Finding The Story Opening, Part 3, Should A Pro Write Fanfic? by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Finding The Story Opening

Part 3

Should A Pro Write Fanfic? 

by

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Previous parts in Finding The Story Opening:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/06/finding-story-opening-part-1-action-vs.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/06/finding-story-opening-part-2-avatar-and.html

The week before last, we looked at 3 novels, two widely published hardcovers from major Houses about International Intrigue, and one widely popular Fanfic novel about Interstellar Intrigue.  One of the hardcovers had a ten year old girl in it, and the fanfic has a 10 year old boy in it.

I expect by now you've read all 3 and done your contrast compare study.

I assume most reading this blog are either Romance genre readers or Science Fiction genre Readers -- and some of the readers are writers.

Last week, the author of the (hugely) popular Fan Novel, The Ambassador's Son, about Sahaj, Spock's son who turns up in Spock's life for the first time when he is 10 years old, presented us with a

http://www.sahajcontinues.com

very brief summary of what she learned subsequent to blasting out the first Sahaj story and flinging it into publication in one of the early Star Trek (ToS) fanzines - a 'zine she founded.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/12/guest-post-star-trek-fan-fiction-writer.html

Her summary of the learning curve, and final summary of what she had to internalize to produce the gorgeously polished current versions of these stories (and with stories in her universe written by others, some of the most brilliant writers in ST fanfic), brought into focus many of the topics we have discussed here, and examined in minute detail.

I recently saw some news interviews and items on Venture Capitalists looking for products to invest in.  Just like film producers, they are interested only in items that can be summarized IN ONE SENTENCE (or maybe two short ones).

The "pitch" has to be so short you can write it on a paper napkin, or the back of a business card.  An "elevator pitch" -- you can say while the doors open.

Those brief words must be the concept, and it must "haunt" the person you pitch to, and do that in such a way that they know where to find you to get more.  In other words, your Identity must be wrapped into that concept, without actually including name, address, phone number, Twitter handle etc.

Pitching is the secret.

It is the core of the dreaded "Query Letter."

Most beginning writers have an Idea and plunge right into WRITING, just too excited by their own interest in the Idea to stop and wonder why that Idea grabs them so.

That is what Leslye did with her first plunge into telling Sahaj's story.

And that, actually, is the core secret to writing vastly popular fanfic like Sahaj.

Story Telling is a craft, and all "craft" is boring to learn, just like beginning piano lessons and the incumbent practice sessions.  Parents have to tie their kids to the piano bench.  But ten years later, the college student is the toast of the dorm playing while friends dance in the hallways.

At that point, the musician is having fun, making the instrument talk for him, creating joy to gift to others, making memories and not thinking where to put fingers to make this or that sound.  The years of practice create brain synapses that allow the adult to think the song, and it comes out into the air with no awareness of what the fingers did to achieve that.

Telling stories is the same way.  At first it is laborious, boring, depressingly difficult, and you have to think about each move, force yourself to follow the metronome and hit the notes to the beat of the measure.

Yes, fiction has a beat, called pacing.  Each genre has a rhythem, a "key signature" and "time signature."  Each type of story, or novel, has a structure, like a poem.  But each story set to that music is unique.

Sahaj was one of the first "Spock Has A Child" stories.  And perhaps the first to rub his nose in it, and make him raise that child.

In other words, Leslye Lilker made a name for herself telling stories to a very specific readership segment -- the fanzine reading Star Trek-Spock fans who understood "life" is more than "adventure" and Romance running around the galaxy and writing scientific papers.

That segment of the TV audience that knew how incomplete the Galactic Hero's Adventure is without the "raise your children to be Heroes, too" part of the story read Sahaj and went on to produce many variations.

And that movement dragged many other Movies, TV shows and text-based-books into the question, "What happens AFTER the adventure?"

What happens after the Romance?

Lesley Lilker is working on how the Romance happens after the adventure, and plans to tell us some of those stories.

This is a clue about how to structure stories for our new genre, Science Fiction Romance - or Paranormal Romance - or a mixture of the two, Alien Djinn Romance.

So there are two problems all writers, beginning writers, selling writers, big name writers -- all writers -- have.  Finding the Target Audience and crafting a Narrative Hook, an Opening Scene, that will rivet that audience's attention.

After you get their attention, of course you must deliver the goods, with style and substance and satisfaction.  But no matter how satisfying your story, it will not deliver satisfaction if it doesn't first grab attention.

And you can't be polite about it.

You must "grab" attention -- yes verbal violence writ large.  You won't get it by requesting attention, or politely pinging a silver knife on a crystal glass.

Grab the attention of those (always very few) readers starving for this particular story you know and they don't.

Your opening lines and opening scene are your elevator pitch, the whole series in ONE SENTENCE.

The real implications of the payload you are about to deliver may be hidden, wrapped in symbolism and iconography as we've discussed, but all of it, including the inevitable END, and the very inevitability of that END, must be wrapped into that opening.

From then on, you unfold that package, like decompressing a program you've downloaded, then installing it in the reader's mind, then customizing it, then running that program.

Writing a story is the opposite of reading a story.

Note how Leslye Lilker's post last week starts with the oft repeated fact that everyone is a story teller.  When you answer a friend's question, "How have you been doing, lately?" you are "telling a story."  First you live the story, then you edit it down, select specific facts and couch them in specific words chosen specifically for the individual person you are speaking to.

But, though you may say only true things, you are weaving a fictional story from the facts of your life.  First you lived, step by step, through the last few weeks, then you met your friend again, and EDITED OUT (deleted) what you thought would seem irrelevant or TMI to this person.  Then you embroidered the high points and displayed them in a "light" (oh, pretty good lately -- or oh, it has been so hard).

In other words, you added in the emotional textures of your own point of view to convey to your friend the reality of your life (or to conceal it by saying things were fine when they actually weren't).  Very often, when we summarize our life experiences for a friend (or enemy) we select what to tell and what to withhold based on what we want that person to FEEL - about us, about themselves, about the world.

This is fanfic.  This is sharing a viewpoint, and as fanfic often does, "fixing" what seems to need fixing.

Everyone does this - some better than others, but everyone does it, and everyone puts effort into learning how to do it from the teens onwards.

You are a "fan" of your own life.  You are a geek who knows more details than anyone else wants or needs to know.  EDIT.

OK, since you know how to talk to friends (and enemies, bosses, co-workers, etc), why should you write fanfic of a TV show?  Why not just leap directly into professionally selling fiction, pitching at the biggest publishing houses?

Well, some people do seem to do that successfully (usually there's more to their story, but yes, the direct leap has been done successfully.)

But most people need those years of boring practice at the keyboard that produces a piano player you can dance to.

You can edit your life because you know all the details.  You can edit your life FOR a particular person or group because you know those people.  So you know the process.  You can play chopsticks.  But can you play Chopin?  At Carnegie Hall, filled with piano virtuosos, and those who believe they are virtuosos?

That "wider audience" target is the tricky part.  You can edit your universe for those you know, personally -- and you can leverage that skill to where you can edit your Imaginary Universe for an Imaginary Audience, but producing polished prose for such a large, Imaginary Audience takes practice.

To sell to those larger Publishing Houses takes practice.  Such publishers are not interested in the one-time-wonder who is presenting "my book" -- as if there is one and only one in a whole lifetime.  Such publishing houses need authors who are productive -- who know what they are doing and can produce to deadline.

In other words, those publishing houses are looking for writers (not authors) -- writers who are ready to "take the show on the road" and produce large numbers of copies of a particular performance at the scheduled time and in the scheduled place.  Like a road show.

You may adopt a number of bylines, one for each genre you write in, but each byline must be associated with a uniform product produced efficiently (not labored over).  Writing is not hard.  Learning to write is very hard.

How do you know when you're ready for Prime Time?  When you are ready to reach wide audiences because you understand how to edit your Imaginary Universe to "grab" the largest number of people who have a single trait in common, and little else?

You know you are ready for Prime Time when you can find "The Story Opening" to ANY STORY -- yours, someone else's, or just make one up and recognize it as an opening.  "Oh!  That is a springboard into a story."

How do you get to where you can create story openings that hook specific, but very large, audiences?

You work in universes that hook very large audiences.  That is, you read, write, and discuss, analyze (beta read) fanfic in a universe that has an audience that you want your fiction to reach.

You either pick an existing TV or movie fanfic base to join, or you create one by self-publishing.  Self-publishing works best if your byline is already known to an existing fan base, but studies have shown that fanfic readers don't easily follow their favorite fanfic writers into prof fic.

One beginning professional writer who learned a lot from this Tuesday blog series, took my advice and absorbed and studied the SAVE THE CAT! series by Blake Snyder, whose books explain the structure of Blockbuster Movies.

https://www.amazon.com/Blake-Snyder/e/B00LWI2JXA/

Note this series is mentioned in Part 1 of Finding The Story Opening.

Recently, after years of studying SAVE THE CAT! and writing to the "beat sheet" revealed in those books, she Tweeted me:

-------------
Kimber Li @KimberLiAuthor

I can't watch a t.v. show now without seeing something I need to fix, like the structure fell apart in the second act. @JLichtenberg
---------------

Well, that's how you know you've made the leap over the vast divide between reader and writer.  You can't not-edit, can't not-see flaws.

Sometimes millions spent on advertising can push a product to the top sales rank, despite flaws.  But it costs less to push a product with fewer flaws.  However, no product is worth pushing at all unless it is delivered on time.

Kimber Li also asked, some months ago, about writing fanfic, especially after having begun to sell.

It used to be that if a Major Publishing House discovered you wrote fanfic, they would never buy from you.

As you have noted, if you've been reading this blog a while, I was a professional writer before I began placing Star Trek fanfic stories in the ST:ToS 'zines - my Kraith series.

http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/kraith/

At the time, all the members of SFWA I knew advised me not to use the same byline on fanfic as on profic - such as my Sime~Gen Series

https://www.amazon.com/Sime-Gen-14-Book-Series/dp/B01N4SG08Q/

But I did it, anyway.  Now the world has changed, and a number of writers are widely known for both prof and fan fic.  Writing fanfic is not a stigma anymore.

The reputation of "geeks" "nerds" and fen has changed.  Maybe STAR TREK LIVES! had something to do with that.

Now ponder what Leslye Lilker wrote last week, about theme.

If you can't state your theme in one sentence, you will not have an anchor onto which to hook other elements.  In other words, theme is the glue that holds the story together.

Theme provides the title, and IS the hook for your audience.  It is the story in one sentence - it is the version you can write on a napkin or business card.

The same Imaginary Universe you have created (from scratch or from some Movie or TV Series) can produce Characters, Situations, Settings and THEMES for any audience.  You edit your whole Imaginary Universe to extract the particular details that will intrigue your intended audience, and leave out the rest.

Can't emphasize that enough -- Art is as much about empty white-space as it is about the words.  Music is not music without "rests" -- the little pauses between beats.  What you leave out depends on your audience.

"Steamy" Romance gives every detail in a sex scene.  "Adventure Romance" just "goes to black" and hard-cuts from first caress to the shocking awakening in the morning when the bad guys attack.

How do you know what to write and what to leave out?  By knowing your audience.

Like Kimber Li noted, if you study Film (via SAVE THE CAT!) then go to movies, you will see things you never saw before.  Those who can't see those things will still enjoy the film.  So study the audience.  Instead of watching the film, watch the people respond -- listen to the breathing, (and watch for secret-cell-phone texting because they're bored).

Those people may be your intended audience, people to buy your books in the genre of that film.

Find something like that - a film, TV Series, Netflix Original, Google to see if there are published stats about the size of the audience, pick a film or series that leaves you bursting with IDEAS - write fanfic for that audience, showing them how you would fix the flaws you see (that they don't) and how much more enjoyable the story would be if the flaws were fixed.

That's what Sahaj does for ST:ToS fen -- note that years later, they provided Kirk with a son, and Spock with a sister (they did read Kraith, you know).

The lack of family, of ancestors and descendants, of cousins and wives, was seen by that particular audience as a FLAW.

It was not considered a flaw by Hollywood-circa-1966.

Science Fiction was thought to be a genre that only teenage boys would enjoy, so it had to be devoid of complex emotional webs creating tight-knit family structures.  It had to be full of danger, fast movement, and the specialness created by being THE FIRST to ever see or discover something.

Hollywood had no idea that Science Fiction was always and would always be the Literature Of Adult Women, and that the lack of Romance would be considered a flaw not a feature.

Hollywood has learned, since then.

But as I have pointed out, Romance readers and fans are among the best educated people and have stringent requirements for their fiction, just as science fiction readers do.

How does a writer meet such requirements?

Practice.  Boring hours of practice.

If you study how to teach piano, you will find that there is a method that gets you to effective and efficient practice.  The method is to just play-through your mistakes -- don't stop when you miss a key, but rather just keep the beat and pick it up.  Then repeat the whole piece or at least a section as a single whole.

That method is akin to learning writing by writing fanfic.

Pick a fandom that contains the readers you want to buy your books.

Pick a skill to practice.

Now ask yourself why you like this fictional universe?  A portion of the fans of this universe will like it for the same reason you do - most have other reasons.

The people who like it for the same reason you do are your Readership.

Show don't tell them why you like this universe - and that is your theme.

A professional writer is not wasting time or creativity writing fanfic if the fic being written practices the skills that still come awkwardly.

I was not proficient at Theme-Everything-Integration -- all the various series of Integration posts I've done here to explain what I've learned -- when I wrote the first Kraith story.

Here is the opening I concocted way back then.

----------quote SPOCK'S AFFIRMATION----------
http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/kraith/kc001/kc01_03.html

The Admiral's office was quiet, efficient and so neat it resembled an unoccupied hotel suite. Admiral Pesin sat with both hands on his desk calmly reviewing the curious orders he was about to issue. In the guest-chair to the Admiral's left, sat a Schillian security officer. The Schillian looked rather like a man-proportioned toad, or perhaps lizard. The Star Fleet uniform pants and tunic only emphasized his differences.

          Presently, a transporter beam built two figures in front of the desk. Captain James T. Kirk and his First Officer, Commander Spock, of the USS Enterprise, presented themselves with proper formality and then Admiral Pesin introduced the Schillian as Lieutenant Commander Ssarsun of Star Fleet Security.

          "Gentlemen," Pesin said, "be seated."

          He looked from Ssarsun to Kirk and finally to Spock where his gaze became unreadable. After a long thirty seconds, he said, "Commander Spock."

          "Yes, sir."

          "It is . . . with regret I must inform you that Sarek is still missing, and the Vulcan authorities insist that, though there is still hope, your father must be declared legally dead."

----------end quote---------------

But somehow, mysteriously, I did manage to get most of the required elements into the first few paragraphs.

A) The best thing about Trek was ALIENS
B) The Most-Best thing about Trek was TELEPATHIC ALIENS
C) The missing element about Trek was Vulcan, and Family

Spock is being called upon to step up into his father's sho
es.  But it is complicated.

That opening hooked legions of fanfic readers when it appeared in T-Negative, and as with Leslye Lilker's mailbox, my mailbox burst with Letters (typed on paper, sent in an envelope with a stamp) explaining A) why this is a great story and I love it, and B) why this is a terrible story and just plain all wrong, or C) how to fix it.

"How to fix it" is fanfic.

And fans of Kraith wrote a lot of fanfic in the Kraith universe.

I used what I learned to craft the opening of House of Zeor, which was the first novel in the Sime~Gen Series, and fans have written a lot of Sime~Gen fanfic, most of which is professional quality writing, and is now being published in the Sime~Gen Universe by a professional publisher.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014TDP8JQ/


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N383GS2/

So fanfic breeds fanfic.

If you want to create a Classic, a series that other writers will be inspired to adopt and write in, then writing fanfic is the best way to learn how it is done.

The fans of the Intellectual Property that turns you on will be able to tell you what you do right -- and wrong -- in creating in "their" universe.

You may not learn writing, but you will become proficient at executing the craft.  It is practice, and only practice (with feedback just like the piano teacher correcting the angle of your wrists, and the straightness of your back) performing before an audience (a recital) can bring your craft skills to concert pitch.

Once you have found how to captivate an audience and inspire them to their own Art, you will be ready to take your show on the road.

One sign you've made that transition from passive consumer to active producer of fiction will be, as Kimber Li noted, that you can't not-see the errors that others make.

We used to use a blue-pencil to mark up books as we read -- today, on Kindle, you just highlight and sometimes make a note.  No writer can resist editing someone else's work.

The most compelling fiction to "edit" like that is fiction that somehow strays from the THEME showcased in the opening.

The story opening is the theme.  Any detail or scene or character that strays from that theme will be seen as an error to be fixed.  Readers may be aware of the "error" and lose interest because they don't understand the story, but writers will just wade in and fix the "error" -- recast the Character, rewrite the dialogue, imagine missing scenes.

Find the story opening by asking yourself why you want to write this story.  The answer to that question will be the reason readers want to read the story.  And it will be your one-sentence pitch to an editor who wants to publish the story - because the readers of that imprint like that kind of story.

You get to Carnegie Hall by practicing.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Guest Post By Leslye Lilker - Being The Writer Not The Reader

Guest Post

By

Leslye Lilker

Being The Writer Not The Reader

Today we have the second Guest Post from Leah Charifson, pen name Leslye Lilker, widely known for her Star Trek fanfic about Sahaj, Spock's son he didn't know he had until the kid was 10.

I talked about THE AMBASSADOR'S SON, a novel about Sahaj first meeting Spock, last week, comparing it (favorably) to two widely published hardcover Best Selling novels of international intrigue, SAVING SOPHIE and VENGEANCE.

https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2017/12/reviews-35-best-seller-vs-best-read-by.html

If the name Leslye Lilker sounds familiar, perhaps you read her previous Guest Post here, in 2015.

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/12/guest-post-star-trek-fan-fiction-writer.html

Since then she has been working on the new stories about Sahaj, running Sahaj Continued Group on Facebook, and re-issuing the older stories with updated editing, all while changing her employment status and moving.

So this week Leslye Lilker brings us the story of what she learned via launching into Fanfic writing, and discovering how the transition from reader to writer changes your perspective.

Also, it is harder than you think -- yet easier than you'd ever expect.  Romance writers who are making that leap will tell very much the same story.


------------Quote Leslye Lilker--------------------

Jacqueline has set me the impossible task of discussing the learning curve I am on in my writing, in hopes that it will encourage beginning writers to persevere in learning to craft their stories.

I am not sure that I am the best example of someone who has negotiated the slippery slope. I have had lots of help along the way, I am willing to breakdown what works for me, with absolutely no claim to originality or totality.

At some point in time I have synthesized these steps so that I am able (or at least I try to) work on more than one section at a time.

http://www.sahajcontinues.com

It is human nature to tell stories.

We do it every time we meet our friends at the mall and we catch them up on what we’ve been doing. That is a story told orally, complete with body language and tone of voice, both of which make your tale come alive. If your audience, your friend, doesn’t get it, you can add details, or tell it in a different way. Authors do not have that luxury. An author must communicate with his audience through the use of rhetoric, the language chosen to persuade or impress his audience. This known as style.

All of the elements of a story come under this umbrella.

I don’t know anyone who can just sit down, put words on the paper, and come up with a compelling, cohesive story. As your high school English teachers told you, writing is a process, and there’s no getting around it, no matter how experienced, and how successful you are. Of course I didn’t let that stop me from putting an idea I had down on paper, publishing it in my first fanzine, and going to a convention. Thus began my education.

Letters of comment began to arrive. Most mentioned such things as, “plot holes,” “character motivation,” and “homophones.” I had no idea what these things were. Fortunately, the letters also in included words like, “great idea,” and “I love Sahaj.” With that encouragement I hooked up with people who knew more than I did, and let them read and comment on my stories. After a while I began to understand that you just couldn’t put an idea down on paper without finessing it, because your reader will not see the story the way you intended.

Here is my down and dirty process for writing the story:

Keep a writer’s diary. Write down all of your ideas, random thoughts, overheard dialogue as you have lunch out, anything at all that you might ever use in any story at any time. This will come in handy later on in the process. Also note down the things you like about other authors. You might even copy turns of phrases, or descriptions that jump out at you. Put them in quotes, cite your source, and learn from them. You also might do some research about the various elements that make up a story and write down notes for yourself.

The reason I say write it down is because the brain does not retain as well by reading the screen or print out as it does when you have to physically write something down.

The diary is also the place to tell yourself your story. Start with your theme, the universal truth, you want your audience to understand. If you cannot state your theme in one sentence you will not have an anchor on which to hook the other elements of your story. An example of a theme is, ‘When man fights nature, man loses.’ Now you can write an adventure story set in Alaska, when a man ignoring advice from experienced backpackers, sets out to meet his buddy across an unfamiliar trail. Oh wait. Jack London did just that in “To Build A Fire.”

For me, the characters come next. In your diary, write out your back story for each character. Put in every detail you can think of, because this is not going into your story, but into your brain so that you can call on parts of it as it comes naturally in the story. Your characters need to be three-dimensional, and flawed to be believable.

You’ll need a protagonist, the character who moves the story, with a task or a goal to accomplish. You’ll need an antagonist, who has a legitimate reason to prevent the protagonist from achieving his goal. Know what they look like and be prepared to describe them early on (Character description.) Write down their character traits, which is how they behave and react. You might even create a conversation between yourself and your characters. Beware though they might come and haunt you in your dreams!

Create a plot chart, just the way you did in high school. Start with whatever bit of exposition you need to create the setting (time and place.) That’s your starting point. On your way to the climax (turning point) you’re going to list each step the protagonist takes to achieve his goal. But every step is countered by the antagonist, which may or may not be another person. This step-counter-step creates conflict, i.e., man against man, man against nature, man against self, etc. The conflict resolution leads back to the theme.

Know the setting for the overall story and for each scene. WRITE THEM DOWN IN YOUR DIARY. Use them.

Now it’s time for your first draft.

WRITE IT DOWN.

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to put your words on paper. At least it is for me because I am a visual, linear learner. I see a story as a living, breathing character, and when I do the first draft I consider it to be that character’s skeleton. I’ve heard other people use the hamburger analogy so I’ll do that too. That’s where the first draft is a hamburger.

Great. You’ve got an identifiable beginning, middle, and end. Now it’s time to add details which will make your reader see, hear, feel, taste, and smell what your character is experiencing (imagery.) Now is not the time to worry about diction or syntax. Just get the ideas down. In my analogy, these details are the organs that make the body work. In the hamburger analogy it’s adding lettuce and tomatoes, ketchup and onions.

Now go back to the beginning and multiply those details.

Do your words adequately convey the who, what, where, when, why, and how for each and every scene in your story? Does each scene have a beginning a middle and end? Does the reader understand the setting for each scene? Is it a…. forgive me… logical progression? Write it down. This is adding muscle and tendons, or bacon, mushrooms, and avocado.

Next step is to divide.

This is where you’re going to chunk ideas. You might have written a sentence in paragraph three that actually would be better in paragraph five. This is the time to move it there.

This is also the time to make sure that all paragraphs have a topic sentence and a transitional conclusion, so that one paragraph moves smoothly and logically (my favorite word) from one to the other. Another thing to look at is whether your vocabulary, your diction, is appropriate to your audience. It is said that an author should write to readers with an 8th grade reading level. Personally, I have emulated one of my favorite writers, Dean Koontz, who has sent me to a dictionary on many an occasion, and have chosen not to write down to my audience. I figure that anyone who loves Star Trek must be an intelligent being.

Logical, right?

Check.

Since we are working on paragraphs this might be a good time for you to check your dialogue.

Dialogue is what your characters say. The purpose of dialogue is to move the story forward and reveal character traits to your reader. Spoken words go in quotation marks. You want to try to avoid ‘talking heads’  – dialogue that is not embedded into action to the point that the reader just sees two hand puppets talking to one another. Another thing is that each time the speaker changes he/she must go into a new paragraph.

Example of how not to do it:
“How are you, John?” “I’m fine. How are you, Jane?”

Example of how to do it:
----------
Jane sauntered up to John, stood akimbo, and poked him in the chest with one elegantly sculpted nail. “How are you?” The words dared him to complain. 

John, having survived the initiation, simply said, “I’m fine. How are you, Jane?”
----------

Once your characters have reached their turning point, it is all falling action from there, leading to the denouement, where your protagonist has an epiphany, of sorts, and then you conclude your story, nice and neatly.

This is the skin and features of my characters, the hamburger bun, so you’re done, right?

Nope.

Now it’s time to put it away for a day or two weeks. If you’re like me, you’ll immediately start getting ideas to change, fix, or add to what you have. Write them in your diary, and when you do your next draft, you’ll be able to incorporate them.

So what’s the next step?

You’re going to hate it.

You will retype the whole thing. Every. Single. Word.

You’ll be amazed at what you missed the first time and can now correct. This is what I call breathing life into my character, and for the burger, I guess it would be the first delicious bite.

You’re done now, right?

No.

Now it’s time to read it aloud to someone, if you’re fortunate enough to have someone to read it to. It doesn’t matter if it’s a baby, or your dog, or even your mirror. Reading it aloud will point out places that need work that you haven’t already picked up. Don’t stop to fix it. Just mark the spot and read on.

Then fix it.

Done now, right?

Nope.

Now it’s time for you to select two people whose writing and proofing skills you trust and admire and have them mark up your draft, because it still is a draft.

Then correct errors again.

You’re done now, right?

Check. Except….

You may be sending your manuscript to an editor who wants additional changes.

So you make the changes, or argue ‘til you win, or pull your manuscript, and you get published.

Hurray! Done!

Not necessarily. Your subconscious mind is still working, and the day after your work is published you think of ten things you want to change.

Solution: Sing “Let It Go” ten times and move on.

Now, you’re a writer!

(P.S. If this sounds like it was written by an English teacher it’s because I have just retired from that profession. A great book to look at is Thomas Fosters’ How To Read Like A Professor which breaks down the elements of writing and introduces many archetypes we find in what we read and write.)

-------------END QUOTE FROM LESLYE LILKER-----------

Isn't it odd how many friends of mine are English Teachers?  Jean Lorrah is a retired Professor of English and my coauthor on many Sime~Gen Novels, and author of whole novels in my series.

If you take a close look at the Star Trek fanfic writers who started this whole fanfic phenomenon, (the precursor to self-publishing) you will find English Teachers, Librarians, Bookstore Managers, and all sorts of people who have stringent standards for their fiction, and their science, and their history.  In other words, Star Trek fanfic writers have the same educational profile and tastes as Romance writers (and readers).

You can't get away with Historical errors in Historical Romance.  The readers will out you on Twitter, for sure.  And you can't get away with scientific errors in Science Fiction Romance.

Being the writer means intercepting factual errors and story-logic errors (plus grammar, spelling, punctuation) before the words are released to Readers -- because there will be errors, and readers do notice them, so fix them.  But don't let fear of making an error in public stop you from blasting out that first draft, or those idea notes, any old which way.  Being a writer means learning to fix all your mistakes - after you've made them.  No matter how inept that first draft - you can FIX IT.  You have the skill, the craft, and the fortitude to fix it.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com.

Guest Post - Star Trek Fan Fiction Writer, Author of Sahaj, Leslye Lilker

Guest Post

Star Trek Fan Fiction Writer, Leslye Lilker 

Author of Sahaj Commenting On 

Kraith, House of Zeor, and New Sahaj Stories Now Available

Let me introduce Leslye Lilker.

She is one of the Greats of Star Trek's original fan fiction writers.  Her series of stories about Sahaj, an original character she created, has the same stature as Kraith, Night of the Twin Moons, and half a dozen others that are still famous.

After I sold my first science fiction story, I became a Star Trek fanfic writer, and now I have been quoted in academic books on fanfic, and on Star Trek fanfic.  My fanfic is more famous than Sime~Gen.  I have done articles for many academic publications on Star Trek fanfic as well as being mentioned in other academic books about Star Trek.

www.amazon.com

 
http://www.amazon.com/Fic-Fanfiction-Taking-Over-World/dp/1939529190/

In August, 2015, I got a call from France -- yes, the country!  A producer doing a TV documentary on Star Trek fandom in the USA called me because she had read my article in Anne Jamison's book, FIC.  She called to make an appointment to interview me at my house for her documentary.  Fan Fiction is alive, well, and still having a growing impact on the whole world, and what is old is new again.  Hence, Science Fiction Romance writers can benefit from studying the fanfic origins of the peculiar blend of science and fiction that is now evolving into a new field.

The most quoted Trek item I've done is Kraith, such as this one in New York Magazine recently:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/06/a-very-cool-development-kraith-in-new.html

Kraith is an alternate universe aired ST:ToS series that was printed on paper.  The various stories appeared in a multitude of fanzines, and were then collected in Kraith Collected -- a 5 volume series now on the web for free reading.

http://www.simegen.com/fandom/startrek/kraith/


In her comments here below, Leslye mentions the Kraith -- a large ceramic cup, handmade and no two-alike, a Vulcan artform.  Kraith Collected covers each have an image originated by contributing artists, so here are the images that were used.

During the years the 50 or so Kraith Creators who contributed ideas, stories, poems, artwork, etc were working, other fanzines like Night of the Twin Moons by Jean Lorrah, and the Sahaj Universe series of stories by Leslye Lilker, (now Leah Charifson) were also being published.  I read them all, of course.

As you know, Jean Lorrah and I partnered on Sime~Gen, so we never lost touch the way so many of the people involved in the Star Trek fanzine scene did. Recently, many of these disconnected souls have turned up on Facebook and reconnected.

Leslye Lilker found so many of us interested in more Sahaj stories that she broken out her outlines from the 1970-80s and has begun to write those stories. She has already produced several new ones about Sahaj's teen years, and one that has him at age twenty-seven.

In the intervening years, she has been teaching students to dissect and understand novels in the basic terms of conflict, resolution, main character, theme -- the functional components that have always made stories compelling.

The original Sahaj stories exhibited professional grade writing craftsmanship, and the new ones shine with "best seller" vibrations.  As I have maintained all these years, just because it's not a Mass Market paperback doesn't mean it's not perfectly crafted.

Sahaj is, in Leslye's alternate universe Trek, Spock's son by a vindictive Vulcan woman, "now" off the scene.  You really have to read the stories of how all that happened. Then you need to read all the stories about how poor Spock, already in conflict with his human side, attempts to parent his oh-so-emotional son. In 1983 we left twelve-year-old Sahaj in a fairly stable environment as he’s settled into growing up in Sarek's household, with Spock coming to visit as much as he can.

Sahaj is learning the “whys and wherefores” of Vulcan culture, but is acutely aware that he doesn't quite belong and he may choose another path, but he has a plan which will eventually bring him his lifelong goal: to live with his father full time, which would be on the Enterprise or some other Starfleet home.  This is a much better life than he was headed for when he was born, so for all the awkwardness of his position, he's comfortable in it, hatching ambitions as any pre-teen would.

So this is the ongoing saga of a child we meet early in his life, and now watch grow into adulthood. It is a compelling story that hooks readers, whether they are Star Trek fans or not.

So far, it's not "Romance" -- but it is a grand science fiction story setting up something very romantic indeed.

Reconnecting with old friends, Leslye found others still shared her interest in classic Trek, and when one of the Sime~Gen folks on her Facebook Group posted the URL for Kraith, she reread "Spock's Affirmation" -- and sent me the following commentary, which she has edited once.

Keep in mind that she was talking to me, and we both know that Kraith was written as writing exercises for a class on writing, and as commentary on aired-Trek's dodging away from what I knew was "real" science fiction.

I added an alien dimension to Spock -- truly a non-human -- and to Vulcan culture.  And I added so much Worldbuilding that reviews of Kraith by academics peg the Hero of the series not as Spock or Kirk, but as Vulcan Culture.

I can't argue with that.

Note: "Spock's Affirmation" was written many years before they invented and added kolinahr to the official Star Trek Universe.  Copies of Kraith Collected had been seen around Gene Roddenberry's office at Paramount.

Here in her own words is how this Kraith story struck Leslye Lilker on re-reading.

-----------QUOTE-------------

Upon rereading "Spock's Affirmation" some 40 years later, I found myself unable to analyze it the way I teach my students to analyze literature. Yes, the main plot is Kirk must get the Kraith, Spock, and the dancers to their destination by a certain time. There are hints of subplots but they are mere skeletons, waiting for the tendons, muscle, and flesh that come later in the series. It adds intrigue but the reader’s mood (the feeling the reader has at the end) is less than satisfied. For example, the subplot of 'what happened to Sarek?’ is not addressed in this story. Everyone assumes he’s dead except for Spock, but we don’t get that answer at the end of “AFFIRMATION”. That’s okay, though, because we know how sagas are.

Characterization: the most interesting character to me was the one Jacqueline invented:  Ssarsun. He/she/it/?? is, multileveled, flawed, totally believable (if you can believe a telepathic lizard raised on Vulcan - and I can). Ssarsun has a sense of humor, can drink Scott under the table, and is determined to save Spock’s life. What more could a reader want? Spock, usually my favorite character in anything I read, has morphed, without motivation or reason, from the Spock we saw on TOS, to an alien, a Vulcan who maybe has already achieved kolinahr, a complete purging of emotion. Since this was why Jacqueline wrote “Affirmation” I would have to say she achieved her goal. If I pretended that this was a new character, I could accept him as I could accept Michael Valentine or other alien SF personas. So the role Spock played worked. I just didn’t like him much as Spock. His dialogue was more informal than I was used to. There didn’t seem to be a real connection from him to Kirk or McCoy. I think the worst part for me was when he came back from the Affirmation with the news that not only his newly taken wife but his still in utero son were dead. The son would have been the next “kaydid” (which is what my eyes saw instead of the Vulcan word Jacqueline created) and Spock’s only reaction was to say he was tired and needed a day to recuperate.  But that is imposing my own needs on this character. As Professor Thomas Foster states in How To Read Literature Like A Professor, don’t read with your own eyes. Read from the author’s eyes.

The point of view was difficult to describe, as the story was written the way John Steinbeck wrote OF MICE AND MEN, as a screenplay. With the exception of McCoy and Ssarsun, the reader can only judge by what the characters do or say (character traits.)

I get that Spock is the last of his line to be a katydid, which is how I think of your word for the Vulcan in his line who can conjoin many in a mindmeld. I am uncertain of why this would be important, but then, I was quite tired and slightly overwhelmed by personal matters when I read it. Yet I got it.

The tone of “Affirmation” (the writer’s attitude toward the subject) comes across loud and clear: critical of the way aliens were being portrayed on the screen.

Since “Affirmation” is the beginning of a saga and because it was written for a TV show, theme is difficult to express. We teach that theme comes out of conflict. The conflicts in “Affirmation” were many but the resolutions were few, so I cannot define a theme at this point.

I’m going to have to say that Kirk is the protagonist because he’s the one who has the goal to achieve. I’m not quite sure who the antagonist is. I suspect it is the portion of Vulcan society who wants Sarek’s line dead.

Now, all of this you spoke of in your introduction but I didn't read your introduction until after I read the story. What you did so well, was hook your reader into the big story. There’s a huge alien Universe hulking just behind the curtain. Will I go back for more? Of course. I mean, I already have, in my previous life. This is just rereading, with a somewhat more professional eye.

I do have to laugh though. When I described the bottle of Tembrua in my rewrite of "The Bronze Cord" it sort of  looked like the picture of the Kraith cup.  It wasn't intended, but we are all touched by what we read, what we see, the politics going on around us, the technology we have at our fingertips, and all of that may come out in your own writing, even if it is from a subconscious level.

I liked what I read well enough to want to read more. That's a very good thing.! And it is also a very good thing that this story can hold up after all these years. It’s a definite hook, which captures the attention of your readers and leaves them wanting more.

---------END QUOTE--------

Here is further commentary by Leslye Lilker on the Sime~Gen Novel, House of Zeor, which was written concurrently with Kraith.

------------QUOTE-----------
I dragged myself home after another ‘first day of school’ today wanting nothing more than a nap, but in my inbox was a little reminder that I had promised to compare House of Zeor to “Affirmation.” So I took my kindle to bed with me and flew through Chapter One and started Chapter Two but I had to force myself to stop and rest. And that, dear friends, in my opinion, is the best thing one can say to a writer: “I couldn’t put it down.”

That same Professor Foster mentioned above also has a book out called (you got it!) How To Read Novels Like A Professor.  He states that a decently written piece of fiction will foreshadow the entire story in the first few pages. And Zeor does. As a matter of fact, I think I’ve pieced together enough evidence to put it in the archetype of a quest story.

Let’s start with the quest. Your quester is Hugh Valleroy. His stated reason for the quest: to rescue Aisha Rauf. The stated place to go: Sime Territory. Obstacles along the way: first and foremost, Klyd, the channel, didn’t want him as a partner. It would be a dangerous journey, and the danger started with Klyd drawing selyn at an intensity enough to burn and nearly kill him. The real reason for going: self knowledge.

The point of view is third person limited, my personal favorite, although it does bring in the possibility of bias and unreliability. Unlike “Affirmation” the reader immediately sinks into Hugh’s head, feels what he feels, understands his thoughts. This makes for a dynamic character who is affected by what is happening around him.

The conflict is already clear: Sime v Gen: both human mutants who must learn that they need one another (okay, so I read the book a long time ago and it stuck with me.) So out of this man v. man conflict comes a theme of infinite diversity in infinite combinations combines to create a greater truth and beauty.

I think that the reason Zeor is a better crafted book is because the author was telling a story that she wanted to read. She created the characters (and I don’t deny I see Trek footsteps in this -- and that’s okay) but the novel is not contrived just to prove a point, the way “Affirmation” seemed to be. After reading just the first chapter, I can tell you I can see these people. They are real. I like them. I want more. I want to know what happens next.

I just have one question: is his name pronounced KLIDE (long I) or KLID (like lid)? I never did know.
-----------END QUOTE----------

Klyd Farris is with a long “I” – here is the page with sound files of the Nivet Territory accent for a number of words and characters in the Sime~Gen Novels.
http://www.simegen.com/jl/nivetsoundfiles/

---------QUOTE-----------

BIOGRAPHY: Leslye Lilker

My mother hooked me into Trek when it first aired. I watched a few of the first season and liked the show, but I was 15 and dating. In fact, I was headed out on a date the night the second season started, and she stopped me at the door. “You have to watch this show. You’ll like the guy with the ears.”

Mothers know best. I never did go out on the date that night, but made him stay home and watch “Amok Time” with me.

Another eight years or so would pass before I renewed my interest in the reruns. I distinctly remember watching “This Side of Paradise” and wondering why our heroes were running around the galaxy with all the girls and no one was procreating. Then I thought of writing a “what if Kirk” had a kid and decided immediately that he probably had dozens and who cared? But Spock? My Spock? My Spock who suffered so with his half human side? What better way to help him resolve his own issues by having him help his own child resolve his? And why should it be easy? Why not have the kid be old enough to express himself clearly? Why not have him brought up with all emotions engaged, even though he was 3/4 Vulcan? Why not have his first words to Spock when, at ten years of age, he meets his biological father for the first time be: “Take your logic and shove it widthwise!”

And thus Sahaj came into being, and a series was born.

   (Sahaj Collected turns up on Amazon for as much as $200 as a collector's item. JL)

Of course, it took years and years to flesh things out, to learn how to create scenes that popped for readers. I have published the very first scene I wrote about Sahaj in IDIC #1 in 1975. Then I put it beside the rewrite I did in 1977. Then I added the rewrite I started in 1995 and finished in 2015. Anyone who wants to demonstrate the development of a writer is free to use those three versions. But understand: I am not holding myself up as the model. I am still learning every day.

I’ve had many careers over my life, but when I was 55 I decided to become a certified English teacher, and have been spending the last ten years teaching HS sophomores at all levels how to communicate through their writing. This is a good example, I think, of learn one, teach one, because it is in the teaching that the lessons are really learned.

I’ve just released a new Sahaj story -- one of humor, which I will use this year in teaching my kids the benefits of puns. It is currently available though Smashwords, and once they approve it for their catalogue, it will go to Amazon, Apple, and wherever else they market their stuff. Oh, Barnes and Nobel, too. As time allows, I will offer the original zines, rewrites of my stories in the original zines, and more new Sahaj stories. If you want to keep updated, friend Sahaj Xtmprsqntwlfb on FB and he’ll let you know when there’s something new.
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100010152360445&fref=ts

“Nothing Fishy Going On Here” https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/569672

LL&P
Leah (Leslye)

--------------END GUEST POST----------

If you want my advice, go read as much Sahaj as you can lay hands/Kindle on.

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com