What did you blog about today?

[thaddeus6th]

A mini-book review: Review: Time of Contempt, by Andrzej Sapkowski

 

[Biskit]

I wrote about writing, which I don't often do, and the perils of being a pantser - Caught With My Pantser Down.

 

[The Big Peat]

On Introducing Readers

 

[J-Sun]

Yesterday, as part of my ongoing coverage of Asimov in the year of his hundredth birthday, I talked about six of the last seven short works he published in the 1940s (the seventh being a Foundation story that was included with a novel-length one to make up Second Foundation and I'll be getting to both of those soon).

Asimov’s Centennial: Six Stories, April 1946-October 1948

 

[The Big Peat]

New Noise - some thoughts on how fantasy has changed. Blame @HareBrain

 

[HareBrain]

New Noise - some thoughts on how fantasy has changed. Blame @HareBrain

Another good read. And you dashed that off just yesterday? Wow.

 

[The Big Peat]

Another good read. And you dashed that off just yesterday? Wow.

It's a lot easier to do when you only start thinking as you hit the keyboard. Maybe.

I need to build up a stock if I'm to exhaust you with blogs though...

 

[The Big Peat]

Day 3 of my attempt to make @HareBrain regret asking for Daily Blogs - On Disney and Marvel

 

[HareBrain]

Day 3 of my attempt to make @HareBrain regret asking for Daily Blogs

Failed, even though it mentions genres I have no interest in.

This lasts for the length of the lockdown, right?

 

[The Big Peat]

Failed, even though it mentions genres I have no interest in.

This lasts for the length of the lockdown, right?

As long as it takes. Oh, at first you'll be all happy about this, but they'll get weirder and weirder, and some day you'll wake up thinking "What have I done?"

One day.

But not too weird yet. Today's blog -

Project Transformation - The Beginning

 

[HareBrain]

Still unbroken, sucka. Nice one. And I like the story premise. If I can offer just a few words of gentle advice: DON'T **** IT UP.

 

[The Big Peat]

Still unbroken, sucka. Nice one. And I like the story premise. If I can offer just a few words of gentle advice: DON'T **** IT UP.

Refreshingly direct as advice goes.

Anyway. Here's Friday's and today's -

Friday Five

Slow Burning

 

[HareBrain]

Slow Burning

Good post as always. There's a third kind of "hook" that usually works best for me, though, and that's awe/wonder. It might be that there's no real action and no characters are deeply explored, but a fantastical idea is seeded (sometimes in a few words) that makes me silently gasp and feel desperate to experience it in more detail. The best prologues work this way, though then the book risks losing me with a dull first chapter.

 

[Juliana]

Slow Burning

There's a third kind of "hook" that usually works best for me, though, and that's awe/wonder.

Interesting points from both of you. I can honestly say, though, that I've loved books with both fast and slow-paced beginnings — what matters is that it's well done!

However, I think I often quite like a middle-of-the-road approach, where's there some action but it's not terribly life threatening. HB, I'm thinking of your opening to TGP here, with the diving scene. There's enough going on to be interesting, and to teach us a bit about the characters, but no one is exactly fighting for their lives.

Hooky action prologues, I think, can be quite effective DEPENDING on what comes next. I think if the first chapter is too jarring in terms of pace, it can be off-putting. I'm not saying that the first chapter has to be like the prologue, just that it should have a different sort of tension, maybe, to keep you reading. (Like those cop movies that start with a chase scene or something, and then we cut to the actual opening — it can't be just the cop going to work as usual, it needs something like us wondering if the traumatized cop is getting fired, etc. You know what I mean!)

 

[HareBrain]

However, I think I often quite like a middle-of-the-road approach, where's there some action but it's not terribly life threatening. HB, I'm thinking of your opening to TGP here, with the diving scene.

For me, that would count as an awe/wonder opening, purely because of the very idea of diving into an ancient ruin. But that's probably quite personal.

The kind of opening you describe, though, can fit with something @Toby Frost has mentioned a couple of times, which is to show someone doing a job they're good at, if it's interesting enough.

 

[The Big Peat]

Interesting points from both of you. I can honestly say, though, that I've loved books with both fast and slow-paced beginnings — what matters is that it's well done!

However, I think I often quite like a middle-of-the-road approach, where's there some action but it's not terribly life threatening. HB, I'm thinking of your opening to TGP here, with the diving scene. There's enough going on to be interesting, and to teach us a bit about the characters, but no one is exactly fighting for their lives.

Hooky action prologues, I think, can be quite effective DEPENDING on what comes next. I think if the first chapter is too jarring in terms of pace, it can be off-putting. I'm not saying that the first chapter has to be like the prologue, just that it should have a different sort of tension, maybe, to keep you reading. (Like those cop movies that start with a chase scene or something, and then we cut to the actual opening — it can't be just the cop going to work as usual, it needs something like us wondering if the traumatized cop is getting fired, etc. You know what I mean!)

For me, that would count as an awe/wonder opening, purely because of the very idea of diving into an ancient ruin. But that's probably quite personal.

The kind of opening you describe, though, can fit with something @Toby Frost has mentioned a couple of times, which is to show someone doing a job they're good at, if it's interesting enough.

Maybe this needs to be a thread in the Writing Forum. Or a roundtable discussion that can go on the blog! (Lets see if I can trick the bunny into providing articles for himself to read...)

I do think we're back to the definition thing. What do people mean by hook? Action? Wonder? What Bryan talks of as a Wonder opening, I do think that's a type of Action opening; that seems like a weird definition but in terms of the structure I think they're similar. They're both about a character's reaction to and actions with something big and external, where the reader payoff is mainly in "What is happening/What is this" and the Who and What of the character is narrowed down to a certain aspect of the character - which is possibly why Pixar has the "Show your character doing what they do best" thing as they tend to have fairly hooky/actiony openings and that allows them to pull that off while showing the most important thing about the character... and then they slow it down and explore their situation properly. Which I think is probably the most crowd pleasing move if pulled off right but it does feel difficult to me and I think it is missed more often than hit. What Juliana says about it potentially being jarring is spot on.

Both of my finished manuscripts have Boom-style hooks and then "slow it down" continuations. Most of my current projects have slow burn starts. Maybe I need to go back to the former to start finishing

Anyway, enough of this interesting question, that'll never crush HareBrain's spirit. It's time for something silly.

If Books Were Drinks

 

[HareBrain]

What Bryan talks of as a Wonder opening, I do think that's a type of Action opening; that seems like a weird definition but in terms of the structure I think they're similar. They're both about a character's reaction to and actions with something big and external

The sense in which I meant it was more the reader's reaction to the author's imagination. The examples I was thinking of were Holdstock's The Hollowing, with the description of the Hollyjack creature in the ruined cathedral, and the prologue to Tim Lebbon's Echo City. In neither case does the POV character express any wonder or surprise.

If Books Were Drinks

I like that. Your choice of brown ale for LOTR reminded me that my first ever "proper" alcohol was a can of brown ale I pinched off the sideboard one Christmas, inspired by reading the Bree chapters. Tolkien's fondness for beer was infectious. Maybe it was my tender age or the fact that it was Watney's, but it was d.i.s.g.u.s.t.i.n.g.

 

[The Big Peat]

The sense in which I meant it was more the reader's reaction to the author's imagination. The examples I was thinking of were Holdstock's The Hollowing, with the description of the Hollyjack creature in the ruined cathedral, and the prologue to Tim Lebbon's Echo City. In neither case does the POV character express any wonder or surprise.

Ah, with you.

Incidentally I'd say the art of making a reader feel something even when the character isn't having that feeling - and sometimes just wouldn't because it is ordinary to them - is an underappreciated one.

I like that. Your choice of brown ale for LOTR reminded me that my first ever "proper" alcohol was a can of brown ale I pinched off the sideboard one Christmas, inspired by reading the Bree chapters. Tolkien's fondness for beer was infectious. Maybe it was my tender age or the fact that it was Watney's, but it was d.i.s.g.u.s.t.i.n.g.

Possibly a bit of both! You tried any since?

Anyway, here is today's
Thief of Time by Pratchett

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

I just found out today that my blog is back! The first thing I need to do is bring it up to date with some of the stuff I have been posting on Facebook. Once I have done that and I start posting new material I will post a link here.

 

[HareBrain]

You tried any since?

Not Watney's, no!

Anyway, here is today's
Thief of Time by Pratchett

Well, that's convinced me. I'm not a huge fan of the few Pratchett books I've read in the last couple of decades, but maybe I made unsuitable (for me) choices. I'll give this a go.