Setting is a crucial part of storytelling. Setting affects the story in many ways. What challenges do the protagonists face from nature and their environment? How has the landscape shaped the culture of the people who live there?
There are some common tropes for fantasy and sci-fi stories. Fantasy stories are often set in a parallel version of medieval Europe, with small villages, walled towns and thick forests to traverse. Sci-fi stories are often set on gleaming high-tech space stations. There’s nothing wrong with these settings, of course. Sometimes they suit the story perfectly.
But an unexpected setting can result in an unexpected kind of story.
Mirages and Speculations is a fantasy and sci-fi story set in a different kind of landscape: the desert. Think wind-swept plateaus, scorching sands, and arroyos. Come discover if that glimmer on the desert horizon is a lake, or the gleam of light off the side of a flying saucer. If those swirling clouds are dust devils–or djinn.
Seventeen authors of science fiction and fantasy take you into worlds both futuristic and fantastic under the desert skies.
You can order it as print or e-book from Amazon here.
This year I finished my first novel. I also took on a job doing some editing in addition to my writing and my day job. I had hoped that editing would bring in some extra money while using my language skills.
I hadn’t counted on the sheer amount of time it would take me to do all the editing that I was asked to do. I worked for a number of people, and the drafts i received were of varying quality. A number of the manuscripts were still quite rough when I received them. (For those of you with editors–your editors should not be getting raw first drafts. And if you know your revised work still reads like a first draft, consider having a beta reader help you with minor issues, like determining if a sentence’s meaning is unclear, or correcting obvious spelling and grammar issues.)
After a few hours spent writing, all the words blurred together–not a good state of mind to start editing. I needed to be sharp and fresh, or I’d miss details.
I tried editing first. By the time I’d put in a few hours, my brain was exhausted–not conductive to good writing.
By summertime, I found myself devoting my writing day to either Writing or Editing. To keep ahead of deadlines, several months were devoted entirely to Editing. None of that editing was my own writing.
I had to ask myself: do I want to be an editor, or do I want to be a writer?
So, in September, I finished my final manuscript and gave up my editing jobs. I didn’t need that extra income as much as I needed the time to focus on my real goal–being a writer. I still have a day job to pay bills with and it doesn’t take the same mental “toll” on me as editing does.
Since then, I’ve written a number of short stories and started work on my second novel. It feels good to be a writer again.
Many writers benefit from the camaraderie of National Novel Writing Month. Writing is often a solitary pursuit, whether as occupation or as hobby. Knowing that there is a vast network of people out there going through the same things you are creates common ground.
Whether on formal NaNoWriMo boards and hashtags, or just on your own social media with people you know who are also doing NaNoWriMo, you can find people to vent to, people to talk to, people who understand.
But beware…
If you’ve been reaching out to a writing community–taking part in a writer’s group, going to cons, networking, attending launch parties, anywhere writers tend to gather–you will already know the people who like “the writer lifestyle” more than the actual writing.
These are the people who love to talk all about the plot and characters for their novel, even though they’ve been talking about the same story for years and still haven’t finished their first draft. These are the people whose book is on its 39th draft, but they’re considering changing the main character in a heavy rewrite. These are the people who say they want to be pros, but act like hobbyists.
If you’re taking part in NaNoWriMo, will you be spending most of your NaNo time writing a novel, or will you be spending it on social media or at in-person gatherings talking about your story, writing in general, how your day is going, what coffee to order…instead of actually writing?
If this has been you in the past, ask yourself what you really want. Do you want to complete a novel? Or do you want to hang out with people you think are cool and talk about your ideas?
There’s nothing wrong with writing as a hobby, and there’s nothing wrong with finding friends to share your hobbies. But if completing a novel is a secondary goal, be honest with yourself. Spend time with like-minded people and support your friends who are working hard to finish their books.
Conversely, if completing a novel is your primary goal, be wary of how you spend your time. The bulk of your NaNo time should be spent accomplishing that goal. In-person gatherings can be fun, but if you’re more productive on your own, make a choice that supports your goal. Online updates can be motivating and online venting can provide you with support, but social media posts do not count towards your word limit.
Finally, you may have a challenge if you are serious but your friends are hobbyists. If they are true friends, they will understand how important your goal is and support you as you work to reach it. However, you may have issues with acquaintances who resented the time you spend on writing, as it takes time away from mutual brainstorming, character-building, plot-creation “hobby” time. If your friends are angry because you are working on your book instead of proofreading the 39th draft of their novel, drawing art of the new character they’ve created for their story that they’ve been writing for the past five years, or just hanging out with them in the coffee shop, then your “friends” are more interested in what you can do for them than in your success.
Fortunately, NaNoWriMo events can help you connect with new people who are as serious about their writing as you are, so even when you are putting the bulk of your time into writing, you can know that you’re not alone.
In the past year I reviewed story pitches for a small publishing house. Prospective writers were asked to provide an outline of their story, including protagonists, antagonist/conflict, and a brief summary of the plot.
Most writers were able to adequately describe their heroes and the challenges they would face, often from villains/enemy characters, sometimes from nature, circumstances, or their own old beliefs. But several writers didn’t show cause and effect in their outlines. Often, these were the same writers who ran into trouble while creating their stories.
“My hero is captured by the enemy king and put in prison, but she escapes…somehow.”
“My hero”s sidekick finds out…somehow…that his ex-boyfriend is in trouble and decides to go help him.”
You’re writing away, following your outline, and you’ve successfully gotten your hero thrown into prison…but now you’re stuck, because you don’t know any way to get her out without resorting to cliches (look! a loose brick in the back of the cell!) implausible coincidences (the guards all get the Spotted Pox and are too sick to pursue her) or power creep/god-moding (it’s fine because my hero is tough enough to beat up all 20 guards at once!)
Meanwhile, your hero’s sidekick is riding to his ex’s rescue, leaving your readers wondering why anyone would put their entire lives on hold to go haring off after a former lover, or how he even knew his ex was in trouble to start with. You’ll explain it later (like, perhaps, when your editor points it out?)
Getting stuck during the writing process, and weak spots in the story, can be avoided if cause and effect are worked into the outline.
“My hero’s sidekick finds out from his ex’s sister, a prison guard at the king’s palace, that his ex has signed on to a dangerous scouting mission. She begs the sidekick to go with him and keep him safe. He agrees, on one condition: his friend (our hero) has been thrown into the king’s dungeon for speaking out against government corruption. If the sister helps him break our hero out of prison, both of them will go to assist her brother.”
In summary, knowing what happens is only half of what you need….you also need to know why and how it happens. If you’ve pre-planned why and how, you’re less likely to get stuck during the writing process. You’re also less likely to feel tempted to resort to cliches, coincidences, and over-powering your characters just to keep the story moving forward. And your manuscript will have a lot fewer weak spots, where a character seems to psychically know some crucial bit of knowledge, or a glitching machine will suddenly start working properly again, or some other event occurs “because the author needed it to” rather than because of any in-story chain of cause and effect.
Fill your outlines with why and how. Show cause and effect–how one event leads into another. You’ll have an easier time writing and end up with a more satisfying story at the end.
Setting is a crucial part of storytelling. Setting affects the story in many ways. What challenges do the protagonists face from nature and their environment? How has the landscape shaped the culture of the people who live there?
