Interesting tips

I just stumbled over this bit by Joss Whedon. It's for screenplays, but a surprisingly number of those tips apply to spanking stories.

http://aerogrammestudio.com/2013/03/13/joss-whedons-top-10-writing-tips/

I won't paste in the entire article (it's too long) but I will paste in the subject headings and how they apply to our writing.
1. FINISH IT - while I'm guilty of having numerous stories on the go, this is the most important step for anything you want to post.

2. STRUCTURE
Structure means knowing where you're going; making sure you don't meander about.
- Okay, sometimes I meander, but he's right. Stories should go A to B to C etc without wasting time at point AAZ.

3. HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY
- in our case, have a story in mind. Have characters, a plot, and a story you want to tell.

4. EVERYBODY HAS A REASON TO LIVE
Everybody has a perspective. Everybody in your scene, including the thug flanking your bad guy, has a reason.
- remember this one and your characters won't be two dimensional. Even if we're talking about a theme that has been done to death your characters should still have their own reason for being there. Take the head master of a girl's school who's about to cane a girl from the Upper Six. Why is he about to cane her?
He is a stickler for the rules - and thus insists they be followed to the letter?
Does he feel that he's a clog in the machine and thus has no choice?
Does he want her to learn a lesson here and now, and not out in the real world where she could get arrested or hurt for taking stupid chances?
Is he offended by her pride and wants to humble her?
Is is a dirty old man who likes caning schoolgirls?

Any of those are valid motives, but the story can be told very differently depending which you assign him. If he's a stickler for rules he will do things by the book. If he's a dirty old man then he might offer to cut the sentence in half if she raises her skirt for her caning.

5. CUT WHAT YOU LOVE
- this is a hard lesson to learn, but sometimes a part of the story you love is making it bloated or throwing the timing off. Of course, since we write for our enjoyment it's us who make the choice between including something we like or making the story a better one. I've gone both ways on this one.

6. LISTEN
- doesn't really apply to us. Feedback is nice (comments are wonderful) but it's rare that anyone gives a spanking writer enough feedback that this point makes sense.

7. TRACK THE AUDIENCE MOOD
- this only kind of applies to us. It's really "be sure you're posting in the right place". Look around and see what sort of stories get posted on various sites and decide where to post to. For example, I've never written a spanking story that focuses heavily on rope and branding irons, but if I did then I wouldn't post it here. I'd find a bondage site that encourages spanking in their bondage stories and post it there.

8. WRITE LIKE A MOVIE
- this is a handy tip.

9. DON'T LISTEN
- This one applies. You are writing for yourself. If someone asks you to write something that you're not interested in, say no. If someone wants you to add elements that aren't things you enjoy, say no. Okay, sometimes you might want to stretch your writing style by including things that aren't your normal likes (I've done that with some F/m stories) but if it's not working for you then how can you be sure it's working for anyone?

10. DON'T SELL OUT
- I wish this one applied, but no one is paying us. I suppose you could include it with #9 and say "don't write just for compliments".

Those are my views on his advice - and I'd welcome others.

Goodgulf

Thanks for posting this.
#10 is the one that resonated for me; at the end of the day, we are writing for ourselves. I think some of the examples I have seen in the Challenge demonstrate what happens when you sell-out and don't write from your heart; authenticity and passion are notable for their absence.

1--Absolutely. Don't post part of a story and say "I'll finish it later." But note you may have written something and decide it's time for a sequel. that's ok.

2--Couldn't agree more, and I might add that you give the story depth if it is about more than just a spanking incident.

3--See 2

4--True but when you choose a POV you are electing which characters' motivations are to be revealed.

5--What this means is that you cut the fluff. A good example might be an extended description of some activity that you may have expertise in, but going through all that just slows down the story. Use just enough to advance the plot and create the tension.

6--If you do get something constructive, take it to heart. I did and it helped me streamline a novel of mine that was really too bloated.

7--I'm not sure I want to do this but I am recognizing the various sub-species of spanking fiction and I am at least packaging things to cater to those.

8---Oh, yeah. I agree with this 100%. As you write, try to be thinking "screenplay." Make your descriptions and dialog "cinematic."

9--See 10.

10. I'm not writing formula for anybody. Not now, not ever. The romance publishing houses, for example, have strict guidelines. It's their way or the highway. If my story happens to fall within those lines, ok, but i'm not consciously writing to those guidelines.

Thanks for posting this, Goodgulf. I've seen similar advice in books about writing.

I think #5 is the most difficult. I have almost cried at times when taking a scalpel to a section that I had labored over and thought I had just right. Sometimes the most beautiful or personally meaningful phrases just don't fit. I console myself by saying there will be other stories and other places I can use it more effectively.

As far as #7, there are all kinds and levels of stories here and very good indicators to help people choose the ones that appeal to their tastes. I haven't submitted any edgier stories here yet, but when (and if) I do, I am certain the administrators will let me know if they are inappropriate.

Joss Whedon is an enormously talented writer with a great ear for dialog (only Elmore Leonard, off the top of my head, being better) and his advise is quite enlightening and valuable, even that which doesn't necessarily apply here.

Thanks for posting this.

A clog would be a particularly mean spanking implement.

I think there's a lot of good advice here, but "write like a movie" is dangerous unless it comes with a big qualification. A lot of American writing in particular is full of action and little else - like a bad film or a computer game. With words you can convey subtleties, ambiguities, colour, feelings: a brilliant film-maker with brilliant actors can come close to this through little incidents, body language and so on, but it's not always possible. Besides, films rely on sight and (to a lesser extent) sound. There are other senses - feeling, smell, taste. Great novels and poems, in my opinion, are not written "like a movie".

Perhaps what is being advocated is "show, not tell." Rather than go into lengthy detail about what people and things look like, or about previous events, let these be made known in the course of the story. I'd give an example or too right now on how to do that when writing, but I'm ready to head out the door.

And that, of course, is a perfect example of "showing, not telling"...

I trust he took the rest of his body with him when he "headed" out the door? Or did he only put his "head" out the door and leave the rest of his body inside?

LOL,,,a example of ways people can take something we write and put an entirely different meaning to it, especially if English is not their mother tongue. Sometimes whether we show or tell or do both we will never make everyone happy or be correct in everyone's eyes, so take all the advice you want to apply and throw the rest away.

CS