I spend a lot my time (in my imagination) in a world where technology hasn’t advanced past the level enjoyed in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. I think maybe that exercise helps me retain some degree of appreciation for the magic we can wield in the contemporary world. And yeah, I think ‘magic’ is the right word. Consider:
Don’t get me started on the miracle that is contemporary plumbing.
I mentioned in a previous post that one of my goals when doing a first-pass round of edits is to focus on appeals to all five senses. Done properly, the effect for the reader should be to make the story more pungent, vivid, and easier to imagine. I score two more benefits, though. I’m obliged to imagine the scene in fine detail in my own mind, and I’m also forced to confront some of the very different ways in which other people see the world.
For many people, I think meals are the (fanciful metaphor alert) hinges of the day, closing one segment of the day and swinging open another. Morning doesn’t begin without breakfast, lunch is a breath before the afternoon’s labor, and dinner heralds the calm before a night’s sleep. Food is a visceral pleasure. Food provides common ground for good conversation, and good food translates into better health.
None of that resonates with me. If I could pop a pill in the morning and have all my nutritional requirements met? I’d be content. I’m a rarity (not to say an oddity.) If I want to write fiction that appeals to people who aren’t like me, I think I’m obliged to see the world from different angles.
Or maybe that should be ‘I’m obliged to sample the different flavors of the world’?
“There’s no secret as to why science fiction and fantasy are popular: Reality is boring.” – ESTHER INGLIS-ARKELL via io9
I was up until the wee hours last night working on the THIEF sample available on this web site. I’m editing, which is absolutely premature. But I am, and I thought it might be helpful (for me, maybe not so much you) to document exactly what I’m trying to do. Basic stuff:
(1) Eliminate sentences, paragraphs and pages which don’t fit within the emerging narrative structure.
(2) Simplify verbs and verb tenses. The nuance provided by more complex verb tenses isn’t worth the page clutter, at least in commercial fictions like WITCH and THIEF.
(3) Rehearse and revise narrative voice, with an eye towards consistency, plausibility, likability, and trustworthiness. In later revision rounds (after a full draft of the manuscript is complete) this step will become a higher priority.
(4) Reinforce appeals to all five senses.
(5) Eradicate stray spaces, misspellings and unintentional grammatical follies.
Simple stuff, but important enough to keep me up at night. (The coffee helped.)