Blurred Line

Step 1: Find one out-moded genre.
Step 2: Cram said genre into a wildly implausible setting.
Step 3: Watch the awesomeness unfold.

Yes, this is a recipe for awesomeness. Let me explain what I mean: I just watched Brick tonight (if you haven't gone out and rented the flick yet, it's definitely one to put on your list). If you haven't heard of it, it's basically a Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett novel plunked down into a contemporary high school. One of the most enjoyable part of the movie is, incidentally, listening to all these kids speak in the tough-as-nails, slangy rhythms employed in those pulpy 1940s detective stories. One of the other things I've been doing over the past couple weeks is rewatching my favourite TV series of all-time, Firefly. And wouldn't you know it, he exact same thing is going on there. This time it's an Old West motif on a spaceship five hundred years in the future. I'd love to add a few novels or stories to this list because I know I've read some that do this, but I'm drawing a blank here. Anyhow, it's fair to say that this has been done a number of times with a fair amount of success.

So, why do we enjoy this kind of stuff? Forgive me for being prosaic here, but it's because things taken out of their element are interesting. Having Western characters ready for a shootout at high noon has no inherent excitement in it - not unless you know the backstory. It's simply characters being where they're supposed to be. Having Western characters on the run from government assassins and flesh-eating madmen...well, that just sounds more exciting, whether you know the reasons or not.

Essentially, what I'm saying here is pretty obvious: Different is better. Very few of us, especially those who are interested in SF, want to read the same old thing over and over. I bring this up with good reason, though, because it seems to me that a lot of amateur SF writers are, for whatever reason, failing to take chances and so something different with their writing. Of the stories I've received for Fusion Fragment thus far, very few have managed to surprise me. And I'm certainly guilty of this, too. Heading off the beaten path is definitely something I have to work on with my stories. The people who get published on a regular basis, I've noticed, tend to have figured this out. I often read stories with premises so unbelievable that I marvel at the author's ability to make them succeed (for example, the title story in Pat Cadigan's collection, Patterns, is so bizarre as to be almost inaccessible).

So, here's my advice for the day: Don't write the story that anyone else could write just as easily. Write the story that only you and your imaginative, twisted, and bizarre little mind could come up with.


Profile Editor. Writer. 9-5er. Lord of the Dance. Blurredline.com Apodis Publishing Fusion Fragment cterrill(at)blurredline.com Buy Goodbye, Darwin Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format Buy Blurred Line Amazon.com Amazon.ca Chapters.ca Barnes&Noble.com Read it free in PDF Format The Short Stuff "Learning Magic From Mint" - published May 2007 in Atomjack "Between Eternities" - published October 2005 at Speculative.ca "Smoke and Mirrors" - published June 2005 in Byzarium Submissions Log Total Subs: 25 Acceptances: 3 Rejections: 17 Withdrawals: 3 Subs Out: 2 Quality Blogs Scalzi's Whatever Dave's Blogography Bookslut The Struggling Writer SF Signal the0phrastus Paperback Writer Scribe's Writing Desk Nathan Bransford Lyons Literary LLC The World in the Satin Bag Book In The Oven The Word Perhaps We Learned Something... Words, etc. Archives March 2005 April 2005 May 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 Et Cetera Cavan @ Last.fm Cavan @ LibraryThing Feeds Atom Feed RSS Feed	Friday, January 19, 2007 - Here's to Something Different Step 1: Find one out-moded genre. Step 2: Cram said genre into a wildly implausible setting. Step 3: Watch the awesomeness unfold. Yes, this is a recipe for awesomeness. Let me explain what I mean: I just watched Brick tonight (if you haven't gone out and rented the flick yet, it's definitely one to put on your list). If you haven't heard of it, it's basically a Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett novel plunked down into a contemporary high school. One of the most enjoyable part of the movie is, incidentally, listening to all these kids speak in the tough-as-nails, slangy rhythms employed in those pulpy 1940s detective stories. One of the other things I've been doing over the past couple weeks is rewatching my favourite TV series of all-time, Firefly. And wouldn't you know it, he exact same thing is going on there. This time it's an Old West motif on a spaceship five hundred years in the future. I'd love to add a few novels or stories to this list because I know I've read some that do this, but I'm drawing a blank here. Anyhow, it's fair to say that this has been done a number of times with a fair amount of success. So, why do we enjoy this kind of stuff? Forgive me for being prosaic here, but it's because things taken out of their element are interesting. Having Western characters ready for a shootout at high noon has no inherent excitement in it - not unless you know the backstory. It's simply characters being where they're supposed to be. Having Western characters on the run from government assassins and flesh-eating madmen...well, that just sounds more exciting, whether you know the reasons or not. Essentially, what I'm saying here is pretty obvious: Different is better. Very few of us, especially those who are interested in SF, want to read the same old thing over and over. I bring this up with good reason, though, because it seems to me that a lot of amateur SF writers are, for whatever reason, failing to take chances and so something different with their writing. Of the stories I've received for Fusion Fragment thus far, very few have managed to surprise me. And I'm certainly guilty of this, too. Heading off the beaten path is definitely something I have to work on with my stories. The people who get published on a regular basis, I've noticed, tend to have figured this out. I often read stories with premises so unbelievable that I marvel at the author's ability to make them succeed (for example, the title story in Pat Cadigan's collection, Patterns, is so bizarre as to be almost inaccessible). So, here's my advice for the day: Don't write the story that anyone else could write just as easily. Write the story that only you and your imaginative, twisted, and bizarre little mind could come up with. Cavan blogged at 7:54 PM \| 2 comments	Progress Zilch! 0/0 Listening A.J. Croce - "Maybe I'm Amazed" My Music Reading Bright Lights, Big City - Jay McInerney My Library Watching Black Book: B Sweet and Lowdown: C Breakfast on Pluto: B Wishlist Bridge of Sighs - Richard Russo Rachael Yamagata - Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart