tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post7360761699136689670..comments2023-03-24T03:31:39.269-05:00Comments on The Friday Challenge: And the winner is...~brbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10845253722980029012noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-4247620971064636482009-04-27T16:28:00.001-05:002009-04-27T16:28:00.001-05:00That describes it quite nicely.
Congrats, Bandit...That describes it quite nicely.<br /> <br />Congrats, Bandit.Arisianoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-20776245850803483562009-04-27T15:35:00.001-05:002009-04-27T15:35:00.001-05:00Huzzah! Thanks everyone! It's definitely an hono...Huzzah! Thanks everyone! It's definitely an honor because everyone else had great stories this week.the banditnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-18969665502487077802009-04-27T13:58:00.001-05:002009-04-27T13:58:00.001-05:00Well done and congrats, Bandit!Well done and congrats, Bandit!torainfornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-8449573424187923102009-04-27T13:57:00.001-05:002009-04-27T13:57:00.001-05:00Whenever I read what I wrote, I remember what I wa...Whenever I read what I wrote, I remember what I was imagining, so it's not so much a problem of not being able to write it, it's a problem of not knowing that I wasn't able to write it.<br /> <br />Ouch. I think I hurt myself.torainfornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-71570398159538223312009-04-27T13:55:00.001-05:002009-04-27T13:55:00.001-05:00Uh, no.Uh, no.torainfornoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-38769947785803308722009-04-27T13:47:00.001-05:002009-04-27T13:47:00.001-05:00Tom, in my opinion, the scariest stories generally...Tom, in my opinion, the scariest stories generally ARE part of those huge swaths of undescribed imagination...cf Lovecraft, whose beasties are all "undescribably horrible" and therefore left pretty much undescribed...<br /> <br />-=ad=-Alnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-84749880982544743282009-04-27T13:44:00.001-05:002009-04-27T13:44:00.001-05:00Congrats, Bandit! Definitely a cool story, as wer...Congrats, Bandit! Definitely a cool story, as were they all.<br /> <br />Bruce, I knew the story was going to loop back around to the Seer again...I just wasn't sure how until I actually got there. The "alive or dead" question just kind of happened, I didn't set out to do a Schroedinger's Princess, but that's how it turned out.<br /> <br />All the time I was writing it, I kept saying "this isn't going into enough detail, I should describe the dragon more, I should add this or that..." Then I'd look at the clock on Thursday night, and figure "nope, gonna have to be good enough, first draft all the way."<br /> <br />Lady Quill says that after Recursive Stack Overflow, Avalon 2.0, and now 'Snittering,' you're all going to get the idea that I'm anti-technology or something...really, I'm not, that's just where the story leads...*grin*<br /> <br />-=ad=-Alnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-12610445621951201532009-04-27T11:53:00.001-05:002009-04-27T11:53:00.001-05:00That was the other part of his answer, that I didn...That was the other part of his answer, that I didn't remember right away. He also said, "If it turns out later there was something special about that desert that the reader needed to know, I can fix it in the second draft."~brbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-55246485619685898692009-04-27T11:43:00.001-05:002009-04-27T11:43:00.001-05:00Usually I just write, 'Imagine you're in a desert,...<EM>Usually I just write, 'Imagine you're in a desert,' and get on with the story</EM>.<br /> <br />The thing that concerns me about this approach is the reliance on preconceptions of the setting. If your plot hinges on the ability to see over great distances, the large sand dunes of the Sahara or the rocky terrain of the Mojave just won't do, and the narrative needs to provide more description than what the readers might tend to imagine on their own.WaterBoynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-14090944282948105022009-04-27T11:20:00.001-05:002009-04-27T11:20:00.001-05:00Congrats, Bandit!
And thanks for the comments, B...Congrats, Bandit!<br /> <br />And thanks for the comments, Bruce et al. I was undecided between a serious <EM>Lord of the Rings</EM> approach, or a farcical <EM>Bored of the Rings</EM> angle, shot somewhere between the two, and missed the mark altogether. Thank goodness I didn't have time to finish the third ending.WaterBoynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-34547190409831493262009-04-27T08:32:00.001-05:002009-04-27T08:32:00.001-05:00It is like I'm watching a movie sometimes in my he...<I>It is like I'm watching a movie sometimes in my head</I> <br />I get that sometimes, right down to visualizing the camera angles, the tracking and panning, and the cuts.<br /> <br />Whenever I catch myself doing that, I turn to the wisdom I received from one of the old hands some 25 or so years ago. We were talking about research and scene-setting, and I was describing the work I'd gone through to get a desert setting just exactly right. In response, he just shrugged and said, "Usually I just write, 'Imagine you're in a desert,' and get on with the story."~brbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-54819131859638634332009-04-27T07:56:00.000-05:002009-04-27T07:56:00.000-05:00Speaking of which, anybody else have the problem o...<I>Speaking of which, anybody else have the problem of seeing parts of your stories in your head and then having trouble effectively transfering them to words? </I> <br />Only all the time.~brbnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-62204146584331847172009-04-27T06:53:00.001-05:002009-04-27T06:53:00.001-05:00I'm surprised no one picked up on all of the femin...I'm surprised no one picked up on all of the feminist aspects to my story. First we have Icehawk's mother refusing to be bound to that hidebound artifact of patriarchy, the marriage contract. Then there's the princess, who is powerful when she is without a man but who is dragged down low once a man enters her life. Alas, I didn't make the dragon's situation clear. She was only being kept captive by the princess until the princess could brain wa- um, teach the dragon how well she could live without a man. The dragon fails to learn this lesson and finds herself stuck with a barbarian.<br /> <br />None of you are buying this, are you?Henrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-28633838315878820442009-04-27T06:46:00.001-05:002009-04-27T06:46:00.001-05:00I expect all writers have situations where they se...I expect all writers have situations where they see a scene clearly in their head but cannot do it justice with words alone. Attempting to describe everything you envision would probably make for dull fiction. The trick is finding the balance between providing just enough description to make the major action clear while not having your story get bogged down in needless detail. When done right, you and I could read the same story, "see" quite different scenes and yet be able to easily discuss the story with each other.Henrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-73575584616954819832009-04-27T06:35:00.001-05:002009-04-27T06:35:00.001-05:00Good stories all around! Congrats Bandit! Thanks...Good stories all around! Congrats Bandit! Thanks for the good breakdowns of each story.<br /> <br />As to my far too long gryphon scene, you should have seen it on the cinemascope in my head! It rocked and had a lot better pacing!<br /> <br />Speaking of which, anybody else have the problem of seeing parts of your stories in your head and then having trouble effectively transfering them to words? It is like I'm watching a movie sometimes in my head, and it just seems next to impossible to figure which bits to keep and which bits not to mention.<br /> <br />It seems to me that the best works of fiction that I read aren't cinematic, but rather leave huge swaths of details to the readers imagination.Tomnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-23089025873808456372009-04-27T06:22:00.001-05:002009-04-27T06:22:00.001-05:00To those who posted entries for my super power cha...To those who posted entries for my super power challenge, please take Bruce's words to heart and don't assume he has your mailing address. Please send your address to Bruce so he can forward it to me. I'll send the comic books to you once I have your address.Henrynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172555520574028929.post-28192488220175615192009-04-27T06:20:00.001-05:002009-04-27T06:20:00.001-05:00Congrats, Bandit, on a well deserved win! Good en...Congrats, Bandit, on a well deserved win! Good entries from everyone this week, which is one of the things that makes entering the Friday Challenges so much fun!<br /><I></I><I><B>"</B>Henry, Henry, Henry, what am I going to do with you?"</I> <br />With a response like that, what can I say? My work here is done!Henrynoreply@blogger.com