Dave Farland puts out this great e-newsletter called “Dave’s Daily Kick-in-the-Pants.” For the kick today, he suggested the following exercise:
You probably have a good idea about what you want to write—horror, mainstream, fantasy, historical, romance, westerns, religious fiction, and whatnot. Sit down for ten minutes and on the left-hand side of your paper, list five things that you feel you most like in the fiction you read. On the right-hand side of your paper, list the biggest potential danger that you see in trying to create that effect.
Doing this exercise will help you understand who your potential audience is, and some of the challenges that you may face in reaching that audience.
This was my response:
Why I read:
1) To meet interesting characters and get lost with them in an exciting fantastic world.
2) To think deeper about fundamental truths I see in my own life.
3) To feel like I understand another person and connect with them.
4) To be reassured that true heroism is real, alive, and within the realm of possibility.
5) To experience beauty in the language and metaphor, the imagery and tension.
Potential dangers:
1) Trying to write about a world without a story–all info dumps, exposition, lacking interesting characters with whom the reader can journey and experience the world. Story IS experience, and experience does not exist independent of the person doing the experiencing.
2) Waxing allegorical or didactic in the writing–trying to force the message instead of leaving it open for the reader to discover multiple layers of meaning.
3) Focusing so hard on the character that the plot lacks the structure and tension to keep the reader interesting. Characters do not exist separate from plot or setting; they change and grow in reaction to both.
4) Creating a hero whose struggle is so far removed from the real world or our real life experience that the reader feels that this type of person could only exist within the pages of a book. Or, trying so hard to follow the monomyth structure that the story falls flat (ie Star Wars I, II, III).
5) Thinking that poetic license frees you from basic rules of style and grammar. Creating metaphors that are so unusual that they are merely non sequiturs. Writing prose so thick and “literary” that it kicks the reader out of the book.
Dave Farland’s idea is an excellent exercise. I belong to a group of aspiring writers (Eblana Writers based in Dublin, Ireland) http://eblana-writers.com. We have been going for 7 years and have about 20 members, all aiming to get published (in fact many are now published. We meet once a month and are often looking for exercises to stimulate thinking and develop writing skills and story development – this is certainly one we will include. It also follows a pattern that I personally used when writing my now published first fantasy novel – Randolph’s Challenge, Book One-The Pendulum Swings (http://www.randolphschallenge.com) so I know it works.
Chris Warren