io9 
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San Francisco, 2:57 AM
Thu Dec 3
24 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/22/09
I've seen Robert McKee live, in one of his London seminars, and his charisma takes your breath away. He's like a larger version of Charlton Heston, brandishing The Ten Commandments. However, he does not like to be argued with!
11/21/09
I absolutely take Ken Scholes' point, but in my own writing I do very much think in terms of Cool Things. And the fewer boring bits in between the better, I'd say. (I've written two SF novels, Debatable Space and Red Claw.)
The key is to get the necessary exposition into the story without impeding the flow of cool or exciting moments. The Golden Age writers have a great technique - they just damn well tell you what you need to know, in an author's voice. And once you know, the story can move on.
Another good principle is what Robert McKee (screenwriting guru) describes as using 'exposition as ammunition'. So instead of two characters telling each other what both already know ('As you know Captain' dialogue), one character FINDS OUT through angry dialogue. And then the exposition scene can be a Cool Thing in itself.
But as Sondheim wrote in a song, 'If life were made of moments, then you'd never know you'd had one.' (I'm quoting from memory there, but that's the gist.) So to create a story full of memorable Cool Things you need the stuff inbetween to make the Cool Things cool.
11/22/09
Even if you end up agreeing with Charlie Kaufman's Adaptation, that McKee is nothing but a slick, snake oil salesman with the patter of a game show host, he's a living example [and no, I am not in any way comparing McKee to Speer :) ]of Albert Speer's advice to a Nuremberg Trial guard who asked him for the secret of his 'success' [he was Hitler's right hand man, the literal architect of the Third Reich, but survived, stood trial, avoided execution, served a lousy twenty years and died of old age (a stroke), a free man].
Speer's reply? "Work on your charisma."
Some of the most chilling words I have ever read.
Combined with Stephen J. Cannell's pithy screen writing aphorism (thanks @Rasselas), "What's the bad guy up to?", they provide a pretty good response to the question of what (and who, and how) to write about between the OMG moments.
And may become the real OMGs, lingering as a metallic aftertaste, long after the "candy-coloured daydream" (CJ's words) of the cool, has evaporated like day-old candy floss.
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
11/20/09
02/06/09
02/06/09
02/06/09
But where are all the U.S. writers? Jay Lake and Karl Schroeder deserve serious props. I'd really like to see more from David Levine and Paolo Bacigalupi, those fellas must have a novel or two in them, right? Elizabeth Bear has also done some excellent work, do please check out the Jenny Casey novels and Dust. Haven't read her fantasy novels in the Promethean Age series but I think I'll enjoy them as well.
02/06/09
02/06/09
I'd have put Charles Stross, Richard Morgan and Karen Traviss on the list - they've written a number of books already, but the work they churn out is generally top-notch.