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Jinx, v. 1, issue 2, whole no. 2, March 1942
Page 11
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"What's Wrong With Fan Fiction JINX - Page 11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- excellent advice in the coming FAN EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. ((He is referring to Morley's "It's A Dog's Life", first of series of article on fantasy-weird=stf writing. =; the first section is devoted to style. FE&P - 10c from the editor of JINX)). And don't read stuff that doesn't interest you, just because you think you should, Some of the dullest trips int the world can be found among the books listed s classics. ((Outstanding in my mind are James Fenimore Cooper's stinkeroos! ED)) Write the kind of thing you like to write, and study the way the experts wrote it, and you'll be good writer. It's all a matter of imitation. Not imitation of a writer's style; the imitation of a myriad small factors in that style that make good writing. Characterisation, plot, action, conflict ... Another don't. Don't read the writer's books. If you do, you'll probably be so discouraged that you'll quit before you get well started. Remember this: There is no such thing as first incident, second incident, and third incident. There is such a thing as pedantry. And an alarmingly large number of those who write books for would-be authors are pedants. They love to roll the big words off their tongues, and mumble chants, land make mystic passes.. They do things the hard way. And their hard way is the way not to write. Some incidental suggestions@ 1. Never say that your hero is "manly", etc. Such adjectives are merely ludicrously pointless. In describing your hero, try to make him a human being, not a character. Give him some small habit or trait or mannerism, that will stick in the reader's mind. Remember that your hero doesn't have to sprout wings and play a harp. 2. Restrain yourself. If you want to write you've got to learn the meaning of restraint. Understate. If there's a line you particularly want to emphasize in a separate paragraph by itself. Avoid italics and exclamation marks as you would a leper who wanted to pet. Never say, "Ah,ah, ah, what terrible, frightful, disastrous, horrifying, heart-stopping, catastrophe was this awful, incredible happening? He lay there on the floor, dead, dead, dead! Dead, I tell you., dead! The blood crept from his crush head and ruined the rug! Oh, it was hideous, oh it was awful, oh ---" And so forth far late into the night. If you think that's an exaggeration, read "The Finger" by W.Lawrence Hamling. So don't get hysterical. You''ll just make the reader laugh. Try it this way. "Mary lay very white and still on the floor,. There was a pool of blood beneath her head. She was quite dead." See what I mean? 3. Keep away from dictionary delving. Don't flaunt all the big words you know. It'll flatter your ego no end, but it'll also keep you from selling. Try to throw in an adverb or verb now and then just to break the monotony. As Sinclair Lewis says - the perfect story would be the one written without adjectives. 4. You don't have to come right out and say that your hero is hot under the collar or suffering the pangs or some other strong emotion. Say that his lips tightened, he breathed harder, etc. Anything for variety. 5.Put in plenty of detail but not in hunks. Don't step in the midst of your hero;s battle with Black Bill Bilgewater, sit down in the middle of the floor, and point out the unusual scenery. Spread it out through the story. And con't forget your high-school grammar rule; short sentences for action, longer ones for description. 6. When you reach the end of your story, stop. Don't drag it out. Say what you have to say, then hit 'em with a punch-line and call it a day. That's all. The rest is up to you, Keep writing, keep reading. don't give up and you'll make the grade with flying colors. Good luck. And send me a copy of the Great American Novel when you finish it, won't you? Good! THE END '"""""====="""""""-------"""" HAVE YOU MET THE PILOT OF THE SCLOROIDS? Chances are you haven't, unless you've ordered the first issue of SCIENTIFUN, the newest thing in fandom, from Raymond Washington, Jr. of Live Oak, Florida. Share the hilarious adventures of Sol in the first issue. In the second, there is a fine line-up; "Musings from Muscotine", a column by Harris J Schmarje, Author-Columnist-Critique!; "Second Stage Dog-Lion", a satire on guess-who?; and a short satire by Barry Jenkins, Jr. midst oodles of other stuff. Send your nickels and dimes in to the newest fanzine out, and receive a bundle of laughs in return...Raymond Washington, Jr, Editor, Live Oak, Florida
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"What's Wrong With Fan Fiction JINX - Page 11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- excellent advice in the coming FAN EDITOR AND PUBLISHER. ((He is referring to Morley's "It's A Dog's Life", first of series of article on fantasy-weird=stf writing. =; the first section is devoted to style. FE&P - 10c from the editor of JINX)). And don't read stuff that doesn't interest you, just because you think you should, Some of the dullest trips int the world can be found among the books listed s classics. ((Outstanding in my mind are James Fenimore Cooper's stinkeroos! ED)) Write the kind of thing you like to write, and study the way the experts wrote it, and you'll be good writer. It's all a matter of imitation. Not imitation of a writer's style; the imitation of a myriad small factors in that style that make good writing. Characterisation, plot, action, conflict ... Another don't. Don't read the writer's books. If you do, you'll probably be so discouraged that you'll quit before you get well started. Remember this: There is no such thing as first incident, second incident, and third incident. There is such a thing as pedantry. And an alarmingly large number of those who write books for would-be authors are pedants. They love to roll the big words off their tongues, and mumble chants, land make mystic passes.. They do things the hard way. And their hard way is the way not to write. Some incidental suggestions@ 1. Never say that your hero is "manly", etc. Such adjectives are merely ludicrously pointless. In describing your hero, try to make him a human being, not a character. Give him some small habit or trait or mannerism, that will stick in the reader's mind. Remember that your hero doesn't have to sprout wings and play a harp. 2. Restrain yourself. If you want to write you've got to learn the meaning of restraint. Understate. If there's a line you particularly want to emphasize in a separate paragraph by itself. Avoid italics and exclamation marks as you would a leper who wanted to pet. Never say, "Ah,ah, ah, what terrible, frightful, disastrous, horrifying, heart-stopping, catastrophe was this awful, incredible happening? He lay there on the floor, dead, dead, dead! Dead, I tell you., dead! The blood crept from his crush head and ruined the rug! Oh, it was hideous, oh it was awful, oh ---" And so forth far late into the night. If you think that's an exaggeration, read "The Finger" by W.Lawrence Hamling. So don't get hysterical. You''ll just make the reader laugh. Try it this way. "Mary lay very white and still on the floor,. There was a pool of blood beneath her head. She was quite dead." See what I mean? 3. Keep away from dictionary delving. Don't flaunt all the big words you know. It'll flatter your ego no end, but it'll also keep you from selling. Try to throw in an adverb or verb now and then just to break the monotony. As Sinclair Lewis says - the perfect story would be the one written without adjectives. 4. You don't have to come right out and say that your hero is hot under the collar or suffering the pangs or some other strong emotion. Say that his lips tightened, he breathed harder, etc. Anything for variety. 5.Put in plenty of detail but not in hunks. Don't step in the midst of your hero;s battle with Black Bill Bilgewater, sit down in the middle of the floor, and point out the unusual scenery. Spread it out through the story. And con't forget your high-school grammar rule; short sentences for action, longer ones for description. 6. When you reach the end of your story, stop. Don't drag it out. Say what you have to say, then hit 'em with a punch-line and call it a day. That's all. The rest is up to you, Keep writing, keep reading. don't give up and you'll make the grade with flying colors. Good luck. And send me a copy of the Great American Novel when you finish it, won't you? Good! THE END '"""""====="""""""-------"""" HAVE YOU MET THE PILOT OF THE SCLOROIDS? Chances are you haven't, unless you've ordered the first issue of SCIENTIFUN, the newest thing in fandom, from Raymond Washington, Jr. of Live Oak, Florida. Share the hilarious adventures of Sol in the first issue. In the second, there is a fine line-up; "Musings from Muscotine", a column by Harris J Schmarje, Author-Columnist-Critique!; "Second Stage Dog-Lion", a satire on guess-who?; and a short satire by Barry Jenkins, Jr. midst oodles of other stuff. Send your nickels and dimes in to the newest fanzine out, and receive a bundle of laughs in return...Raymond Washington, Jr, Editor, Live Oak, Florida
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