 Short Stories: May 19, 2010 Issue [#3743] |
  Short Stories
This week: What if Harry had been a Girl? Edited by: Ben Langhinrichs  
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Indirect proof: Indirect proof is a type of proof in which a statement to be proved is assumed false and if the assumption leads to an impossibility, then the statement assumed false has been proved to be true.
ICoachMath.com Math Dictionary
Greetings! I am one of the editors for the Short Stories Newsletter, and I hope to share some of my thoughts on writing short stories, and perhaps about writing in general. I suggest you treat these not as pearls of wisdom dropped from on high, but rather musings of a fellow writer, written to inspire, provoke or stimulate your personal muse. I welcome your thoughts, feedback and suggestions.
~ Ben Langhinrichs
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Indirect Proof - What if Harry had been a Girl?
As described above, an indirect proof in mathematics uses the technique of assuming that which is not true to be true, and seeing if it forces an impossibility. Now, calm any deep-rooted and regrettable math anxiety, there will be no more talk of mathematics, but I would ask you to apply this to your story.
Assume you have a story, and you think it works very well. Plot, excellent. Setting, good. Characters, pretty good. But sneaky little worries keep nagging at you. How do you know if your characters are robust? How do you know if your setting is both real and appropriate to the story? How do you know if your plot works together with your characters and setting?
How do you know?
One approach is my variant of the Indirect Proof. It is a test (no, no, not that kind of test). If your main character is male, pretend he is female. If she is female, pretend she is male. Read the story through in your head (if you need to, make a copy and actually change the character's gender).
If it makes no significant difference to the story, you could smile and pat yourself on the back for being a gender-blind new-age liberal. But your characters wouldn't be real. I have parented a girl and two boys, trying hard to be gender-blind and liberal, if not quite new-age. It doesn't work; boys and girls are different.
Imagine for a moment if Harry Potter were a girl, and she had been sitting with Ron in that compartment on the Hogwarts Express. Would she and Ron have had the same conversation? Then, when Hermione entered, would they have reacted the same way, or she to them? Even imagine the whole series with Harry and Ron both female and Hermione male? Or if you are a Twilight fan, what if Edward were female and Bella male?
If you have tested your characters by switching genders, and the story doesn't work any more, congratulations. You have passed that indirect test. Now, what if they were all, the entire cast of characters, half the age they are, or twice the age, or migrant workers from Mexico, or living in Victorian England in 1853?
Even you are writing short fiction with broad human themes, your characters should reflect who they really are (really in their universe, of course). I will carve out one partial exception. If your characters are rabbits, their characteristics may be a mix of rabbit and human. That's OK, but make sure they do some rabbit things.
Setting is critical to some stories, less so to others. For example, a classic test is if you are writing a science fiction story set on Mars. What if it were set on Earth? If that wouldn't change the story much, you are not writing good science fiction. What if Frodo and the rest of the characters from Middle Earth were in Miami instead? Would it work? Try the "what if" scenarios with your story. Does it still work? If so, you have a problem.
Plot is more complex, because what you want to try is switching out the characters and/or setting to test the plot. Would West Side Story work in a small 19th century Russia village, or Fiddler on the Roof work in London in 2010? The problem with testing plot is avoiding the fact that the bare bones plot could be adapted to many places. I have watched Shakespeare plays set in 1960's Haight-Ashbury. But your test is more subtle. Would your plot work without any adaption if the characters and setting were different? That is at the very least a warning sign.
Hmm, what if Gandalf and Dumbledore had both been plumbers in Queens?
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Feedback from readers
LJPC - the tortoise  You are so right about research -- it may seem boring, but story ideas that you never imagined may fly out of the dull pages. Here's hoping you have a butterfly-net handy to catch one. -- Laura
I always keep my story butterfly-net ready.
robert.atwood I really enjoyed your comments on putting research before the actual writing of the story. In my M.F.A. work I found doing this really helped bring my papers together, as a writer I think doing research before hand really helps anchor me in place...it helps my situational awareness which always comes through when I am dabbling in scene. Again great job.
Robert Thomas Atwood
Thanks!
Christine Cassello I find it easy to lose the focus of what I started out to write when I do get into researching a subject. That is why a writer is told to keep all that they find, we never know when we may find a use for it. A curiousity about pigeons I saw on my back porch for instance led me to finding out about a research project on pigeons that Cornell University conducts and many interesting facts about that bird. I wrote a poem about watching pigeons eating French fries that I put on the ground and now I am writing what I hope will be a children's book about a pigeon. All of it took a process of seven years to come together.
It is all about serendipity! Good luck with the children's book.
DRSmith  A terrific newsie, Ben: one I truly hope your WDC readers will learn just how much impact research can have on not only one's story, but one's audience. An example. I'm working on a 1000 pg epic of which a segment was shared with a trusted critic I use for guidance. She wrote back emphasizing how, within a few paragraphs, my research carefully woven within the story, regarding: "the voice of the moon"... or the colloguial reference to Bay of Fundy's awesome tidal surge in Nova Scotia, so inspired her, that it's now a priority on her "life's things to do list". Besides helping our own works, it's also a heck of lot of fun delving into such interesting tidbits as well. Good show, my man.
Glad you enjoyed it. (Also, having spent my summers in Nova Scotia growing up, you've piqued my interest!)
Joy  Wonderful newsletter, Ben. I, too, love to roam about while doing research.
"I have no professor breathing down my neck and telling me to stay on-topic."
True. Besides, during the edit, we can always take out the off-topic stuff, store it in another file, and write another story using it. 
You never know where the dusty roads may lead. Same with dusty research items.
Zeke Research is fun even if you don't end up using it, in my opinion.
By the way, what is steampunk romance?
Zeke
Too true, Zeke.
Steampunk is set in the age of steam power (1800s), but often with accelerated/alternative technology. Romance is romance, whenever or where ever.
Doug Rainbow Sometimes the reasearch inspires or drives the story ("The Legend of Bro and Cro"). Sometimes the research just provides context or authentication for a story ("Genesis of The Raven"). And often the research represents one point of view as to a controversial subject ("The Heirloom," an unposted piece). The author who controls the direction and function of the research surrenders none of his omnipotence.
Well said.
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