Accessible Writing

The April 2020 issue of RWR (magazine of the Romance Writers of America) contains an article titled "The Literary Craft of Accessibility," by Rebecca Hunter. She begins by analyzing the difference between literary fiction and genre fiction, for which she focuses on level of accessibility: "Literary fiction expects the reader to come to the book, while genre fiction books come to the reader." To put it simply, literary fiction expects the reader to work harder. It would be easy to conclude that denser novels are therefore of higher quality than less "difficult" works, a "false—and harmful—hierarchy" the author warns against. I readily agree that a "literary" novel may be difficult and dense for the sheer sake of difficulty, putting unnecessary roadblocks in the reader's path from the mistaken notion that lucid prose and a clear narrative thread equate to "dumbing down." And a genre novel can include deep themes that make a reader think and challenge her established assumptions.

Hunter undercuts her cautionary reference to false hierarchies, in my opinion, by contrasting "lyrical" and "thoughtful" with "fast-paced" and "light," the latter suggesting a "more accessible style." A genre novel can be accessible, yet sedately paced and deeply emotional. Some factors she lists as contributing to degree of accessibility include length of sentences, breadth of vocabulary, balance among action, atmosphere, and ideas, moral clarity or ambiguity, how clearly the characters and plot fulfill "expectations set in the beginning of the story," and "use of cliches, idioms, and other familiarities." I have reservations about some items on the list. For example, I don't think a novel has to lean heavily toward "action" to be accessible. Many romance novels don't, nor do many vintage favorites in other genres. GONE WITH THE WIND is one perennial bestseller that has many more reflective and emotional scenes than action scenes in the popular sense of the word. I find the mention of "cliches" off-putting; while familiar tropes, handled well, can be welcome, an outright "cliche" is another matter. Another feature, "amount of emotional complexity spelled out for readers," sounds as if excessive telling over showing is being recommended. Every writer must balance all these elements in her own way, of course, and Hunter does address the shortcomings of cliches and "telling." She points out that "frankly, there are lots of readers who like this familiarity and clarity." So an author needs to know her target audience well. "Each reader's preferences are different. . . .there are readers for all accessibility levels." Hunter also discusses theme, which she defines as "an open-ended question our story asks" and briefly covers the possibility of increasing a work's complexity by adding additional thematic layers.

Personally, I enjoy a book with a varied, challenging vocabulary and complex characters and emotions. What make me impatient are works that appear to be confusing for the sake of confusion, such as failing to clearly distinguish characters from each other or coming to a conclusion that leaves the reader with literally no way to be sure what happened—by which I mean, not an ambiguous ending deliberately designed to allow multiple interpretations, but one in which it's impossible to puzzle out the plain sense of what transpires on the page. As Marion Zimmer Bradley used to say in her submission guidelines, "If I can't figure out what happened, I assume my readers won't care." Levels of acceptable "accessibility," of course, vary over the decades and centuries according to the fashions of the times. Long descriptive and expository passages, common in nineteenth-century novels, would get disapproved by most editors nowadays, no matter how well written. Something similar to the opening paragraphs of Dickens' A TALE OF TWO CITIES ("It was the best of times; it was the worst of times. . . ."), although accessible in the sense of easily understandable, probably wouldn't be accepted by most contemporary publishers. It also used to be common for authors to include untranslated passages in foreign languages, especially in nonfiction but sometimes even in fiction. Most nonfiction writers up through the early twentieth century assumed all educated readers understood Latin and Greek. Dorothy Sayers inserted a long letter in French into her Lord Peter Wimsey mystery CLOUDS OF WITNESS; the publisher insisted on having a translation added. On the other hand, to cite a contemporary example, in Barbara Hambly's Benjamin January mysteries, set in Louisiana of the 1830s, January's erudite friend Hannibal often includes Greek and Latin quotations in his speech. They add flavor to the story's atmosphere, but understanding them is rarely necessary for following the story; when it is, Hambly clues us in as needed. Readers who'd be put off by this kind of linguistic play simply don't form part of her target audience, but then, such people probably aren't fans of historical mysteries in general, which require openness to navigating an unfamiliar time and place.

Hunter's article also doesn't discuss accessibility in relation to genre conventions. For instance, Regency romance authors probably assume their target audience has some familiarity with the period, if only from reading lots of prior novels in that setting. Science fiction, in particular, expects a certain level of background knowledge from its readers. We should know about hyperdrive and other forms of FTL travel, if only enough to suspend disbelief and move on with the story. Some SF stories expect more acquaintance with the genre than others. Any viewer with a willing imagination can follow the original STAR TREK, designed to appeal to a mass audience. Near the other end of the accessibility spectrum, the new posthumous Heinlein novel, THE PURSUIT OF THE PANKERA (the previously unpublished original version of his 1980 NUMBER OF THE BEAST), envisions a reader with a considerable fannish background. The ideal reader knows or at least has some acquaintance with Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom books and E. E. Smith's Lensman series. That reader also has a high tolerance for dialogue about the intricacies of alternate universes and the heroes' device for transiting among them, on which the text goes into considerable detail at some points. Optimally, that fan will also have read Heinlein's own previous work, at least his best-known books. This novel is not the way to introduce a new reader to Heinlein, much less to SF in general.

It seems to me that "accessibility" forms a subset of the larger topic of reader expectations. So the question of how accessible our work is (or needs to be) comes back to knowing the expectations of the target audience.

Margaret L. Carter

Carter's Crypt

Reviews 41, Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio - Fan Fiction Styling Has Gone Mainstream

Reviews 41

Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio

Fan Fiction Styling Has Gone Mainstream 

Reviews posts have not yet been gathered into an index.  Find them by searching author or title or Reviews or reviews.

Today we'll look at a huge, long, novel launching a new series THE SUN EATER Book One, Empire of Silence.

Here it is on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Silence-Eater-Christopher-Ruocchio-ebook/dp/B07693PKH7/

You'll probably want the Kindle version because the font in the hardcover is rather small and crammed -- for a reason we'll be discussing here.

So as I was reading this book (all of it; it is a page turner!), I was also involved in editing the second book in a Trilogy in my Sime~Gen Universe, and there's a relevant story in that comparison.

This back-stage story I want to tell you is relevant to spotting trends in Publishing and figuring out their origins.

I have been involved in fanfic since I was in 7th Grade, wrote novels when I was in High School and college (thankfully unpublished), and dove right into Star Trek fandom when I first saw it because friends from Science Fiction fandom (Bjo Trimble among them) were pounding the table about this wonderful TV Series (yes, it was and is wonderful!)

So I wrote the non-fiction book, STAR TREK LIVES!

precisely to introduce the general public (non-science fiction readers who loved Star Trek) to fanfic.

I aimed to rip aside the veil of contempt with which the general public shrouded all science fiction -- "kiddie crap" worthy only of comic derision.

I (and a cast of millions) blew the lid on Star Trek fanfic, and the world has changed.

As evidence that Star Trek had done something on TV that no previous Radio or TV drama had ever done, I footnoted my novel HOUSE OF ZEOR.

House of Zeor was at that time the first novel (but not first story) to be published in the Sime~Gen Series ( Sime/Gen was the logo then, but later changed by the fans to avoid the inaccurate "/" designation).

And it turned out I was correct in pinpointing the unique element in Star Trek's appeal.

I had designed HOUSE OF ZEOR to appeal to the Star Trek fans who most loved the Spock Character, and to touch the same creative nerve that the broadcast TV series touched in them.

And as predicted, many Star Trek fans wrote Sime~Gen fanfic -- at one time there were 5 regular Sime~Gen fanzines being published offset and/or mimeo.

We have most of that fanfic posted for free reading on simegen.com.

My ambition was always to bring those fanfic writers -- and their original "take" on Sime~Gen -- to the wider readership who buy professionally published novels.

And we are doing that right now -- as I'm reading the currently published Hardcovers such as EMPIRE OF SILENCE from DAW books (which also first published several Sime~Gen novels in Mass Market Paperback originals.

So as Wildside picked up the Sime~Gen backlist, and also published the several novels that got swallowed in publishing house collapses later retrieved, we went ahead with our fanfic writers to put out the first anthology of original fan written stories (some from the old fanzines rewritten, and some brand new ideas the writers have had after years of writing Star Trek fanfic).

 Now we are bringing up a masterful trilogy by Mary Lou Mendum, completely rewritten to step onto the main historical TIMELINE of the Universe, presenting the detailed narrative of how certain oddball personalities become positioned to move History forward (quite by haphazard accident, you know) while struggling to do Good For Humanity.

FEAR AND COURAGE on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014TDP8JQ/


That is THE CLEAR SPRINGS CHRONICLES - Book One is now available, and we were working on Book Two as I read EMPIRE OF SILENCE.

And the writing lesson is all about STYLE.  The fanfic style, targeting an audience of those already steeped in the mythos of a fictional world (like Star Trek, Star Wars, vs. the professional writing style targeting a broad, or gigantic viewership.

CLEAR SPRINGS CHRONICLES on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N383GS2/

Jean Lorrah, who joined Sime~Gen with her first published novel, FIRST CHANNEL (the third published in the series),

...has since been studying screenwriting craft and marketing screenplays (even won an award for it), and has fully internalized the terse, to-the-point, not-one-second of viewer time wasted or distracted with detail, STYLE required to tell a story visually.  We were taught this style by Traditional Publishing's major editors, but visual story telling requires an even higher precision styling.  Reading the SAVE THE CAT! series on screenwriting retrains the story crafting to the broadest of all audiences (the 4-bagger).

FIRST CHANNEL on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004OYUFN0/

To broaden an appeal to a wider audience, ELIMINATE DETAIL, and "BTW" events, and decorative additions (detailed description etc).  Put all that information in the plot.

The more TERSE the style, and the more clean and definitive the scene structure, the broader the potential audience.

SAVE THE CAT! on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Save-Cat-Blake-Snyder-ebook/dp/B00340ESIS/

That is true today -- but may not be true 20 years from now (say 2029).

The force moving to this direction of more lazy plotting, more larded on irrelevant detail, is the force that is making audiences for anything SMALLER (e.g. fragmenting the monolothic TV audience which had only 3 TV stations that broadcast only 4 hours a night).

That is STREAMING.  All the different mega-giants in this industry of episodic story-telling (Netflix, Amazon - retailers of fiction) are trying all sorts of different topics, formats and styles that "narrow-cast" or more directly target a sensitive area of a small audience (creating fans).

In STAR TREK LIVES! I called that "the Tailored Effect" which is what made Spock fans love the show and never notice McCoy and Kirk (and Chekov) were equally mysterious and interesting.

Nobody calls it that now, but everyone is using that basic principle -- that the narrower your audience, the more intense their pleasure and resulting "glued to the page" behavior.

In other words, what is "popular" or "Mass Market" must, necessarily eliminate exactly what you most want in your fiction payload.

Science Fiction fans are always "unusual" people -- on the tail of some bell distribution curve.  They may be at the norm in many attributes, but always have some specific attribute that is way off the charts.  Most fans have more imagination than the norm of the bell curve -- are willing to suspend disbelief to read a Romance of a human and an Alien.

To appeal to the FEW, fiction has to be "cheap to make" because it must be made at a profit.  E-publishing, and now Streaming media using digital cameras are RELATIVELY cheap to make. There are still the fixed costs of writing, editing, copyediting, and setting up the manuscript or recording the actors doing the play.

But those costs are coming down, and the means to create such salable items as e-books or YouTube video casts, are within the technological know-how and financial means of huge numbers of people.

Fanzines first arose using spirit duplicators and rapidly converted to mimeo (fans had Gestetner mimeograph machines and stencil cutting type writers in their LIVING ROOMS!!! -- equipment usually then found only in schools or corporate offices were obtained second hand by ordinary people for the hobby of publishing).

So, now, the means to professional produce and distribute (even publicize) fanfic are available to most people -- all you need to add is talent, skill, and will power.

Professional business structures (Traditional Publishers of books, Hollywood Studios), for-profit purveyors of expensively produced stories, are learning that there is profit to be made serving tiny markets but serving them well.

That lesson was the major point in STAR TREK LIVES!  People with unusual taste in fiction are profitable.

One of Gene Roddenberry's major contributions to TV Science Fiction was the art of containing costs.  He did a lot with very little money (yeah, and today that really shows, but on B&W small screen TV's it didn't show so much.)

Now the genie is out of the bottle.  Tiny markets are being well served with stories in styles that please the taste of those tiny markets immensely (but might jar the nerves of many other markets).

To learn STYLE, a writer must read lots and lots of books they really dislike.  It's the job.  The more you dislike a book, the more you can learn to make your writing into something you will like - even love - 40 years later.

What Jean Lorrah did to Mary Lou Mendum's second draft of Mary Lou's Fanfic series which we published in an offset press run of a fanzine (about 1,000 copies) has not been done to EMPIRE OF SILENCE, Christopher Ruocchio's THE SUN EATER Book One.

Jean is broadening the potential audience by sharpening the craftsmanship (cut-cut-cut -- add back show don't tell in different places -- rearrange information -- rephrase more tersely).  In the process, material cut from the fanzine version will be spun off into more stories.

That's what fanfic does best -- compress whole novel series into a few paragraphs and call it a scene in a larger story.  That is, fanfic gives readers who know the Universe thoroughly a whole new perspective on what they think they know.

Star Trek fanfic gave readers a reason to view the shows again (and again) and go to the movies several times.  Read a fanfic, go watch again and it's a totally different story you are seeing.

But to achieve this effect, fanfic lards in vast amounts of irrelevant detail, dwelling and dwelling on ideas, decoration, "depth" of characterization at the expense of plot movement.

Frankly, I like fanfic better than I like most professional fiction.

However, we now have a new audience, with new writers speaking to them about the problems of this new (tech based) world we now live in.

Christopher Ruocchio is one such writer who has plunged into creating a Science Fiction series, The Sun Eater, around a "colorful" Character (who might star in most Historical Romances!).

And to reach and grab this younger audience into his created world, he has not relied on the structures common in Gaming (which tends to emphasize plot, and opposing forces, at expense of Character Motivation).  He has instead painted his world with excessive detail.

This novel, EMPIRE OF SILENCE,

is written as if it were fanfic in a Universe you should know.

Ruocchio uses the Historical Fiction technique of a Main Character, who was the key player in changing the course of galactic history, reminiscing about his early life and how he came to be that key player.

It is the presentation mode made famous in some Arthurian legend novels, and many very early novels in that legend.  It goes back deep into the roots of human storytelling.

This is the kickoff novel creating a "world" -- as House of Zeor introduced Sime~Gen to the readers who had missed the short story in WORLDS OF IF Magazine.

But where House of Zeor is about 75,000 words, Empire of Silence is about 269,360 words and that doesn't include the appended glossary.

House of Zeor presents a whole new "language" based on perceptions that the reader does not have -- yet does not append a glossary.

In my estimation, about 25,000 words could have been cut from Empire of Silence without in any way impairing the visualization of this new galactic empire or the presentation of its historic movement.

Those 25,000 extra words are the reason the font in the hardcover is so small.  Books can be produced only in certain page-counts.  It is the job of the "book designer" to cram all the extra words into a page layout that comes out to be the exact number of pages in an integral number of "folios."  A folio is the folded over unit you can see by looking down onto the top of a book. Printing machines can make only certain sizes of these folded over units - all the books from a particular imprint run through that same machine. So the book has to be expanded or contracted to fit the machines that print it. This is the reason some books have blank pages at the back.  Think about that as you polish your final draft. The age of your target readership determines the optimum size print.

In doing such a line-edit cut, the Characterizations (and a nice Romance that is just skipped over in narrative), and the motivations as well as political concepts could have been brought to the surface in clean, unequivocal terms so that fanfic writers might pick it up and embroider on it.

Cutting, when done with deliberate craft to a specific point, can improve the art as well as broaden the potential audience which would revel in the romp of imagination.

"Deliberate craft" is what Jean Lorrah has mastered in screenwriting exercises.  You will be able to see the results when the entire CLEAR SPRINGS TRILOGY is published.  We are keeping the 3 Den & Rital stories online for comparison.

http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/CHANGE.html

http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/mlm/shiftc01.html

http://www.simegen.com/sgfandom/rimonslibrary/LEGACY.html

Mary Lou added the science for improving selyn battery technology to enable heavier than air flight to her previous fanfic plot-line of "launch a Sime Center out-Territory."

At some point, we might post the intermediate draft so you can see how Jean and I cut, polished, refocused, and cut-cut-cut, to make these novels both enjoyable (as the original fanfic) and conforming to professionally published Mass Market standards.

So, by reading this novel, EMPIRE OF SILENCE (which you will enjoy and will probably want the sequels), and by comparing it to Mary Lou Mendum's fanfic on simegen.com, and to the professionally published Clear Spring's Trilogy, you can (painlessly) gain a grasp of how fanfic STYLING has become DAW Hardcover Mainstream traditional publishing acceptable.

Once you can draw the line connecting all 3 "dots" (1970's Science Fiction Hardcover, 1990's fanfic, 2020's Hardcover/Streaming) , you can make a prediction of your own about how 2040's Science Fiction STYLING will blend Mass Market with Fanfic Styles.

Write the next STAR TREK LIVES!

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Targeting A Readership Part 13 - Motivating Your Readers by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Targeting A Readership

Part 13

Motivating Your Readers

by

Jacqueline Lichtenberg 

Previous Parts Indexed Here:
https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/10/index-to-targeting-readership-series-by.html

Most Romance readers are fairly young, or in the older demographic settled in with children to raise and imagining variations on Life. Who could I be after these kids are raised?  How did I get into this mess?  What can I do about it? What would be an improvement?

But these older readers usually discovered Romance in their early years, and come back to it.

It's the same for Science Fiction and Mystery.  Readers are READERS first, and a demographic second if at all.

To recruit more readers to Romance and keep them reading through their busiest and most stressful years, we combine Romance with other compatible genres such as Mystery, Amateur Detective, Cozy Mystery, and Science Fiction -- all of which produce their most entertaining novels with the Love Conquers All theme.

The parent trapped with a gaggle of squalling children on a snow day is actually looking for a novel to explore HOW Love can conquer this insane mess.

We, as writers, have to nurture these readers, and inspire them to reach for their better selves - to be the hero their children need to see them being.

It turns out that a statistical study done by the Armed Forces holds a clue to "who" you are writing for, who reads your stories, and what they need to be inspired to do, be and become.

A huge percentage of young people are trapped by an unhealthy lifestyle and unhealthy body, surrounded with impenetrable walls of  ignorance.

There is a point where the spirit just caves in and the body just won't do anything.

There is a point where the person just can't do anything to help themselves.  This is a very real experience for many readers today -- and you can make fans of those readers by presenting stories that trigger a spark of inspiration, a vision of an attainable way out.

For example, I have been told by a fan (one of those elevator conversations) that she read my novels MOLT BROTHER and CITY OF A MILLION LEGENDS. (new editions in Kindle and Paper)

https://www.amazon.com/Molt-Brother-Lifewave-Book-1-ebook/dp/B004AYCTBA/
https://www.amazon.com/City-Million-Legends-First-Lifewave-ebook/dp/B007KPLRUU/

 She read them while in college, in such a life-pickle she didn't know what to do, and became inspired to change her major to Archeology (the novel is about Interstellar Archeologists). Many years later, she was very happy with the decision she made -- after reading fiction (with a good love story, strange but solid family relationships).

But first you have to know what they are "in" and what the walls look like to them from the inside.

The bird's eye view is the one you need -- or orbital video view.

Statistics (yep, math) is the real key to gaining a portrait of your potential readership.

And this Pentagon study, triggered by Trump's ambition to build a huge military force, may be the very best result of the Trump Administration's activities.  Think about that -- something good, spiritually inspiring, life affirming, coming straight out of Trump's Pentagon.  Mind boggling concept.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-recruitment-problem-the-military-doesnt-want-to-talk-about/

That's the article I have to quote, which I found via a Facebook post of someone I met on Twitter.

-----quote-----

Here’s the arithmetic: one in three potential recruits are disqualified from service because they’re overweight, one in four cannot meet minimal educational standards (a high school diploma or GED equivalent), and one in 10 have a criminal history. In plain terms, about 71 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds (the military’s target pool of potential recruits) are disqualified from the minute they enter a recruiting station: that’s 24 million out of 34 million Americans. The good news is that while the military takes pride in attracting those who are fit, educated, law abiding, and drug-free, they’re having difficulty finding them—manifestly because fewer of them actually exist.

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

71 percent!!!!

Think about that.  71% of 18-24 year olds (college age kids) are ripe for the picking.

That 71% that are so messed up they are incapable of meeting Military Service requirements are potential Science Fiction Romance, Paranormal Romance, Fantasy Romance fans - ready to enter new worlds, gaze upon new vistas, and romp in fields where all is new and different, unexpected and glorious.

71% are ready to turn their lives around, and that is exactly the effect that reading Romance genre has had on uncounted generations of readers.

The difference today is that both men and women read Romance, so you have a shot at 71% of college age people.

The rest are way too busy and satisfied with their arduous climbing of the ladder of success to have time to read at that age.  You will intercept them once they settle down into their 40's, and you will do that by creating a memorable byline among that 71% who will be joining them in being Middle Aged.

Many science fiction novels assume the Space Force (the traditional science fiction space force we all imagined), will have ships with military ranks, discipline, and very high IQ requirements.

But Robert Heinlein put whole families into space.

The sky is no limit.

Trump's Space Force is slated to be a branch of the Military, so run with that.

Read this article on recruiting problems the military is having (these are new problems -- World War II was won by America's farm boys re-purposing their skills) and then write to inspire that 71% that s left out of the Space Force.

Most of them probably could qualify if they don't fall into the drug addict, petty criminal pattern, stay in shape and get serious about school.

Women are famous for being turned on by muscle, by trim athletic men, and by men who understand the world.

Men fall for women who are in good physical condition, but happily rely on their men to protect them from other men.

Write that vision - make it real enough to inspire, make it reachable, attainable, plausible.

Solve the 71% problem.

Read the other articles:
Why the Air Force Thinks It Can Turn Gamers Into Its Next Top Guns
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-the-air-force-thinks-it-can-turn-gamers-into-its-next-top-guns/

‘We’re Killing These Kids, We’re Breaking the Army!’
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/were-killing-these-kids-were-breaking-the-army/

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Targeting A Readership Part 10 - The Sad Puppy Hugo Controversy

Targeting A Readership
Part 10
The Sad Puppy Hugo Controversy
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Here is the Index post to this Targeting a Readership series:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/10/index-to-targeting-readership-series-by.html

This Hugo Vote controversy is a sensitive issue.  The underlying issue actually targets the whole Presidential Election Cycle which is shaping up to reflect the cultural shift in America.

The Hugo Awards (a reader popularity contest) Voters do now represent a cross section of America with major infusion of voters from many countries because Science Fiction has gone Mainstream.

We often use the term "Values Voter" to refer to people who vote according to some very strict, Religion based, code of what is more important than what (Values are a prioritization of the issues, not a particular stance on a precise issue.)

The term, Values Voter, is another "Misnomer" -- a very popular one that totally misleads, and sows the seeds of behavior ( a great technique for characterization by actions).

See my clues about how a Romance Writer can use the Misnomer in dialogue to good effect:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/02/theme-worldbuilding-integration-part-6.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2014/05/dialogue-part-7-gigolo-and-lounge.html

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/11/story-springboards-part-3-art-of.html

And a large number of references to misnomers in the series on how to write Dialogue:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/10/dialogue-parts-1-4-listed.html

We are all Values Voters -- we vote our own values. 

We try to discern some kind of similarity between our Values and the Values of the candidates, but in the end our behavior is shaped by the candidate's words -- and non-verbal cues, replete with misnomers.  We trust people with Values we can discern as similar to our own.

As a writer looking to Target a Readership (sell a lot of copies to people who will tell their friends all about the book), you profit by being aware of the Values common among your target Readers.  As a Science Fiction writer, you would expect to be welcome to challenge those most cherished Values of your readership -- but at the end of the novel, the moral of the story has to confirm the righteousness of your reader's Values.

If you are not going to confirm your reader's righteousness, you might consider whether your idea would work better as non-fiction.  Some genres of Fiction do welcome the 'disturbing' story.  Science Fiction used to be one of those.  Romance is taking over that niche.  But do your research.  Read a slew of novels from the imprint you want to sell to.   

In general, the novels considered Art or Great Art have characters who espouse the target reader's Values, characters who oppose those Values, and characters who are making up their minds (or changing their minds).  Religious Conversion stories are one such, Romance Triangle stories another, Building A Business stories do this, too and Benedict Arnold betrayal/spying/double-agent stories are perhaps the most famous for it. 

When you "have an idea" for a story or novel, it is your idea.  It comes up out of your Values.  If you don't know what your Values are, you may have a problem separating the points of view in your stories into separate characters who remain consistent and thus believable even when changing their minds. 

Values are the core material out of which you fabricate Theme. 

Today, in the USA, we are in a transition culture which is split 40%/40% with 20% in the middle (either underinformed, not-thinking, or in-transition). 

The media has muddied the waters by imposing artificial distinctions (misnomers) on the underlying arguments, often confusing methods with goals. 

As I see it, nobody is against Love -- but 40% are against Gay Marriage.  Nobody is against women, but 40% oppose abortion and/or birth control. 

You may know where you stand on Gay Marriage or Abortion -- but are you crystal clear in your own mind about why you stand there?  Where did you get the idea that you think is correct?

Or do you just stand in opposition to the idiots on the other side?

Do you know what evidence might change your mind?

If you don't know what could change your mind, you can't formulate a deep and believable Character who changes from one position to the other.  So you can't write the Story (the Character's Internal Conflict moving to a Resolution), because all Characters must "Arc" or change in some fundamental way from one point of view to another because of what happens to them, because of the Plot Events.

Characters must "learn their lesson." If you don't know where you got your ideas of correct Values, and why you think they are correct, and what would change your mind, you won't write convincingly about a character who learns his/her lesson.

Take War as another issue: we're all against war, destruction, killing.  But some of us have an alternative procedure in mind for resolving a conflict, and for recognizing a resolved conflict when we see one -- and others don't. 

The writer has to be able to argue both the Political Right and the Political Left (as defined by the Media of the USA in 2015) in order to capture a 2015 readership.

In a long series of long novels, you can redefine Right and Left, Liberal and Conservative.  In a short story, you need to use shorthand for these positions. 

If you are of the Left or even the Middle and can envision a Character who shares that Value set, can you also slip into the point of view of the Right and argue that Value set with equal passion?

Can you argue the Right's position in a way that would convince a reader whose personal position is Right that you, yourself, are aligned with the Right?  Good writers do that, routinely. 

It doesn't matter where you set your Romance, or whether it's Science Fiction or Fantasy Romance, or even Paranormal -- or Historical with characters from the 1700's via time travel -- to produce a story that is Art, you must be able to think and feel like readers of the opposing Value Set, or from a time when sets of Values were not divided into opposing camps the way they are today.

Read some international news sources online during their political campaigns to discover how differently the labels "Right" and "Left" are used elsewhere.  The divisions we use in the USA today are not the divisions that arise from the fundamentals of the Universe.  They are misnomers fabricated by journalists whose readers have no patience with long phrases repeated.  

Depicting all sorts of Values convincingly is the meaning of a) Conflict is the Essence of Story, and b) Show Don't Tell.

Show Don't Tell is the main subject of the series on Depiction:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/04/index-to-depiction-series-by-jacqueline.html

So, if a novel has characters who portray with passion and verisimilitude only the traits and beliefs of one of the factions among the Targeted Audience (say the Political Right), the other factions among the Targeted Audience may conclude that the AUTHOR is of the Political Right.

That confusion of Story, Plot and Author's Personal Convictions is the core of the controversy over Intolerance in the Hugo Awards.  This is tagged the Sad Puppy controversy -- and another group joined in tagged the Rabid Puppies.

This controversy has emerged in Major Media and is drawing attention to Science Fiction as a genre.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-culture-wars-invade-science-fiction-1431707195

http://www.mhpbooks.com/hugo-awards-nominees-withdraw-over-political-controversy/  is a description of the issue by a major publisher's blog.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/apr/17/hugo-award-nominees-withdraw-amid-puppygate-storm  is on The Guardian.

Where Intolerance has been triggered in a reader by a fictional character, the author of the character becomes the target of the very real wrath of the reader.  Or where an author has expressed a real-world-view at variance with the prevailing group view of the reader, that author's fiction becomes the target of Intolerance. 

The Fans of the Literature of Ideas seem to have become intolerant of Ideas, especially Crazy Ideas.

Ideas are separate from the people who hold them.  Throughout a lifetime, people change their Ideas and Values maybe three to five times -- some more than that.

The confusion of Idea with the Holder of the Idea may be the result of the avalanche of misnomers flooding the media and personal speech.  Or perhaps the confusion has created the misnomers.


If the Left/Right controversy is not the core issue in the novel's Conflict, you might think that it wouldn't matter whether there are characters representing all sides.

That may have been true some decades ago, but today there is heightened sensitivity to disagreement with unconsciously held beliefs. 

People who do not know why they believe what they believe are most sensitive to Characters who portray a divergent view.  This sensitivity happens when people adopt the beliefs of other people, instead of meticulously reasoning from their own Values to a belief that conforms with their Values.

If you haven't done the work, you do not own the Belief.  It is not yours, so you can't defend it. You can only attack anyone threatening to take your Belief away. 

If you, as writer, successfully portray a character who does not hold your Values, and that character's Values are at odds with a reader's values, and that reader has no clue why they believe what they believe, they are helpless to argue against your compelling character.  The result is rage, not engagement, among those readers.  That rage will be vented on you, the writer -- not the character you created.

Consider the classic Romance situation where two Teens fall in love, and the parents disapprove of the chosen.  The Teens will not, together or individually, be able to argue with their parents, point by point in favor of their chosen, explaining exactly what traits make that chosen a perfect Soul Mate.   So instead of presenting their reasons, and arguing their parents into agreeing with them, the Teens yell, scream, stomp, elope, and vilify the parents. 

That Romance Classic situation is exactly what is happening in the Sad Puppy Hugo Controversy.  People who are passionately dedicated to an idealistic vision don't know how they got that vision, and so can not defend their espousal of that vision with arguments that could change the opposition into supporters.  If you don't know what to say, you scream vilification.

So now to the Hugo Awards.  The Hugo is Awarded by the World Science Fiction Society at the World Science Fiction Convention.  The only people who may vote for this award are members -- paid a membership fee to the convention. 

This is in contrast to the Nebula which is voted by dues paying members of the Science Fiction Writers of America -- professional writers.

The Hugo is not voted by all science fiction readers, or all science fiction fans.

The Hugo Award is voted by members -- and membership is about $200 or more per year.  (less if you register early; sometimes reimbursed if you work at the con.)  Voting but non-attending membership is usually about $40, a lot to pay unless you are supporting a cause. 

Either fee is a lot of money just to express a literary preference.  So the Hugo is usually all about the tastes of a very narrow slice of a broader readership.

These days, there is a very broad swath of the general public who might say, "Yes, I like science fiction.  Hunger Games is great -- Star Trek was nice -- and I Game in the Star Wars universe, of course."

The current trend is that only a tiny percentage of the total Worldcon membership (about 4 or 5 thousand total) vote for the Hugo (a few hundred).  And of those who vote, not all vote in all categories. 

So you can see the Hugo is a popularity contest among a narrow slice of a self-selected group of people who have a total passion for the subject.  It is a well defined Readership which is not so easily Targeted. For the most part, the voters feel obligated to have read all the candidates in the categories they choose to vote. 

Oddly enough, the real-world composition of this tiny slice of Hugo Voters mirrors the Values of the demographic distribution of the general population.

Though Asians, Blacks and Hispanics are under-represented at Worldcon, they are still there.  After Star Trek impacted Science Fiction, the percentage of women evened out almost with the general population. 

But the Left/Right (USA media definition, not European) dichotomy among Hugo voters has leaned Left -- and more and more Left.  The Left takes pride in advocating tolerance.  But now this slice of the Worldcon membership has started to appear intolerant (from the point of view of the Right leaning Worldcon membership and their favorite writers), and that intolerance has become culturally sanctioned.  In the USA, the general public has lost patience with the Far Right mindset. 

Operationally, from the point of view of a writer, it isn't so much "Left" or "Right" or even Liberal vs Conservative (all of which labels are Misnomers.)  The writer must be aware of the readership's choosing of sides in order to create a scrimmage line amidst a melee.   In a bar brawl, friends clump together for mutual defense. 

In 2014, one writer noticed this shift in the formless bar brawl of fan politics and took action to awaken the Political Right among the Hugo Voters -- or members of Worldcon who didn't bother to Vote.  Once they had a defined target in that clump of Right-leaning writers, the Political Left among the Hugo voters struck back in the same way the Political Left does in other venues. 

Here's a seminal blog post that explains the origin of the Sad Puppy Hugo Controversy by its originator:

http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/04/24/an-explanation-about-the-hugo-awards-controversy/

It is a very long post, with the short-explanation at the top, and an even longer, more detailed one at the bottom. 

About the Author who started the Sad Puppy Hugo list.

Larry Correia is the award winning, New York Times bestselling author of the Monster Hunter International Series, the Grimnoir Chronicles, and the Dead Six thrillers. All of my books are available in eBook format from the Kindle store or at Baen.com, and in audiobook on Audible.com. I'm on Facebook or follow me on Twitter at @monsterhunter45.

This Hugo controversy has attracted the general media very large blogs:

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/02/05/the-hugo-wars-how-sci-fis-most-prestigious-awards-became-a-political-battleground/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/04/08/_2015_hugo_awards_how_the_sad_and_rabid_puppies_took_over_the_sci_fi_nominations.html

https://bradrtorgersen.wordpress.com/2015/02/01/sad-puppies-3-the-2015-hugo-slate/

I do believe there is much more to be said about the Left/Right dichotomy in the USA (or Liberal/Conservative) and especially the surge to dominance in the entertainment arena.  Entertainment is in the business of making a profit.  The larger audience's taste will dominate.

Entertainment is not (necessarily) Art.  In Art, no side or division can "dominate."  That would be bad composition. 

Romance writers are in the Entertainment business.  If there's an error in the way the Left/Right division has been defined, if there's a "misnomer" underlying this division, Romance is the natural genre to use to discuss those errors.  Love Conquers All.

Romance is ruled by Neptune, and Neptune is all about Idealism.  People with a strong Pisces (Neptune "rules" Pisces) emphasis make good Engineers (Scotty on Star Trek).  Romance is where Idealism and Science join into one, seamless whole: Love Conquers All. 

Romance writers must keep tabs on these macro-social developments because the macro trends have a lot to do with the acceptance or rejection of the Happily Ever After ending - the HEA. 

Study what is going on in the general population using the demographic analysis I put forth in this post:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/10/astrology-just-for-writers-pt-6.html

Pluto is the slowest moving "planet" which tracks the "Generations."  It spends about 20 years in each sign.  Where it was when you were born determines where it will be throughout the decades of your life -- and describes the "Generation Gap" between you and your children.  Pluto signifies change, revolution, transformation, but magnified with gigantic amounts of Power.

Pluto was in Scorpio, but only 1985 to 1995 (elliptical orbit so it goes faster some times).  That generation (the Millennials ) have the Power of Pluto multiplied by Scorpio, the sign Pluto "rules" or signifies best. 

Study the Power behind the roaring conviction of the 20-30 year old population.

Note Scorpio is the sign that brings forth a determination to defend privacy.  Statistics are showing the Millennials are against government snooping into their phones and computers.  Look to Pluto to time macro-trend-shifts.

 Depending on the distribution of other Natal Chart elements, a person with an exaggerated Pluto emphasis can become a Champion of Freedom or a Ruthless Dictator. 

Study the current Readership you are targeting using the Generation Gap trends. 

Study the Sad Puppy controversy for its heated, powerful, adamant destructiveness, it's undermining of a standing Institution (the Hugo Awards). 

It has been said the instigators of the Puppy controversy are willing to see that the Hugo is never awarded again if it continues to go to nothing but the Left-authors.

And as noted above, several authors who were touted on the Puppy slate have withdrawn their work from consideration.

These two developments illustrate the effects of Pluto when it disrupts a foundation.

Pluto is the "upper octave" Mars, -- Pluto is not just "War" but "Annihilation."  Mars fields an army to fight another army, and take spoils.  Pluto is the tidal wave of genocide, and leaves rubble.  

You must not assume that, just because a person was born between 1985 and 1995, they have a malfunctioning Pluto.  Most people have perfectly fine Pluto placement.

You can never determine anything about an individual by scrutinizing the Groups they belong to.  There are just too many independent variables that make up individuals, and too many misnomers defining Groups.

Our personalities are just like our genes have recently been discovered to be. 

We are born with a set blueprint in our genes, but experiences turn "on" or "off" certain kinds of "expression" of our genes.  Likewise, with personality -- a Natal Chart does not determine what kind of adult will come out of it.  Though we may share individual traits, no two people share every trait.  We start out one thing and become another, and we keep evolving throughout life.  The Idea is not the Person.  People change their Ideas, and often hold contradictory Ideas at the same time because they are in flux. 

MISNOMER: Nature vs. Nurture. 

The misnomer in the Conflict definition Nature vs. Nurture lies in the presentation.  Choose one or the other.  The real world uses 'both and' as the actual way individuals are shaped.  We start with one Natal Chart -- one set of genes, our Nature -- and then our Nature morphs into something else because of the things that happen to us, because of Nurture.  

But with a "Generation," (such as born 1985-1995 ) you can describe a "Readership." Those members who are not "expressing" the fingerprint of their generation will nevertheless have an intuitive grasp of what drives other members of that Generation, a kind of grasp that their elders and their children don't have. 

The same is true of other kinds of Groups people belong to -- all members may not share a trait, but they can find it intriguing to read about a Character who has that trait because they almost understand it at a gut level, a non-verbal level.

One such trait of Pluto is the inability to see any other way to handle opposition other than to undermine and annihilate, to overpower and obliterate.  Revenge is a favorite fantasy of Pluto.  Everyone has a Pluto somewhere and Scorpio is in every Natal Chart.  We all can resonate to these all-or-nothing vibes. 

Mars conducts affairs more the way Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai did -- do read Dickson's The Tactics of Mistake if you haven't yet. 

http://amazon.com/Tactics-Mistake-Childe-Cycle-Book-ebook/dp/B00H26FU5K/

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Index to Targeting a Readership Series by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Index to Targeting a Readership Series
by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg

The Targeting a Readership Series can be found here:

Targeting Readership Part 1 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/09/targeting-readership-part-one.html

Part 2 is inside this post:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/10/astrology-just-for-writers-pt-6.html

Part 3 is inside and woven into the following post in my Astrology Just For Writers series which by mistake has the same number as the previous part but is really Part 7:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/11/astrology-just-for-writers-part-6.html

Targeting a Readership Part 4 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/06/targeting-readership-part-4.html

Targeting a Readership Part 5 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/07/targeting-readership-part-5-where-is.html

Targeting a Readership Part 6 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/04/targeting-readership-part-6.html

Targeting a Readership Part 7 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/04/targeting-readership-part-7-guest-post.html  A guest post by Valerie Valdes on use of setting

Targeting a Readership Part 8 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/06/targeting-readership-part-8-anne-pinzow.html

In which Anne Pinzow directs our attention to THEME via the difference between 1955 and 2013 in terms of the themes exemplified in film:

Fifty's movie glorifies honor.
2013 TV series glorifies, well, Machiavelli and the uselessness of honor.

Targeting a Readership Part 9 - about Creating a Market
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/07/targeting-readership-part-9-creating.html

Part 10 of Targeting a Readership about the Sad Puppy Hugo Controversy:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/08/targeting-readership-part-10-sad-puppy.html

Part 11 of Targeting a Readership, about noting and using the connection between SCOTUS decisions handed down at the end of June 2015.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2015/09/targeting-readership-part-11-futurology.html

Targeting a Readership Part 12 -- may be missing

Targeting a Readership Part 13 - Motivating Your Readers
https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2018/11/targeting-readership-part-13-motivating.html And readers of this series on Targeting a Readership will probably want to look at:

Theme-Plot Integration Part 13, Superman: Man of Steel scheduled for October 15, 2013 discussing a 4-way skills integration.
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/10/theme-plot-integration-part-13-superman.html

Targeting a Readership Part 14 - Readers Are A Moving Target (but so are you) (Aug 6, 2019)
https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2019/08/targeting-readership-part-14-readers.html

Targeting a Readership Part 15 - Why Readers Feel They Have Outgrown a Genre (Aug 13, 2019)
https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2019/08/targeting-readership-part-15-why.html

Targeting a Readership Part 16 - Plotters, Pantsers, and Game of Thrones
https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2019/08/targeting-readership-part-16-plotters.html

Targeting a Readership Part 17 -  Original Production Wars (Nov 12, 2019)
https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2019/11/targeting-readership-part-17-original.html

Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com

Targeting a Readership Part 8: Anne Pinzow Guest Post Machiavelli and the Internet by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Targeting a Readership Part 8: Anne Pinzow Guest Post Machiavelli and the Internet by Jacqueline Lichtenberg

Here are previous posts in this series:

Targeting Readership Part 1 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/09/targeting-readership-part-one.html

Part 2 is inside this post:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/10/astrology-just-for-writers-pt-6.html

Part 3 is inside and woven into the following post in my Astrology Just For Writers series which by mistake has the same number as the previous part but is really Part 7:

http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2009/11/astrology-just-for-writers-part-6.html

Targeting a Readership Part 4 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/06/targeting-readership-part-4.html

Targeting a Readership Part 5 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2012/07/targeting-readership-part-5-where-is.html

Targeting a Readership Part 6 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/04/targeting-readership-part-6.html

Targeting a Readership Part 7 is:
http://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2013/04/targeting-readership-part-7-guest-post.html  A guest post by Valerie Valdes on use of setting


Over the last few weeks, I've been kicking around some topics with Anne Pinzow, a Journalist by profession who likes the same kinds of fiction I do. 

Many of those topics center around trying to define the core essence of the shift in content, Theme (as I've discussed extensively on this blog), and focus of current TV  fiction, movies, and even fanfic. 

Another set of topics center around analyzing the financial markets, international affairs, local politics, and other elements of the reality our target readers are embedded within.

Anne thinks pretty much the same way I do, but most often comes to different conclusions using the same input and the same thinking methods.  This makes her a fabulous sounding board for ideas, and a never-ending source of enlightenment.

It's not surprising.  We were trained by the same book editor and agent.  We think of fiction in very similar commercial terms.

So recently I was explaining my take on the effect of the U.S. Fed's printing way too much money being ratcheting up of inflation.  Additionally we were also kicking around the behavior of politicians which we agreed hasn't changed much in our lifetimes: they use many methods to avoid conveying the truth to their constituents.

Both of these ongoing conversations with Anne were in progress during the days that I was reading the latest novel of Darkover -- now that Deborah J. Ross has taken over continuing the series. 

That is The Children of Kings. 

Side note, Marion really hated having the word "The" at the beginning of a book title, but her submission titles were often changed and a The inserted. 

Ross has captured a lot of the "feel" of Marion's vision of Darkover in this volume, so I think it's worth reading if you've read the other novels.



The Children of Kings is about two heirs to different titled positions on Darkover and a woman who is forging a new path, plus another woman from the Drytowns who wears the chains of a Drytown woman but doesn't link them to her wrists.  It could qualify as a Romance but no sex scenes -- it ends with a marriage proposal, too.

In all cases, the characters make their decisions and take their actions based on their own ideas of what constitutes the honorable path.  No effort or risk is avoided to act in the most honorable way possible.  That kind of behavior distinguishes Darkover culture from the goings-on in the surrounding galactic civilization which is in the midst of a civil war, and possibly an irretrievable breakup.

In other words, the galaxy that Darkover is living in pretty much resembles our world today -- eerie coincidence.

The novel gives the reader a great deal of food for thought on the matter of what Honor has to do with Adulthood.

So with that as a backdrop, I was talking to Anne via chat, and kicking around both current events and the TV shows we had in common.

And recently, Anne sent me the following contrast/compare commentary that I want to share with you as another example of how a professional writer thinks, how a professional writer observes the world around them, and how a professional writer with honor can acknowledge when someone else has nailed a point worth considering. 


------------Quote From Anne Pinzow---------------
So, last week my Cablevision bill jumped $6 and that pissed me off so I called and at first they were telling me that I was paying for the least expensive package that carried the channels I watch. So I said I'd get rid of the "optimum online" aspect of the whole thing because I'd still get the channels and I could still catch up on missed shows online.

All of a sudden I got switched to another customer assistant and they told me that if I switched to the Silver service (which is $20 less than what I was paying) I'd not only get to keep the optima online but I'd get most of the movie premium channels, HB0, Showtime, STARZ, etc. It's all included now, they said.

That's how I ended up watching a Showtime series that started about two years ago called The Borgia about the reign, so to speak, of Pope Alexander the VI, the father of Lucretia Borgia. If you remember, that period has always been of interest to me.

So, there's a scene, actually several of them, where Machiavelli, known for the philosophy of the end justifying the means is advising one of the characters about how to treat a particular situation. The instance that really struck me for the purpose of this email is one character was being tortured in order to force him to confess to heresy. They tried everything and the guy wouldn't do it. He was very near death and still would not sign. So the boss of the torturer signed the confession with the man's name and killed the witnesses. Now he's got the signed confession that everyone wants and the prisoner gets burned at the stake, a nice entertainment for the kiddies.

Keep the above in mind.

So today I'm doing interviewing this man for a story and he tells me that his great uncle was Marty Maher. Well I don't know if you know who this guy was but he was very well known in this area as being a very colorful character and having had worked at West Point for 55 years. There was a book written about him called "Bringing up the Brass" and a movie staring Tyrone Power, called "The Long Gray Line."

I loved that movie, made in the 1955 and so I got it and was watching it. There's the scene where a cadet had gone slightly off limits because of worry about his girlfriend. No one knew about it except Maher who was not "an informer". So then Maher sees that the cadet is walking punishment tours and later is astonished to learn that even though the cadet only broke a rule walking by about 20 feet away from the main gate and "got away with it," that he turned himself in. "Well that's the honor system."

Fifty's movie glorifies honor.
2013 TV series glorifies, well, Machiavelli and the uselessness of honor.

You're point, right there.

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

So there you have it, a perfect description of the audience you must Target if you want to sell to these premium Cable networks, and the financial pressures that targeted readership labors under.

by
Jacqueline Lichtenberg
http://jacquelinelichtenberg.com