Sunday Morning Book Thread - 05-05-2024 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading (HT: Dash my lace wigs). Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, unless you are wearing these pants...(Axeman's "pouncing pants")

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

This is another random internet photo. I like the futuristic science fiction aesthetic. It's how my library would look on my intergalactic starship.

WHERE DO STORY IDEAS COME FROM?

In the video above, the YouTuber attempts to provide a structure and framework for story idea generation. "Where do your ideas come from?" seems to be a very common question for popular authors. I'm sure Stephen King, Lee Child, Brandon Sanderson, etc., have heard that question a thousand times. The truth is that ideas for stories are all around us. They can be found just by observing our surroundings. In my own office, we used to joke about the off-the-wall conversations we'd somehow have. Many of them could serve as story fodder if I was so inclined to write them down.

"Ideation" is a concept used in design thinking to describe the process for generating ideas. At one presentation I attended recently, the speaker showed us several images on a slide and then asked us to pick two of them. We were then asked to generate a new idea based on those two images. You can take this same approach to generating story ideas. How could you combine two otherwise unrelated pictures into an awesome story?

Sometimes a story idea will be generated by a random writing sample. Supposedly, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit was created when he was scribbling one day and the following popped out of his head:

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit."

The rest, as they say, is history.

Here at the AoSHQ, we are exposed to countless awesome stories from real life. any of them could easily be the seed of a story idea. Or take one story from the Morning Report, one story from the evening Cafe, and one story from the ONT. Then mix them up and see if you can create a NEW story idea just from those three individual story. Note that story ideas do NOT have to be good! For every decent story idea, you may have to go through 30-40 (or more) just plain awful ideas. However, if you write them all down, you may find a use for them later if something more interesting comes along.

For a challenge, look at last night's ONT picture or Friday's Cafe picture...How could you use one or the other (or both) in a story idea?

WRITING TIPS FROM ERNEST HEMINGWAY

Ernest Hemingway is one of those authors that will most likely be "cancelled" sometime soon because he's not the "ideal" modern author, though I suppose he could be considered a quintessential American author in many ways. You don't have to like him--either as an author or as a person--but you can't deny he's an interesting character. Like a lot of successful authors, he's doled out tips and tricks for up and coming writers:

1. Start with a true, simple, declarative sentence. -- Very hard to argue with this. If you pick a book at random off your shelves, you'll find that 9 times out of 10, this will likely be the case. For example, "The star was classified as an A7 on the Morgan-Keenan system, hotter and brighter than the G2-class star humans had evolved under" (A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton). This one sentence tells us we are not in the Solar System and that this story will most likely be science fiction. Another example: "Higher education institutions all claim to teach some form of critical thinking" (Teaching Change by José Antonio Bowen). Here we have a sentence that indicates the book may be about education and that is is nonfiction. The first sentence can have a real impact on your audience.
2. Focus on details that create emotion. -- We humans are--at our core--very emotional creatures. Stories can and do touch us deeply on an emotional level. It's why we cry at the end of Old Yeller (movie or book). Stirring emotions through storytelling can change the course of history, raising and toppling empires. A history professor yesterday asked ChatGPT to write what life was like in 1824 America. He gives his students the same prompt. They have to describe--in depth and detail--what an imaginary version of themselves would be doing in America in 1824. AI tools cannot add in an emotional component to their descriptions. They come up with bland, uninteresting prose. However, we humans can describe the physical details--the sights, sounds, smells, taste of 1824 if we have even a remote exposure to outdoor life. The details that stir emotion *matter.*
3. Write concisely. -- This is probably good advice for newer writers, but I think it also demonstrates Hemingway's biases from his previous occupation in journalism. Isaac Asimov also writes very concisely, probably because he was a *machine* when it came to writing and thus was focused more on output rather than dedicating hours and hours to improving the quality of his writing. Every writer will find their own balance between conciseness and verbosity. As a technical writer myself, I find myself having to really trim down my writing sometimes. I can be a bit verbose when I get carried away. This is also something I teach my students. Write MORE than you have to as it's easier to trim it out than add more.
4. Build you vocabulary. -- Abso-frickin'-lutely! The best way to increase your vocabulary is to READ AND READ AND READ SOME MORE! Hemingway says if you need a dictionary, you are not a writer. You should instead read a dictionary cover-to-cover three times. Then maybe you can start writing. I think reading and encountering new words, then looking them up works better for me, because then I can see the new words in context so it makes sense.
5. Stop writing when it's going well. -- I will disagree with Hemingway here. Most authors I think would encourage you continue writing, but maybe switching from writing on your novel to freewriting exercises. Part of the craft of writing is developing the discipline necessary to write an entire book. It takes dedication and practice. Now, if you have written some good stuff over the course of an hour or so, then it's probably time to take a short break, stretch, walk around, etc., so that you can keep your mind fresh when you sit back down to write. Don't try to crank out a novel over a weekend. It won't turn out well at all.
6. Don't talk about it. -- This is another point on which I disagree with Hemingway. If you are new to the craft of writing stories you NEED feedback from other writers. No one wants to read a 400 page manuscript unless they are getting paid for it. However, friends and family will be happy to read a few pages at a time and provide feedback over the course of your novel. Or join a writers group, like the AoSHQ Writers Group sponsored by Moron OrangeEnt.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

I read Let Us Now Be Famous Men by Moron Author Len Nilinsky. The book was mentioned in an AoS comment that provided a download address, so I thought "why not?" This sci fi story is engaging and the main characters limited in number and very well developed. The story takes place on Terra (formerly known as Earth) and is a post-apocalyptic tale where the hero is a Veteran of the Black Ash, a nuclear war that destroyed most of the planet and the plant and animal species living on it. The vivid description of the ruin of present-day Terra is contrasted with museums showing, for example, the weather on pre-war Earth, including a rain shower in a green meadow. This was richly and emotionally described. The Vet is asked by the utopian government to help solve a robot problem on Luna (the moon) because no one else living has the requisite knowledge and experience. Well done and gripping story. (And this was my first e-book.)

Posted by: Legally Sufficient at April 28, 2024 09:17 AM (U3L4U)

Comment: Here is the link to the story in full: Let Us Now Be Famous Men

Well, I finally did it and it's about time. I read The Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast cover to cover. I've read bits here and there but never the whole thing. Lewis' writing, no matter the topic, is always a delight. The Screwtape Letters can be difficult at times because it is too prophetic and my blood pressure starts to rise.

I do wonder if Lewis was inspired by Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" (which is brilliant) when he used the approach he did in Screwtape.

Posted by: JTB at April 28, 2024 09:23 AM (zudum)

Comment: I've heard of The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, of course, but I had never heard of the follow-up story Screwtape Proposes a Toast (available online for free HERE). If you are not familiar with The Screwtape Letters, it's an epistolary novel in which the devil Screwtape is providing instruction to a younger devil on how to tempt a man. Lewis presents Hell as a vast bureaucracy, with Screwtape being a sort of middle-management. This idea has been borrowed by numerous other authors, such as Roger Zelazny/Robert Sheckley (Bring Me the Head of Prince Charming) and Terry Pratchett/Neil Gaimon (Good Omens).

I read Slack Tide, by RKF Adams, which is a Moron-written book that I've had in my kindle unlimited selections for about a year and just hadn't read yet.

It's in the Perfessor's Moron Library link.

A retired Marine whose passion is bonsai gets dragged into taking down a child slavery operation.

It was a good adventure, with a mostly satisfying conclusion (you can't save them all, so you save who you can). Needs some more editing for occasional grammar errors and typos, but not too much.

Posted by: Dash my lace wigs! at April 28, 2024 09:52 AM (OX9vb)

Comment: I think it's great when Morons and Moronettes review Moron Authors' works. I've usually enjoyed them myself. However, a key point that cannot be stressed enough is the need for *intense* editing for grammatical and spelling mistakes. NOTHING destroys the immersive experience of reading quite like seeing painfully obvious errors in the text. So proofread, proofread, and proofread some more! Hire someone if you can afford it! (If not, then find some friendly experts or join a writers group where much of this can be addressed.)

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (1000+ Moron-recommended books!)

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

After reviewing some of OregonMuse's old Book Threads, I thought I'd try something a bit different. Instead of just listing WHAT I'm reading, I'll include commentary as well. Unless otherwise specified, you can interpret this as an implied recommendation, though as always your mileage may vary.

A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton

Hamilton's storytelling style is interesting. He often has stories within stories and mixes up genres. The last book, The Abyss Beyond Dreams, involved humans attempting to infiltrate the Void at the center of the galaxy. The local humans IN the Void attempted to stage a Marxist revolution (and succeeded, mostly) because of the corrupt government that was hiding key truths about the alien Fallers that are attacking the humans. In this book, Hamilton gives us more of a police procedural story as the human society on Bienvenidos has progressed from a late-19th century level of technology to mid-to-late 20th century. Now that the planet has escaped the Void, technological progress is possible and humans have a slight edge over the Fallers, even launching rockets and missiles at the Trees in space that are the source of Faller invasion. However, the Fallers have not been idle over the past couple of centuries and have developed new tricks for infiltrating and corrupting human society as they take it over from within.

Neuromancer by William Gibson

This is part of my ongoing quest to read certain books prior to my milestone birthday later this summer. I always find it fascinating to read this kind of book because it seems so cliche at first. But this is one of those books that has spawned a hundred--if not a thousand--imitations over the decades since it was written. I believe Gibson is credited with coining the term "cyberspace" for the virtual, computer-generated world he created. It's also referred to as the "matrix" (sound familiar?). At first, I thought it would be very difficult to understand, but constant reading in the genre has made it fairly easy to understand the tech levels involved as well as the slang, which has been used by other authors as an homage to Gibson.

Verdict: Meh. It was OK, but not great. By the time I got to the end, I really didn't care about the characters or the story.

WHAT I'VE ACQUIRED THIS PAST WEEK:

• Aquasilva Trilogy Book 3 - Crusade by Anselm Audley
• The Wonderland Gambit Book 1 - The Cybernetic Walrus by Jack L. Chalker
• The Wonderland Gambit Book 2 - The March Hare Network by Jack L. Chalker
• The Wonderland Gambit Book 3 - The Hot-Wired Dodo by Jack L. Chalker
• The Crimson Shadow Book 1 - The Sword of Bedwyr by R. A. Salvatore
• The Crimson Shadow Book 2 - Luthien's Gamble by R. A. Salvatore
• The Crimson Shadow Book 3 - The Crimson King by R. A. Salvatore

PREVIOUS SUNDAY MORNING BOOK THREAD - 04-28-24 (NOTE: Do NOT comment on old threads!)

Disclaimer: No Morons were harmed in the making of this Sunday Morning Book Thread. Any deviations from the norm can be blamed on Pixy's new hamster farm.

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