Author of sci-fi/fantasy, horror and adventure/thriller fiction

How Far is Too Far in Horror?

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In 2015, novelist, indie radio talent, activist and all-around cool dude Minister Faust interviewed me for the MF Galaxy Podcast. He interviewed me and three other local authors at a pub in Edmonton for an event that was surprising well attended–the room was packed with about 60 people.

Hearing most of my interview requires a subscription, but Minister Faust posted an excerpt at the end of his interview with video game writer Sylvia Feketekuty (the entirety of which is available free). At the 22:35 mark, Minister Faust asks me how far is too far when writing horror. Like most people, I often cringe when I hear myself played back in a recording, but I was very pleased with my answer. Hope you dig it.

Catch it here. Be sure to catch Faust’s other interviews, which are always terrific.

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Andrew Stanton on Storytelling

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In this interesting TED Talk, filmmaker Andrew Stanton (TOY STORY, WALL-E) talks storytelling.

Story telling has a lot in common with joke telling, he says. Namely, everything in the story must lead up to the punchline. Writers should begin their novel with a singular goal, and build every sentence, paragraph and chapter piece by piece toward that goal. While, he notes, ideally noting a truth that deepens the reader’s understanding of humanity.

His pointers include:

1. Make the reader (or viewer) care
2. The reader is a participant in the storytelling, they just don’t want to feel like they are (don’t give the reader 4, give them 2+2)
3. Good characters have a “spine,” a dominant unconscious goal they’re striving for
4. Change is fundamental to story
5. The character doesn’t like to be perfectly likeable but should have at least one thing that is likeable about them
6. A strong theme always runs through a well-told story
7. Invoke wonder wherever possible

Good stuff. This and other wisdom can be found here:

Research Reveals Six Core Story Emotional Arcs

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Advances in computing power enable researchers to analyze novels to determine what makes some stories appealing and others less so. University of Vermont and the University of Adelaide researchers hypothesized that certain story arcs are more meaningful to humans. This built on a lecture by Kurt Vonnegut, where he made a similar hypothesis. The method basically entails looking at a novel as a line that bends down when happiness decreases and up when it increases, producing a visible emotional arc.

Analyzing more than 1,300 works in Project Gutenberg’s fiction collection, the researchers determined there are six primary emotional arcs that provide the foundation of complex stories. These emotional arcs, they found, correlate with greater success, measured in number of downloads. These are:

* “Rags to riches” stories, in which the arc rises over the course of the story
* “Riches to rags” stories, in which the arc falls over the course of the story
* “Man in a hole” stories, in which the emotional arc falls then rises
* “Icarus” stories, in which the arc rises then falls
* “Cinderella” stories, in which the arc rises, falls, then rises again
* “Oedipus” stories, in which the arc falls, rises, then falls again

Emotional arc for ROMEO AND JULIET, a "riches to rags" story.
Emotional arc for ROMEO AND JULIET, a “riches to rags” story.

The result is a fascinating analysis of what people want in a good story. If you’re a reader, what’s your favorite story arc? If you’re a writer, do any of these fit your stories?

Check out the research study here. A WASHINGTON POST article breaks it down here. Below is the Kurt Vonnegut lecture that illustrates the concept beautifully and presents two curves, one for “man in a hole,” the other for “Cinderella.”

Stephen King’s Advice on Writing

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Hodderscape recently published an infographic summarizing Stephen King’s tips on writing from his On Writing.

Good stuff. For me, the most important are:

* Start your concept with a what-if question
* Respect the reader’s imagination in your descriptions
* Character comes first
* Read
* Don’t chase an objective standard of quality but instead write to satisfy a real or imagination Ideal Reader

[Note: This infographic appeared on Hodderscape, in the post “Infographic: 14 Top Tips from Steven King’s On Writing“]
[Note: This infographic appeared on Hodderscape, in the post “Infographic: 14 Top Tips from Steven King’s On Writing“]