Interesting discussions about world-building, from a diverse collection of writers – Alastair Reynolds, Nnedi Okorafor, M. John Harrison, etc.
Category: writing
Something to think about re characters
The 16 facial expressions most common to emotional situations worldwide — ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/12/201216155203.htm
A writer’s blessing
“May the words in your mind crystallize into magic on the page.” – Brian Rathbone.
What we can learn from ‘untranslatable’ illnesses – BBC Future
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200604-what-we-can-learn-from-untranslatable-illnesses
Things to keep in mind when worldbuilding.
As a longtime lover of books and bookshops…
I approve this message!
How Books and Bookshops Improve Our Mental Health – And Why We Must Protect Them | naked capitalism
If you wonder why I tagged it with “markets”, our local bookstores are markets for our books, too. Especially if you’re self-publishing!
Advice to storytellers from me
Tell the story that needs to be told, in the way it needs to be told, to the length it needs to be told.
Don’t poison a story by insisting it must be an apple when it’s really an orange.
Don’t stunt a story by forcing it beyond its natural growth nor by forcing it to grow in a box too small.
“Genres” and “standard story lenghs” are publisher’s artefacts, not part of storytelling.
Breakthroughs don’t come through abiding by conventions and working in boxes.
Always write something different
Publishers hated A Wrinkle In Time. And Madeleine L’Engle never forgot the rejections.
What publishers like best is what’s already been done.
Nobody broke through by writing the same things everyone else has written. Don’t let publishers’ small minds limit you!
So your hero and heroine just locked gazes for the first time
You’ve just taken on a lot to write that scene:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20190108-why-meeting-anothers-gaze-is-so-powerful
A quote slightly-tweaked for writers
“To gain mastery over reality is to create a mythology worth living for. Your head is the space from which all meaning derives. It is the shaman’s – and writer’s/artist’s/musician’s [my addition] – role to shine light on that meaning in order, like a wind-up doll, to make you go.” – Thomas T. Hills
