Writing

Genre in Writing

This post from December 2016, has been re-edited and re-published in April, 2019.

Broad and Narrow Genres

Since the proliferation of Creative Writing courses in universities in the Anglo world, much has been written and said about “genre” in writing.

Creative Writing contrasts with Nonfiction Writing in the broader sense. The former is the sort of writing that novelists, short story writers and poets employ. Nonfiction includes traditional biographical works, academic texts, journalism, and books on a diverse range of subjects, such as food (recipes), self-help and memoir.

Within fiction, there is a breakdown into specific genres: science fiction, romance, historical fiction, mystery, horror, detective stories, action, fantasy and adventure.

Literary Fiction and Commercial Fiction

Literary fiction can be distinguished from commercial fiction, the latter referring to popular “genre” writing that publishers hope to sell to a wide readership. Literary fiction is best defined by contrast with commercial fiction. In the book trade, it is seen as having greater literary merit, focusing on depth of character and a concern with style.

Many writers today are writing for commercial reasons, to be published or self-published in books, eBooks, or online, as quickly as possible. Literary fiction attracts writers who are experimenting with form and interested in lyrical expression and often dark and emotive themes.

The term “creative writing” is more appropriate as an umbrella term for writing that employs fictional devices. This distinguishes it from academic writing, which endeavours to present factual or argumentative texts in an objective framework. Journalistic writing, too, is based on the principal goal of providing factual information to the public, although there will be some overlap with fiction in its use of devices, such as dialogue and narration.

Creative Nonfiction

Non-Fiction includes traditional biographical works, academic texts, journalism, and books on a diverse range of subjects, such as food (recipes), self help and memoir.

Truman Capote’s nonfiction work In Cold Blood (1966 ) is looked on as the forerunner of this genre in modern times. It is also the ultimate true crime novel. Based on painstaking research and interviews, Capote used the story of the cold-blooded killing of a family in rural Kansas, and his investigation of the crime, as the plot for his novel. It is written brilliantly, employing all the techniques of the best fictional writing: strong characterisation, realistic sounding dialogue, vivid imagery, and narrative suspense, without wavering from the facts. Apart, perhaps from the ending, where he improvises a little; endings are often difficult for this type of factually based writing.

One of the first attempts at a creative nonfiction novel in Australia was Poppy by Drusilla Modjeska (Penguin 1990), in which the author recounts her mother’s life. It is well told but lacks the dramatic, page-turning aspect of plot-driven fiction. A past master at this subjective type of writing is Helen Garner, whose The First Stone is now a classic, as well as a cause of ongoing controversy for student discussion in Creative Writing Courses in Australian universities.

Memoir

Modern Memoir has taken on a slightly different aspect within this recent context. It refers to first person narration that focuses on a particular aspect or period of a person’s life. Memoir “sticks to the facts” but employs creative devices, such as narrative drive, strong characterisation, vivid dialogue, and dramatised events.

The best memoirs focus on a universal issue or concern that the author illustrates via personal experience.

It differs from fiction, wherein connections are concealed behind invented characters, settings and names. Many writers are wary of “treading on the toes” of living relatives and friends when they recount true events. It is easier and less constricting to create, rather than to recount the facts.

Lee Gutkind, an American author, is looked on as the Godfather of Creative Nonfiction today. He is the editor of a Creative Non-fiction journal and the author of Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know About Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction.

Specific Genres

Of course, with fiction, there is a breakdown of genres within the broad genre: science fiction, romance, historical fiction, mystery, horror, detective stories, action, fantasy and adventure.

Crime, Romance and Fantasy are popular genres in Australia today. Romance, in particular, attracts a large readership, perhaps because it represents hope in a threatening world.

love-eiffel-tower-pigeons

Here is a more exhaustive list of possible genres from Cathy Yardley’s blog: Rock Your Writing.

Action/Adventure — stories including epic journeys, lots of conflict, high stakes, some violence.
Erotica — stories of sexual exploration.
Fantasy — stories usually involving magic, other worlds, mythological/mystical figures.
Horror — stories that invoke fear.
Literary Fiction — stories with a focus on the quality of the prose over the narrative arc.
Mystery — stories that involve solving a crime, usually a murder.
Thriller/Suspense — stories of high tension that can involve either action or mystery.
Romance — stories about love/intimacy.
Sci-fi — stories usually involving technology, aliens, science-related alternative worlds.
Westerns — stories taking place in America’s “Old West,” often with focus on justice.
Women’s fiction — stories about women experiencing emotional growth. Primary emotion: hope.

The Rise of the Monomyth: The Hero’s Journey:

the-hero-with-a-thousand-faces I had attended a seminar on “The Hero’s Journey” and could not see how this theory, first elaborated by the American scholar Joseph Campbell “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” (1949), could be applied in a helpful sense to my writing. George Lucas used it in the “Star Wars” movies and it is very relevant for screen writers in the film industry today in the United States and elsewhere. It is based on the idea of the “monomyth”, that all stories can be conflated into one: the hero’s journey. This starts with the Call to Adventure, continues through Initiation, and ends with the Return. Each of the three stages can be broken up into sub-sections linked to certain archetypes. I feel that this theory can be applied more readily to commercial mass media genres, such as the “Star Wars” screenplays, than to literary writing, at least in terms of plot. However, even here, I could be challenged by those who know. Finally, I can see that the archetypes are invaluable as guides for creating character types in fiction. Just as the debate on genres changes in response to commercial interests, this is true with relevance to movies on the big screen as well.

Are stories all ultimately conflated into the hero’s journey?

April 25, 2019 0 comment

Writing

Another Look at Point of View

More confusion surrounds the concept of Point of View in fiction writing than any other term.

One of the problems is that writers, and I have been guilty of this sin, have come to utilize Point Of View (POV) both in the broad sense of perceiving, and also as defining the three modes open to authors of fiction. I prefer to use the word “perspective” or “viewpoint”, rather than point of view (POV), when referring to characters’ attitudes within the text, because of this confusion.

The Three POV Modes

The mode that an author chooses will have a huge impact on the narrative and its effect on the reader. Particular options and benefits are linked to each of the POV modes.

Stories can be told from one of three main points of view: first person, second person, or third person.

In first person point of view, the narrator tells the story from his or her own perspective. You can recognize first person by its use of the pronouns “I” or “we”. The reader is given direct access to a character’s thoughts, emotions, voice, and viewpoint within the world of the novel.

Second person is quite rare, but can be recognised by the use of the pronoun “you” throughout the work.

With third person, the use of pronouns “he”, “she”, and “they” are used to refer to characters within the story. The narrator may be an entity outside the story, or may be so close to one of the characters in the narrative, that they are almost one and the same persona. (Limited POV).

The Most Common POV is Third Person

Here the author has the freedom to choose which character (the protagonist) to focus on, throughout the story (First person limited). If the POV is multiple, the narrator chooses the optimal degree and rhythm of focus on each of the viewpoint characters within the narrative. (Third Person Multiple POV)

Third Person Omniscient

The traditional perspective used by fictional writers of the past is the omniscient one. Third Person Omniscient POV means that the narrator knows all the thoughts and feelings of every character and can dip in and out of different characters as needed. Their perspective is unlimited. Classical novelists portrayed multiple viewpoints throughout their novels using the omniscient voice. These authors created huge works of art, peopled with many characters, whose thoughts and behaviours reflected the society of the time. Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina remains with us today as an aesthetic monument to its creator and to the social and historical setting portrayed therein.

Omniscience is still found, occasionally, in well-structured modern literature, when its use is warranted by the genre or by the needs of the particular story being recounted.

Modern Trends

Authors today, especially since the 1950s, have tended to focus on a particular character’s viewpoint, or on particular events, within and throughout a novel. Modern authors write within and about a very different social milieu. And readers in recent times have often demonstrated lowered concentration spans; they exhibit less patience with tackling very long works.

Writers must describe the “modern” societies in which they find themselves. This is a more hectic and frantic world than that of the past.Books have begun to “thin out” in relative terms.

“Up close and personal” writing is another modern trend.

Implications

POV has come to signify a style of writing, touching on the concept of voice, with its own constraints and conventions. The mode chosen might result in greater character intimacy and deeper understanding of persons involved. Or it may avoid closeness, because of variants available within the choice of mode.

Usually, the writer selects one character in the story to be the principal viewpoint character. This character might reflect a certain voice or style of speaking, which is also typical of modern creative writing.

POV Examples from Books/Authors

For Whom the Bells Toll by Ernest Hemingway: a novel with 3rd person limited or close (deep) POV.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, in which a child character tells the story: 1st Person Limited POV.
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver: 1st person multiple POV
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: 3rd person multiple POV novel.

April 20, 2019 0 comment

Writing

Structuring a Short Story

Note: I first published this post on this blog in February, 2013. I have added little to the original for re-scheduling it in April 2019, apart from photos and some minor formatting changes. I have also added Kate Forsythe’s more complex pyramid diagram below.

How do you go about writing a short story? You might have a good idea and an interesting character to portray, but you have no idea about how to create a valid structure. It’s a bit like building a house, or a bridge: you want to create a solid foundation, sturdy walls and a ceiling. It’s the same for story writing. But you may decide to focus on the final structure at a later stage of production, rather than at the outset. The basic structure is:

A: a Beginning
B: a Middle and
C: an End.

Aristotle first stated this in 350 BC. Just as you can break the parts of a building down into smaller parts, a narrative structure can also be broken into smaller segments that support and fit into the larger framework.

One way of analysing the structure is to think in terms of a seven-point plan. Why seven? This has esthetic connotations, and possibly spiritual ones, too.

buddha-statue-flowers-640x640

The main part of the Introduction is the hook: a focus that motivates the reader’s interest and involves a character facing a problem. The Middle of the story is the meaty part that contains the plot line or sequence of events. Finally you have the Ending, which involves resolution and/or validation.

I am not suggesting that you, as a writer, must always plan your story ahead of time according to this structure. This is not my intention at all, nor my own way of going about writing a short story. You must be allowed to allow the creative juices to flow from the outset. The 7 point structure may help you merely after “getting it down”, to rearrange and to add parts that have been left out of your narrative.

A: The Hook: 1

The Main Character is portrayed in the Introduction as a personnage of interest. There may be a reference, at least implicitly, to a problem linked to the protagonist, who is often good but flawed or different from the personnage we find at the end of the story. The Setting can be included as part of the Introduction.

B: The Plot: 2

The storyline and sequence of events belongs to the Middle Section, and is the longest part of the book. Here the main character is faced with a problem and a call to action. The first attempt is a reactive one and ends in failure.

Reversals of fortune, Recognitions: 3

Pressure is placed on the protagonist to solve the problem and he makes several attempts to do so.

The Midpoint: 4

The protagonist makes an irreversible decision to take decisive action despite fears and overwhelming obstacles.

Things Worsen: 5

Despite the well-meaning actions of the protagonist, actions may even be the cause of reversals in fortune. At the same time, learning takes place. The character is henceforth prepared and ready for resolution.

C: Extreme Deterioration: 6

At the end comes climax: the character tries to resolve the problem once again and either fails or succeeds in the end. It’s important that the protagonist doesn’t give up, either way. We feel pity and fear for the hero and hope for success.

Resolution: 7

Validation shows that the story is over. The ending validates the promise set up in the beginning. Or it may overturn or reject it.

Addendum:

Keep the basic structure of Introduction, Middle and End in the back of your mind while getting your story down. You may be able to create an esthetic whole straight off. Editing drafts to perfect it may be all that is needed.

If not, rearrange and “flesh out” your story according to the above more complex guidelines. This can be done “after the event”, that is, during the second and successive drafts of the narrative.

Gustav Freytag in 1900 further developed Aristotle’s ideas by his pyramid diagram with its 7 points:

Gustav Freytag. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Freytag’s Pyramid

April 12, 2019 0 comment

Writing

To Plot or Not to Plot

Planning or Not Planning

So much has been said and written about this topic, that it is almost fruitless to comment. All you need do is Google the topic and you will find countless analyses of the benefits of plotting or “going by the seats of your pants” (Colloquial: pantsering).

But beware, the writer’s subjective preference will reveal itself, if you do this. James Patterson, for example, is on the side of plotting as a first step. He creates detailed outlines of his narrative before starting to write the novel.

What Genre is It?

The genre chosen by the author to write in, will determine to a great extent which approach s/he chooses. Fantasy writers and detective story writers will likely employ plotting as the favoured approach. However, not always. Kate Atkinson writes detective stories, but she is also a wizard with character. She seems to bridge the gap between the two categories, so it’s not clear how she starts out.

Australian Women “Pantsers”

Australian Kate Grenville and many other writers, especially female writers, prefer writing in segments (scenes? chapters?) based on vivid characterisation and “zingy” writing, as she calls it. An example of this style of writing is in Tirra Lirra By The River by Jessica Anderson (1916-2010). See my post on this blog at: http://anneskyvington.com.au/tirra-lirra-by-the-river-by-jessica-anderson/.

I, too, belong to the non-planners—to those who like to explore character rather than plot—in the initial phase

It is almost, but not quite, a distinction between “female” versus “male” authorial approaches. This is not as sexist as it sounds, if taken in the Jungian sense of “eros” versus “ego”, and “anima” versus “animus”. That is, we are all made up of dual personas, and we’d be advised to take into account both of these aspects when creating stories.

Dionysus Versus Apollo

apollodionysusdualityv If you get caught up totally in the “Dionysiac” lust and chaos of pantsering, you might get stuck, and fail to finish or to reach potential. You then must appeal to the “Apollonian” side, relating to “the rational, ordered, and self-disciplined aspects of human nature”.

However, too much planning may stunt your style, especially if you are a creative and imaginative type.

See Wikipedia on this dichotomy of “the struggle between cold Apollonian categorization and Dionysiac lust and chaos“.

One Foot in Both Camps

It is best, if at all possible, to remain with one foot in both camps, like partners in a successful “marriage of equality”, in order to produce a brilliant work of art. That is, start off with one approach, but pay homage to the other at some stage.

For myself, I like to start off as a “pantser”, at least for the first draft, or perhaps up until halfway or three-quarters of the way into the novel. At some stage, I must take an opposite tack, and do what the planners do: Consider where I am going, draw a timeline and ask questions about structure, narrative arc and beginning and end goals. I may even ask some of these questions early on, without, however, following a strict plan.

Passion and Conflict: a metaphor for writing

March 30, 2019 2 comments

Publishing Writing

How to create an ebook in 5 easy steps…

Why design an ebook?

I wanted to include a special offer for new subscribers to my blog. This is called a lead magnet. I decided to create an ebook based on several of my updated blog posts. I chose five favourite posts from this blog, Craft of Writing.

First up I had to write the content for my book, which I did using a microsoft word file. I decided to call the book “An Introduction to Writing Craft.”

The Basic Format for an ebook

Next I had to research the structure of an ebook. The format I chose to follow for this, was a three-part one composed of: 1. An Introduction 2. The Content Chapters 3. A Call to Action.

In the introduction I explain to the reader why I am writing the ebook; I give an overview the contents, and discuss why I have chosen these five posts.

The five content chapters comprise the five chosen posts. The main theme of these chapters is what I like to call the “macro skills” involved in writing a novel. Be advised that this term is one I have appropriated for my own purposes, in order to explain what I see as the two parameters of novel writing. Both parameters are important: Macro issues to do with the whole text, and the micro issues of words, sentence structure and punctuation within the work.

The third CTA chapter was devised so that I could learn from my readers how useful the book is, and how subsequent eBooks might be improved or changed.

I chose a potential picture for the cover of the book. The cover for the ebook became a simple red “default” template.

ancient-typewrite

The Technical Terms

This was my first foray into creating an ebook. I had to teach myself the technical jargon involved, having lost the support of my digital expert friend, due to illness during last year. The first thing I discovered was that some people choose not to distinguish between the two formats: eBooks and PDF files.

PDF stands for “Portable Document Format”, and is the most well-known file type.

EPub stands for “Electronic Publication,” and is up to its 3rd major update. It is the more flexible ebook format. Literally every device can handle ePub, except Kindles.

Ebooks are created in a format that changes shape according to the device you read it on.

Learning Digital Skills

I decided to teach myself, step-by-step, how to produce both files. In fact, I found that the one led on to the other.

The first step in creating my first eBook was to convert the original microsoft word file “An Introduction to Writing Craft” into a PDF file. I had had experience of doing this before, at least with simpler files. So that was quite straightforward.

cover-first-page

The next step was more challenging for me as a novice publisher: Transferring the Pdf file into an ePub file. ebook-cover-on-apple-books

I was ultimately able to do this, only after several failed attempts.

The cover turned out to be a default template, which I decided to go along with at this stage.

I now declare that I am the author and publisher of an eBook entitled An Introduction to Writing Craft, that I have stored on my laptop computer in my Apple Books application. My next step is learning how to share it with subscribers to my blog. Or shall I share the PDF file instead?

March 15, 2019 0 comment