Stories of the future - science fiction, foresight and the future

I’ve just finished (well to first draft) another story which is due in today. I’ve been working on it this last week. For a first draft I quite like it. It’s about a boy that goes to hospital (think I mentioned it in another post) and meets a nurse who never wants him to leave. The opening line is - “You’re going to be happy here, William,” says the nurse. It’s speculative fiction, but not science fiction like my other pieces.

When Kelly Link was here she asked us to individually write opening lines for stories in a space of ten minutes. As many as we could with the intent of generating ideas. The line above was on my list so I followed it. My story will be critiqued tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.

A fellow student yesterday asked me what I’ve picked up so far. It’s hard to put your finger on because there’s so much that you’re exposed to and it’s tricky to know exactly how it’s all working on you, at a subconscious level.

For me though, I’ve definitely become aware and am now approaching the following elements differently in my stories:

• Backstory / Info-Dump: when and how to integrate backstory
• Authorial Intervention: when the character says something, but the voice is really the author, trying to drive the plot forward. This is obvious to the reader and really stops the flow
• Opening: using strong opening lines to engage the reader. If the ’slush’ reader at publications isn’t taken by the first page, you’ve lost them
• Ideas: I’ve been thinking a lot about when to start writing a story. Usually, I have an idea and then get cracking. I’m trying to teach myself to really think through the idea before I start. It’s taking some work and this will be an area of development for me over the next year. I’ve been reading lots of short stories up here (outside of the ones the class puts forward) and the most powerful are those that use words economically to mesh in many themes.
• Economy of Writing: using words that convey the best meanings, but aren’t complicated and suit the voice and flow of the story. Words like iridescent, luminescent, miasma, maw, cacophony, etc are to be avoided unless they really suit the line I wish to write
• Endings: working with endings that give the reader a resolution either by: i) suggesting questions/plot that happen as soon as the reader finishes the last line, ii) giving the reader a final resolution that ties up the other questions raised during the story
• The Overall Story Structure: making sure there’s the right elements in the story to give it its best shot with the reader (eg. strong setting, character description, enough dialogue, etc)
• Conflict/Tension: making sure there’s conflict/tension present to drive the story forward
• Character: thinking about characters and always having at least two present but not a crowd. Above two is a great number for conflict/dialogue. Crowds become difficult to manage (because you have to detail so many people).

That feels better! I have the critique session in an hour, so better finish off my notes.

I’ve just finished (well to first draft) another story which is due in today. I’ve been working on it this last week. For a first draft I quite like it. It’s about a boy that goes to hospital (think I mentioned it in another post) and meets a nurse who never wants him to leave. The opening line is - “You’re going to be happy here, William,” says the nurse.

When Kelly Link was here she asked us to individually write opening lines for stories in a space of ten minutes. As many as we could with the intent of generating ideas. The line above was on my list so I followed it. So my story will be critiqued tomorrow, we’ll see how it goes.

A fellow student yesterday asked me what I’ve picked up so far. It’s hard to put your finger on because there’s so much that you’re exposed to and it’s tricky to know exactly how it’s all working on you, at a subconscious level.

For me though, I’ve definitely become aware and am now approaching the following thins different in stories:
Backstory / Info-Dump: when and how to integrate backstory in stories
Authorial Intervention: when the character says something, but the voice is really the author, trying to drive the plot forward. This is obvious to the reader and really stops the flow
Opening: using strong openings lines to engage the reader. If the ’slush’ reader at magazines isn’t taken by the first page, you’ve lost them
Ideas: I’ve been thinking a lot about when to start writing a story. Usually, I have an idea and then get cracking. I’m trying to teach myself to really think through the idea before I start. It’s taking some work and this will be an area of development for me over the next year. I’ve been reading lots of short stories up here (outside of the class) and the most powerful are those that use words economically to mesh in many themes.
Economy of Writing: using words that convey the best meanings, but aren’t complicated and suit the voice and flow of the story. Words like iridescent, luminescent, miasma, maw, cacophony, etc are to be avoided (in my stories) unless they really suit the line I wish to write
Endings: really working with endings that give the reader a resolution either by: i) suggesting questions/plot that happen as soon as the finish reading the last line, ii) giving them a final resolution that ties up the other questions raised during the story
The Overall Story Structure: making sure there’s the right elements in the story to give it its best shot with the reader (eg. strong setting, character description, enough dialogue, etc)
Conflict/Tension: making sure there’s conflict/tension present to drive the story forward
Character: thinking about characters and always having two present but not a crowd. Above two is a great number for conflict/dialogue. Crowds become difficult to manage (because you have to detail so many people).

That feels better! I have the critique session in an hour, so better finish off my notes.