Anja's Friend Anne Seladdams

[MisNomer]

Thanks, VerDeTerre!

That was very hard story to write.  I originally just created Anne to be the local photographer in Anja's story, and then got interested in her obsessive behavor.  'Why are you doing this?' I wondered.  

So, using the old writer's trick: I asked the characters!  I had Anja chat with her after a photography session and then it all became clear.

How many people are in your head? lol  This is wonderful.  I'm sharing your trick with my son (the writer's tip, that is), he likes to write.  For that matter, I might use it in my tutoring.....:rabbit:

[Chairman Greg]

How many people are in your head? lol  This is wonderful.  I'm sharing your trick with my son (the writer's tip, that is), he likes to write.  For that matter, I might use it in my tutoring.....:rabbit:

:lol: That's one of the hazards of writing stories--you end up with all these people living in your head!  

I really don't know how many there are.  Once in a while I still hear from characters that were in my science fiction stories that were published 15 years ago!  The more well-defined the characters are, the more they stick around.

Writer's tips are one of my favorite subjects.  So, merrily threadjacking my own download topic, I think every aspiring writer should know:

The Seven-Point Outline

• A character
• in a setting
• with a problem
• who tries and fails to solve the problem
• making it worse. (Repeat 4 and 5 as required to develop the story.)
• Finally the character tries one last time and succeeds or fails in a big way, leading to
• the validation.

The validation, or l'envoi, is the ending where you see how the character's life has been changed by the events in the story.  Too many otherwise fine writers tend to leave it out.


Heinlein's Rules for Becoming a Professional Writer

• You must write.
• You must finish what you write.
• You must put it on the market.
• You must keep it on the market until sold.
• Never rewrite except to editorial order.

Those first four rules are very insightful.  About 90% of writer wannabes fall out at the first step.  Then 90% of the remainder fall out at the second step, and then the third, and the fourth.

The fifth rule is more controversial and even Heinlein didn't follow it.  (His wife Ginny was his First Reader, and he did follow Ginny's editorial orders.)  The key point is that the only person whose opinion really matters is the one with the checkbook.


There are a lot of other great bits of advice from folks who've already run the gauntlet but I think those two things are the solid foundation that all professional writers need.

[MisNomer]

I LOVE the seven points - I've seen plenty of short versions to this used in the schools, but steps #4, 5, and 6 really add an important layer of excitement.  Heinlein's I'm not so sure about.  He may be a good writer, but I tend to think there is much merit in a) abandoning ideas (and that way one has the freedom to explore) and b) rewriting (it supports the principal of a).  His rules sound more like a formula for commercialism than art, which is not what I would have expected from him.  Thanks for sharing.

[Chairman Greg]

Yes, that was Heinlein's advice on how to become a professional writer.  It sounds sophomorically simple but I thought it was a very insightful observation of why so many writer wannabes are still wannabes 30 years later.

If you're only interested in doing "creative" writing for your own amusement, then you define your own rules.  A lot of "creative" writers express disdain for the Seven-Point Skeleton in the secret sanctum of the SFWA suite; but then, those are the same folks who don't sell very many stories.

I suspect that the fifth rule, about rewriting, was advice to a specific group of writers in a writers group that kept rewriting their stories on the advice of the group.  I've seen that happen; even fell into that trap myself for a while.  But even Heinlein didn't follow that rule.  Heck, he rewrote Stranger in a Strange Land for ten years before it was finally published.  I rewrote my story The Last Plague so many times (admittedly, all to editorial order) before it was published that my writer buddies started calling it The Last Rewrite; but when it was published, it got the cover of Analog.

Hey, quick quiz: Like many of Heinlein's story titles, "Stranger in a strange land" is a quote from the Bible.  Do you know what Bible story it's from?

[MsMacDugle]

[MisNomer]

I suspect that the fifth rule, about rewriting, was advice to a specific group of writers in a writers group that kept rewriting their stories on the advice of the group.  I've seen that happen; even fell into that trap myself for a while.  But even Heinlein didn't follow that rule.  Heck, he rewrote Stranger in a Strange Land for ten years before it was finally published.  I rewrote my story The Last Plague so many times (admittedly, all to editorial order) before it was published that my writer buddies started calling it The Last Rewrite; but when it was published, it got the cover of Analog.

Hey, quick quiz: Like many of Heinlein's story titles, "Stranger in a strange land" is a quote from the Bible.  Do you know what Bible story it's from?

 

First:  What is SFWA?  Second:  You're a published writer? (Allow for a moment of admiration....) Is that how you make your living or something you do for enjoyment? Or both?  Third:  No clue!  I'm not overly familiar with many parts of the bible outside of the gospel.  It isn't from the gospel is it? :smt120  
Maybe I need to reread that one, didn't grock it well....  Fourth:  Hmm...yes, It's the age-old conflict between art and profit.  The whole thing about finishing what you start just goes against the grain so much.  There are people who feel you have to finish every book you start, for example.  My feeling is that I would never start anything if I felt that committed before beginning.  There has to be room for experimentation.  Fifth:  So, tell!  Which bible story?

[Chairman Greg]

:laugh:

• SFWA = Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
  
  
  
• Yup, I've had several stories published, all science fiction, all in Analog.  
  
  Ta da!
  It's fun to read, but is it art?
  
  There's also a list of boring technical papers too lugubrious to mention.  I've never been a full-time writer and it's been years since I've submitted anything for publication.  In my day job, I'm an aerospace engineer; I design spaceships for a living.
  Thirty five years ago I couldn't even spel rokkit sighuntess.  Now I are one!
  
  
  
• No, it's not from the gospel.  This was quite a bit earlier.
• Can't say much about art versus profit.  I think it's more of a confict between creating art that other people want versus creating art that nobody else likes.  But maybe we don't define "art" the same way.

I really don't know what context Heinlein was thinking of when he wrote that; don't see how it relates to art.  Well, I suppose someone who never completes anything would have difficulty claiming the title of "artist."  I think I understand his point, though: I have a bazillion unfinished stories that will never see the light of day unless I finish them, and hence no one will ever be able to tell me whether they're "art" or not.

• It's from the story of Moses, from when he was gadding about in Midian after he got kicked out of Egypt:

   And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
-- Exodus 2:22
I had to look it up.  Ref: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=2&chapter=2&version=9
[/LIST]

[MisNomer]

Thanks Greg, I so enjoyed all of your background info.  Impressed I am over your talent and accomplishments!  (Speak like Yoda I do .)  

Never mind the whole debate over "art" and "profit".  From my perspective, it's more of a question of having the opportunity to manipulate and learn about a medium, whether that medium is clay, words, or a new way to move the body or mind.  I work in the education field and see how much is gained from play and how much is lost when those opportunities are ignored in the rush to produce or to meet "standards".  Besides, as an adult devoted to the notion of behaving like a kid, I support wholeheartedly the notion of playfulness, inventiveness, creativeness and generally ignoring goals . I would consider your bazillion unfinished stories fodder for your finished works.

Gershom?  Really?  Gershom?

[Chairman Greg]

Right!  Let's elevate ignoring goals to an art form!

Yup, Gershom.  He even has his own stub in the Wikipedia, which at least is longer than mine.  The Wikipedia article says it means "a stranger there," which some how relates to Moses being exiled from Egypt.

[jjjim]

Wow!!! Beautiful!!! Thanks

[aimee0824]

Wonderful sim! Thanks.

[Chairman Greg]

Thank you, jjjim, and aimee!  I'm rather fond of Anne myself.

[Chairman Greg]

:laugh: Thanks, Darlene!

[meanalessia]

Great job.

[Chairman Greg]

Thanks, Meanalessia!  I think Anne is one of the prettiest characters in my game.  She just looks like a gal who spends a lot of time roasting her epidermis on South Padre.

Lots of credit for that goes to Sussi and Helaene and Hathor and Rensim and Sims2BNP!  I am still in awe of the creative talent of the fan artists who can make the makeup work so well; have never succeeded in that area myself.