Word-Driven

A question that pops up with some regularity in ‘author talk’ is whether ones writing is ‘plot-driven’ or ‘character-driven.’ I’ve never been inclined to think too much about this; I just write the stories the way I feel they should be written. But, were I required to make some sort of statement on it, I would say neither. My writing is ‘word-driven.’ My first interest is language and its use.

That may or may not shove my writing in the direction of ‘literary fiction.’ I do not really care much. Labels are road signs, not the road itself. Still, an emphasis on language is a mark of literary fiction. As does ‘commercial’ fiction emphasize plot and ‘up-market’ focus on characters.*

All three—plot, characters, and language—are necessary components of fiction. The rest, setting and so on, is peripheral to these. Which we choose to emphasize is our personal choice though, to be sure, our chosen market or genre will have some bearing on it. I do feel the very best fiction finds an appropriate balance.

Perhaps I occasionally find that balance myself.

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*Commercial, up-market, and literary, as used by the publishing industry at this time, are essentially marketing categories, separate from ‘genre.’ Genre tends to be more about subject matter (though not always!).

Islands in the Sky

 

The first science fiction novel I ever read was ‘Islands in the Sky’ by Arthur C. Clarke. This was a young adult title that is more-or-less hard SF, published in 1952. I might have been ten or eleven when I picked it up.

It did not greatly impress me as a story at the time, yet I know bits of it have stuck with me. The ‘coffin’ space suits of my Jack Mack science fiction stories (written as Oliver Davis Pike) owe a definite debt to those in the novel. The technology is most of what I remember, to be honest; there didn’t seem to be much plot.

This was very early Clarke but he always liked to explore the engineering and science aspects in his tales. I don’t really have it in me to write hard science fiction, not that it keeps me from sprinkling some tech into my own stories. Only a little!

So when did I really discover SF that grabbed me? That would have to be the science fantasies of E.R. Burroughs a couple years later. I much preferred Barsoom to any space station Mr. Clarke might launch. And though I read a lot of science fiction in my teen years—most of the usual suspects—my tastes ran particularly to Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny and the like. Writers some might accuse even of penning ‘literary’ SF (not that such can be successfully defined).

Then I discovered fantasy and all changed.

Pulling Strings

In a couple of my Mora fantasy novels—set in a preliterate Polynesian-like society—I have mentioned someone pulling someone’s strings. This, of course, is a relatively modern expression, coming from puppet shows. So was it anachronistic to use it? I admittedly didn’t think about it much until I worked on my current fiction project, which also mentions string-pulling. It poses no problem there; it is a more ‘advanced’ society and knows all about puppets.

I feel it was all right to use the expression in the earlier novels. It says what I intend my readers to understand, without any roundabout explanations. We can, if we wish, simply think of it as a translation of some Mora expression. Or maybe the Mora people had puppets and puppet shows. Why not? There are other traveling entertainers mentioned. Indeed, they play a major role in some of the stories.

It is entirely possible I will mention puppet shows in a future Mora novel. I might even feature one in some way. That is for somewhere down the line but I do have a couple more tales set among that people in my to-write queue.

Surfing in my Novels

Surfing has long been a part of my life, so it should not be at all surprising it has shown up in my fiction. These are the novels that reference it in some degree:

“The Middle of Nowhere” — in my first novel (a young adult), surfing is only mentioned in passing by a local artist and sometime sub teacher (golly, I wonder whom I based that on).

The three Cully Beach crime novels, “Shaper,” “Waves,” “Smoke” — the main character and first-person narrator is an aging surfer and surf-shop owner, known as ‘Shaper.’ I shaped a few surfboards myself in bygone days so I know at least a little of what I’m talking about.

The two Women in the Sun novels (written under the pen name Sienna Santerre), “One Summer in the Sun,” “One Christmas in the Sun” — teens in the late Sixties, some of whom are surfers and all of whom hang on the beach. The books are set in the Naples in which I grew up in that period.

“Asanas” — again, mostly mentioned in passing, as the characters reminisce about their younger days (and dating surfers).

Although several of my fantasy novels feature more-or-less Polynesians, I haven’t put any of them on surfboards. But there is definitely canoe surfing.

All available, of course, from Arachis Press (arachispress.com) in print or as free ebooks.

Bipolar Characters

Hamlet seems to be bipolar (even if, in part, he was supposedly feigning his ‘madness’). Not that the term was used in Shakespeare’s time, but the concept existed. Thus he named Hamlet the ‘melancholy Dane.’ The actions of the young prince certainly reflect an attempt by the playwright to portray a ‘manic-depressive’ individual—or at least one with serious mood swings—as such were understood at the time.

Now, I am writing a bipolar main character/protagonist. My Lelanva is twelve years old; that is a bit early for the worst symptoms to appear. Late adolescence and early adulthood seem to be the peak years. I do suspect the onset of puberty is going to have an impact. Plenty of mood swings are to be expected! I’ve written of the same character* at a more advanced age (her late thirties) and the problem to some degree persists, though no longer quite so dominant a factor in her life.

But Lellie is going to be a dangerous kid for a while. Dangerous to others, dangerous to herself. Learning to master the sword might help her. It can also make her even more dangerous! I know she will do something too dangerous, too impulsive, eventually (probably in a sequel) and have to run for it, embarking on a new life.

We’ll board that ship when we reach the dock.

*Lelanva grows up to become Qala the Pirate Queen, of 'The Eyes of the Wind' and the two Crocodile Chronicles novels.

Messages, a sijo

Messages

Each wave leaves its mark,

erasing those before it,

and rolls back to the sea,

to be erased by the next.

Can you read what is written

before it washes away?

Stephen Brooke ©2024

Somewhat in the form of a sijo

A Muram Creation Myth

I felt a need to expand a little on the mythology in the WIP so I wrote this. I've never delved much into the Muram religion (compared to others) but their ancestry derives in large part from prehistoric Central Asia. Think the Mal'ta Buret and Yamna cultures, among others, with a definite dash of Proto-Indo-European. I generally picture the Mura as somewhat resembling Native Americans.

These cultural roots are so deep and so ancient that I could make up just about anything, if I desired, but I attempted to echo some of the little we know of such cultures. And, of course, to reflect my own tastes in world building.