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12/13/04 6:59:28 PM Opening "Chat Log 12/13/04"


HOST WPLC Sushi: David as some news for us
HOST WPLC Dee R: good news I hope
HOST WPLC Sushi: yes
Trina Pink: Do tell!
Dhewco: I'm going to be columnist for a small circulation newspaper....circ. 2000 and growing.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Wonderful David!!!
Trina Pink: Cool. :-)
HOST WPLC Dee R: congrats <-----------clapping!
Sis Dctnry: David, that's wonderful. real good deal
TrounceM13: Sweet!
Lightningbug1957: David, that's great!
G1ft0fgabn0t: Congratulations, David! That's wonderful news :)
HOST WPLC Sushi: A regular byline
HOST WPLC Dee R: not too shabby
Dhewco: conservative issues mostly. It was left up to me to pick the topics
to pick the topics
HOST WPLC Lyric: Okay, guess we should start.
PHeeren: hi guys
G1ft0fgabn0t: hey, Tom :)
HOST WPLC Lyric: Welcome to Writing to Publish
HOST WPLC Lyric: Tonight's guest is Host WPLC Aelis
HOST WPLC Lyric: Who will be speaking on the fictional dream, a concept I'll let her explain more about.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Aelis has been teaching writing for the last five years and is well known in the writer's corner having hosted at least two daytime chats
HOST WPLC Lyric: She has also won two first place prizes for her current work in progress
HOST WPLC Lyric: so, she definitely knows what she's speaking about!
HOST WPLC Lyric: She requests that the session, tonight, be in strict protocol
without interruption, so please keep personal conversations to IMs
and wait until she finishes the lecture portion of the chat and she requests questions
HOST WPLC Sushi: strict protocol -- and I have my hickory switch RIGHT HERE if you don't. ;-)
HOST WPLC Lyric: at that time you can signal if you wish to ask a question with a ?
and a comment with a !
make sure you type ga for go ahead when you're done with either the question or the comment
so now, without further ado
HEEEEREEEES Aelis
HOST WPLC Dee R: tada
HOST WPLC Lyric: <><><><><><><><>

HOST WPLC Aelis: :::bows:::: Thank you :)
HOST WPLC Aelis: I am known to have confidence naturally, though also modesty, and I've been made to blush here this evening. However... on the assumption that it's true that I "know what I'm talking about", I shall do my best to share what I know. :)
....
Tonight's ideas come to us firstly from John Gardner, who by proxy was my first mentor.
That is to say, his book, The Art of Fiction, was my first introduction into . . . well, the "art" of fiction. Fiction is art, and it is also craft. One hardly exists without the other, but I will not digress.
Gardner's assertions on fiction make for worthy reading, but it is his idea, I think original to him, of fiction as "dream" that most deeply affected me, and I think also affects many writers.
I'll begin by putting forth his thesis on this idea, then I will dissect and embellish on the theme, so to speak. :)
....
Gardner says, ". . . whatever the genre may be, fiction does its work by creating a dream in the reader's mind. "...if the effect of the dream is to be powerful, the dream must probably be vivid and continuous--
vivid because if we are not quite clear about what it is that we're dreaming, who and where the characters are, what it is that they're doing or trying to do and why, our emotinos and judgments must be confused, dissipated, or blocked;
and continuous because a repeatedly interrupted flow of action must necessarily have less force than an action directly carried through from its beginning to its conclusion. "...on the chief mistakes a writer can make is to allow or force the reader's mind to be distracted, even momentarily, from the fictional dream.
HOST WPLC Aelis: <close quotes>
HOST WPLC Aelis: ....
There are three words that Gardner uses in describing the fictional dream, that we must understand fully if we are to achieve the dream in readers' minds.
They are:
POWERFUL
VIVID
CONTINUOUS
A reader reads to be carried away into another world. This is WHY we engage him in a "dream."
Interruptions of dreams--unless the dream is an alarming or frightening one--are very annoying, and distract us from the meaning of the dream itself.
We wake to the sound of a truck, or a sibling or a spouse; a hungry cat, the radio or an alarm clock and, coming out of sleep, try hard to grab those tendrils of dream we have just been experiencing.
Very often, it flees our grasp and, with disappointment, we realize that what we are sure was a really neat or interesting thing is gone from us forever.
This, friends, is what we do NOT wish to happen to our readers.
When our readers open to Page One, we hope to grab them and keep them to the end of the "dream."
This is art, but this is also craft.
And this is where our three words--POWERFUL, VIVID, & CONTINUOUS--come in.
HOST WPLC Aelis: Firstly: POWERFUL
Powerful writing comes from within the writer, but it is conveyed in words that are clean, to the point, concise, and meaningful.
In terms of "clean" writing, there needs to be as little "static" as possible between the writer's transmission of the dream to the page to the mind of the reader.
This is where CRAFT comes in handy.
Read books like: Write Tight by William Brohaugh; Making Your Words Work by Gary Provost.
Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Browne & King
Woe is I by Patricia O'Conner
All these books are on craft. Why craft? Because you don't want the "static" of wordiness to confuse and distract your reader.
HOST WPLC Aelis: Next: VIVID
Anyone who has heard me teach knows that I compare writing to the textural arts like painting, and to music.
I am a painter and a musician, yet I never regret not pursuing those arts professionally because I can paint, I can compose, with words.
And so can anyone.
The tools a writer can use to accomplish VIVID writing are: STRONG, ACTIVE, SPECIFIC VERBS; EFFECTIVE, RELEVANT, SIMILE; POWERFUL METAPHOR
Example of non-vivid writing: The old tree was tossed to and fro in the wind.
Example of the same thought, vividly put:
The black, ancient oak tree fought the wind with gnarled and crippled arms, braving the onslaught of the northeastern gale.
I'd probably edit that even further, but you get the idea.
HOST WPLC Lyric: vividly. lol
HOST WPLC Aelis: Oak is more specific than "tree." :P
So is black...ancient
"fought" is one strong verb over "tossed to and fro" :)
etc. I think you get the idea.
HOST WPLC Aelis: And to our third component of composing the fictional dream (i.e., your story): CONTINUOUS
How do you write continuously? Simple. In Scenes and Sequels.
I can't go into a teaching here on scene and sequel, but briefly:
Everything in life and story happens in scenes and sequels: there is an event, there is an aftermath of the event.
There is a storm, there is the aftermath of the storm.
There is a party, there is the clean-up of the party.
Big things, little things....things happen, and then there is what happens after.
Dwight Swain (TECHNIQUES OF THE SELLING WRITER) dissects scenes thusly:
GOAL...CONFLICT...DISASTER
Example: Point of View Character has a goal coming into a scene. He meets with conflict. It ends in disaster (or, as I like to say, CHANGE that propels the story forward)
Sequels: REACTION...DILEMMA...DECISION
Character (alone now) reflects--has a reaction to--the scene; faces and describes his dilemma; comes to a decision that propels him and the story into the next scene.
So by this flow of scenes and sequels, like the ebb and flow of tides, do we maintain the continuous flow of the fictional dream.
....
And that, literally in a nutshell, is what the Fictional Dream is, with a few hints on how to maintain it.
Finis :)


HOST WPLC Lyric: please type a ? for questions and ! for comments, guys, the queue is open, and if we have time we'll do some exercises
Fjm3eyes: !
HOST WPLC Lyric: Frank ga
HOST WPLC Dee R: ?
HOST WPLC Lyric: Donna please have your question typed and ready to post
Fjm3eyes: I like Continuous Flow better than just Continuous
HOST WPLC Lyric: when you're done remember to type ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Donna ga
HOST WPLC Dee R: I wasn't clear on continuous...what you meant...is it similar to continuity...making sure all fits together? You don't have Dad with blonde hair on page 2, and dark hair on page 10? Could you elaborate?
HOST WPLC Dee R: ga
Fjm3eyes: I get different pictures from both phrases /GA
HOST WPLC Aelis: Yes, that is one part of "continuity"
HOST WPLC Lyric: perfect interwoven comment and question there! lol
HOST WPLC Aelis: Your story is, like Frank said, a "flow" which you don't want to interrupt with scenes out of place...
HOST WPLC Aelis: or with exposition that doesn't contribute to the story.
HOST WPLC Dee R: not interrupting the flow with backstory?
HOST WPLC Aelis: If you can make that backstory "flow" with the story beautifully, you can have it in there.
HOST WPLC Aelis: This is the "art" of it.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Since we have no other questions in the queue, Aelis, maybe we can move to the exercise?
HOST WPLC Lyric: and then people will see what you mean through practice?
HOST WPLC Aelis: What kind of exercise would you like? It's kind of hard to "practice" the fictional dream....
HOST WPLC Aelis: Perhaps choose one of the elements...?
HOST WPLC Lyric: yes
HOST WPLC Aelis: If there are no other questions on maintaining the fictional dream, or what it means...?
HOST WPLC Aelis: I want to be sure everyone "gets" it
Werewolfsevn: ?
HOST WPLC Dee R: Michael, ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Michael ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Donna is quicker on the draw than me! lol
OnlineHost: “Fjm3eyes” has left the room.
Werewolfsevn: If there is such a thing as a fiction dream, is there such a thing as a fictional nightmare- writing from the uglier side of our imagination?
Werewolfsevn: ga
SarahStNy: ! Were
HOST WPLC Aelis: Well...the "fictional dream" refers specifically to the process of maintaining the story's flow without distractions, thereby grabbing the reader.
HOST WPLC Aelis: This principle may be applied equally to horror, love stories, or adventure.
Werewolfsevn: ok
HOST WPLC Dee R: !
HOST WPLC Aelis: It's a technique, not a thing in and of itself.
HOST WPLC Lyric: ga Janice
SarahStNy: It would still be exactly the same thing/ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: Donna ga
HOST WPLC Aelis: <right!> :)
HOST WPLC Dee R: GOAL...CONFLICT...DISASTER..REACTION...DILEMMA...DECISION <------this would be a good way to outlline the plot.
HOST WPLC Dee R: ga
HOST WPLC Aelis: Dee, yes!
HOST WPLC Dee R: I like it
HOST WPLC Aelis: Many people do just that
CircleOfTheMuse: ?
Werewolfsevn: !
HOST WPLC Aelis: Usually on index cards or the like
HOST WPLC Lyric: Millicent ga
CircleOfTheMuse: So by continuity, are you referring to maintaining a consistent writing style? ga
HOST WPLC Aelis: By continuity I mean that you don't distract the reader from the story by insertions of irrelevant exposition, "soap-boxing," or bringing in irrelevant characters and/or details.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Michael ga
HOST WPLC Aelis: Everything you write--every phrase, every chapter--must contribute to the heart and soul of the story.
Fjm3eyes: ?
Werewolfsevn: I disagree with Dee- comparmentalizing your story drains any creativity from it and turns it into formula. ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: frank ga
HOST WPLC Aelis: Were, everyone has different ways of writing and "seeing" a story. What's right for you won't be right for someone else.
HOST WPLC Dee R: !
HOST WPLC Lyric: Donna ga while we wait for Frank's question
HOST WPLC Dee R: Outlines are meant to be NOT followed, but they are a good way to kick start the process (I found out with NaNo)
Fjm3eyes: By continuous do you mean maintining a high level of mood/interest throughout, or something else? ?GA
HOST WPLC Aelis: Frank, scroll up and read what I said. :) /ga
HOST WPLC Aelis: And to Dee...
HOST WPLC Aelis: Outlines may indeed be followed, because outlines are only "bones." Your imagination fills in the muscle, heart, and flesh of the story. /ga
Fjm3eyes: Can't, got kicked off a few minutes ago :) ga
HOST WPLC Dee R: very much agree.
HOST WPLC Aelis: Ack...let me paste for you: By continuity I mean that you don't distract the reader from the story by insertions of irrelevant exposition, "soap-boxing," or bringing in irrelevant characters and/or details.
HOST WPLC Lyric: any other comments or questions?
Fjm3eyes: !
HOST WPLC Lyric: aol is playing havoc tonight
HOST WPLC Lyric: frank ga
Fjm3eyes: Okay.......I see, about continous /ga
HOST WPLC Lyric: anyone else?
HOST WPLC Lyric: well, that being the case, I think we should thank Aelis for her presentation!
HOST WPLC Lyric: thank you so much for coming!
G1ft0fgabn0t: <><><>clapping<><><>
HOST WPLC Lyric: <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
HOST WPLC Aelis: You are quite welcome. Hope I didn't try to get too much into one hour.
SarahStNy: author intrusion, peculiar words, $10 words...they can all disrupt
HOST WPLC Dee R: Aelis...thank you very much...very intersting
G1ft0fgabn0t: Thanks for the informative session, Aelis :)
HOST WPLC Sushi: thanks, very thorough yet succinct :-)
Trina Pink: Thank you Aelis!
HOST WPLC Dee R: I'll be go back and re-reading this one.
Fjm3eyes: thank you, Aelis
HOST WPLC Lyric: And we need to welcome Ginny tonight as our newest member!
HOST WPLC Sushi: YES
HOST WPLC Aelis: Oh, please...you know I love to share with you guys. :)
HOST WPLC Sushi: we have a new W2P member
HOST WPLC Dee R: <--------claps for Ginny.....
HOST WPLC Sushi: CHC aka Ginny
CHCLTEKISS2: thank you very much
HOST WPLC Lyric: And once again, congratulations to David on his new column!
HOST WPLC Sushi: I just passed along her critique for Katrina
Dhewco: thanks Sry
HOST WPLC Dee R: Ginny, wait until we have the ritual dunking in the cyber river for all new members...hold your breath
HOST WPLC Lyric: and good luck to Aelis with her newest WIP
HOST WPLC Dee R: DUNK!!!
HOST WPLC Sushi: yes, and to David!
HOST WPLC Aelis: I envy you getting to spout your ideas every week, David :)
Fjm3eyes: welcome Ginny
G1ft0fgabn0t: .~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.throwing confetti.~*~.~*~.~*~.~*~.
HOST WPLC Lyric: Aelis, we hope you'll come again, soon
HOST WPLC Lyric: lol, Gabby
HOST WPLC Aelis: Well, next year maybe ;)
HOST WPLC Dee R: David, is there a specific slant to your colemn?
G1ft0fgabn0t: oops. should have thrown ginny <G>
HOST WPLC Dee R: Aelis...we'd love to have you back
HOST WPLC Lyric: and anyone who hasn't gotten their critique for Katrina in, please do so as soon as possible!!!
HOST WPLC Sushi: he wants to get folks "all riled up" ;-)
G1ft0fgabn0t: Welcome to our group, Ginny :)
CHCLTEKISS2: Thanks for the warm welcome
Dhewco: when the first one gets posted to the internet(the paper is also on the net) I'll let everyone know
BrownDvs: {{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{[ Aelis ]}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}
HOST WPLC Dee R: great
OnlineHost: “SarahStNy” has left the room.
BrownDvs: <---------------- likes looking at Aelis from the back. :-D
HOST WPLC Lyric: you are so bad, Adam, BEHAVE!
Dhewco: Donna, the paper is very conservative....so it'll be slanted that way. He does have one liberal contributor he added for, um, 'flavor'
HOST WPLC Lyric: lol
G1ft0fgabn0t: lol
HOST WPLC Aelis: lol
HOST WPLC Aelis: Silly guy
HOST WPLC Dee R: I'm looking forward to reading it.
G1ft0fgabn0t: Aelis, thanks for the great session. I'
HOST WPLC Lyric: goodnight everyone, see you next week
Lightningbug1957: David, is this a weekly paper?
HOST WPLC Lyric: bye!
HOST WPLC Aelis: Thanks for coming, Gabby
CHCLTEKISS2: Peace and Blessings ...Y'all
G1ft0fgabn0t: I'm glad I logged it. Now I've more books to search out too :)
Lightningbug1957: Now you'll know what deadlines feel like
HOST WPLC Sushi: Happy Holidays!
Dhewco: I'm also going to proofread the paper for him...if he'll make a good enough offer.
HOST WPLC Sushi: buy your gifts from our web site links!
G1ft0fgabn0t: See y'all next week. Niters :::waves:::
HOST WPLC Aelis: Night, G!

12/13/04 7:59:52 PM Closing "Chat Log 12/13/04"

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