A Classic: Writer's Cheat Sheet

Here's another very popular post, titled Writer's Cheat Sheet:

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I had the opportunity to critique some less experienced writers in workshop recently. Writers who have not partaken in many workshops tend to do many of the same not-recommended things. If you would like to appear to be an experienced workshopper, here's my cheat sheet for writers:

• Dialogue Tags:
  
  • Know how to punctuate these, e.g. "You rock," Joe said.
    
  • Only use "said" or "asked" in your dialogue tags. I'm not kidding.
    
  • Only use one dialogue tag per paragraph.
    
  • It's better to use beats instead of dialogue tags, e.g. "You rock." Joe picked up his pick.
    (Beats are small physical actions.)
  
  
• Characters' Physical Description:
  
  • Characters shouldn't think or talk about the color of their skin, hair, eyes, etc. when in their own point of view.
    
  • Generally, do not describe the height, weight, girth, color, of characters--unless you write romance, or maybe fantasy.
    
  • Describe characters via qualities that are important by showing these qualities to the reader.
  
  
• Don't use Distancing words, like "thought", "perceived", "realized"--anything that's a synonym for "thought". These put an extra layer between the character and the reader and you don't need it. Similarly, words of perception like "saw", "heard", "felt" also put distance between the character and the reader.
  
• Don't use extra words like "that", "well", "just", etc. These are rarely needed or effective.
  
• Don't use adverbs.
  
• Know your genre. Of course Electric Spec writers know they write horror, science fiction, and/or fantasy--so you're ahead of the game. Kudos!
  

We are starting the production process for our February 28, 2012 issue so stay tuned for more information.

Keep submitting (for our May 2012 issue)! Thanks!

A Classic: Literary Tension

This blog has been going for many years. In fact, we've had 1420 posts and 785245 views. (!) I thought it would be fun to revisit some high-hit posts. Here's one of the highest "Literary Tension."

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The story discussion at production meetings is always rather spirited. We often veer into questions of what makes a story good, in general.
One thing you need is literary tension. What the heck is this, anyway? Recall, in general, tension is mental, emotional, or nervous strain. I think the thing to keep in mind, however, is we want to evoke tension in the reader. Tension is the mechanism we employ to make the reader want to keep reading. We want the reader to wonder, "What happens next?"

Often in critique groups, it seems like tension gets a bit mixed up with conflict. Literary conflict is something different. Conflict is when something or someone stops a character in a story from reaching his/her goal; it can be an external or internal obstacle. The reader has to know what the goal is for this to work. I would say tension, then, is a result of conflict. The reader wonders, "Will the character overcome this conflict?"

How, then, do writers create tension? In a nutshell, the author has to evoke questions for the reader and not answer them right away.
how-to-evoke-tension suggestions from around cyberspace include utilizing:

• a mystery or puzzle--The classic here is, of course, a dead body or other committed crime that must be solved. But an author could also have a secret, a magic ring, locked treasure chest, etc. that the reader wants to find the answer to.
• a solution--The author tells the reader the end of the story and the reader wants to find out how the story gets there. A lot of thrillers utilize this, e.g. bad guys are going to blow up the world unless... Come to think of it, romances use this method as well: the reader knows the boy and girl (or whatever) will get together at the end, but how does it happen?
• Related to the solution is the author actually telling the reader things. I see this a lot in the beginning of (successful) books and stories.
• present hints and possibilities--Savvy readers know when an author spends time on a character or object it's important, e.g. gun on the mantle, suspicious janitor, etc. Readers wonder, "What's up with that? What's up with him?" This method could also encompass multiple plot lines or protagonists. Readers want to know how they all fit together. Plus, as an added bonus, when you change point-of-view it evokes tension in the reader: "Wait. What happens next with this first guy?" This can be tough to pull off in a short story, however--you don't want to get too complicated.
• knowledgable reader--Here, the reader knows more than the characters, often because of multiple points-of-view. The reader gets to see them all, but the characters do not. "Oh, no! That guy she's dating is the guy that killed her sister." :) Horror stories often utilize this. Readers know the characters should not go into the basement. Alone. At night. Bare foot. In her negligee. With a killer on the loose. In the house...

What do you think? What's a good way to evoke tension?

Word Count

Word count is a powerful story element. At Electric Spec we accept stories of length 250-7000 words. This is a huge range; not many venues accept such a large variety of lengths. A 250-word story is very different from a 7000-word story in many ways. A 7000-word story is complex and can have many characters and/or many try-fail cycles. At the opposite extreme, a 250-word story is generally merely(!) conceptual, and often has a twist at the end.

As a writer, I recently sold a 42-word story! Talk about challenging! How do you even tell a story in 42 words?
I've noticed when submitting there are a lot of markets that only want 1000-words. It's also quite challenging to tell a story in only 1000 words. Editors may have a different perspective...

If you've read Electric Spec, you know we don't often accept stories under 1000-words. We don't often find effective stories of that short length in the slush pile. We don't often accept stories over 5000-words either. This is because editting such a long story is more work.
So, bottom line: 2000-words to 4000-words seems the sweet spot for Electric Spec story length in recent years. It's long enough to tell a good story but not so long that it scares off editors. :) Good luck!

Glowing in the Bask

We are still glowing about the marvelous May 31, 2023 issue of Electric Spec! Have you read all the stories yet? What's your favorite?
Have you matched up the first lines with the stories? Is the first line a good indication of the story as a whole? Is this a good thing or a bad thing? :)

Authors and Artists, thanks for submitting!
Readers, thanks for reading!