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Monday, Dec. 23, 2024

9:59pm EST

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Writing Blog Number 2

by Santeven Quokklaus

Rated: 18+ · Book · Personal · #2311764

This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC

This will be a blog for my writing, maybe with (too much) personal thrown in. I am hoping it will be a little more interactive, with me answering questions, helping out and whatnot. If it falls this year (2024), then I may stop the whole blogging thing, but that's all a "wait and see" scenario.

An index of topics can be found here: "Writing Blog No.2 Index"

Feel free to comment and interact.

Show Recent Comments

10 Most Recent Blog Comments:

Kåre เลียม Enga

Dec 21, 2024 at 12:34am
In response to "20241221 Kudzu Plotting"

IMO Anne McCaffrey does this well with the parallel Dragonriders of Pern and Harper Hall trilogies. Adults-with-dragons; youth with fire-dragons. Memorable world building. Wonderful characters.

Kudzu the plant... only a curse for those who don't know its uses: forage, food, fiber.

Santeven Quokklaus

Dec 19, 2024 at 7:09pm
In response to "20241219 'Misogyny' In Writing"

🐕GeminiGem🎁 - I chose Grease because it is so egregious and goes against everything Sandy had demonstrated up to that point. Dirty Dancing was set a few years later (early 60s), and, though Baby changes, it is gradual and is more a change of growing up, being true to herself. So, I think the time period can be used effectively without being so demeaning. As I see it.

🐕GeminiGem🎁

Dec 19, 2024 at 6:58pm
In response to "20241219 'Misogyny' In Writing"

I agree that when a woman changes herself to attract a man shows misogyny and is annoying...but...using the movie Grease as an example it an interesting choice. Yes, the lead female changes her appearance to appeal to the male. I think it was more because of peer pressure, but the peer pressure happened because of the pervasive misogyny of the peers. Interestingly, the male character does the exact same thing for the same reasons.

The movie is set in the 1950's, a time where the misogyny we see now is even waaaay worse. So, here is a thought. If you are writing about a time period like that and are showing social interactions of the characters, something like the pervasive misogyny is going to be true to the time and place the story takes place. Does that excuse it? No, of course not, but having present-day sensibilities in an era like that would make the story seem really off.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Dec 19, 2024 at 3:57am
In response to "20241219 'Misogyny' In Writing"

In my travels I try to connect with most everyone. I wonder what my stats would be... but many contacts have names whether human or not, whether the boss or 'servant' or guest.

In my writings...

thinking.

I do have characters without names.

SAD Holiday Potato

Dec 18, 2024 at 3:54pm
In response to "20241218 Children Characters"

As someone who is an Aunt to two children who have an age difference of four years, I can definitely tell you that they act completely different. Even though one of them is neurodivergent, the older one definitely acts more mature than the younger one.(also the older one has never tried to lick my feet.)

With very few exceptions, I've never had to tell an adult "stop eating my dress," "please don't lick me" or "stop pulling my hair," to anyone over the age of six. Yet within the last year or so I've had to tell my five year old niece these things repeatedly. She thinks this is hilarious.

Anyways, thanks for pointing out that kids aren't just miniature adults! I'll try to keep that in mind while writing.

Santeven Quokklaus

Dec 18, 2024 at 6:44am
In response to "20241218 Children Characters"

Elisa: Snowman Stik - Writing about those who are neurodivergent is not something I feel I can talk about comfortably. I am trained as a teacher of those on the spectrum, and so I would not write a character in that regard because I do not feel it is my story to tell. But, yes, that last point may not apply to a child with developmental issues.

1 Like

Elisa: Snowman Stik

Dec 18, 2024 at 6:28am
In response to "20241218 Children Characters"

I am curious if there is wiggle room for the last point for child characters with developmental disabilities. (I do recognize this kind of character presents its own set of development pitfalls in terms of depicting the disability without stereotyping. That said, I think this can be a reasonable exception to the rule when done with care.)

1 Like

Once in Ryan David's City

Dec 16, 2024 at 1:26am
In response to "20241216 Poor Characterisation"

There was once a variation of "compressed vice" in an original episode of Star Trek ("Who Mourns for Adonais?"), where a landing party of the usual suspects + one random never-seen-before-or-since female crew member are captured by the god Apollo and they turn the usually gruff Scotty into a simpering, love-struck puppy to try to introduce some conflict when Apollo puts the moves on her. Why they didn't just have Kirk horndogging it as usual I do not know - at least then everybody would have remained consistently in character. It looks like Scotty, it sounds like Scotty, but WTF?

1 Like

SAD Holiday Potato

Dec 14, 2024 at 3:41pm
In response to "20241214 Punk Genres"

This is interesting yet confusing. So basically it's like world building but with the word "punk" in there to make it sound cooler.
Maybe I misunderstand.

Kåre เลียม Enga

Dec 7, 2024 at 2:55am
In response to "20241207 Problems With Using Reality"

That or "to-ell-wit-it" and suffer the consequences.

Every society draws the lines differently. A traveler needs to be aware. Even words matter. The British and Thais are strict when it comes to slander.

October 19, 2024 at 5:00pm

#1078592

20241020 The Problems With Technology (In Stories)

The Problems With Technology (In Stories)

This is NOT about technology you might use to assist your writing. I will not be slagging off AI in all its myriad forms here, as much as it deserves it. Yes, I know it is a tool, but it steals and gives no recompense… and then people pay for a programme like Grammarly that gets grammar wrong, and yet because people rely on it, they do not bother to learn the rules for themselves and so don’t realise Grammarly is (essentially) useless for a fiction writer. [/rant]
No, this is about utilising the technology f the time in a story.
This came up in a conversation on Discord recently. Here’s the context: When we read a story from the 1970s through 1990s, most of the time it does not matter the year. Car models might be named, maybe a famous person or scandal, stuff like that, but rarely did people use things like computers and the old-styled technology was still in use. More to the point, those technologies are still used in a lot of cases today. For those years, stories became timeless. But now, if we mention a technology, there is a chance that in 5 years many people are not going to know what we mean… or using the technology makes little sense. The examples we came up with were PDAs (personal digital assistants) and car-phones. We also looked at some technologies that might become obsolete, like autonomous cars and photocopiers. But that was our discussion.
So, the point of this is – how much technology should you include in a story?
Now, too much technology of the time could well date a story, and leave future readers confused. Not enough technology could make a story seem unrealistic. It is a fine balancing act, and is becoming harder and harder as things evolve and develop.
So, this is my opinion: use generic terms. Don’t talk about your Apple iPhone 17B; talk about your SmartPhone. I can’t see SmartPhones of all stripes disappearing in the foreseeable future, so that’s safe. Don’t talk about an iPad, just a Tablet or Tablet Computer. I am sure you can think of other examples.
This leads to another aspect of this – computer programmes and applications (“apps”). If I talked about Napster in a story, or even MySpace, people under a certain age would be all, “What? Okay, boomer!” (I’m actually Gen-X, not a boomer, but that’s by the by.) Even talking Pirate Bay and Tout (sticking with downloads and social media) would confuse many. Then, let’s go to functional programmes: WordPerfect and MS Works. Who remembers them? We nearly all use Word/Office (or free variations) at the moment. But… Word is also killing itself with its subscription model, and other alternatives (Open office) are coming to the fore, so would Word even be there in 10 years?
So, again, using generic terms will make sure your story isn’t dated. Pirate sites, social media, word processing programmes – generic terms.
Now! Having said all that, if you want your story to be set in a particular year or year period (say, your story is an alternate history story about Boris Johnson losing his mind and talking only in Latin before losing his leadership to a lettuce dressed as Liz Truss), then these details can help add colour to your tale, and help immerse the reader into that particular time. But if the time period does not really matter, and you just want it to be vaguely “today” in time period, then maybe consider generics instead of exactitudes.
In. My. Opinion.
.

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