L.D. Colter's Blog, page 12

Photo from Pexels ​There’s no lack of writing advice online, and basic tips for beginners are generally similar across the board. That said, there are an increasing number of new writers every day and, even for veteran writers, a lot of basic advice bears repeating. In the spirit of giving back some of what others have taught me over the years, I thought I’d begin a 12-part series of weekly posts on writing fiction, in hopes they may steer someone to improved technique, or help more experienced writers to think of an old idea in a new way. While I’m specifically addressing speculative fiction writers, most of the information will apply to any genre.
 
Popular writing trends have changed over the years. Formal and poetic language was an accepted norm in centuries past; now the trend is to avoid flowery writing even when striving for a literary feel. Pulp fiction throughout much of the 1900s tended to be plot and action driven; now, even for commercial stories, the preference leans toward character-driven work. Omniscient POV (point of view) used to be widely accepted, but is now out of favor. Why the changes? In a word: immediacy. The majority of readers and editors today are looking for active, character-driven work that immerses the reader in the story.
 
Purple prose, omniscient POV, and plot-driven stories may be obvious ways of creating distance between your characters and your readers, but there are many subtle ways to slow pacing and place the reader in a balcony seat vs inside the character’s skin. Collectively, these are often lumped together under the oft’ repeated “show, don’t tell” adage.
 
This week will begin with an overview of showing versus telling to lay a foundation for the more specific dos and don’ts.
 
Very briefly, ‘telling’ is shortcut writing. The author is using blunt, distant narrative to tell the reader about a situation rather than allowing the reader to see and feel it through the character. Showing will almost always require more words than telling.
 
For example:
Bill began to feel lightheaded from the stuffy air in the crowded theatre. He got up and left.
 
Okay, there are a number of things wrong here, but changing it from telling to showing should fix all of them.
 
The faster Bill breathed, the more his head spun. The audience surely exceeded the Fire Marshall’s safety limits. Looking back, he watched the ushers close the doors and imagined the crowd sucking the remaining oxygen from the room. He stood, gripping the seat back in front of him for balance. Easing past the knees of the men and women in his row, he struggled not to pass out across someone’s lap.
 
18 words vs 71, but which gives a richer reading experience? Which is more active? Which shows more about the character and setting? Which one puts you in the character’s shoes? Take a look through something you’ve written recently and see if you can spot where you're telling when you could be showing.

Want free stuff? Ten Writers of the Future winners (including myself) are making available an anthology of stories. Some were originally published in Writers of the Future volumes and some first came out elsewhere. Some are science fiction and some are fantasy. All are free via Instafreebie. Interested? It will only be available for a limited time. Check out the link here:
The Future Is Nigh

I've belatedly realized that my flash story, When the Stars Gaze Back, came out on Everyday Fiction on Dec 28th. Nice of EDF to publish it and very nice to see that the readers who left comments had enjoyed the story.

The story began with me trying to capture the essence of the time I went camping in the desert as a teenager (on an Outward Bound rafting trip down the Yampa and Green Rivers). A trip where counting shooting stars a few minutes too long caused the night sky to transform from the ordinary to something infinite. Something beyond comprehension and frightening in scope. A thing I suspect most people have experienced at some time in their lives.

http://everydayfiction.com/when-the-stars-gaze-back-by-liz-colter/

Yes, that's my name listed a couple of lines below Robert Heinlein's -- and mixed in with the likes of Mercedes Lackey, Kevin J. Anderson, Kristine Katheryn Rusch, Michael Swanwick, Jody Lynn Nye, and more, thanks to Mike Resnick picking up another of my stories for publication in Galaxy's Edge Magazine. The story, To Them We Are Merely Clay, is one of the few stories linked free to read this month!
You can read the story here.
The homepage for Galaxy's Edge is here.

On a New Year's day where I'm not quite sure what to say about the coming year, this seems perfect...

 According to Goodreads, I've read 38 books so far this year. I say so far because I'm on track to finish "14" by Peter Clines very soon and may read "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern by the end of the year. For the sake of argument, let's say 40. Not my goal of 50, but still far more than I've managed in recent years thanks to Audible (and audio in general; I'm not above reading in text-to-speech if I have to).

I tend to subvocalize everything: conversations, reading print, reading in audio. This means my comprehension with audiobooks and even text-to-speech is high, even though my whole reason for reading in audio is so that I can multi-task. Dog walking and driving are the big reading times, but with a sleep timer I can get a little more in at night (though I usually wake tangled in my headphones), and I've recently discovered how much reading time I've lost by not doing errands with my Kindle. Yep, I'm the one standing in line at retail stores and pushing the grocery cart through the isles with a Kindle Fire in my back pocket and headphone wires catching on things.

Here's a visual of this year's books. My runaway favorite was "The Last Days of New Paris" by China Mieville followed by "The Fifth Season" by N. K. Jemisin. (If you noticed the three non-fiction books on Maya mythology you can probably guess at the direction of my current WIP novel.)

For some reason I dream about Neil Gaiman with surprising frequency. Perhaps because he's been a major influence on my writing and I'm always trying to channel him. Perhaps because I'm looking forward so much to American Gods coming to television soon or because I'm currently sending out submission queries again and Neverwhere is one of my comps. Perhaps because his blog is one of the few Big Name author blogs I bother to follow.

Whatever the reason, this time I dreamed I knew someone who knew him and wangled my way into going over to his house. He was an absolutely lovely, normal person, living in a small normal house with his wife, chatting to me while he went about everyday things. I, on the other hand, freaked and panicked and realized I had absolutely no valid reason to be there and nothing worthwhile or interesting to say, and so said nothing at all.

Strangely, the day after this dream I saw a blog post by Neil, promoting his Humble Bundle re-release. It's a fabulous bundle, I got it immediately and tweeted about it, and he retweeted the tweet. :-) It's almost like we talked! Or not. Okay, not so much. Anyway, the blog post about this bundle explains that he hadn't expected to re-release this set but world events changed his mind.

In his own words:
"The world is a more dangerous place than it was 14 months ago. Refugees need help and support. Freedom of speech is under threat.
I've brought back the original Humble Bundle of Gaiman extreme and collectible rarities, and I have added some brand new bits, including audio stories.  The Bundle supports the UN Refugee Agency, the CBLDF, and the Gaiman Foundation (which then, in its turn, supports other good causes)."

On a more local level, Kevin J. Anderson has released a  Story Bundle on the business of writing and publishing and is also donating the proceeds. The money from these sales will be going to the Don Hodge Memorial Scholarship Fund for the Superstars Writing Seminars. As a recipient of one of their scholarships for the upcoming year, I can attest that they award these to as many eligible writers each year as possible, and that the scholarships are much appreciated.

If you're looking for  a lot of reading material for an insanely low price and want to contribute to a good cause while you're at it, consider checking out these bundle deals.

One of my favorite stories I've written was published today at Daily Science Fiction.
A House Is Not a Home

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