easy reach.
You are standing on a corner and a car drives past. What kind/color of car? Is it going too fast or too slow? What’s the destination? Who is driving and what’s his/her story?
Today you will describe something in detail. Pick something on your desk or think back on a favorite toy, your first car, the dinner your ordered at a favorite restaurant or the worst pizza you had at a bowling alley in some hokey town you passed through late one night. Get deep into describing it. Work it over and over, removing, adding, choosing precise wording. Don’t stop until you have covered everything. Then determine the focus and cut to the most profound of your imagery.
I am at the beginning of redrafting my second book in my Students of Jump series. In the process, I started thinking about what it is I like about the books I like to read. Knowing that will help me make sure my book has those qualities. So what is it that holds my attention when I read a science fiction novel?
1. depth of humanity: I like my characters to show their fears, joys, fellowship to other characters
2. activity: I don’t mind a lull especially after a heavy action or emotional scene, but I don’t want the lulls to last too long, and they must have purpose.
3. well-developed characters that I can sympathize with even if I don’t like them. I understand why they are doing what they are doing.
4. humor: life always has moments of humor, and I want any stories I read to have it, too. Silly moments, puns, laugh instead of cry, etc.
5. emotional involvement: some catharsis for at least the main character
6. connection to other characters: relationships that show the main character has family, friends, co-workers, enemies, pets. I don’t like when they exist in isolation. Everybody has backstory and forward reconnections to others
7. I want to see (hear, smell, touch, taste) the environment, things, actions described.
8. Sense of local: where are they, where are they going?
9. the fiction of science: space travel, technology in every day life, the stuff that is related to but not of this contemporary time.
10. I like to get lost in the story: (I don’t mean the author dropped me off a cliff, and I have no notion of where the story is going and has gone). I want time to go by that I didn’t notice because the story caught me up and carried me away.
After looking at my list, it is clear I have set myself up for a challenge. I had better get onto it.
For this writing prompt, make up a holiday.
