Breaking the Fourth Wall

FACT!: Breaking the fourth wall occurs when a writer talks directly to the audience, dear blog reader.  There is no actual wall.  It is imaginary.  However in plays it still manages to box actors in and stop them from panicking and telling everyone about the uneasy feeling they have that everyone around them is being watched.

Breaking the fourth wall is a stylistic choice that a writer makes.  It is not always a good thing to do, but sometimes it works well.

The audience may feel more like part of the story if the narrator chooses to include them, and this is generally a very good thing.  However, the audience, being the smart throbbing mass that it is will undoubtedly have some people who want to be involved in the show less than others.  These people do not want to be addressed.  Furthermore, because the audience is often a smart throbbing mass, when given the responsibility of being a part of the story, they may assume a character of their very own and lose themselves in the process.

THE CHALLENGE!: In 300 words inform your audience about a traumatizing ordeal.

Flash Fiction!

FACT!: Flash fiction is fiction that is very short.  Sometimes only five words long.

One of the first credited pieces of flash fiction read "For sale. Baby shoes. Never worn."

Flash fiction is meant to be read quickly, and is often given a word limit.

This word limit is often 55.

It can also be 300.

THE CHALLENGE!: Write a 55 word story that includes the words "shoes" and "peanut butter"

Setting

FACT!: In writing, setting really does count.  A romance set in an abandoned mine shaft will play out very differently than a romance set in a secret dimension inside your closet.

Setting is important, because not only does it allow the reader the opportunity to escape into a different universe and leave their own current problems, but it helps strengthen the imagery and provide insight into the character.  Where a person is tends to effect who a person becomes.  Setting plays a very large role in this.  Setting determines culture, and history, and the customs and traditions within your story.  It also tends to play a role in the general plot.

There are a few books out there that do not have a setting.  This is not a good idea.  It's an extremely pretentious move and takes away from any reader's capacity to escape into a new world.  No one remembers what books they are, because no one has ever actually read more than the first five pages besides the creator.

THE CHALLENGE!:  Write a 350 word scene without any setting.

Writing the Unfamiliar.

FACT!: There is a popular phrase that goes "Write what you know." Any writer will encounter it in their career. It's an utterly loathsome phrase in the industry that, as many bilinguals will tell you, actually translates to "Nah, nah, nah nah nah nah" in certain cultures.

A writer walks into a frozen yogurt place and tells the cashier while they are picking out only red sprinkles shaped like dinosaurs to go on half a pina colada and half a New York cheesecake fat free, that they intend to write a book set in Ireland about serial killers and a magic rabbit. The cashier says "Oh. Have you been to Ireland?" because they're old and don't know that cashiers at frozen yogurt places haven't engaged in meaningful conversation with their consumers since '18. The writer says "No. Never." The cashier asks "What about serial killers?" "I met a Canadian once," says the writer. "And magic rabbits?" "My friend housetrained his."

This scenario would immediately illicit a "Write what you know" response, but this presents a problem, because then the writer wouldn't be writing a great tale of Ireland, serial killers, and magic rabbits, they would be writing a mediocre tale about Nome, Canadians, and a house bunny that was actually a bunny living in a house. This might impress a few high school English teachers so long as the Canadians became a metaphor for our own caged souls, but in the soft fantasy market this won't go far.

The problem may be solved by actually journeying to Ireland to go hunting rabbits and then to visit a penitentiary. This will make your writing much more real, though it will also let a serial killer know you are alive, which is rarely a good idea. 

The problem may also be solved by reading extensively on the subject. This is second hand, but for genre fiction it can work very well.

The easiest way, however, is to make it into something that you know through excessive exaggeration.

For example: I may not know a serial killer, but I know people who get a sadistic pleasure out of going to the front of lines despite belonging in the back, thereby murdering the person behind them's chance at going on California Adventures before it closes.

By exaggerating emotions and blowing things out of context, one finds that they've experienced pretty much everything first hand when they really think about it.

THE CHALLENGE!: In 300 words write about something you've never seen happening in a place you've never been.

Killing Off Your Darlings

FACT!: When writing there will be inevitably a time when you must kill off one of your darlings. This should hopefully only happen during writing. If you are contemplating killing off one of your real life darlings, there are a few very good therapists in your area that you might want to consult.

In any case, killing off a darling is one of the hardest parts of writing, simply because that darling is called a darling for a reason. By snipping out that character, or that scene, or that funny joke about skiing or Death Valley, we are losing a loved one. The writing will inevitably become better, because there is always a motive when it comes to killing a darling. Maybe the line has no place, or the character doesn't accomplish much, or that setting is physically and mentally impossible. But this can still be a hard thing to take.

The simplest solution is to go the Mark Twain route and have them jump into a well.  As long as your story isn't about Lassie, your darling is as good as dead.  However, this is too hard for many writers.  In this case, it can help to create a graveyard document where all of your darlings may be buried alive, and then pulled out later to be relocated somewhere they can live without fear of assassination.

THE CHALLENGE!: In 300 words or less, kill a darling. Don't use a well.

Mary Sue/Gary Stue

FACT!: A Mary Sue/Gary Stu is a character that often shows up in literature and does very bad things to everyone involved in the reading process.  Mary Sue/Gary Stu isn't their name, it's their identity.

You can tell you are reading a Mary Sue/Gary Stu character when you come across someone who is beautiful, unique, powerful, immensely talented, loved by everyone, and has a tragic past.  Her/His faults are minuscule, if she/he has them, and no one really cares about them anyway because the person is so great.

This is bad for literature because Mary and Gary hurt the hearts of the people. They can't relate to anyone. No one in the world is actually like that.  We all kind of wish we were like that sometimes, but no one actually is, and when we come across that character, we know that we are being lied to.

Most writers tend to accidentally write them anyway, because the Mary Sue is often the person they long to be.

However, if this is you, there is help:  http://www.springhole.net/quizzes/marysue.htm

THE CHALLENGE!: In 300 words describe the perfect teenager.  Bonus points to whoever can use the word "effulgent" the most amount of times without growing redundant

Irony

Fact: Good stories always include irony.

Irony is where the fates decide to be cruel and rub some sort of fact into a characters face that makes them want to stab their eyes out like Oedipus.

There are many examples of this.  For example, in Jurassic Park 3 (Not a good movie) when Alan Grant finally gets a hold of a phone and calls the states, the little boy that answers it is too busy watching Barney to really help them.  Barney is a dinosaur.  They are about to be eaten by dinosaurs.  That's irony.

People are drawn to irony because they sense that they actually spend most of their lives doing something ironic themselves.  Reading books with irony, when one oneself is struggling with irony is ironic.  Irony gives stories a sense of realism.  It also allows people to scream "Oh the irony!" Which is ironic

THE CHALLENGE!:  In 300 words or less, write about an occurrence during your day.  Then make this scene as ironic as possible.