five things randomly random

[lagilman]

EtA: rereading this post I realized that it is a splendid example, for those of you who have not met me in person, of how I actually speak. I um...apologize for that.



1) A reader-review complained that a book of mine took the first 10-15 pages to figure out the world and what was going on, that it wasn't immediately apparent (yes, you need to actually read the book to understand the book. Sorry about that...) Actually what she said was "the writing got better after page 15" but I assure you, it wasn't the writing the changed. She went on to say that she really enjoyed the book, and wants to read more, so yay.

Does it annoy y'all, if a world is not immediately understandable? Or do you accept you need to survey the landscape before you know where you're going?


2) I also met with a former Odyssey student, and discovered my editorial mojo still works, as I managed to make her glow, shudder, and panic, and then got her to think about how to Make It Better, all over the course of lunch, and still have time to discuss Other Matters. Including the probability of me actually getting the newsletter up and running for January. Um. Working on that, yeah (the Great Computer Implosion put everything off-schedule).


3) Meanwhile at Chateau Felidae, the morning was given over to finishing the sample material for Project B. It has now been put aside to think about what it's done, and I will give it a polish before sending it off to Madame Agent for New Year's Sending. This book is... it's very me. All my books are very me, yes, but this one feels like something I'd always thought I'd write, that feels like it's not so much being pulled from my gut as just flowing from my veins. As opposed to project A, which is, as I've said before, so far outside my usual comfort zone that I'm not sure I can pull it off (but I'm going to go down fighting, because wow, it's fun in a brain-hurty kind of way, as opposed t the "wheeee fun!" way of project B).

(Oh Gods, Project A I love you but you may finish me off once and for all, getting you Just Right.)



4) Anyway. That done, I and a friend then tackled the Amazing! New! dinner table.

Okay, it's actually a bistro-style table but it's mine and I love it and no more eating Moroccan style around the coffee table. And, in the way of NYC apartments, the foyer can now convert within 5 minutes to a formal dining room. I live in a Transformer. This is actually pretty cool and appeals to me far more than when I had many rooms each with a specific purpose. That probably says something about me, but I'm not sure what.


5) And tonight I am making a pork stew with many root veggies and some greens and a lot of various herbs and spices and I have no idea how it's going to taste but DAMN the apartment smells good. Tomorrow... I start making gingerbread. Mmmmmmmmgingerbread.....

Comments

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

Given my druthers, I read a lot in places that I'd prefer not be too familiar on first read. Surveying the landscape is part of the fun.

[girasole.livejournal.com]

I believe that it is the task of the writer to plop us down in the middle of the story and unfold its reality as we go on. Exposition, particularly at the beginning, makes me irritated. Brava.

Yes, you really do talk like this. Many of us find it charming.

[jesskastar.livejournal.com]

Does it annoy y'all, if a world is not immediately understandable?

It depends on how long and how non-understandable it is. 10-15 pages is very doable. :)

[svilleficrecs.livejournal.com]

Do I need to understand the whole world immediately? No. But I want something to care about/root for pretty quickly. I don't care if the person onscreen is striving to open a pickle jar, but give me some sort of compass, even if you don't give me a map. Being tossed in the deep end is fine. But being blindfolded, spun around, and then tossed in the deep end? Without knowing if I'm in a pool or an ocean? Troublesome.

Where writers get into trouble, for me at least, is sometimes spending those first 15 pages on disconnected world building without giving me a clue about what the pov character wants in that moment. If you (or the author in general) spends 15 pages giving me descriptions or character movement with no discernible direction, that can be a non starter for me. You can leave at sea for a while, but the more at sea you leave me, the more you need to make sure you've given me that recognizable pickle jar. Even if you call it a flurple jar.

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I like having enough complexity in a world that it takes time to build an understanding of it.

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Pictures of the foyer as a formal dining room, please.

It's all in the execution. It doesn't bother me if you plop me down in a sea of fog. You do it well, and it's alright. You do it poorly, and it falls to hell.

[chaoticgoodnik.livejournal.com]

To give my take on (1) I'm going to digress a little.

At the beginning of Anathem (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2845024.Anathem) Neal Stephenson gives some basic info. Mostly key dates of the world's history, but also a few pronunciation hints. The very first sentence is "If you are accustomed to reading works of speculative fiction and enjoy puzzling things out on your own, skip this Note."

The first time around I skipped that sucker. In fantasy and science fiction I expect do have to do a certain amount of mental work to suss out the nature of the setting.

[brickhousewench.livejournal.com]

One of the joys of reading anything that isn't modern fiction (historical fiction, fantasy, science fiction, etc.) is the chance to visit places different from right here, right now. And I've seldom been annoyed by being exposed to different worlds.

I think that as long as it doesn't feel like a huge detour from the story, there's nothing wrong with exploring your world. Some writers sprinkle their world building amongst the plot so that you don't even notice it. Other writers (David Weber, I'm looking at you) will drop a 10 pages of worldbuilding backstory smack into the middle of a character conversation, forcing me to flip back 10 pages to refresh my memory as to what the characters were talking about.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

EtA: rereading this post I realized that it is a splendid example, for those of you who have not met me in person, of how I actually speak. I um...apologize for that.

What's to apologize for? Blog posts are akin to a nice, long conversation.

[lagilman]

*snerk* My writing is (generally) slightly more structured and less parenthetical (usually) than my conversational speech patterns. Also, less use of the hands as a narrative device.

[mtlawson.livejournal.com]

True, but given that I use IM for work all the time, I don't find this particularly odd. I prefer this sort of post to the short bursts that define Twitter, anyway.

[jperceval.livejournal.com]

I love figuring out a new world, and don't want everything handed to me. You know what annoys me? When I'm reading a series and the author feels the need to do an update-so-far in each new book...that makes me feel like I'm being patronized or something.

And of course, I am NOT talking about you.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

As far as 1) goes, back when I was still teaching in universities, a student once complained to me that in order to write the paper I'd set, he had had to read more than one chapter in more than one book. There is no pleasing some people.

[stakebait.livejournal.com]

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<Does it annoy y'all, if a world is not immediately understandable? Or do you accept you need to survey the landscape before you know where you're going?</i>

I prefer it if it's not immediately understandable, actually. Although I suppose my absolute favorite is when I understand the tiny bit we're focusing on immediately, but then get surprised when the camera pulls back to reveal a context different than I would have expected/assumed. And it's cool if we get a couple more world twists up to as late as halfway through the book. Once we start getting resolutions, however (usually at 2/3 to 3/4 of the way through) changing the base assumptions of the world can start to feel like cheating.

That said, if the world/characters/relationships/immediate setting is so obscure that I can't tell what's going on at all, or why I should care, that's a negative.