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Rob over at Snow Books has started a fascinating debate about the writing process and whether it’s better for authors to outline their books in detail or charge on ahead regardless. There’s been a lot of pointed and interesting response to the question, with some people finding the outline process a restrictive exercise that gives rise to dry characters, and others finding it provides them with an essential skeleton that they later breathe life into when they add the relevant muscles and flesh.
I for one find the outlining process an essential tool that never becomes an iron rod to beat my characters with, but a map, if you like, with which I aim to steer them in the right direction. The characters, too, are always the starting point of the story, from the very beginning of the outline right down to the way I aim to tackle the actual prose. That said, I honestly believe there is no hard and fast rule about whether or not an author should outline their work in advance; there are as many ways of writing a story as their are authors, and people should find a method they are comfortable with, and stick with it.
The difficult thing, however, about *not* having an outline, is that trying to sell a publisher on the *idea* of a book, without giving them any real sense of story or character upfront, is a very difficult thing indeed…
UPDATED: Now The Guardian Book Blog has picked up on the debate.
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Okay, okay – so it’s been a while since I updated this blog. Trouble is, I’ve just been working on so much exciting stuff that I haven’t even had time to think about it. First, there’s this, the second volume of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, and then there’s this, the special guest-edited edition of Shimmer magazine that I’m putting together, to be launched at World Fantasy Con this year. Not to mention the fact that I’m still reading stories for the *third* volume of The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction too. Phew!
I’ve also delivered a story to Richard Salter for his Doctor Who anthology, Transmissions, which is due out from Big Finish later this year. It’s called ‘Methuselah’ and features the Fifth Doctor and Peri.
Hopefully I’ll have more news soon, and I’ll try to squeeze in time to update things a bit more frequently around here too!
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I’ll be off to World Fantasy Con in Saratoga Springs, New York first thing on Wednesday morning. I’m around for the whole convention and anyone wanting to stop by and say ‘hi’ should be able to find me in the hotel bar most hours of the day (and night). See you there!
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I’m really liking the new single from Kylie Minogue at the moment – a throughly enjoyable slice of glam pop that harks back to the likes of Marc Bolan and Slade. You can check out the video here. Be warned, though - you’ll be singing it for hours afterwards.
Now I can’t wait until December to see Kylie appear in Doctor Who alongside David Tennant. Shame she won’t be wearing the same outfit.
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I recently wrote an article for Publishing News, a UK-based book trade magazine, about the different ways in which publishers approach the packaging of SF/F titles on their lists. It’s just been posted on the Solaris website, here, for anyone who’s interested.
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Michael Rowley, SF/F buyer supreme, now has his own blog. Go check it out. That man knows monkeys…
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I’ve been talking a lot recently with Lou Anders and Chris Roberson about Steampunk and its emergence/non-emergence as a commercial sub-genre in its own right. Lou’s posted some of his thoughts on the subject here, and I think he has a lot of wise things to say on the topic.
However, all of this debate has got me thinking about the issue of sub-genre in general and if, by the very act of attempting to define an emergent sub-genre, you limit its lifespan and set it on the road to dissolution. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Let me explain.
At the point in which a sub-genre, such as the aforementioned Steampunk, (or indeed Cyberpunk, Clockpunk or the one I’m still actively attempting to initiate – Monkeypunk…) reaches the point at which it demands definition (or indeed recognition) in its own right, there is typically an established body of work that has come about in such a way that it shares themes, imagery, identity and – often – authors. By defining the parameters of this body of work and providing it with a label, you also give it validity as a movement and encourage readers to share in its adoption. This, in turn, implies that more and more readers will be attracted to the movement as it gathers momentum and its tropes, themes and devices become familiar to a wider group of people.
Of course, since the majority of writers are also readers, this then leads to a broadening of the sub-genre as it transcends its roots and others are inspired to add to the body of work that initially brought the sub-genre into being. But one of the glorious things about the SF field is the manner in which it grows and develops organically, as authors take influence from the themes and imagery of others, only to twist them into something new, to breathe new life into them and explore them in entirely different ways, to turn them into something that transcends the (often constrictive) definition of the sub-genre that originally gave birth to them. That’s not to say that the definition itself is not fluid, that it cannot evolve along with the writers and their work, but eventually, through a period of osmosis, the tropes and traditions will permeate out too far and become a kind of authorial shorthand, a part of the make-up of the wider genre, the oeuvre of SF as a whole.
Take Cyberpunk as an example – today, it’s difficult to imagine anyone writing a ‘pure’ Cyberpunk novel (partly because the political, technological and cultural triggers that inspired it have evolved and dissipated in many ways themselves), but many of the vital components of that sub-genre are now standard SF devices, in any variety of sub-genres; neural interfaces, cyberspace, cybernetic enhancements. Whilst people are still very much aware of Cyberpunk as a mode of SF, it’s been almost totally subsumed by the wider genre, and the wider genre is all the richer for it.
So, in the end, I suppose my question is this – will the same thing happen to Steampunk, and if so, how long have we got before this emergent sub-genre finds itself swallowed once again by the wider genre that gave birth to it?
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Adam Roberts has posted an excellent piece on The Guardian website today about Jules Verne and the descipable state of his English translations. Go read it, then join the agitation!
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My short story, ‘Plainsong’, has recently sold to Chris Teague at the excellent Pendragon Press, for a future installment in his popular Triquorum anthology series. It’s set in my Conclave universe, which also formed the backbone of my 2004 short novel The Human Abstract. Huzzah!
Also sold recently is ‘The Nature of Blood’, a dark contemporary story about cloning, to the estimable Jason Sizemore at APEX digest. A further update when I know more about when these two stories are likely to see print.
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Well, I finally gave in and started a blog. So here it is. You found it. And it’s got monkeys in it. Does that suprise you? If it does, you need to read this and this. Together, they’ll help you see the light.
