Yzabel / September 5, 2005

Onto the second part of my article about Languages in Fiction Stories. Now that I’ve developed my point about the creation of the new language, this will deal with its use (or the one of any language, for that matter, whether it is imaginary or an existing one).Read More

Yzabel / September 4, 2005

Surely I’m not the only one dealing with the creation of a whole foreign language in my world of fantasy. Since I’ve started to think of it more closely, there are a few “rules” I’ve been able to isolate, both from my own attempts and from observing the works of other authors. This is still a loose list, in a way, but I feel that it can be interesting and useful to lay it down in full, since I know this whole language matter can become bothersome for the reader if not used properly.These rules sure aren’t carved in stone; feel free to add your own if you need to deal with this. I’m going to begin here with the creation of languages; the second part of the article will be developed in another post due to its global length.Read More

Yzabel / September 3, 2005

Another of these reflexions about writing that came to me through means to which I wouldn’t think at first…It was 8 AM, I was up since 6, and after some time spent writing, I was itching to move. The weather that wasn’t too warm yet decided me to do something I seldom do: running. Therefore, I laced my shoes and simply stepped out (the good thing with wearing simple tops and shorts is that I’m always ready for such whims).I normally don’t like jogging. I’m much more a squash and strength-training person, and the only thing close to “cardio” that I really like is dancing. This time, however, there was something in the air, or perhaps in my way of viewing the world, that made it different. I didn’t have a MP3 player with me, I didn’t have any company, not even my dog. It was just me and myself, ready to have a little internal dialogue while running with my eyes on the clear sky. This is one of the nice things when living in the country: there are plenty of tracks and places to run, far from cars and other people.And the ideas started pouring in.Of course, I couldn’t note them down on the spot, but I had so much time alone to think of them that they still managed to stick in my mind. In about half a hour, I got ideas for a good nine or ten short stories. I probably won’t use them all—you can be sure that I scribbled them down afterwards to make sure I don’t forget—yet no matter what, it’s a very fine feeling to find myself with renewed inspiration.Too bad I don’t really enjoy running. If I had done this more often, without any other distraction, perhaps I’d now have a really huge stash of ideas.ideas, running, writing

Yzabel / September 1, 2005

It’s always weird and somewhat thrilling to realize that some of my methods are close or even exactly similar to those of known fiction writers. Today, while going on reading How to Write Science-Fiction and Fantasy, this is exactly what happened to me.In the second chapter of his book, Card describes the genesis of Hart’s Hope, one of his rare forays into fantasy, that took years to develop. How it all started by the map of a town scribbled on a piece of paper. How the town had specific doors that made it so that a traveller entering through God’s Door could only have access to the Temple area, and not to the others. The many processes that made it develop into a town where the gods of old had been defeated by a mere mortal. How this mortal had been able to acquire such a power, through a blood magic to which only a crime could give so much strength and efficiency. I’m not telling more about it here, but do know that it was really fascinating, to see all of these elements gathered through the years combine to shape a whole world and, finally, the plot of the story.Read More

Yzabel / August 30, 2005

Some time ago, I’ve realized that when it comes to novels, one of my projects simply can’t be done in one book only. There is too much to be told, and trying to cram everything into 400 pages (or 500, or 600…) would be very detrimental to the story itself. This said, there is one thing I can’t determine: in the case of a trilogy, or of any other kind of series in more than two volumes, what is the consensus, if there can ever be any, on how each book should stand? What do readers as a whole tend to prefer? (I’m talking of fantasy and science-fiction mostly, as they’re the genres I like to write in, but opinions about every other kind of story are welcome.)There’s the stand-alone book, for starters. I’m not sure that lots of readers like to be left with the feeling of “having to buy” the next volume, and building frustration over this isn’t a pleasant thing. Evidently, here the marketer in each of us may chime in and say “but we need to keep the readers hooked, else they won’t buy the next volumes!”. To which I think I can answer by “then let’s write so well that they’ll want to read the rest of the series just for our style and brilliant ideas”. A noble goal, though really easier said than done. As a reader, I normally don’t have a problem with such stories, although I think they’re more adapted to a series longer than just two or three books. It works well, for instance, with Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Darkover world, but I wonder if it may not be a little weird for series with a “bigger picture” in tow.Read More