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2012年9月17日 星期一

About Writing War Stories (An Upfront Article)


I have written many war stories, to include the Korean War, having a close friend in that war. Also World War One, the one my grandfather was in, and World War Two, the one my Uncle Frank died in, and Uncle Wally was a POW in. I even wrote a few things about the civil war, but mostly the Vietnam War, the one I participated in, in 1971. My son Cody was involved with the Bosnia war in the early 1990s; I have yet to write about that. War participation, seems to run in the family, as much as it runs in the blood of the United States, always sticking their nose in to someone else's business. It would do well if we stop fighting for everyone else, and just for our own country; in that case, our youth would have time to blossom.

Anyhow, I thought about this article for a very long while, if indeed I should write it, and never got around to it, wasn't sure how to write it... and then I figured, do it the way you usually do; be up front. It is just your opinion, and we all have them, right?

Here is what I got to say about writing war stories: a writer who has the experience of war under his belt has one of the major subjects and certainly one of the hardest to write about. Sincerely those writers who have not seen it are jealous, and have tried to make it seem unimportant to others, if not abnormal or a negative as a subject, while in reality it is part of our global history, a fabric of the human race (like it or not, right or wrong), and perhaps irreplaceable and something they have missed.

You don't forget war, if you're in it. You remember near everything, even the songs being played, and replayed, and the smells, and the heaviness of the rain, and the championship boxing matches going on back home, the heat and the big bull mosquitoes, and the incoming rockets, their sounds and so forth and so on.

Writes are often times made by being sent to wars: such as Hemingway, Manning, Dostoevsky, Stendhal, and so on.

There are no real great writers today, worth quoting, and surely no war writers worth their salt, I've read.

5-9-2009




See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com





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2012年8月28日 星期二

Writing 101: The Short Story


The most difficult and easiest task of all writing is the Short Story. It's easy if you have a great idea. It's impossible if you don't. To me the best short story ever written is The Book of Job. The most beautiful short story is The Book of Ruth. The best modern short story is Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.

Now you will say, The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel. Well you are right and I'm right. Let's keep it that way so that we remain friends. The Old Man and the Sea has the elements needed in a good short story except as you said, it's too long if you put a length limit on short stories. My novels are "short" stories if you compare them based only on length to War and Peace. They do not have the elements of a short story. Well, maybe the first chapter of Revenge on the Mogollon Rim does.

In a novel you can wonder hither and yawn and your readers will not only enjoy it, but they will forgive you. In the short story, you must stick to the point. The "point" is the whole purpose of the short story.

Edgar Allen Poe was the greatest writer from Boston. I put it that way as to not offend the other greatest writers. I hope it doesn't offend Poe. I don't want him haunting me every night. Some of his poems are short stories that he didn't stretch out. His short stories are weird but poignant. He invented the detective story.

Poe was found delirious in a Baltimore gutter and died on October 7, 1849 (see http://www.online-literature.com/poe/). Also, Hemingway shot himself up the road a few miles from here. One mustn't take short story writing too seriously. That is why I've remained a hack writer. I call myself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer" to remind me of that fact.

Hemingway learned his writing techniques from the Kansas City Star. He said, "Those were the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing. I've never forgotten them." Here are the rules: short sentences, short paragraphs, active verbs, authenticity, compression, clarity and immediacy. (See http://www.lostgeneration.com/childhood.htm.) Go sit in a corner and memorize these rules. You will need them to write a good short story.

A short story is usually less than 35,000 words (a good deal less). It combines economy with unity. I know this is true because my old college text says so. Economy means it is short. Long character descriptions are out. Long scene descriptions are out. Please, no panoramic war scenes. Unity means that you don't leave anything "important" out. It must be there in brief form or implied. If I say a man is a railroad worker, I don't have to put him in overalls, do I?

You must remember emphasis and subordination. My old text says so. In other words, "What's hot and what's not?" Emotions, settings, the theme (only one allowed), must be fused snugly together. Here are some examples:

The Book of Ruth: A clever lady snags a husband.

Heart of Darkness: A weird jungle tale by Joseph Conrad. Speaking of MOOD! The horror!

Miss Brill: Katherine Mansfield tells of an old lady losing her self esteem due to thoughtless comments of youngsters. This story is sad.

The Killers: Hemingway's famous story about how Nick Adams is more concerned about death by assassination then is the elected victim.

For Esmé-with Love and Squalor: The story about a little girl and a soldier. You must read this story by J. D. Salinger. Have a hankerchef at the ready.

The Book of Job: The devil picks on God's servant, Job.

Let's write a short story now.

First, take an idea, hook one end to the shady side of your barn and the other end to your mule walking south. Your idea is a wide rubber band. As the mule walks and stretches the band, the band narrows. When it reaches what we engineers call its elastic limit, it will break. Just before it breaks, it is War and Peace. When stretched thin, it is still a novel. Somewhere before that you have a short story.

Now think of point of view. First person is good. Poe liked this view. At any rate, don't go beyond what the protagonist can see and hear with his or her own eyes. Remember this if you write in the third person as did Hemingway. You must not stand back and look at your story through a telescope. It must be intimate.

The protagonist is the main character. Who is the antagonist? You may need one in your story to be mean, nasty, cruel, uncaring, or having some other less than wonderful human trait. (You don't need an antagonist in every short story. Most but not all such stories are called "boring.")

Okay, let's take an idea and run with it.

The sun beat down on the soggy field. Trevor was soaked from the rain, but now the warmth of the sun was quickly drying him. He slapped Bossy on the rump and said, "Let's get to the barn, Bossy. If I don't get you milked before Pa comes home, I'll get the stick." That's when Trevor slipped on a cow patty and slid down the hill into the irrigation ditch. Bossy stared at the irrigation ditch for a while and then went back to chewing her cud.




John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com), a retired college professor and business executive, Former editor of an international engineering magazine. To learn more about Wealthy Affiliate University go to his info site. If you desire a flagpole to Fly Old Glory, go to the business site.

More info: http://www.InternetBusinessToolCenter.com

Business web site: http://www.AAAFlagpoles.com





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2012年8月8日 星期三

Writing Fight and War Scenes


Fights are hard to write, because they require wide-ranging details for visualizing the action, which needs to be fast-paced. The pacing is the first flaw that usually points to a clash between the writer and his subject. One way to overcome the problem of pacing is to be meticulous about what to include in a fight scene.

Fight scenes should not be cluttered. The readers will have difficulty following the action if too much description of the action is squeezed in one scene. In addition, while describing the fight scene, writing short sentences will speed up the action and long ones will slow it down.

One approach to look at a fight scene, especially a street-fight type of a scene, is from the personal point of view. Most people have not fought physically, let alone hit a person, in real life. Unless the writer interviews someone who is an expert in this area and learns from him, he may write the fight scenes by giving weight to emotions rather than to the details of the action. He might pad up the action scenes with the rule of three, which is: Every sentence of action can be followed by two of description of emotion or reaction. Example: Jennie's fingernails screeched across the intruder's face. The blood came out in tiny spurts, dripping down on his white shirt. The man's eyes narrowed in anger, and he raised his fists, ready to hit her.

Another way to enhance a one-on-one fight scene is to blend in the audience or what is going around the fighters into the scene; for example, mentioning the furniture knocked out or broken, the expressions on the onlookers' faces, or the traffic stopped etc. This will add another dimension to the action.

Fight scene circumstances are endless. To define them properly and to point out the differences between two fight scenes, the surroundings and where the fights take place should be varied when the story contains two or more fight scenes. The objects of the fight or the arms used by both sides also matter, and these need to be researched well. If the writer makes a Roman soldier hold up a chariot with an AK-57, his story will not be credible, unless it is a spoof.

In writing the war or battle action, the point of view can make all the difference. If the story is written from a single person's subjective point of view, that character should not be thrown in the thick of fighting, unless the plot dictates him to be killed or seriously wounded. He should, instead, watch the battle and witness other characters' actions from a strategic point in the area.

Another method is to switch among the objective third person points of view of two or three people. The added benefit to these multiple points of view is that they make the battle story read like an epic.

In fight scenes, as in love scenes, each motion needs to be choreographed to become believable. If a fallen down knight on the ground sticks his lance into a giant's eye, the reader will not be able to picture that action, but if the giant kneels down to look at the knight and then the knight sticks the lance into the giant's eye, the action will be more imaginable.

It is crucial that fight scenes do not depict one violent act after another, and wars, one battle after another. To avoid the boredom from continual action, a mix of story tools and character development can be used. These will add to the drama and move the plot forward. To achieve this objective, the writer can weave the fight scenes into the fabric of the entire story, especially highlighting the characters.

In their essence, all stories revolve around characters. Even true-to-life battle stories deal with specific characters, and the greatest battles star individuals; for example, in the Second World War, Hitler vs. Churchill or Rommel vs. Montgomery. This logic also applies to the supernatural characters, because fiction is a personal creation, and in all its forms, it represents the truths of human beings.




Joy Cagil is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers





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2012年8月5日 星期日

About Writing War Stories (An Upfront Article)


I have written many war stories, to include the Korean War, having a close friend in that war. Also World War One, the one my grandfather was in, and World War Two, the one my Uncle Frank died in, and Uncle Wally was a POW in. I even wrote a few things about the civil war, but mostly the Vietnam War, the one I participated in, in 1971. My son Cody was involved with the Bosnia war in the early 1990s; I have yet to write about that. War participation, seems to run in the family, as much as it runs in the blood of the United States, always sticking their nose in to someone else's business. It would do well if we stop fighting for everyone else, and just for our own country; in that case, our youth would have time to blossom.

Anyhow, I thought about this article for a very long while, if indeed I should write it, and never got around to it, wasn't sure how to write it... and then I figured, do it the way you usually do; be up front. It is just your opinion, and we all have them, right?

Here is what I got to say about writing war stories: a writer who has the experience of war under his belt has one of the major subjects and certainly one of the hardest to write about. Sincerely those writers who have not seen it are jealous, and have tried to make it seem unimportant to others, if not abnormal or a negative as a subject, while in reality it is part of our global history, a fabric of the human race (like it or not, right or wrong), and perhaps irreplaceable and something they have missed.

You don't forget war, if you're in it. You remember near everything, even the songs being played, and replayed, and the smells, and the heaviness of the rain, and the championship boxing matches going on back home, the heat and the big bull mosquitoes, and the incoming rockets, their sounds and so forth and so on.

Writes are often times made by being sent to wars: such as Hemingway, Manning, Dostoevsky, Stendhal, and so on.

There are no real great writers today, worth quoting, and surely no war writers worth their salt, I've read.

5-9-2009




See Dennis' web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com





This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

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2012年7月22日 星期日

Writing 101: The Short Story


The most difficult and easiest task of all writing is the Short Story. It's easy if you have a great idea. It's impossible if you don't. To me the best short story ever written is The Book of Job. The most beautiful short story is The Book of Ruth. The best modern short story is Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea.

Now you will say, The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel. Well you are right and I'm right. Let's keep it that way so that we remain friends. The Old Man and the Sea has the elements needed in a good short story except as you said, it's too long if you put a length limit on short stories. My novels are "short" stories if you compare them based only on length to War and Peace. They do not have the elements of a short story. Well, maybe the first chapter of Revenge on the Mogollon Rim does.

In a novel you can wonder hither and yawn and your readers will not only enjoy it, but they will forgive you. In the short story, you must stick to the point. The "point" is the whole purpose of the short story.

Edgar Allen Poe was the greatest writer from Boston. I put it that way as to not offend the other greatest writers. I hope it doesn't offend Poe. I don't want him haunting me every night. Some of his poems are short stories that he didn't stretch out. His short stories are weird but poignant. He invented the detective story.

Poe was found delirious in a Baltimore gutter and died on October 7, 1849 (see http://www.online-literature.com/poe/). Also, Hemingway shot himself up the road a few miles from here. One mustn't take short story writing too seriously. That is why I've remained a hack writer. I call myself "Taylor Jones, the hack writer" to remind me of that fact.

Hemingway learned his writing techniques from the Kansas City Star. He said, "Those were the best rules I ever learned for the business of writing. I've never forgotten them." Here are the rules: short sentences, short paragraphs, active verbs, authenticity, compression, clarity and immediacy. (See http://www.lostgeneration.com/childhood.htm.) Go sit in a corner and memorize these rules. You will need them to write a good short story.

A short story is usually less than 35,000 words (a good deal less). It combines economy with unity. I know this is true because my old college text says so. Economy means it is short. Long character descriptions are out. Long scene descriptions are out. Please, no panoramic war scenes. Unity means that you don't leave anything "important" out. It must be there in brief form or implied. If I say a man is a railroad worker, I don't have to put him in overalls, do I?

You must remember emphasis and subordination. My old text says so. In other words, "What's hot and what's not?" Emotions, settings, the theme (only one allowed), must be fused snugly together. Here are some examples:

The Book of Ruth: A clever lady snags a husband.

Heart of Darkness: A weird jungle tale by Joseph Conrad. Speaking of MOOD! The horror!

Miss Brill: Katherine Mansfield tells of an old lady losing her self esteem due to thoughtless comments of youngsters. This story is sad.

The Killers: Hemingway's famous story about how Nick Adams is more concerned about death by assassination then is the elected victim.

For Esmé-with Love and Squalor: The story about a little girl and a soldier. You must read this story by J. D. Salinger. Have a hankerchef at the ready.

The Book of Job: The devil picks on God's servant, Job.

Let's write a short story now.

First, take an idea, hook one end to the shady side of your barn and the other end to your mule walking south. Your idea is a wide rubber band. As the mule walks and stretches the band, the band narrows. When it reaches what we engineers call its elastic limit, it will break. Just before it breaks, it is War and Peace. When stretched thin, it is still a novel. Somewhere before that you have a short story.

Now think of point of view. First person is good. Poe liked this view. At any rate, don't go beyond what the protagonist can see and hear with his or her own eyes. Remember this if you write in the third person as did Hemingway. You must not stand back and look at your story through a telescope. It must be intimate.

The protagonist is the main character. Who is the antagonist? You may need one in your story to be mean, nasty, cruel, uncaring, or having some other less than wonderful human trait. (You don't need an antagonist in every short story. Most but not all such stories are called "boring.")

Okay, let's take an idea and run with it.

The sun beat down on the soggy field. Trevor was soaked from the rain, but now the warmth of the sun was quickly drying him. He slapped Bossy on the rump and said, "Let's get to the barn, Bossy. If I don't get you milked before Pa comes home, I'll get the stick." That's when Trevor slipped on a cow patty and slid down the hill into the irrigation ditch. Bossy stared at the irrigation ditch for a while and then went back to chewing her cud.




John T. Jones, Ph.D. (tjbooks@hotmail.com), a retired college professor and business executive, Former editor of an international engineering magazine. To learn more about Wealthy Affiliate University go to his info site. If you desire a flagpole to Fly Old Glory, go to the business site.

More info: http://www.InternetBusinessToolCenter.com

Business web site: http://www.AAAFlagpoles.com





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