15.02.08 Story, Poem and Inspiration Point of the Week
Fri, 2008-02-15 15:21
#1
15.02.08 Story, Poem and Inspiration Point of the Week
What a week! Traffic on ABCtales has shot through the roof - up almost 75% - and the quality of writing submitted has been excellent. Choosing Story and Poem of the Week has been almost impossible but I've gone for those that stuck in my mind after others may have faded. Congrats go to t.crask and HaiAnh:
http://www.abctales.com/story/t-crask/watchman
http://www.abctales.com/story/t-crask/lode-star
http://www.abctales.com/story/haianh/my-boss-has-given-me-day-fall-love-0
Oh, and it's good to see so many of you using the Inspiration Point. This week's is quite a tough one so see if you can make it work:
tcook
Tom Crask has now added a third to his Babel series:
http://www.abctales.com/story/t-crask/dajingha
I do urge you to read them - they are the classic exposition of show and not tell. Some great, powerful writing in a genre that cries out for it. They do take some time, but I assure you, you will be rewarded for the effort.
bobblehat2023
Well, a turn up for the books this week, Tony.
We usually have a very different view on what makes a good poem.
This week, I like the poem but I'm slightly baffled by your comments on the story.
The stories do seem interesting but we obviously have quite different understandings of show and tell when it comes to writing.
tcook
He describes a situation and a circumstance but so much around the world is left unexplained. He doesn't go into detail about what is a 'Union' or how this society operates - it comes to you, bit by bit, from the narrator. You have to work out whole nuggets of the thought processes commonly used in this society - and that's what makes it all tick.
bobblehat2023
The entire first 789 words of the first story are tell rather than show.
That's not unusual thing (or necessarily a bad thing) in SF but telling doesn't stop being telling just because the writer isn't telling absolutely everything.
Kropotkin38
Well I haven't counted them, but I'd have to agree that there seems to be a great deal of telling involved here. It has been said of some of my stuff that it is written by someone all-too-aware of being a writer & I have to say I think it applies to this too. I'm no expert but I reckon an editor would take a chainsaw to that first chapter big time. I am not sure if it's powerful Mr Cook or if it's just super-concentrated science fiction flavour... whatever, it's not really my cup of tea. I'll give chapter 2 a go later.
tcook
SF is not really my cup of tea - but these stories have lingered with me. I like the pace and the descriptive power of them as well as the creation of a future world that makes some kind of sense.
Kropotkin38
Well that's one of the crucial aspects of science fiction. For me science fiction is about questions, fundamental stuff about the human condition addressed through thought experiment. For some people it's about gear or the evocation of the alien, or the exploration of weird environments, but for me these things are secondary to the consideration of humanity that arguably becomes possible with even small changes in "the rules". If you read Iain M Banks' Culture novels I think you'll find some excellent examples of what I'm talking about.