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.
Since I scribble my notes on anything at hand, I tend to have a variety of paper sizes and weights to work with when I am transferring my notes to my computer. Those papers without much stiffness just drape over when I prop them up. My standard desk paper holder also takes up too much room, and I have had to add a clip to the side because the fan keeps making the paper wiggle and fly about. And it takes up just as much room when not in use as when in use.
Then my mother-in-law gave me a Page-up dingus. It looks like a little more than half an egg, that has a flat side, sitting on the flat side, and takes the same amount of room as an egg sitting on the flat side. There is a curved cut in the top where you set the paper. Since my phone, mouse, glasses, camera, notebook, etc. also take up room on my desk, this tiny thing is perfect.
You might think the fan would have the same effect, but you would be wrong. The curve creates a stiffness that keeps the paper in place.
I am in no way affiliated with the creators, makers, or sellers of this thing. I just like it.
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.
Every writer, whether he or she is a writer of fiction or non-fiction, journalist or reviewer, must spell correctly. As a teacher I am routinely asked by my students how to spell a word they want to use in their writing. I always point at the dictionary. I do understand the issue of getting a big book of words and sifting through it for the correct spelling and that they find this tedious, especially when they know I can spell the word for them much quicker.
This is why I thoroughly recommend every writer, from student to pseudo-professional to professional consider having a Webster’s Instant Word Guide or The Word Book III from Houghton Mifflin. They do not contain definitions but are directed at spelling alone. The majority of people who want to spell a word are not confused about its meaning. So a speller’s word book, such as the two listed above, is ideal. And they are small, roughly 4″ x 5 1/2″.
They are compact, to the point, easy to navigate, and they supply one crucial component: If there could be a chance of confusion with another word, both are supplied with an extremely short definition (usually one word) next to the confused alternative, so the writer can make an informed decision about which is the correct one to use and spell appropriately.
Just to add useful to convenient and the critical low “overwhelming” factor, both these books also offer conversion tables for weights and measures, spelling rules, punctuation and abbreviations sections.
I actually have both of these books. One I keep at school on my desk and the other at home. I introduce my new students to them every year. And though it is never a majority, many of them do inform me at some point in the year that they have purchased one.
Last word on this: spelling is crucial in any public writing forum. This is a non-tedious, easy-to-use fix for the problem. It is even quicker than an iPhone dictionary ap and does the one thing wordprocessing program dictionaries don’t do: provide you with the option of the “other word.”