Comments on: What Makes a Good…? http://www.kategriffin.net/2009/09/18/what-makes-a-good/ Fantasy Author Kate Griffin Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:29:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: AdrianH http://www.kategriffin.net/2009/09/18/what-makes-a-good/comment-page-1/#comment-73 AdrianH Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:08:15 +0000 http://www.kategriffin.net/?p=317#comment-73 'Imagination and empathy', to which I might add sympathy, both with and for characters who may be very un-sympathetic themselves, but first and foremost, a good writer has the ability to tell a damn good story, with real pace, without dragging it down with unnessessary exposition and pointless explanation. This I think tends to afflict fantasy and SF writing more than some other fiction. The best writers just say, (sort of), 'this is my universe, it has set laws that function somewhat differently to the universe you live in, deal with it', which is the best way to keep a story moving; when Kite casts a 'who me?' spell, I don't need to know how he casts it, or the mystical movements, from the words on the tin, as it were, I know what the spell does, and accept that his universe allows him to work it. I don't have to know how a TV works, or a microwave, or the phone I'm writing this on, to know that it works, similarly I don't need to know how a civilisation can build machines that vary from something the size of a baseball to something the size of a small moon, that are not just sentient but highly intelligent, I accept that it can, and the author is free to propel the story on by developing great characters that you can get involved with, without having to staunch the flow of the story by having to provide detailed backstory every few pages, similarly, I can accept that there is a world where the faint voices in the telephone wires can gain a life and intelligence of their own, without really needing detailed explanations as to how this might happen, other than brief hints. For me, this only happens every now and then with a great many writers, Tanith Lee's 'When The Lights Go Out', Tim Powers' 'The Drawing Of The Dark' being a couple of examples, but others seem to go through entire careers maintaining that ability, Roger Zelazny, William Gibson, Terry Pratchett, Larry Niven, and Barbara Hambly are among my particular favourites. Oh, and Kate Griffin/Catherine Webb, of course. :0) ‘Imagination and empathy’, to which I might add sympathy, both with and for characters who may be very un-sympathetic themselves, but first and foremost, a good writer has the ability to tell a damn good story, with real pace, without dragging it down with unnessessary exposition and pointless explanation. This I think tends to afflict fantasy and SF writing more than some other fiction. The best writers just say, (sort of), ‘this is my universe, it has set laws that function somewhat differently to the universe you live in, deal with it’, which is the best way to keep a story moving; when Kite casts a ‘who me?’ spell, I don’t need to know how he casts it, or the mystical movements, from the words on the tin, as it were, I know what the spell does, and accept that his universe allows him to work it. I don’t have to know how a TV works, or a microwave, or the phone I’m writing this on, to know that it works, similarly I don’t need to know how a civilisation can build machines that vary from something the size of a baseball to something the size of a small moon, that are not just sentient but highly intelligent, I accept that it can, and the author is free to propel the story on by developing great characters that you can get involved with, without having to staunch the flow of the story by having to provide detailed backstory every few pages, similarly, I can accept that there is a world where the faint voices in the telephone wires can gain a life and intelligence of their own, without really needing detailed explanations as to how this might happen, other than brief hints. For me, this only happens every now and then with a great many writers, Tanith Lee’s ‘When The Lights Go Out’, Tim Powers’ ‘The Drawing Of The Dark’ being a couple of examples, but others seem to go through entire careers maintaining that ability, Roger Zelazny, William Gibson, Terry Pratchett, Larry Niven, and Barbara Hambly are among my particular favourites. Oh, and Kate Griffin/Catherine Webb, of course. :0)

]]> By: jess http://www.kategriffin.net/2009/09/18/what-makes-a-good/comment-page-1/#comment-69 jess Sat, 19 Sep 2009 16:30:32 +0000 http://www.kategriffin.net/?p=317#comment-69 Ah, the eternal "what makes a good writer" question. As a fiction editor, I inevitably get asked this at writers conferences, and have yet to find an answer beyond the vague, utterly unhelpful, "that spark, that zip of life" some people are able to create on the page...and some people aren't. Mostly this answer is unhelpful because every unpublished writer who asks me this question is convinced their writing has spark. I like your answer: imagination and empathy. That's far more helpful than "spark." Ah, the eternal “what makes a good writer” question. As a fiction editor, I inevitably get asked this at writers conferences, and have yet to find an answer beyond the vague, utterly unhelpful, “that spark, that zip of life” some people are able to create on the page…and some people aren’t.

Mostly this answer is unhelpful because every unpublished writer who asks me this question is convinced their writing has spark.

I like your answer: imagination and empathy. That’s far more helpful than “spark.”

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