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 |  This is a continuation of my blogging here at WdC |
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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. |
| What Is Speculative Fiction? Recently, Damon Nomad asked what exactly is speculative fiction. There are four answers. All are equally valid. Sorry. The overall answer is that it is an all-encompassing term for any fiction genre that looks at things that are not in the real world. This could be: pure fantasy, the creation of worlds; science-fiction, where the technologies or experiences could happen, but are yet to occur; supernatural works where things are believed but not proven, encompassing everything from monsters to ghosts, zombies to vampires, angels to demons; real-world settings with creatures that could not exist or people having abilities they could not have, like super-heroes. It is held as distinct from works which examine the modern world as it is, or historical settings. The second response is that all fiction not set in the here and now of when it was written is speculative, as we cannot know the past, and because memories are fallible. This is a definition I have not seen too often, but some literary journals tend towards it. The third response is that it only encompasses fantasy and science-fiction stories, and all their sub-genres, so long as they do not take place in our world as we know it. The world-building, creating a world that does not exist or has not existed, is what makes the fiction speculative. This does mean that anything set in our world, no matter how many differences there are, is not speculative. This includes most horror, urban fantasy, and even some contemporary science fiction. Alternate history stories are a muddy area under this definition. And the fourth is… whatever the publisher says it is for their market. One magazine I have sold to a few times says that spec fic is anything that does not happen on the Earth we know. Another company I have sold to once says it is science fiction that is technology-based; that is, the technology has advanced, as we are speculating what it might be, and so steampunk is not spec fic to them. Yet another company says that anything that falls outside of history as we know it and anything set in the future beyond fifty years is speculative, but it must involve the Earth (or the planets/satellites of our solar system); they accept alternate history, steam-punk and hard science fiction, but rarely fantasy. Okay, that does not really help, but to me, the first definition above is the one I tend to agree with. But the last one is the one I need to be aware of. In my opinion, stick with horror, fantasy, science fiction and alternate history and the many sub-genres of each of those as genre markers and only use speculative fiction if you have to or, as I do, as a catch-all for all these genres. |
| Things To Be Wary Of In Speculative Fiction So… I was asked what things a writer should be careful of when writing fantasy, and how to tell if these things are in your writing. Wow, way to ask the easy questions! So, anyway, I looked at a few resources, and came up with this brief list that I have seen wa-a-a-a-ay too often in writing, from amateur pieces to books from the Big 5 Publishers. 1. Expository Dialogue This is one of my big bugbears in writing – exposition dumps in all their forms. In general narration writing, it’s bad, but when it comes in dialogue, then it breaks the immersion of the story. Look, there is information the reader really should know to get an understanding of the world, and relating that info can be difficult. I get that; I recommend the drip-feed method, bits here and there coming in as the story progresses. But too often (especially in movies), you get the expository speech, when someone tells another something simply so the reader/viewer gets the information. How can you see it? When the dialogue starts with, “As you are aware,” or, “As you know,” or, “As you will recall,” or anything along those variations, then it’s most likely a lump of expository dialogue. It does, however, work in comedy. How could you get around it? A newbie who needs things explained to them is lazy, but works. Something breaks (we only notice things when they break; when they work, we don’t) and explanations are needed. But even these can be overused. 2. Vague Writing This is very common in speculative fiction of all colours. Things are “almost” something, or there are “half-things” (I am shocking with the “half-smile”), or “sort of” creeps in. These are vague; be precise and trust the reader to fill in the details you can’t. More words to watch out for include “seem” and “appear” (and even “looked like”), which also indicate a vagueness of description. 3. Metaphorical Confusion Now, metaphors are all well and good. They can colour your prose, and capital-L literature uses them all the time. But in speculative fiction you need to be aware of the fact that a literal meaning of a metaphor can be a viable alternative. Okay, I’m going to steal this from Samuel R. Delany, who coined the term “Subjunctive Tension” to describe this. He gave these examples: His eyes fell to the floor. (Boing! boing!) She screwed up her face. (To the ceiling? Owie!) He ran through the door. (Able to penetrate strong oak in a single bound! Might one possibly mean the doorway?) She strained her eyes through the viewscreen.(Yuck!) Be careful with your turns of phrase is all I’m saying. This leads to a discussion of Literal versus Figurative. Look, I know some US dictionaries now claim that literal and figurative are synonyms. They are NOT. We are writers; we should be protecting language. And this is made worse in science fiction. In some tacky teenage romance novel, saying, “Her mind literally exploded,” is a lousy metaphor, and should be avoided, but we know it is a metaphor. In a science fiction novel, it is an occurrence that results in blood, brain matter and bits of skull covering everything messily. Literally comes from the word “literal” which means “as written.” If the head is not going to explode and leave a vacant space above the neck, then use the word figuratively. It is correct and stops confusion. 4. Capitalise Everything Capitalising every single Noun to make them seem important is wonderful, but makes the Reader wonder what is important and what is an Irrelevancy. This is so common in fantasy. If you name something, sure, capitalise (the Castle of Bodmin on the Moor of Doom), but otherwise… why (the Castle on the Moor)? Unless you’re writing in a Germanic language, of course… It can be a way of hiding a lack of intensity in the writing style. And it can give importance to things not important. I have been known to do this, but is there a difference between Firehunt and firehunt? Really? Get importance through character reactions. 5. Names & Titles Yes, it’s a world that is not modern Earth. We get that. Awesome. But why name your character Zfgdr’g’’ykl’m? Vowels are your friends! But, really, have names people can pronounce. Long names are fine, but make them sayable! And do not use names like that in the title because it will make the potential reader think the book is impenetrable. From a book called Ghastly Beyond Belief by Gaiman & Newman, here’s McIntyre’s Laws of Titles: ”Never use a title that is (a) impossible to pronounce or (b) embarrassing to say. Doing either causes people to find it awkward to discuss your book.” 6. Are Neologisms Necessary? I have mentioned this is the past. It is commonly referred to in science fiction writing programmes as “Calling a Rabbit a Smeerp” (TM Damon Knight). Now, some writers are great at inventing new words or acronyms. Heinlein was awesome. Not to toot my own horn, but a few of my publishers like my made-up words because I use logical language bases (especially Latin and Greek) for them. But not everyone is a linguistic or etymology nerd. And there is no particular reason to rename perfectly fine words for time, distance, and food. And, yes, these are the most common things renamed. For example, your characters are drinking a hot beverage made from an infusion of the bean of the coffea aribica plant. This is “coffee.” It is not “jav” or “kaf” or (and I’m looking at you, Lionel Fanthorpe) “bevvo.” Why confuse your reader? And, really, most people who make up words just use gibberish or turn English words into something vaguely different (and, yes, I am looking at JK Rowling’s so-called “Latin” for her spell-casting language). And there we are. Some things I personally think you should be wary of when writing spec fic. Oh, and for the record, spec fic is any genre that relies on unreality – horror, science fiction and fantasy. If I was being sarcastic, I’d add politics to the list, but, you know… this is about real writing. |
| Naming Characters Names are interesting. Some people think that names don't matter and they just choose names that they like, sound good or - in the case of one author I have worked with - are derivations of the names of the people the characters are based on. This has become interesting as his ex-partner is named Alyce (pronounced Al-eess) and now a string of characters named Alice, Alyson, Elyse, etc. who are nasty women have appeared in his short stories. I take naming characters more seriously than just a pretty name or name I like. I admit, that in some stories set in the modern world, I will name characters after a real person I know. I rarely base characters wholesale on real people any longer, but if the characters has some elements based from a real person more than other people, then their name (well, like my friend, a derivative thereof) may be what I use. However, I am more likely to choose a name that means something that relates to the character's personality or the story in general. So, a website of baby names is where I go, so I can type in the meaning and find names that suit, then match these names to the cultural background of the character in question. An example of this is I gave a pack of werewolves all names - male and female - that meant wolf. I was surprised at how many I found, and had some left over. Now, in my fantasy, the names I choose take this to the next level of nerd-dom. All names in the stories mean something that relates to the character, based on Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon or Norse words, changed to fit the tone of the story, and the area of my world that the characters come from. Having a strong Latin background, which led to a good ancient Greek knowledge, and recently going through Anglo-Saxon and Old English has given me an advantage in this. The other thing I might do is take the name of a little-known ancient deity and use that name if their sphere of influence matches the character i have in mind (or, again, I change it to suit the area of the world). Again, I have a list of around 10,000 ancient gods, and I have set up my own index, so this is something that I have prepared earlier. And that, in a nutshell, is how I name my characters. |
| Writing Retreat! I posted this on the Newsfeed in response to a question in October, 2020, but thought people might be interested here. People ask about writing retreats, if they work, what they can look like, should they gop on them, that sort of thing. I have done only one, but here is how it went down. I went on my Writing Retreat in October, 2020. There were five of us. I was the only male, and there was only one younger than me. None of us had planned on doing NaNoWriMo (I changed my mind and did it anyway), so this was full-on writing, not prepping/planning. All of us are published: 3 self, 1 trad only (me), one both. The location was a shack down the coast, 90 mins from where I lived at the time, 2 and a half hours from Adelaide, the state's capital where the rest lived. No Internet (except phones), we had electricity, the nearest town was a 1 1/2 km away, but closer to 2 km by road. Two bedrooms; two older women shared the double bed, the rest of us had a single. A small kitchen, a huge living room. A large deck out the back, a verandah out the front. A TV that we ignored. We also decided no alcohol. We had rules. We got there at 1pm-ish on Saturday, had a little while to settle, then we had to write until tea. If we needed music, only with headphones. We had pizza, then wrote again until 9. Then we each had 5-10 minutes to share our writing. Write again, or bed. Writing, by the way, could be anything. A series of poems, short stories, a longer work, a mixture, whatever. But nothing professional or academic, because of the way the weekend was structured. Next day (Sun) was ours (still no TV). Walk, relax, chat to others, whatever, but writing had to be done. Got our own meals for the day. Tea was takeaway again, & after tea, we each had 15 minutes to share some of our writing. Night was ours again. Next day, today, (Mon: it was a public holiday), we met as a group at 9am. Then each person was given a 30 minute mentoring session (3 went over, mine under). Their writing was worked on by everyone, then we had a break and hit the next person. We were done by 2pm, went for a walk on the beach, then left. I managed to get 12,000 words written. The most was 15,000, the least was just under 5,000. But we all got a lot done. The collegiate atmosphere was enhanced by the alone time. It was very pleasant, but we were all of a similar attitude towards what we were doing. I don’t think I’d want to go many more people (maybe 6 would work?) because 5 seemed just about right; I have a feeling 4 would have been okay, but 3 would not have been enough. While I would not want to do it all the time, as an occasional thing, I thoroughly recommend it. If you can organise something like this, or get invited, and think you can work with the people involved, go for it. I think it was a great idea. Writing retreat – thumbs up. |
| Nations Separated By One Language I posted this in Newsfeed a couple of years ago, then forgot to translate... The thing is, Australia and the USA both classify English as their dominant language. We both speak the same language. But we have separated from Mother England, home of the amalgam of words that is called "English" (despite words coming from Latin, Greek, German, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, French and more other languages than we can poke a stick at, with very few comparatively coming from the original Old English... I digress), and so our forms of English have diverged. How much? Well, here is a piece written in English. Australian English. With Australian slang. (Warning, this could offend some people.) Copped a captain at the Seppos on the boob. What a mobba wowsers. Tick like tin lids, act like flamin' galahs. Bang sticks and carking it, grouse; map of Tassie, strewth! Kangaroos loose in the top paddock, the lot of 'em. Yep, that is Australian. I say that in the front bar, and everyone would nod their heads in agreement. So, here is a translation into "English". No, that's not right. This is English. But I will translate it into United Etatian. For those from the USA, please excuse the use of words with more than 2 syllables (how's that for a stereotype?). I watched some people from the USA on the television. They appear to be too conservative. They think like children and yet act with a degree of stupidity. Killing people with guns is acceptable; seeing a naked woman is a cause for great consternation. I believe they are whackadoodle. I can hear people now... "What the... How did... But... Nooo... Really?" Let me explain. Copped - Had. Originally copped meant to get into trouble (from the same source as cop meaning policeperson). Then it developed into doing something to get into trouble (e.g. "cop a feel"). Finally it just became doing something. Captain - Look. Rhyming slang - Captain Cook = look. Seppo - Inhabitant of the USA Seppo, Australian abbreviation (drop the last syllable, replace it with "-o") of Septic Tank. Rhyming slang - Septic Tank = Yank. Boob - Television Semi-rhyming slang. Boob Tube = Television, but the "tube" was often dropped. Mobba - Group of Mob is a British word meaning a congregation, especially of unskilled labourers. It has come to be defined as a group of rioters in many parts of the world. However, in Australia is just means a group of; the collective noun term for a group of kangaroos is, for example, a mob. The "-a" is a lazy way of saying "of". Wowser - Person who is a bit of a killjoy. Wowser was originally someone opposed to alcohol consumption, anecdotally because they would say, "Wow!" at things because they refused to swear or blaspheme. It came over time to be applied to anyone who opposes anything, especially if such opposition is based on Biblical passages or conservatism. Tick - Think Tick comes from the ticking of a clock, as a joke that became slang. Someone not known to think would make allegedly make mental sounds like clockwork coming to life after years of non-use. Tin lid - Child More rhyming slang - tin lids = kids. Kids, of course, is a term for a young animal, now only applied to goats and humans. Flamin' - An expletive Basically an f-word replacing the familiar f-word. Why it was adopted so much across Australia is unknown. Galah - Idiot The galah is a pink and white bird, a member of the parrot family, and one of the most common native birds in Australia. It garnered a reputation for stupidity because it was so easy to catch. However, they taste awful, hence the reason they are everywhere. Bang stick - Gun Do i really need to explain why? Carking it - Dying Carking comes from "to become a carcass." Grouse - Great A hangover from England, where grouse was considered a delicacy. Although etymologists recently traced it back to the Scottish word "crouse" meaning good. Map of Tassie - A woman's private parts A map of the island state of Tasmania has a certain shape to it. Strewth! - A term of disbelief. Thought to be an abbreviation of God's truth! Kangaroo loose in the top paddock - Mind not working properly. Like a beer short of a six-pack, a metaphor that something is missing or not quite right. To have a kangaroo in the top paddock is something is out of place, where it's not supposed to be. Oh, paddock is an Australian term for a sub-division of a farm. And there we are. Just a small look at how a country's personal and identifiably unique language can develop to set it apart. ADDENDUM: Spell check on WdC had a heart attack looking at this... |
| External Writerings III Yes, it's that time of the month when I plug my external writings. As usual, most are music-based. And, as usual, if you click on one without an ad blocker, I get paid per view. So you get good music, I get some money and everything is right with the world! Some here are very local, but that's okay - I think this shows what can be done in the field of trying to be a professional writer. Trying being the operative word in that sentence. Songs about water, the general term. Sticking with the water theme, songs about oceans and seas. BNow let's look at rivers, et al, from early musical times. And the same idea from more recent musical recordings. Easter was in March, so some songs about eggs. Advertising a local town's Easter events. And we finish with advertising a local pub's Easter events. And there we go - what i do to make a living... sort of. |
| News A bit of bad news for writers crossed my computer the other day. People are having their work stolen by bot-farming sites and then on-sold as AI creations. Not just scraping, but stealing wholesale. Reputable publishing firms are growing increasingly concerned about such things because (a) it is stealing, and (b) genuine work is now being flagged as AI-created, thus ruining a writer’s reputation. It seems most of these are based out of Russia and China, and so are out of reach of authorities in the countries where the authors tend to reside. Lacking the ability to stop this, writers and publishers are now in the unenviable situation of no longer doing electronic submissions or storing their work in the cloud – it is going to be all snail mail submissions. Few publishing firms are equipped to handle this, and the USPS may also not be able to cope with such an influx of mail., especially so many C4-sized envelopes (or whatever the US equivalent is). Only a handful already insist on postal submissions, and this does make it awkward for international authors, as postage to another country is huge. Of course, people who support technology think this is a great leap forward, having work stolen by computers. They are wrong. And that only leaves one thing left for me to say: Look at the starting letters of each paragraph. |
| Not As Common Punctuation I have been asked about this a few times this year, so I have decided to put everything together. We all know about full stops (‘periods’), question marks, exclamation marks, commas, apostrophes, direct quote punctuation, etc. But what about those other bits of punctuation that seem so gosh-darn confusing? Well, here are a few. Semi-Colon ; A semi-colon is used for two things. First is to join two ideas that are separate sentences and that should be joined with a comma and the word “and”, but that would make the sentence too long and unwieldy. Technically (and this comes from Oxford) a semicolon “joins two related independent clauses in place of a comma and a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, nor, for, so, yet).” My dinner was perfect; the steak was cooked just right. Second, it is used in a complex list following a colon. There were three members of the group: Dif, an elf with a habit of killing indiscriminately; Cumi, a former prince afflicted with lycanthropy; and Marybeth, a woman from another world where they drove in things called “cars” and didn’t kill their own food. Colon : A colon is used to introduce something. It could be a list (see above), an explanation, or anything else. It is falling out of use, unfortunately, as more and more prefer the em-dash. Em-dash (emdash, m-dash) – So called because it is the same size as the letter “m” on a typeset. This is used to separate a clause or word or even sentence in the middle of a sentence from the rest of the sentence. Thirty-plus years ago, these parts of a sentence would have been put in parentheses (see below), but they have fallen out of fashion. The cat – Margie called it ‘Bob’ but it only answered to ‘Cat’ – was a large Maine Coon that would watch you whenever you entered the house. The section in the em-dashes should be where it is, but it does not fit in comfortably with the rest of the sentence as a dependent clause. An em-dash can also be used in place of a colon at times. If you want to date my daughter, I have one word for you – don’t. Parentheses ( ) [ ] As mentioned above, the parentheses (singular, parenthesis) has been superseded by the em-dash. However, it is still used in some books when there are non-dependent clauses within non-dependent clauses, particularly in formal works or comedy. You can see by my use of parentheses in this post that they can be very handy to add an extra degree of explanation. Should you ever face a rampaging Broncos Supporter (if you find yourself on its home turf in Queensland [though why you’d want to be in Queensland is anyone’s guess]) then simply give it a XXX beer and point at a New South Welshman (should one be in the vicinity; otherwise pretend a Victorian is from New South Wales). Ampersand & This is used to replace the word “and”… and should be avoided in actual writing. In drafts, even in titles, or in poetry, fine; if you are writing a story or essay, then it is best avoided, unless you are making a point or transcribing an exact piece of writing. Oh, ever wonder where the name comes from? No? Too bad. It was considered the 27th letter of the alphabet for a while. A B C D… X Y Z &. So, when you said the alphabet, you would say, “Ay, Bee, See, Dee… Ecs, Why, Zed, and, per se, And.” Because & = “And.” However, when said quickly, “…and, per se, and,” became, “ampersand,” and hence its name. Ellipsis … The ellipsis is the three dots. This one took me personally a while to get the hang of. I over-used it so badly. In formal writing, it is used in a direct quote to show where words have been omitted. Thus: ”The President of the Adelaide University is an honorary title. The President has no power and is only there to exercise a casting vote in the event of a tied vote of the University Caucus.” could become: ”The President of the Adelaide University… is only there to exercise a casting vote in the event of a tied vote of the University Caucus.” In fiction it can be used to show that someone speaking has let their voice trail off. ”I really like Gary and the way he…” Sally’s voice faded as the boy she liked filled her head completely. It can also be used to show that an action has not completed, usually at the end of a section or chapter. This is becoming frowned upon more and more. Sally and Gary walked off, hand-in-hand, leaving the bike shed deserted. But from the other side of the yard, a pair of eyes, narrowed with jealousy, watched them go, hands opening and closing, a low growl emerging from the throat… It’s meant to heighten tension, but it has become a cliché… and that is something I need to get out of. And there, in that sentence, I used it a third way – for comedic (allegedly) effect, to add something after a statement that should stand on its own, but would lose some impact if it did. Interobang ‽ Don’t use the interobang. Ever. Just… don’t. Seriously. Don’t. And that’s it for a brief guide to seldom used punctuation! |
| Quills 2023 So… apparently I did okay in the Quill awards for 2023. Now, I do understand the Quills are a site-only thing and that things need to be nominated by readers, but last year (2022) was the first time I had been nominated for anything (I was one of 2 nominated for a category, so didn’t win anything). Now, in my 14th year, I was nominated 8 times and… won? I was half-inclined to withdraw any works nominated last year after I was told by someone they had nominated me, but thought it wouldn’t matter, as I won’t win; my writing style does not normally resonate with people on WdC. I might be widely published, but that does not mean everyone likes my stuff, and judging by the (very, very few) reviews I get here, my work is “fine.” Oh, and it is interesting that what I normally write – spec fic in all its guises (horror, fantasy, scifi) – was not where I was nominated. I know nominations depend completely upon someone bothering to do the nominating, but that I found something odd. Anyway, here’s how I went: Best Flash Fiction winner: "Audrey" Best Blog winner: "Writing Blog" Best Overall Fiction winner: "Audrey" Experience Genre hon mention: "Writing Blog" Comedy/Satire Genre finalist: "A Quokka Visit... Or St. Nicholas?" Holiday Genre winner: "A Quokka Visit... Or St. Nicholas?" So, yeah, I think I did okay. I don’t agree with some of the things I won – I think my current Writing Blog, this one, which I started in January, is far better than the one that won, for example – and because of the seemingly random way things are nominated, I think the best thing I wrote on WdC in 2023 was not even nominated, but that is the way of awards, I suppose. Thanks to those who did nominate me, thanks to the judges, and especially thanks to Lilli who held the whole thing together. |
| Quick News Quick one today: on the heels of Vinyl Cuts, I received an acceptance for a short story in a flash fiction anthology. Set for release in August (ish), it's a story with a Gothic feel and an odd twist at the end. In 2023 I had 2 whole stories published. Whoopee! I've already got two for 2024, so let's hope for a few more and make it a better year then last year! Oh, and if my incomplete records give me an idea, this year should see me get my 1000th formal rejection. Not counting the places I don't hear from, I think I'm sitting on around 950 at the moment. |
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