posted
I know I'm not the only one who reads these, or who's been checking the link every once in a while for the last six months to see if it's been updated, so I thought I'd post it here for anybody who hasn't gotten around to checking lately.
posted
Thanks Icarus. I love Uncle Orson's Writing Class. He's so great at explaining things where I can understand them.
I always send folks I meet elsewhere on the internet to his class if they want writing info. That's after I tell them "Go buy Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card" because I think it may be the best writing book I've ever read, and I've read a bunch.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Thanks for posting this, Icarus. I haven't looked at those in ages, and I didn't get through them all the first time. And reading a few of the newer ones, I got a couple more ideas for the Phobos contest story I'm writing. Posts: 1592 | Registered: Jan 2001
| IP: Logged |
quote:That's after I tell them "Go buy Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card" because I think it may be the best writing book I've ever read, and I've read a bunch.
No. How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy is much better, even if you are not writing science fiction or fantasy.
posted
RE: Scott's advice about naming aliens. I agree that readers need a pronounceable version of their names, but I still think that showing their original pronunciation and then having the human characters create an approximation might be a better idea... as a linguist, I refuse to go the Star Trek route and make goofy names using English phonology. Hell, there are Xhosa and !Kung names that are pretty fricking unpronounceable for me, and they're HUMAN, heh.
Posts: 5663 | Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged |
posted
How to Write SF&F is a fantastic book - I own it as well.
But Characters and Viewpoint really helped me a lot, because I have a problem with viewpoint. I try to write limited 3rd person and then head jump. Even after Uncle Orson's book I still find myself doing it occasionally, mackillian caught a case of jumping head syndrome in a first draft for me the other night. But I'm much, much better than I used to be, thanks to that book which finally made things clear to me on viewpoint.
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
Right now I'm actually reading "How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy". It was very helpful, but it's geared more towards writing the story. I started reading it because I'm creating a world of my own, so I didn't find what I was looking for, but it's still very helpful.
Posts: 4174 | Registered: Sep 2003
| IP: Logged |
quote: I always send folks I meet elsewhere on the internet to his class if they want writing info. That's after I tell them "Go buy Characters and Viewpoint by Orson Scott Card" because I think it may be the best writing book I've ever read, and I've read a bunch.
I'll second that. Characters and Viewpoint helped me get the highest grade on an essay I've gotten this entire year, even though it was a timed essay and I hadn't (and still haven't) finished the book. Posts: 2149 | Registered: Aug 2000
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Sleep]](graemlins/sleep.gif)
-- Wha?![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
