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So I have been working on 300 Rains a lot and reading more books on cultural anthropology. I am trying to incorporate plenty of that into the story without overwhelming it. That can be rather tough sometimes, especially when you are in a section where a lot of the dialogue is technical and you have to figure that most readers are not well versed in the specific disciplines speech. That has led to a lot of work trying to make sure things read smoothly.
Taking audience into consideration can be rough. You want the story to read authentic and thus use a lot of technical terms and the like but you also have to explain what you mean with them. It can make a writer crazy. I have written things where I use technical terms in Taoism and Martial Arts, even the Military and I have had readers get lost under the weight of the Discipline Speak. One of these days I am sure I am going to get it right. Maybe.
Sometimes writing from what you know can be bad for you, since you don't see the problem when your characters are spouting acronyms and the like. If you know something too well it can be difficult to step back and write for readers who don't have that knowledge. Tom Clancy is terrible at that. He has pages of tech dump that can overwhelm and slow a story. I am sure he doesn't see it as a problem since he still does it. As for me, I have trouble with my fight scenes. I try not to use move names because readers are not familiar with them and I write fights at the speed which they actually occur, which is very fast. Trying to stretch it out enough to be an entertaining read is tough, because I am trained to expect the fight to be short and brutal when writing usually wants a good bit longer and sometimes less brutal. Makes my job of choreographing the fight a bit difficult.
The problem is that even though I have these problems writing some things I need to be able to write things so that the effort I exerted does not show. You have to work hard to set things up and you have to make the read effortless, hiding the hours of research and the like. I have spent hours choreographing fights in my head that are maybe a page, because it is realistic and brutal. I have also done weeks of research into Cultural Anthropology and I work to make sure I am accurate in my portrayal of the character and also to provide a fun read.
Sigh... a writers work is never done.
Comments
What you Know
What you are doing is especially important. One sees it frequently on this site where an author writes about a subject and butchers the science. It hurts, to say the least, the author's credibility. You have done a wonderful job with your story. Certainly, there are some SF aspects to it, but it all fits so well. you have done a great job.
I didn't know Tom Clancy was still writing, but I think many who read his books enjoyed the technodumps. What is interesting is that he got so many things wrong about non-military things. I have a feeling, the main mass of his readers didn't care. He spun a good yarn. You are spinning a good yarn, and your science makes it just that much more credible.
There are probaly a number of authors on this site who are not appreciated for what has gone into their efforts. Their stories don't fit the 'formula'. Just keep writing what you do very well.
Portia
Portia
Allow me to add my two euros....
...since they don't trade in Lira any more. You are greatly appreciated. Thank you for your writing.
Dio vi benedica tutti
Con grande amore e di affetto
Andrea Lena
Love, Andrea Lena
Clearly my stuff doesn't fit
Clearly my stuff doesn't fit the formula. That is a bit disheartening at times but what can you do?
In terms of writing, I try to tell a good story first but then comes making sure that the information I use is good. I do a lot of research online and have only gotten better than what the Military and Grad School taught me. Fun stuff. Honestly, I have one need that is making me crazy but that is workable. Who would have thought that a Matse to English dictionary would be difficult to find.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
One or two ideas
You raise an interesting issue, Heather.
I don't think authors should ever be afraid of educating their audience. Indeed, this can add colour and texture to the story.
One easy and obvious solution is to include a glossary, leaving it up to the reader to look up those terms they're unfamiliar with. This can be useful, particularly if a term has a specific meaning to a discipline that's different from, say, a dictionary definition.
If the story is only published online, hyperlinks to Wikipedia or other suitable websites are possible.
One route I particularly like is when the characters dialogue about the term. Here's an example from a story I'm currently writing:
Possible Solutions
Bike Resources
Bike Resources
That technique would work is
That technique would work is one of the people in the story were not an Anthropologist. They would know what the terms meant. Maggie is a bit behind the curve but she would have learned most of those terms as an Undergrad. Sometimes the story isn't convenient enough to manage that technique.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Explanations
Perhaps the easiest route is to explain the term when it first crops up in a particular story - then you can reuse the term again and again, as you can assume the readers will have read the previous episodes so know what the term is. Finding a convenient mechanism to explain the term within the flow of the story depends on the context - e.g. the various concepts of Taoism and the fighting move names are relatively easy to introduce at Whateley, as the characters themselves are learning along with the reader. It's much trickier with the cultural anthropology concepts in 300 Rains, as all the main characters will have been using the jargon for years before the story even starts. Perhaps they could be introduced in the form of a quiz to test the knowledge of the students in one of Geoff's courses?
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Ah... you feel my
Ah... you feel my pain.
Yeah, each story has it's own challenges and this one seems to be he discipline specific jargon. Yay. It's a good thing I did not get even more detailed on the linguistic differences in the dialects.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
That problem isn't something you're alone with, Heather.
I don't know how many times I've worked and reworked a scene in my mind before it even got typed out. Then it often took work to make it understandable in the context of the story.
The fact that you care enough about your writing to worry about that kind of thing says a lot more than some might think.
Yes, writing can be fun, it lets us explore things we normally wouldn't encounter in our lives, especially when we have to learn something new just for the story. It's also work. But that isn't a bad thing, either. If you as a writer, and I as reader, learn something new through your story then it's a win/win situation in my opinion.
Good for you. For making us think, and giving us a reason to do that.
Are you sure you really aren't a teacher?
Maggie
I do know that I am a good
I do know that I am a good teacher, but unfortunately, in order to teach at the level I prefer I need a PhD and that can be problematic. So it goes.
I have always been very interested in getting details right for a story as they add to the credibility of the story, even if the reader does not know the term. The work you put in does show through and that helps. I actually had to change Hunter-Gatherer to Foraging as that is the current accepted term and what they would have used. Little one word choices that took research to discover. Granted my audience is not professionals, but I am that anal about information.
I just figure that the reader deserves the accuracy. This is the job I want so I do try to work at a professional level.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
I really wouldn't stress
Over the technical details. There's an audience for it trust me. Tuck, a really great story by Ellen Hayes has a lot of techno-babble and so does Zapped by Bob Arnold and both are great reads. A good tale to me has depth even if I don't get all of it.
You my dear write a darned good tale, odds are if you write it we'll like it.
Bailey Summers
Sometimes...
Sometimes what you need is a trusted "editor" to point out where your use of "lingo" is to far from the language spoken by mortals. This can be true in almost any field - when talking to those outside the field... I experience it on a regular basis when my wife talks about her research... The number of times I've thought I needed to go back to school to get a degree so I can get a clue...
It's something I see far to often in IT (Information Technology - COMPUTERS) consulting. The vast majority of consultants I run into communicate fine with corporate IT people, but have problems talking to business users. Heck, many corporate IT folks suffer from this malady as well. I experienced it when I got out of the Navy... Civilians just didn't get it.
It's a rare skill - describing something in terms others (outside the field) can understand.
You make it harder - by writing a story where to make it Sound/Feel real, you need to use the terminology and have the issue of explaining where you are and using the terms and when you've explained enough and when not enough. Not an easy one. I don't envy you the challenge!
Best wishes,
Anne
Well, anyone who knows me
Well, anyone who knows me would tell you that I am big on making things harder on myself. And stop having those dirty thoughts... some people.
This issue is really bad with Military people who transition back into the civilian world. Civilians don't think the same and the jargon really doesn't match up. I am bad with the Milspeak as well in some stories.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.
Heather
We are the change that will save the world.