More notes on editing and revising

In trimming the section I've just posted for Cerelian Gold, and for editing and revising in general, I often look for series of prepositional phrases that I've added to clarify a sentence. Prepositional phrases (on the planet, in the hatchway, etc.) can be very useful constructs, but they are easy to overuse and having even two in a row can be a problem. sometimes they can be replaces with a difference sentence construction, a description in another form, but often I simply delete them as not really necessary. They serve primarily to help the reader see the scene as I, the writer do, but unless it impacts the plot, some later action, it's usually alright if the reader visualizes some details in their own way. The more they can imagine it for themselves, and the less the author contradicts a vision of the scene that the reader has already created in their own imagination, the easier the reader can get into the scene.

I think that is one of the reasons that science fiction can be particularly challenging for some readers to get into, and why it remains less popular than fantasy as a general rule: the writer has to describe scenes that the reader cannot readily fill in from their own experience and including concepts that the reader may be hard-pressed to visualize even when thoroughly described. It's probably also why many SF fans are either scientists or young or both: the scientists can get the concepts from knowledge of current science, and the young always have more vivid imaginations. A specific detail or two can be enough to give such readers a picture, without it being the exact same image the writer had in mind, and that's often enough.

Lets Try Something New

It's been awhile since I did something really new, rather than working on the progress of something I started a long while back, or a modification on the theme. So i thought I would try to come up with a new thing and let the readers follow along.

Often I just think of a scene and go from there. No good scene has come to mind, though, off hand, so I'll play with another approach like I have done for short story competitions and classes: a bit of a plan to get the mind going.

Some framework:
--SF
--mature
--how about an evolved human,,, (or genetically distorted, maybe by environmental conditions, something ala autism? a very different look at the world?)
--a woman with a pair of dogs or doggettes, maybe well-trained, mind-based obedience, part of the other worldly view?. A look made them lay down, another and they went to their sides, one half on the other to that one's annoyance. "Oh, alfight, shift." and that one moved our from under the bitch.

Tip: clip coupons for what you buy, not what you don't

We don't spend lots of time clipping coupons but we do watch for coupons for the kinds of things we always need: toilet paper and tissues, canned vegis and other nonperishable foods, and certain restaurants that we like to go to as the occasional treat. What we don't do is buy just because we have a coupon. Let coupons expire if you don't need them and wouldn't have bought it anyway.

what next and more on definitions in novels

Cerelian Gold is heading toward climax and ending rapidly but I haven't yet decided what tale to post next, whether science fiction or fantasy and whether to try to keep to the more adult themes rather than the young adult that I post to my other blog. Part of the hesitation is that I might not actually have a choice on the latter as I don't know that I have another grown-up science fiction or fantasy ready for public viewing. I tend toward young adult quite unintentionally and didn't even know that that was what I was writing for many years, many novels. I suppose because the bulk of the science fiction and fantasy novels I was finding and reading when i got started were billed as just that, not specifically as young adult at all, but in retrospect, that's what they really were. Adding substantial romance and the psycho-drama are what really made them different in my view. I wonder what other themes make a book general or adult instead of young adult? Perhaps I will let the readers see how I explore a new idea, long before it becomes a novel... I'll take suggestions for themes.

Tip on grocery shopping

The big size isn't necessarily the best buy anymore. Stores or producers seem to have decided to take advantage of the long-established practice of selling the bigger size cheaper-per-ounce, by upping the price randomly. For those who use a lot of some item (so that the large size might be worth the buying, if the cost is better), it's well worth checking the per-ounce cost before you buy. There is little use in buying lots that won't be used, though, as getting too much just spends money earlier than needed and often results in significant waste, as well as leaving less to earn interest in the savings account.

categories

I've posted another scene for Cerelian Gold, just below this on the main view. it occurred to me as I set the categories that readers might be curious about the particular categories I've set up, especially as multiple ones are about Cerelian Gold. Those, save the main one with the book scenes, are mostly a subset of scenes duplicated and are mostly for my purposes, though others might find them interesting too, in their sets. I separated out groups that I want to do something more with. One is the food references. I like to play with cooking, including subtleties, and thought I would make a little cookbook to go with the book, reflective of the food that appears in the story (including the horrible pink meat, and the pie with Jerdy's eyes, which I have designed recipis for (without real eyeballs, though I gather there might be recipies out there for that, too, somewhere...). Another is the Nish doctor. It is kind of a subplot of its own but I wasn't sure I had his name even spelled the same everywhere, so it was hard to scan through and make sure that story progressed properly, so I duplicated those scenes to it's own category for purposes of revision later, and I thought some readers might find it interesting to look at it separated from its context in the main book as it unfolds. Bikjni is to remind me what I've said about the game and to help me make sure the rules are consistant. I've never invented a game before and it's a complicated process. However did they come up with chess?!

The non-Cerel categories: whims. I enjoy writing lots of things, including advice, but I have few people around who need any of the advice I'd offer, even if I weren't an amateur at most of them. But queries being what they are, maybe someone looking for advice or just views on some topic will find mine and find it useful, the better if they can sort the ones they want from the other topics here. Besides, I plan to keep going (I'm still considering what story to work on after Cerelian Gold comes to its conclusion) and all these accumulated posts need some mechanism to keep them in a bit of order. Suggestions on the organization and content are as welcome as feedback on the story.

Tip:Don't grocery shop on an empty stomach

Hunger encourages whim buying and discourages taking time to compare prices (and ingredients). Big sizes used to be cheaper, a good buy if you normally go through a lot, but that's often no longer the case as producers or stores take advantage of the common assumption. Check also real contents, not box size: they don't shrink the can or box just because they are selling you less than they used to, or you may be buying more filler and less of what you want.

As an example, check out the juice aisle: 100% juice isn't the same as 100% of the juice on the label. Apple juice and white grape juice are common substitutes: cheap, sweet, and less nutritious than many of the other juices. "Juice drinks" are even worse, barely more than koolaid. Go for the koolaid mix if you're aiming for flavored sugar water and buy some reusable water bottles for taking it along. It's vastly cheaper for the same thing. Shop wise, not just cheap.

What Defines the Science Fiction Classic?

Came across a blog awhile back about whether there were any modern science fiction classics, that is, science fiction books (rather than movies) that if you mentioned it to an SF reader, they would be almost guaranteed to know the book and probably to have read it. Lots of old ones, but what about in the last half of the 20th C or since? if I say "Pip and Flinx", how many SF readers would recognize the characters and the books they are from? What about Helva, the Ship Who Sang, or the Dragonriders of Pern (though they slide toward fantasy most of the time), but there are plenty of memorable Fantasies.

The question came up again in a discussion at home, and it came up that we'd have a hard time testing even if we thought of a few candidates: how would you know, unless you were involved in discussion outside your local reading group or book club? classices are not always 'favorites" either, as the NY Times best seller lists show. Classics, in the sense I refer to here is more about recognizable quality and long-term memorability and value, that ensures the next generation reads it, too.

With no answers, my thoughts turned to what exactly would define a classic in a genre fiction? What kind of features would make it modestly popular, over more than a single generation, memorable and recognizeably good quality such that a teacher would bring it to the attention of their students? Here are some of my thoughts:

* Well written with a distinctive style, voice
* Helps define the genre or a subgenre, perhaps the first to effectively capture a subgenre and leads the way to many of the same sort, poor imitations of the first.
* A story that a wide audience can relate to (typically relatively basic, even obvious in essence with classic themes of life, family, friends, good and evil, challenges to basic values, but portrayed in such an interesting manner that adults and teens can read and re-read it and find something new to learn and understand, complex enough in content along the course to retain interest.
* Strong emotional content (fear and hate, love and hate, obsession, jealousy, and fierce loyalty
* A new twist, setting, or focus
* Larger than life characters that none the less represent the human condition, with flaws and weaknesses in the same proportion as strength and nobility and purpose.
* In particular for a given genre, it should be an archtype of the genre. For science fiction, a fictitious, pseudo, or future predictive science that is not just present but a key story element.

The last may be an answer to why no science fictions obviously fall into this category: So many kinds of science and science fiction are available for exploration, that finding a representative one may be hard for subgenre's whose true models were written more that a century before: time travel, vampires, monsters, space fiction, and others. A book that tries to address several of the options at once becomes unbelievalbe, a farce or parody, although that can be a kind of classic of its own. Who hadn't heard of the Hitchhikers Guide, even before the movie?

Even if no book achieves it all, I figure any book that aims in the right direction will at least have a great chance at publication success.

Tip: Avoid sale shopping

It may be counter-intuitive, and there are exceptions, but sales tempt us to buy things we don't need in greater quantity than we need them. A sale is still a purchase, and the best sale price is still more costly than buying nothing at all.

Tip: Learn to Cook

Home cooked foods are always cheaper than restaurant fare. With a little care, they are usually cheaper and healthier than fast food, too, and being healthier is cheeper than being sick. Basics like rice, simple roasts, potatoes, vegetables and fruit are all easy to prepare with a minimum of guidance. For the bolder cook, sugar and flour and small amounts of ingredients are far cheaper and usually better than store-vought treats (desserts at the store are especially expensive because you are paying for a lot of preparation effort and packaging besides the food itself). If you are interested in recipis, let me know what you are looking for. I have a wide array and am happy to add more detailed instructions for the beginner.

science fiction cultural elements

I've gotten some fairly good feedback on my current free novel, but I'm not sure if the source is a big science fiction fan. I don't want to undo the mood with lots of technical stuff, but I suspect I need to put in just a little more science fiction, if only a little more alien descriptions of the characters, long faces, one less finger, but more importantly, a little more alien thought pattern and cultural elements: what makes the military officers military? How to they express authority? Not just the shape of a salute but a reflection of some other aspects of their culture that i have barely begun to explore here. I need to spin off some independent short stories to experiment with some ideas. That has always helped on the stories that I have been developing longer.

Tip: Figure out what you want

Set financial goals and wishes: what do you want that takes some money to achieve or to achieve well. Choose realistic short term and medium term goals but shoot for the moon for the long term future. Find out how much they cost. DON'T try to figure out how much you need to set aside each month to get to the long term goals unless you're really good with compound interest and inflation rates, besides, calculating how much to set aside isn't the point. Setting a goal, and keeping it in mind is an achievement of its own. And keep in mind for that long term dream, the sooner you start saving, the less you'll need to put in the bank.

Tip: keep a spending log

Keep a spending log, and an income log if your paycheck varies from week to week. Like dieters who record their food intake, the mere act of writing it down regularly can help get it under control by building awareness. Small purchases, especially, can go by unnoticed, but they add up fast and suddenly the wallet is a hundred dollars lighter, much of it spent on things we didn't need. Keeping track for several months also provides enough information to start thinking about making a budget. Too many people try to start with a budget before they know what they regularly spend, get frustrated when it doesn't come out, and quit, and that never helps. Just find a notebook of a comfortable size (not something I would recommend for the computer! even a handheld that you can take with), a comfortable pen, and write down everything you spend when you spend it.

A new category--Finance Lessons from Dad

The new category isn't just about things Dad said, but things I learned indirectly from those early lessons, and through experience, mostly modestly successful since then. the new category will mostly be little tips and descriptions of my own experience working at being financially "independent" (in my definition, having more than I owe) and maintaining good security ratings and all.

I don't offer advice on achieving real wealth. I haven't figured that one out beyond finding a better paying job than I have, nor how to make money from nothing. I've managed steady if not always great paying work and that's the only starting point I know. Steady income isn't always enough, though. Plenty of people who make more than I do, however, still find themselves floundering in financial confusion and problems, and others just don't seem to make as much progress as they want, so I thought a few practical if inexpert tips might be useful.

Tip #1 -- this one is from Dad -- Keep your credit card balance at 0 and if it isn't, get it there as fast as you can.

He's gotten past not wanting to use them at all, but he, and I, still pay them down every month with very very rare exception. If I can't afford to pay the card off when the bill comes in, then I can't afford it all, that's the concept, because paying interest--and even the better credit cards have a lot-- just means you are spending more money in the long run, and buying less of what you want and need. Once in a grat while I've paid a large bill off in two installments, but I didn't use a credit card again until it was paid off.

repeats

I haven't been posting as many non-Cerel posts as I have intended. I haven't edited much on the last several scenes, so I didn't have that immediate topic ready to hand. I have several blog topics from notes on my recent trip but havne't typed them up yet, still, I have a few things to say.

I've sent out copies of the whole Cerel novel to a couple of people and started to get feedback. Most of it hasn't been a surprise: there are certain elements of the story that have a certain repetitive flavor. Even if the events need to occur, they should always be different enough not to be mistaken for another similar scene elsewhere or when in the story. Even the possibility of repetition means that some aspect of the story, the characters, the plot, the emotional tension has not progressed as much as it should have. Some repetition has value, but not whole scenes, only themes, phrases. Or if scenes, then a distinct difference that changes the whole flavor and gives a special meaning to the repetition. Mine wasn't that, or at least not enough that and I'll have to work on it.

I think I may have a similar problem with the story on my other blog. I have two visitors to the pirate ship and the course of the visits if not the characters goes very similarly. No point in that as it doesn't expand the reader's understanding of anything and doesn't sufficiently make progress on the story.

I'm back

I wasn't able to post while I was traveling but i did take lots of notes and have several topics I plan to blog about in the coming days or weeks. For now, I'll post the next scene for Candice and company.