Comments on: JWAM reader request no 23: Are you old enough? http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/01/29/jwam-reader-request-no-23-are-you-old-enough/ writing, reading, eating, drinking, sport Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:42:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Q http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/01/29/jwam-reader-request-no-23-are-you-old-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-75413 Q Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:43:09 +0000 http://justinelarbalestier.com/?p=3039#comment-75413 Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I find myself in a similar boat to the questioner. That was so reassuring. I know the character but I was worried about whether it would be right for me to write from her perspective when she's older than me. But now I kind of think that as long as I know her character, age doesn't matter as much as it might seem to. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I find myself in a similar boat to the questioner. That was so reassuring. I know the character but I was worried about whether it would be right for me to write from her perspective when she’s older than me.

But now I kind of think that as long as I know her character, age doesn’t matter as much as it might seem to.

]]> By: Jenn S. http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/01/29/jwam-reader-request-no-23-are-you-old-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-75408 Jenn S. Thu, 29 Jan 2009 17:42:28 +0000 http://justinelarbalestier.com/?p=3039#comment-75408 Justine, thanks for answering my question. I think I've been focusing too hard on getting everything right the first time. I'll do some research on "soldier mums" as you suggested, but in the meantime I'll keep writing. I won't get anywhere if I don't try. Justine, thanks for answering my question. I think I’ve been focusing too hard on getting everything right the first time. I’ll do some research on “soldier mums” as you suggested, but in the meantime I’ll keep writing. I won’t get anywhere if I don’t try.

]]> By: Justine http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/01/29/jwam-reader-request-no-23-are-you-old-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-75403 Justine Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:32:39 +0000 http://justinelarbalestier.com/?p=3039#comment-75403 Malcolm: Definitely. You make a similar point to something Samuel R. Delany writes in the last appendix of <i>About Writing</i>: <ul>Probably you've never been in an all-out sword fight on the deck of a pirate ship in the Caribbean at dawn. But if you need to write such a scene, you can start by mining your own experiences for the microexperiences that can contribute to it. Have you ever been on the deck of <i>any</i> boat at dawn? . . . As a child did you ever have a stick fight with a friend? Do you remember how, when your friend really hit your stick hard with his, it jarred you to the shoulder and made you clamp your teeth? Did you ever take a fencing class? What are the moves and positions you can remember from it? Have you ever been in a confused crowd? . . . A moment or two lifted from such experiences and carefully observed can make your imaginary Caribbean sword fight more believable. Has your foot ever slipped on a board floor where a can of paint has been overturned? Your foot slipping on spilled blood is not going to feel very different.</ul> He then goes on to talk about the nonfiction research you need to do as well. I strongly recommend <i>About Writing</i>. It's my favourite book on the subject. It lives beside my bed. Malcolm: Definitely. You make a similar point to something Samuel R. Delany writes in the last appendix of About Writing:

    Probably you’ve never been in an all-out sword fight on the deck of a pirate ship in the Caribbean at dawn. But if you need to write such a scene, you can start by mining your own experiences for the microexperiences that can contribute to it. Have you ever been on the deck of any boat at dawn? . . . As a child did you ever have a stick fight with a friend? Do you remember how, when your friend really hit your stick hard with his, it jarred you to the shoulder and made you clamp your teeth? Did you ever take a fencing class? What are the moves and positions you can remember from it? Have you ever been in a confused crowd? . . . A moment or two lifted from such experiences and carefully observed can make your imaginary Caribbean sword fight more believable. Has your foot ever slipped on a board floor where a can of paint has been overturned? Your foot slipping on spilled blood is not going to feel very different.

He then goes on to talk about the nonfiction research you need to do as well.

I strongly recommend About Writing. It’s my favourite book on the subject. It lives beside my bed.

]]> By: Malcolm Tredinnick http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2009/01/29/jwam-reader-request-no-23-are-you-old-enough/comment-page-1/#comment-75401 Malcolm Tredinnick Thu, 29 Jan 2009 06:15:32 +0000 http://justinelarbalestier.com/?p=3039#comment-75401 Justine, you kind of tangentially touch on something I suspect is of some importance here. It's not solely about how well you've lived your characters' experiences or even know them at an internal level. You have to be able to convey the characters to the readers. Enough to make them interesting, not enough to bore us to tears with pages of descriptions. Having to actually work out what makes a clothes-designing, Australian teenage boy individual and interesting might well help the process of writing about him. You are just as much an observer of the character as your readers, with more time invested in the process. If you were writing about -- to pick a random topic -- a female YA author who travels between the US and Australia, it's possibly harder to get down the pertinent bits that make that character interesting to an external reader. Hopefully that's where early readers and editors help out. I found the various teenagers in MorM semi-believable and interesting not because I had much in common (although, a maths-wielding protag is always a favourite with me), but because I've taught teenagers with those attitudes and actions and I know other people like them. Hopefully I'm not over-rating this. I do now that there are a lot of novel characters I enjoy reading about that have absolutely nothing in common with my experiences, but are described in language I can understand. I don't particularly care if they're 100% realistic, providing they're not completely unrealistic. The idea is to be entertained and fiction always slightly idealises things (you've mentioned speech patterns in the past, for example). Justine, you kind of tangentially touch on something I suspect is of some importance here. It’s not solely about how well you’ve lived your characters’ experiences or even know them at an internal level. You have to be able to convey the characters to the readers. Enough to make them interesting, not enough to bore us to tears with pages of descriptions.

Having to actually work out what makes a clothes-designing, Australian teenage boy individual and interesting might well help the process of writing about him. You are just as much an observer of the character as your readers, with more time invested in the process. If you were writing about — to pick a random topic — a female YA author who travels between the US and Australia, it’s possibly harder to get down the pertinent bits that make that character interesting to an external reader. Hopefully that’s where early readers and editors help out.

I found the various teenagers in MorM semi-believable and interesting not because I had much in common (although, a maths-wielding protag is always a favourite with me), but because I’ve taught teenagers with those attitudes and actions and I know other people like them.

Hopefully I’m not over-rating this. I do now that there are a lot of novel characters I enjoy reading about that have absolutely nothing in common with my experiences, but are described in language I can understand. I don’t particularly care if they’re 100% realistic, providing they’re not completely unrealistic. The idea is to be entertained and fiction always slightly idealises things (you’ve mentioned speech patterns in the past, for example).

]]>