tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post2490477519172336947..comments2024-03-27T23:55:17.673-07:00Comments on Flogging Babel: Everything That's Wrong With Your Story -- Sight UnseenMichael Swanwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-544424942869666202016-06-05T07:49:26.117-07:002016-06-05T07:49:26.117-07:00All writing advice is declared null and void whene...All writing advice is declared null and void whenever someone can write a good story that violates it. <br /><br />And the writing advice above (and its ilk) is only meant to help new writers get to the point where they can write and sell a decent story. After that, all bets and restrictions are off.Michael Swanwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-76255535154501471542016-06-05T07:15:38.613-07:002016-06-05T07:15:38.613-07:00Sorry! Edited for sense and reposted...
I think m...Sorry! Edited for sense and reposted...<br /><br />I think many writers would agree with most of this, but I can't help imagining how the first rule would be applied to (say) M. R. James, both his declared principles for writing a supernatural horror story and how he applied them to his own work.Ramsey Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01212350036758421940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-30114058413184135842016-06-05T06:26:38.409-07:002016-06-05T06:26:38.409-07:00This comment has been removed by the author.Ramsey Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01212350036758421940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-24956760747609647432016-06-05T06:17:45.504-07:002016-06-05T06:17:45.504-07:00Great post! When you expand #8, would love to see ...Great post! When you expand #8, would love to see your pics for stories that do use expansive and non-derivative ideas... Either online or paper-recs.<br /><br />I hear you're at Garden State Speculative Writers next month! Fran Wildehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09229411201237347789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-15320902743929740922016-06-05T06:07:13.914-07:002016-06-05T06:07:13.914-07:00Damn it. I live twenty minutes from Lawrenceville ...Damn it. I live twenty minutes from Lawrenceville and missed it. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18189096028406613558noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-43151441464405303652016-06-04T22:58:55.571-07:002016-06-04T22:58:55.571-07:00'...there's one that's specific to wri...<br />'...there's one that's specific to writers of fantasy and science friction and that's this: 8. Your ideas are too small and derivative.<br /><br />But that's a big topic and one I'll tackle some other day. Maybe'<br /><br />Maybe you already did tackle it, Michael. Today's was good advice. But last September you wrote this --<br /><br /><br />Yet Another Story I Wish You Guys Would Stop Writing <br />http://floggingbabel.blogspot.com/2015/09/yet-another-story-i-wish-you-guys-would.html<br /><br /><br />-- and it's pointed advice you could profitably re-publish every couple of months. (Profitable not for you, but for a large number of current aspirants.) Mark Pontinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11988614518618495319noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-9883959621011775342016-06-04T19:05:39.163-07:002016-06-04T19:05:39.163-07:00I suspect there'll be another one next year, R...I suspect there'll be another one next year, RedAlice. This one went very well.<br /><br />If there is, I'll do my best to spread the word early enough that everyone can consider whether to attend or not.Michael Swanwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-40273391081596406892016-06-04T19:02:18.732-07:002016-06-04T19:02:18.732-07:00Thank you, V of Norwich. Correction made.Thank you, V of Norwich. Correction made.Michael Swanwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-43114623084848397912016-06-04T15:14:13.006-07:002016-06-04T15:14:13.006-07:00WAIT. There's a con for R.A. Lafferty?? HOLY C...WAIT. There's a con for R.A. Lafferty?? HOLY COW. I wish I were nearby...have a great time!RedAlicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01511254591290993935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-72418799594726028862016-06-04T14:39:22.650-07:002016-06-04T14:39:22.650-07:00Great insight. Delia Sherman sent me here from fac...Great insight. Delia Sherman sent me here from facebook, just so you know. Kay Hardy Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10655646072881460264noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-82342444466533577512016-06-04T13:44:48.975-07:002016-06-04T13:44:48.975-07:00Great post, and good useful digest even for a pers...Great post, and good useful digest even for a person who (like me) studies fiction rather than writes it. Because I do study it, may I ask if for "Flaubert" you mean "Tolstoy"? It's Anna Karenina who throws herself under a train; Madame Bovary drinks poison. (But there may be some train-crunched Flaubert heroine I missed.)V of Norwichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06287559785396281380noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-70189098968078180332016-06-04T05:48:44.681-07:002016-06-04T05:48:44.681-07:00Camels and dromedaries, Clem! I have a conflicting...Camels and dromedaries, Clem! I have a conflicting commitment. TheOFloinnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14756711106266484327noreply@blogger.com