So, authors, how can you make your stories about more than one thing? Think about it, implement it, and send us your masterpieces! :)
04 September 2008
some advice for authors...
We've been furiously going through our in-boxes at Electric Spec, getting ready for the next issue. I've read QUITE a few stories lately that were very low on dialog and quite high on 'telling'. I was going to blog that this is generally a bad idea until I read "Bambi Steaks" by Richard A. Lovett (not in our submissions in-box:) ). This story is also low on dialog and high on 'telling', but it works. Why? Its about several things at once including what it means to be a man, technology that enables humans to switch bodies, and an alternate-future filled with U.S. red-states/blue-states civil war(s). It also has a really nice voice. The best thing about it though is the author lets the reader figure out the point of the story; the protagonist doesn't even get it! Very nice!
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Let's face it, for every "Bambi Steaks" there are 1000 bad stories filled with too much telling. A lot of wanna be authors out there don't study their craft and end up writing a story like they are telling it to someone on the phone. If I page though a story and there is little to no dialogue, I suspect the story has problems. Once in a great while, I'm pleasantly surprised, but most of the time the story is clearly a beginner's effort.
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