WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.120 --> 00:00:23.139 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Welcome everyone. Welcome as you are starting to filter in. If you can see and hear me, please drop your name and location into the chat. 2 00:00:23.390 --> 00:00:27.630 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and I will be dropping some special links for you there. 3 00:00:38.430 --> 00:00:53.420 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Seas. Sacramento, LA. Idaho, Canada, Glasgow, Germany, Maryland, Maine, Ontario, New York, Texas. We have people coming from all over. We absolutely love to see that. 4 00:00:56.080 --> 00:01:01.729 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Alright. I'm gonna drop those links again as everybody starts to filter in 5 00:01:03.890 --> 00:01:18.289 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: welcome welcome. We have just a couple housekeeping items to go over before we begin to day. But Hello! I am Michele from pro writing aid. Welcome to Science Fiction writers week. We're so glad to have you as always. 6 00:01:19.370 --> 00:01:41.029 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So first off in our housekeeping items replays you will access these on the Hub page, and they will be available for everyone to view until September 20 eighth. After that they will be moved to the Pro writing Academy platform. So if you would like to re-watch anything or catch anything you missed. You can find all of those at the Hub. 7 00:01:41.030 --> 00:01:53.100 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Please give us a little bit of time to upload those as we are at the mercy of the zoom recordings processing so you can see all of today's sessions by tomorrow morning. 8 00:01:53.370 --> 00:01:58.110 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: so you can check there tomorrow for the previous day's replays. 9 00:01:58.140 --> 00:02:23.109 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: And we also have an offer for you today. If you're interested in upgrading to pro rating a premium this week, all participants have the offer to upgrade for 40% off for a yearly premium plan. That offer is available until September 20 eighth as well, and all of the information, for that is on the hub. So if you were thinking about upgrading, now is a great time to do so. 10 00:02:24.040 --> 00:02:45.779 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: and if you'd like to keep the Science Fiction writing conversation going. We'd love to have you in our private online community. Joining is super easy. You simply visit the link. If it's in the chat now, and also on the slide here, and you just log in with your pro writing aid account, and then you can hop on over to the live event, chat to talk to other attendees. 11 00:02:46.190 --> 00:03:07.289 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So just a couple reminders for today's session. If you have a question for our speakers, please use the Q&A box so that we can keep track of those questions. You can find that button in the center of your zoom screen. If you'd like to chat with other viewers, please use the chat and be sure to select everyone. Otherwise your messages will just come to the hosts. 12 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:20.010 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So if you want everybody to see your messages, be sure to select that option, and, as you can see, the chat moves very quickly. So remember to put your specific questions for the speakers into the Q. And a. Only. 13 00:03:20.610 --> 00:03:26.110 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: So with that being said, thank you again for coming, and we are ready to begin. 14 00:03:26.280 --> 00:03:54.379 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: We are joined today by Anne Holley and Rochelle Ramirez from pages and platforms. Richelle Ramirez is a certified developmental editor who helps fiction and non fiction writers structure and finish their projects. She is a Co. Creator of the story, path, course, and numerous writing master classes. She is a Co. Host of the happily ever Author club at pages and platforms, and author of the forthcoming book, the A. DHD. Writer, from Frustrated to Focus to finished 15 00:03:54.690 --> 00:04:16.430 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Anne Holley, is a certified developmental editor of literary, historical, and fantasy fiction, and is the author of restraint, a novel of forbidden love in Regency, England. She was the producer and writer of the popular storygrid, roundtable, podcast, and currently teaches and develops writing courses at pages and platforms. Welcome Anne and Rochelle. We're so glad to have you here. 16 00:04:17.060 --> 00:04:23.379 Anne Hawley: Well, we're delighted to be here. Thank you. Give me just a second to get set up and we'll go ahead and get started 17 00:04:23.490 --> 00:04:28.509 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: all right. I'm going to hand things over to you, and I will just be here watching with everyone else. 18 00:04:28.660 --> 00:04:29.670 Anne Hawley: Thank you. 19 00:04:35.940 --> 00:04:39.690 Anne Hawley: Okay, for show. You let me know if the screen looks right to you. 20 00:04:40.970 --> 00:04:41.900 Rachelle Ramirez: Looks good. 21 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.809 Anne Hawley: Okay. I just need to get rid of this floating controls. There we go. 22 00:04:48.860 --> 00:04:51.650 Anne Hawley: Alright. Let's get started here. 23 00:04:52.850 --> 00:05:00.600 Anne Hawley: Oops. I forgot to turn off my video. I do want to turn off my video. Sorry. Don't like seeing myself while I'm working here. One moment, please 24 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:04.320 Anne Hawley: stop. Video there. It is. Okay. 25 00:05:06.780 --> 00:05:08.270 Anne Hawley: And 26 00:05:11.370 --> 00:05:15.530 Anne Hawley: okay, thank you for your patience while I fiddle around here. 27 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:31.980 Anne Hawley: Well, welcome everybody. We have a very large group here today. We love doing presentations for pro writing aid. We are so happy to have you here for the essentials of writing Science fiction from pages and platforms, and the happily ever Author club 28 00:05:32.390 --> 00:05:50.550 Anne Hawley: before we get started. We've got a gift for this great Science fiction writing. Audience. It is our guide to the 7 essential story types. You can get that at pages and platforms.com slash sci-fi and we'll be talking more about them as we go along here today those 7 story types. 29 00:05:50.980 --> 00:06:07.610 Anne Hawley: So what brings you here today? Are you stuck in the process of finishing your Science fiction story? Have you completed a draft? But you can't quite figure out how to fix problems with it, or even how to define the problems that you sense. 30 00:06:10.340 --> 00:06:27.600 Anne Hawley: Have you gotten down the research rabbit hole. I do that a lot. Have you tried plotting according to one of the many methods out there? Or are you more of a pancer for those who don't know what a pancer is flying by the seat of your pants just writing as you go? 31 00:06:27.760 --> 00:06:33.260 Anne Hawley: Or are you otherwise feeling stuck somewhere along the path to a finished manuscript. 32 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:46.870 Anne Hawley: We know the feeling as we have just heard from Michelle. I'm Anne Holly, and here with me is Rochelle Ramirez. We developed the concepts in this webinar to help you get unstuck. 33 00:06:46.940 --> 00:06:48.910 Anne Hawley: But first, a caveat. 34 00:06:48.960 --> 00:06:55.889 Anne Hawley: we can't emphasize this. Enough that everything we're going to show you in this presentation today is a set of tools. 35 00:06:56.040 --> 00:07:17.519 Anne Hawley: not rules. These are some principles of what makes a good working story. Our clients find them useful, and so do we in our own writing? But please don't let any of our ideas today shut down your creativity as a writer. Take what you need and leave the rest. The important thing is first to write the story that's in your heart to tell. 36 00:07:19.530 --> 00:07:29.990 Anne Hawley: Today, we're going to show you some ways to build. evaluate, and improve your Science fiction story, using 4 tools. 37 00:07:30.010 --> 00:07:36.760 Anne Hawley: marketing, category and setting, also known as genre essential story elements. 38 00:07:36.920 --> 00:07:40.349 Anne Hawley: story types and world building. 39 00:07:41.070 --> 00:07:49.669 Anne Hawley: By the end of this webinar, you should have a much clearer idea of how to evoke empathy, for your characters, create tension and excitement. 40 00:07:50.000 --> 00:08:11.179 Anne Hawley: provide emotional satisfaction for your reader, convey a thoughtful takeaway and meet the readers overall expectations for your story type, so that they're going to be happy to recommend your book and eager to read the next thing you write, and it's always a high aim of ours to approach these lofty goals. We need to start with a fundamental idea. 41 00:08:11.640 --> 00:08:13.840 Anne Hawley: Science fiction isn't a story type. 42 00:08:14.750 --> 00:08:32.220 Anne Hawley: Science fiction is a story environment. It's a setting, and it is a marketing category. In other words, it's a genre. The difference between genre. That is your marketing category and setting and story type is the key piece of information we hope you will take away today 43 00:08:32.830 --> 00:08:50.559 Anne Hawley: as your story setting or environment. The term Science Fiction generally refers to stories that require readers to suspend belief to a significant degree, more or less, that may have a cautionary premise referring to current times as as to an imagined future. 44 00:08:51.670 --> 00:09:11.879 Anne Hawley: There's stories that are likely to involve predicted or speculative technology that may take place on other planets in this world, or alternate versions of this world or in space, and are generally regarded as speculative or imaginative, and may veer from accepted scientific understanding in the real world today. 45 00:09:12.840 --> 00:09:32.990 Anne Hawley: Now, at writers, conventions, and book fairs which we are going to get back to doing this year, I think we really are. We always ask people what they're writing now, most writers who are writing in the Science Fiction genre will say so, and then add something a qualifier like Ya or Lgbtq, or Dystopian, or Hard Science Fiction, or Space opera, etc. 46 00:09:33.370 --> 00:09:44.269 Anne Hawley: Now these categories tend to describe the specific kind of world the story takes place in, or else the age or orientation or demographic, basically of the intended reader. 47 00:09:44.730 --> 00:09:59.740 Anne Hawley: And these subcategories might make or break a potential reader's decision, whether or not to read your book. Many readers are looking specifically for, say, hard science fiction or dystopian stories, and you, as the author, need to be clear on what you're offering. 48 00:10:00.230 --> 00:10:07.470 Anne Hawley: Each of these subcategories has its own trends and conventions and rules, and you do need to keep track of them. But 49 00:10:07.750 --> 00:10:16.350 Anne Hawley: your science fiction genre, and its subgenres alone can't tell you much of what you need to know as a writer to build and finish your story. 50 00:10:16.720 --> 00:10:22.230 Anne Hawley: That's what story type is for, and Rochelle will be covering that in depth in just a moment. 51 00:10:22.540 --> 00:10:40.579 Anne Hawley: no matter what Science fiction, category or sub genre, you're writing in, your story structure has to work the same way as if it were set in modern day. Los Angeles. This means that a science fiction story will need to meet certain criteria that most good working stories have in common, regardless of their genre. 52 00:10:40.760 --> 00:10:51.829 Anne Hawley: And that brings us to our second major topic the essential story elements. the story elements that need to be in place before you really have a professional working draft. 53 00:10:52.450 --> 00:11:02.859 Anne Hawley: And there's another little caveat here writing a novel or other book length work. I'm sure everyone in the room knows this, but I'm going to say it, anyway. It is not a one draft process. Sorry about that 54 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:18.400 Anne Hawley: that movie image of the writer typing pages, you know, rolling sheets of paper into a typewriter. Remember that, and stacking them up, you know they rip them out of the roller and stack them up and type the end, and then send this whole thing off to the publisher. Total myth. 55 00:11:18.430 --> 00:11:19.850 Anne Hawley: total myth big life. 56 00:11:20.250 --> 00:11:43.249 Anne Hawley: First you need a 0 draft. This is where you metaphorically back the truck up to the construction site and unload all the building materials. This is the everything draft, the vomit draft, the messy draft. However, you want to think about it. Shitty, first draft people call it where you pour out all your ideas, character sketches, backstories, redundant scenes, story. Bunny trails the whole thing. 57 00:11:43.670 --> 00:11:53.859 Anne Hawley: Whether you outline first or just start writing, that is, whether you're a plotter or a pancer. Your initial draft will need work before it becomes a professional working draft. 58 00:11:54.430 --> 00:12:05.519 Anne Hawley: So let's define that professional working draft to count as a professional draft. Your story should have a protagonist with a singular, clear desire 59 00:12:05.890 --> 00:12:14.599 Anne Hawley: that desire establishes something the protagonist wants to gain, and something they fear to lose. In other words, there is something at stake 60 00:12:15.080 --> 00:12:21.160 Anne Hawley: pursuing their desire and facing those stakes causes the protagonists to change. 61 00:12:21.410 --> 00:12:25.400 Anne Hawley: The story has a clear premise that's reflected in every scene. 62 00:12:25.510 --> 00:12:31.050 Anne Hawley: and it is driving toward the emotion that the reader for your story type expects to feel. 63 00:12:31.550 --> 00:12:37.460 Anne Hawley: So. Desire stakes change, premise, and emotion 64 00:12:37.830 --> 00:12:42.690 Anne Hawley: when these 5 elements are clear and your story is working. 65 00:12:43.800 --> 00:12:45.620 Anne Hawley: Then you begin revisions. 66 00:12:46.240 --> 00:12:57.500 Anne Hawley: and then you are on your way to a fully finished and polished story. Nail these elements, and you will attract the reader who is just waiting to choose your story. 67 00:12:57.730 --> 00:13:11.610 Anne Hawley: Now, I'm gonna pass this discussion to Rochelle. She is one of literally one of the world's foremost experts on story types. She helped create numerous master classes on the subject for the happily ever Author club, and she's here to share 68 00:13:11.690 --> 00:13:16.339 Anne Hawley: a whole bunch of what she has learned. So I'm going to pass this over to Rochelle. 69 00:13:17.120 --> 00:13:29.499 Rachelle Ramirez: Thanks, Anne. I'm excited to cover this section to day, because choosing your story type is the single most critical decision you'll make in writing your Science fiction story 70 00:13:29.870 --> 00:13:37.849 story types give you the practical and applicable assistance you need for creating a working draft. 71 00:13:38.380 --> 00:13:55.240 Rachelle Ramirez: That's because your story type determines those important story elements that Anne just went over. Your story type defines your protagonists. Motivation also known as their desire or their want and need. 72 00:13:55.860 --> 00:14:02.569 Rachelle Ramirez: It defines what kinds of things are at stake. What your protagonist has to gain and lose. 73 00:14:03.820 --> 00:14:18.820 Rachelle Ramirez: Story type tells you the specific kind of change arc, your protagonist undergoes from beginning to end of the story. and it specifies the kinds of emotions you should aim to evoke in your reader. 74 00:14:19.710 --> 00:14:27.529 Rachelle Ramirez: Story type contains a basic premise or message, which is the idea you want the reader to take away. 75 00:14:27.700 --> 00:14:31.689 Rachelle Ramirez: Don't worry. You'll meet all of these elements. Again, in a moment. 76 00:14:32.830 --> 00:14:45.499 Rachelle Ramirez: all of these essential elements shape your story and inform the story. Events. That's because story types are a way to understand and communicate the kind of story you're telling. 77 00:14:46.740 --> 00:14:57.620 Rachelle Ramirez: As Anne mentioned a few minutes ago, story type isn't analogous to marketing categories or genres that are used by publishers to communicate with potential buyers. 78 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:02.590 Rachelle Ramirez: Story types are not explicit in back cover blurbs. 79 00:15:03.590 --> 00:15:10.459 Rachelle Ramirez: Agents and readers don't use these in their decision. or whether or not to read your book. 80 00:15:10.550 --> 00:15:17.289 Rachelle Ramirez: Story types are for writers and editors who use them for crafting cohesive stories 81 00:15:18.540 --> 00:15:23.519 Rachelle Ramirez: as we see it at pages and platforms. There are 7 essential story types 82 00:15:23.600 --> 00:15:32.270 now, other writers and editors have identified more, but we've distilled it down to 7 for the sake of simplicity and ease of use. 83 00:15:33.000 --> 00:15:43.580 Rachelle Ramirez: They are 7 distinct plot forms, each with individual character, motivations, stakes, reader, emotions, premises, and more. 84 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:51.919 Rachelle Ramirez: You and your editor can use story types to identify and fix deep structural issues in your manuscript. 85 00:15:52.460 --> 00:16:00.080 Rachelle Ramirez: and knowing your story type will help you both understand, discuss, and improve the kind of story you're telling. 86 00:16:01.010 --> 00:16:08.689 Rachelle Ramirez: Story types are the key to organizing, integrating, and evaluating those essential story elements we just went over. 87 00:16:09.780 --> 00:16:19.630 Rachelle Ramirez: So what are these 7 story types? Here's a quick overview. And then we're gonna look at each of one, each one of these individually. the 7 story types are 88 00:16:20.130 --> 00:16:22.320 Rachelle Ramirez: action, crime. 89 00:16:22.660 --> 00:16:26.870 Rachelle Ramirez: horror. love. worldview 90 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:29.920 Rachelle Ramirez: validation and redemption. 91 00:16:31.190 --> 00:16:36.239 Rachelle Ramirez: Let's look at them one by one. Watch for those essential elements as we go along. 92 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:47.530 Rachelle Ramirez: The first story type is action. Action stories are as old as humankind. They teach us the importance of individual heroism in the face of danger 93 00:16:48.010 --> 00:16:59.499 Rachelle Ramirez: identifying an action story is pretty easy for most of us. Action stories are plot driven and involve, escape, chase, adventure, rescue, or rebellion. 94 00:17:00.560 --> 00:17:13.990 Rachelle Ramirez: The action protagonist is motivated by the desire to save lives or avoid danger. So action stories involve the high stakes of life and death, or at least safety and danger. 95 00:17:15.410 --> 00:17:26.430 Rachelle Ramirez: The action protagonist usually begins in ordinary life, moves through high stakes, danger and ends as a hero to other people after having restored safety. 96 00:17:27.410 --> 00:17:39.839 Rachelle Ramirez: If you are writing an action story, the reader you're writing for likely wants to feel excitement. They want to imagine their own bravery in the face of danger. And it's your job to deliver those feelings 97 00:17:41.080 --> 00:17:58.750 Rachelle Ramirez: before we look at action's essential premise. We should first define what a premise is. A premise sometimes called a controlling idea or a theme is a single sentence statement that describes the value change of the entire story at the climax 98 00:17:58.840 --> 00:18:02.249 Rachelle Ramirez: and identifies the cause of that change. 99 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:08.169 Rachelle Ramirez: It names the primary story event. What happens? And why? 100 00:18:08.540 --> 00:18:17.470 Rachelle Ramirez: Now keep in mind that the premise statement you'll hear, for each story type is broad and general, and that you'll need to personalize it to your story 101 00:18:19.070 --> 00:18:37.579 Rachelle Ramirez: for action. The general essential premise is that heroic action leads to saving lives, whereas villainous behaviour leads to loss of life. Now this could end negatively as well when the protagonist fails or dies or is shamed if they failed to act to save the victim. 102 00:18:38.110 --> 00:18:55.600 Rachelle Ramirez: We see the primary story event as reacting to villainous behavior. We see the big story change at the climax, saving lives, or possibly loss of lives, and we see the cause of that change which is heroic action or failure to act. 103 00:18:56.830 --> 00:19:10.849 Rachelle Ramirez: Action stories and Science Fiction realms are not hard to find. Most popular science fiction films, including superhero and comic book movies, are primarily centred on a hero motivated to save lives 104 00:19:11.180 --> 00:19:19.310 Rachelle Ramirez: in novels, the subject matter can run a little deeper and turn more philosophical. But there's plenty of action to choose from. 105 00:19:19.690 --> 00:19:42.839 Rachelle Ramirez: Some examples. Andy wears Mega hit. The Martian is set in a realistic near future, and leverages current science to pit a stranded astronaut against the antagonistic Mars landscape. He takes heroic and desperate measures to stay alive, that is, to save himself as both hero and victim until rescue can come. 106 00:19:44.540 --> 00:20:05.069 Rachelle Ramirez: Parable of the Sower, by Octavia butler begins with the seed of an idea for a new religion, but quickly turns into an action story of chase and adventure. As the protagonist leads a group of followers away from roving bands of violent attics through fire and an earthquake to a promised land. 107 00:20:05.580 --> 00:20:17.230 Rachelle Ramirez: While this novel of ideas has a strong character, driven coming of age plot for its young protagonist. Her leadership role in facing danger makes action its main plot. 108 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:27.450 Rachelle Ramirez: Ridley Walker, by Russell Hoban is set roughly 2,000 years after a nuclear war devastated civilization. 109 00:20:27.830 --> 00:20:50.099 Rachelle Ramirez: Ridley, the young narrator, has a chosen one arc of adventure across the harsh and toxic landscape, facing deadly packs of wild dogs, rough tribal communities, and nefarious government agents. As he slowly uncover his efforts to recreate the weapon that destroyed the ancient world. In the first place. 110 00:20:53.350 --> 00:21:11.599 Rachelle Ramirez: the second story type is crime. We enjoy reading, watching, and writing crime stories because they show us that social order and justice depend on clever people who can outsmart chaotic wrongdoers by using brains rather than brawn 111 00:21:12.370 --> 00:21:16.910 Rachelle Ramirez: crime. Stories like action stories are plot driven. 112 00:21:17.000 --> 00:21:22.400 Rachelle Ramirez: They involve solving a puzzle, investigating a crime or planning a heist. 113 00:21:23.560 --> 00:21:29.489 Rachelle Ramirez: The crime protagonist is motivated by a desire to solve a puzzle. 114 00:21:29.520 --> 00:21:34.669 Rachelle Ramirez: restore social order. or bring a wrongdoer to justice. 115 00:21:35.350 --> 00:21:46.720 Rachelle Ramirez: and that means what's at stake in a crime story is justice in order. If the protagonist doesn't win injustice and chaos will prevail. 116 00:21:47.710 --> 00:21:55.000 Rachelle Ramirez: the crime protagonist generally starts out facing chaos, disorder, a crime, and a big question. 117 00:21:55.310 --> 00:22:02.510 Rachelle Ramirez: They end in a more ordered state with a solution to the puzzle, justice and restored order. 118 00:22:03.960 --> 00:22:17.040 Rachelle Ramirez: Crime. Story readers want to feel the intrigue of solving a puzzle along with, or just before, the protagonist, and they tend to enjoy the sense of security in seeing justice prevail. 119 00:22:18.300 --> 00:22:22.760 Rachelle Ramirez: Crime's essential premise. Its primary underlying idea 120 00:22:22.980 --> 00:22:34.189 Rachelle Ramirez: is that criminal activity results in chaos, whereas the pursuit of justice restores social order. Again, we see the primary story event as criminal activity. 121 00:22:34.270 --> 00:22:44.180 Rachelle Ramirez: We see the big story change at the climax which is restored social order, and we see the cause of the change as the pursuit of justice. 122 00:22:45.210 --> 00:22:50.840 Rachelle Ramirez: Some crime stories set in Science Fiction World Science Fiction worlds include 123 00:22:52.390 --> 00:23:03.300 Rachelle Ramirez: 6 weeks by Myrrh Lafferty, modeled on the classic closed room murder, mystery. This novel takes place on a generation ship in deep space. 124 00:23:03.350 --> 00:23:18.109 Rachelle Ramirez: where crew members are cloned as they age and die. The protagonist awakens from deep cryogenic sleep 25 years into the voyage to discover her last clone, and the Clones of the rest of the crew have been murdered. 125 00:23:18.840 --> 00:23:23.600 Rachelle Ramirez: The culprit could be any one of them, including the protagonist herself. 126 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:39.519 Rachelle Ramirez: Lock in by John Scalzi, is a police procedural set in a near future world, where an epidemic has left one per cent of its victims locked in, trapped, fully conscious, in unmoving, uncensing bodies. 127 00:23:39.690 --> 00:23:47.880 Rachelle Ramirez: Some can afford robot like vehicles, they can transfer their consciousness into, and one such person is the protagonist. 128 00:23:47.890 --> 00:23:54.240 Rachelle Ramirez: a Federal agent assigned to solve a murder involving the misuse of the same technology 129 00:23:56.210 --> 00:24:04.190 Rachelle Ramirez: and dark run by Mike Brooks, set in a corrupt galaxy, where life is cheap and criminals are the best people in it. 130 00:24:04.200 --> 00:24:13.970 Rachelle Ramirez: This epic space heist has a crew of thieves and con artists who take on a dangerous secret job that could pay off a lot of debts 131 00:24:14.080 --> 00:24:15.819 Rachelle Ramirez: if they survive. 132 00:24:18.920 --> 00:24:21.709 Rachelle Ramirez: The third story type is horror. 133 00:24:22.060 --> 00:24:33.590 Rachelle Ramirez: Horror stories exist to remind us that evil is never really destroyed, but the courage and internal eternal vigilance of ordinary people can keep it at bay. 134 00:24:34.220 --> 00:24:42.550 Rachelle Ramirez: Horror stories are plot driven with a monster intent on destruction, and a protagonist who becomes a victim. 135 00:24:42.860 --> 00:24:56.820 Rachelle Ramirez: The monster can be anything, a human sociopath, an animal, an alien, a supernatural being, any being or force that does evil as part of its basic nature, and can't be reasoned with. 136 00:24:58.190 --> 00:25:05.880 Rachelle Ramirez: The protagonist is motivated by staying alive and avoiding a fate worse than death, such as torture. 137 00:25:06.420 --> 00:25:13.040 Rachelle Ramirez: That means that the stakes in a horror story involve life, death, escape, and torment. 138 00:25:14.140 --> 00:25:22.399 Rachelle Ramirez: The horror. Protagonist generally changes along a continuum from safety to danger, to the threat of torment. To escape 139 00:25:23.970 --> 00:25:29.830 Rachelle Ramirez: the horror. Reader wants to feel terror and imagine their bravery in facing a monster. 140 00:25:30.870 --> 00:25:43.549 Rachelle Ramirez: Horror's essential premise is that ordinary people can keep evil, obey with courage and vigilance, whereas cowardice and indifference allow the monster to win, and for evil to thrive. 141 00:25:44.270 --> 00:25:57.369 Rachelle Ramirez: We see a primary story event, evil. We see the big story change at the climax. Evil is kept at bay, and we see the cause of the change, the courage and vigilance of ordinary people. 142 00:25:58.370 --> 00:26:09.269 Rachelle Ramirez: Horror almost always has an inherent speculative element, and its monsters can be aliens or technology, including biological entities, like diseases. 143 00:26:09.850 --> 00:26:11.259 Rachelle Ramirez: Some examples. 144 00:26:11.380 --> 00:26:25.080 Rachelle Ramirez: Jordan Peele's film get out! Puts a young black man into the country home of his white girlfriend's parents, where a secret technology is doing horrible things to other black people, and is coming for him. Next 145 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:30.560 Rachelle Ramirez: note that there's a secondary monster of racism operating in this story as well. 146 00:26:32.430 --> 00:26:47.700 Rachelle Ramirez: Salvation day by Collie Wallace, gives us an abandoned exploration ship, whose entire crew has been killed by a virus. Now a motley band of space wanderers wants to take the ship and make it their own. 147 00:26:48.110 --> 00:26:56.189 Rachelle Ramirez: They don't know that what sleeping alongside the orbiting dead is a deadly secret that threatens all of humanity 148 00:26:56.230 --> 00:26:57.960 Rachelle Ramirez: until they wake it up. 149 00:26:59.410 --> 00:27:12.140 Rachelle Ramirez: and the Classic Science Fiction Film alien, a near, perfect model of a horror story where an alien monster picks off its victims one by one in a mining vessel far out in space. 150 00:27:15.330 --> 00:27:28.580 Rachelle Ramirez: Now for a change of pace, the love story. Here's a chance for us to debunk a misconception because it turns out that the love story isn't limited to the romance novel. Romcom. 151 00:27:29.180 --> 00:27:37.430 Rachelle Ramirez: Love stories overall show us how to earn the intimacy, love, and togetherness that are essential to human thriving 152 00:27:38.480 --> 00:27:51.690 Rachelle Ramirez: love. Stories are both plot driven and character driven and involve relationships of intimacy, vulnerability, and commitment, including friendship and family love, as well as romantic love. 153 00:27:52.590 --> 00:27:58.649 Rachelle Ramirez: The love protagonist is motivated by a desire to win love or avoid vulnerability. 154 00:27:59.850 --> 00:28:07.500 Rachelle Ramirez: The love protagonist risks rejection and vulnerability in order to gain intimacy and togetherness. 155 00:28:07.860 --> 00:28:21.020 Rachelle Ramirez: The love protagonist usually changes along a continuum from disconnection and loneliness to connection and togetherness. But a less happy love story can go the other way. 156 00:28:22.260 --> 00:28:34.990 Rachelle Ramirez: The love reader wants to feel anticipation of intimacy and vulnerability without the risk. Romantic and sexual anticipation may be at play in stories involving romantic love. 157 00:28:36.740 --> 00:28:49.379 Rachelle Ramirez: The essential premise of the love story is that a willingness to be vulnerable leads to love, whereas an unwillingness to be vulnerable results in the loss of love and probable loneliness. 158 00:28:50.120 --> 00:28:53.899 Rachelle Ramirez: the primary story, event, desire for connection. 159 00:28:53.930 --> 00:28:58.670 We see the big story change at the climax, gaining or losing love. 160 00:28:58.840 --> 00:29:04.110 Rachelle Ramirez: and the cause of that change, risking vulnerability or, failing to 161 00:29:05.870 --> 00:29:10.680 Rachelle Ramirez: love and science fiction, make an unusual pairing. But let's look at some examples. 162 00:29:11.870 --> 00:29:31.929 Rachelle Ramirez: The Time Traveller's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger is a love story about a man with a genetic disorder that causes him to time. Travel unpredictably, while Claire, an artist, and his loving wife has known him across time and must cope with his frequent disappearances into the Time stream. 163 00:29:34.040 --> 00:29:49.040 Rachelle Ramirez: Charlie Kaufmann's film. Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, posits the existence of a technology that erases the memories of failed relationships and helps the bereaved and the rejected overcome their trauma and loss. 164 00:29:49.220 --> 00:29:55.300 Rachelle Ramirez: It tells the story of 2 lovers who get back together again. Even after this erasure 165 00:29:57.830 --> 00:30:14.210 Rachelle Ramirez: in Sean, David Hutchinson's a complicated love story set in space. 3 young people find themselves aboard a spaceship with no idea how they got there. They face aliens and disruptive memory technologies while 2 of them are falling in love. 166 00:30:14.650 --> 00:30:22.209 Rachelle Ramirez: The novel has a telling tag line. Love is complicated enough without also, without also trying to stay alive. 167 00:30:22.550 --> 00:30:26.930 Rachelle Ramirez: letting us know that it's as much an action story as a love story. 168 00:30:29.620 --> 00:30:32.560 Rachelle Ramirez: The fifth story type is world view. 169 00:30:32.610 --> 00:30:47.289 Rachelle Ramirez: The cultural purpose of a world view story, broadly speaking, is to show that the world is not a simple black and white place. They teach us about accepting the nuance and complexity of other people and ourselves 170 00:30:47.920 --> 00:30:59.039 Rachelle Ramirez: often referred to as a maturation or coming of age story. The World view story is character driven and involves a protagonist confronting their naivete. 171 00:30:59.110 --> 00:31:03.389 Rachelle Ramirez: experiencing disillusionment or finding meaning. 172 00:31:04.780 --> 00:31:17.719 Rachelle Ramirez: The world view protagonists, primary motivation is a desire to either gain knowledge or avoid some unpleasant truth, whether they're conscious of this desire or not. 173 00:31:18.750 --> 00:31:32.689 Rachelle Ramirez: This means that the stakes for the worldview protagonist, what they have to gain or lose what they have to lose. Mainly are their ignorance or their cherished beliefs, while what they have to gain are knowledge and wisdom. 174 00:31:34.300 --> 00:31:47.119 Rachelle Ramirez: The world view protagonist arc of change is from ignorance to knowledge or wisdom. They tend to move from seeing the world in shades of black and white to understanding their role in a world of greys. 175 00:31:47.390 --> 00:31:49.550 Rachelle Ramirez: Basically, they grow up. 176 00:31:51.010 --> 00:31:58.039 Rachelle Ramirez: The reader chooses or enjoys a world view story because they want to feel empathetic satisfaction or pity. 177 00:31:58.220 --> 00:32:03.000 Rachelle Ramirez: they may also enjoy feeling comparatively wise and mature. 178 00:32:04.810 --> 00:32:16.860 Rachelle Ramirez: The essential premise of the world. View story is that open mindedness in the face of new information leads to wisdom, whereas, avoiding the truth results in self deception. 179 00:32:17.490 --> 00:32:24.620 Rachelle Ramirez: So we see a primary story event, new information. We see the big story change at the climax. 180 00:32:24.680 --> 00:32:33.590 Rachelle Ramirez: wisdom, or alternatively self deception. And we see the cause of that change, open mindedness. 181 00:32:33.640 --> 00:32:35.769 Rachelle Ramirez: or else avoiding the truth. 182 00:32:36.770 --> 00:32:46.830 Rachelle Ramirez: you will find a world view arc in almost any story involving a young adult protagonist. But the story type goes beyond just coming of age or maturation. 183 00:32:47.110 --> 00:32:56.750 Rachelle Ramirez: The worldview protagonist can be of any age. Here are some examples. The nobodies, by Elana Schubach. 184 00:32:56.760 --> 00:33:16.850 Rachelle Ramirez: tells of 2 best friends who discover that by putting their foreheads together they can swap bodies as their worlds begin to mesh. Each deceives, the other confesses and is forgiven, but they each have to contend with the disappearing boundaries between them, and the question of their own identities 185 00:33:17.630 --> 00:33:27.180 Rachelle Ramirez: as a story of strong female friendship. We might see the nobodies as having a secondary love story of the intimate friendship, variety. 186 00:33:28.950 --> 00:33:41.040 Rachelle Ramirez: Ray Bradbury's classic, the haunting short story all summer, and a day is set in a colony on Venus, where it never stops raining except for 1 h every 7 years. 187 00:33:41.200 --> 00:33:52.640 Rachelle Ramirez: The child protagonist is from Earth, and, unlike her new classmates, she has never, she has seen the sun before, talks about it a lot, and is longing to see it again 188 00:33:52.820 --> 00:33:59.600 Rachelle Ramirez: as the special hour approaches. Jealous classroom bullies lock her in a closet and forget about her 189 00:33:59.630 --> 00:34:07.250 Rachelle Ramirez: when they let her out. The sun has come and gone, and she is left in the loss and grief to consider human nature. 190 00:34:09.190 --> 00:34:19.530 Rachelle Ramirez: The ones who walk away from Omelas is a. 1973 short story by Ursula K. Le Guen, set in a Utopian city called Omelas. 191 00:34:19.650 --> 00:34:24.850 Rachelle Ramirez: whose prosperity depends on the perpetual misery of a single child. 192 00:34:25.250 --> 00:34:38.400 Rachelle Ramirez: When citizens learn this fact most eventually acquiesce. but a few walk away. Nobody in Omelas, including the narrator, knows where they go, but they never come back 193 00:34:39.120 --> 00:34:50.649 Rachelle Ramirez: typical of many short stories, science, fiction, or otherwise. This one, in the previous example, create a world view, shift in the reader as much as in as in the protagonist. 194 00:34:53.199 --> 00:35:00.080 Rachelle Ramirez: Now for validation. This is the sixth story type, and one that confuses a lot of writers. 195 00:35:00.650 --> 00:35:15.030 Rachelle Ramirez: We read, watch, and write validation stories to examine our personal and cultural definitions of success and failure, and to remind ourselves that honourable values are more important than worldly success. 196 00:35:16.440 --> 00:35:23.079 Rachelle Ramirez: Validation stories are character driven and involve the protagonist's search for success and esteem. 197 00:35:23.840 --> 00:35:39.860 Rachelle Ramirez: The validation protagonist is motivated by a desire for success, honor, and validation by others. For example, winning the trophy, triumphing in a competition or moving higher in social ranking or wealth. 198 00:35:41.090 --> 00:35:50.760 Rachelle Ramirez: Validation stakes. What the protagonist has to gain and what they have to lose involve success, failure, and the selling out of true values. 199 00:35:51.320 --> 00:36:06.670 Rachelle Ramirez: so the validation protagonist changes most along the spectrum of success, compromise, failure, and selling out or dishonour. they may start out successful, and fall, or start out low and rise. 200 00:36:07.810 --> 00:36:15.259 Rachelle Ramirez: The validation reader wants to feel admiration or pity, and enjoy a sense of moral superiority. 201 00:36:16.010 --> 00:36:26.969 Rachelle Ramirez: The essential premise of the validation story is that ethical choices create honorable success, whereas unworthy goals lead to selling out one's true values. 202 00:36:27.420 --> 00:36:34.109 Rachelle Ramirez: The primary story event here is that at least implied some opportunities to rise. 203 00:36:34.200 --> 00:36:42.829 Rachelle Ramirez: We see the big story change at the climax, honorable successor selling out. and we see the cause of that change. 204 00:36:42.950 --> 00:36:46.360 Rachelle Ramirez: ethical choices or unethical ones. 205 00:36:47.530 --> 00:36:56.760 Rachelle Ramirez: A validation story in a science fiction milieu isn't the most common combination which might point to a good area for innovation. 206 00:36:57.560 --> 00:37:12.610 Rachelle Ramirez: Here are some examples we were able to find. Terry Pratchett's novels are not absolutely classifiable as either Science Fiction or fantasy, but they do fall in the broad realm of speculative fiction, and they're a delight 207 00:37:13.070 --> 00:37:30.560 Rachelle Ramirez: in going postal. A convicted con artist is given a choice to run the moribund postal service in the capital city of discworld instead of being hanged. It's a hopeless task, but he becomes committed to success by bringing the institution back to life. 208 00:37:30.880 --> 00:37:40.749 Rachelle Ramirez: His adventures in uncovering a criminal conspiracy at the same time give this validation story a strong secondary crime story type. 209 00:37:42.850 --> 00:37:57.739 Rachelle Ramirez: John Pepper's Green Goddess gives us the high powered CEO of a fossil Fuel Energy company in the near future, who must at least fake believing in the environmental movement in order to keep the corporation going. 210 00:37:57.970 --> 00:38:05.550 Rachelle Ramirez: she eventually finds a way to fund research into fusion, energy as an innovative answer to climate change. 211 00:38:06.980 --> 00:38:20.029 Rachelle Ramirez: Matt Haig's The Midnight Library is also arguably more fantasy than Science Fiction, depending on whether you think the mechanism for the plot is weird science or outright magic. 212 00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:33.960 Rachelle Ramirez: A young woman, dissatisfied with her choices in life, attempts suicide, and finds herself between life and death in a library that contains the stories of all the alternate lives she might have lived. 213 00:38:34.070 --> 00:38:40.650 Rachelle Ramirez: She visits them one by one from an unhappy marriage to wild successes as a rock star. 214 00:38:40.690 --> 00:38:46.839 Rachelle Ramirez: she ultimately re enters life with a new definition of what comprises a good life. 215 00:38:49.580 --> 00:39:07.060 Rachelle Ramirez: Our seventh and final story type is redemption. Redemption stories are harder to find these days than in the past, but we have tended to tell them as a reminder that our wrongs can be forgiven if we take altruistic actions and sacrifice for the greater good 216 00:39:07.510 --> 00:39:13.770 Rachelle Ramirez: redemption. Stories are character driven and involve forgiveness or atonement. 217 00:39:14.860 --> 00:39:35.000 Rachelle Ramirez: The redemption protagonist is motivated from the outset by guilt, shame, and a desire for forgiveness. The redemption protagonist risks not being forgiven, and has to make sacrifices, but stands to gain atonement, forgiveness, and reconnection. 218 00:39:35.720 --> 00:39:40.939 Rachelle Ramirez: They must make an active choice between selfishness and altruism. 219 00:39:41.340 --> 00:39:51.130 Rachelle Ramirez: If they true selfishness, they lose, and if they choose altruism, they win, but must sacrifice something important to them. 220 00:39:51.970 --> 00:40:06.940 Rachelle Ramirez: The redemption protagonist almost always begins as a despicable character, knowingly doing or having done wrong, and changes for the better through altruistic sacrifice and difficult lessons. 221 00:40:08.030 --> 00:40:17.960 Rachelle Ramirez: Alternately they may begin hoping for redemption, but end, having failed to attain it through incurable character, weakness. 222 00:40:19.360 --> 00:40:30.099 Rachelle Ramirez: the redemption reader wants to feel satisfaction, pity, contempt, or moral superiority. If the character makes poor choices and fails. 223 00:40:30.460 --> 00:40:34.240 Rachelle Ramirez: the essential premise of a redemption story type is 224 00:40:34.330 --> 00:40:40.720 Rachelle Ramirez: altruistic. Action results in redemption, whereas selfishness leads to moral failure. 225 00:40:41.080 --> 00:40:52.189 Rachelle Ramirez: In other words, redemption results when the protagonist atones for past wrong doing by abandoning selfish goals and sacrificing for the greater good. 226 00:40:52.870 --> 00:40:58.680 Rachelle Ramirez: Usually the primary story event is the opportunity to make amends. 227 00:40:59.080 --> 00:41:10.980 Rachelle Ramirez: The big story change at the climax is redemption, or else moral failure. and the cause of the change is altruistic action and sacrifice or selfish action. 228 00:41:12.790 --> 00:41:27.359 Rachelle Ramirez: True redemption story in a true Science fiction setting was a little hard to find, and we really only came up with one novel, an old one, and this one could be a real opportunity for innovation. Lots of room here. 229 00:41:29.000 --> 00:41:41.749 Rachelle Ramirez: Gateway by Frederick Pole, begins in high action with a hero who was willing to sacrifice his life in a suicide mission to a black hole in order to let a large group of people live. 230 00:41:42.040 --> 00:41:55.350 Rachelle Ramirez: but in the unstable event his ship survives, and the others don't. His survivor's guilt drives the rest of the story, and he seeks atonement which is never truly possible for him. 231 00:41:57.720 --> 00:42:07.629 Rachelle Ramirez: Of course, characters all over superhero and science fiction stories have individual redemption arcs, even though the stories are primarily action 232 00:42:08.040 --> 00:42:19.850 Rachelle Ramirez: in the marvel cinematic universe. Natasha Romanov is driven in part by her need to atone for wrongs. She's done as a spy, saying. there's red in my ledger. 233 00:42:20.700 --> 00:42:41.999 Rachelle Ramirez: George Lucas has said that the 6 original Star Wars films were about the rise, fall and redemption of Anakin Skywalker. Most of us would have a hard time overlooking his heinous atrocities, but as the story is presented, he shows regret and experiences release at death when his son Luke recognizes him. 234 00:42:44.280 --> 00:42:57.299 Rachelle Ramirez: and there you have them. the 7 story types. There's so much to learn about combining story types and at pages and platforms we've developed a whole 20 module course on the subject. 235 00:42:57.580 --> 00:43:08.700 Rachelle Ramirez: But the short version is that you need to weave a plot driven story type with a character driven story type to deliver a story that will truly engage your reader. 236 00:43:09.030 --> 00:43:26.929 Rachelle Ramirez: Either choose a plot driven primary story supported by a character driven secondary arc or choose a character driven primary story where a plot driven story type presents the external challenges your protagonist needs in order to change. 237 00:43:27.290 --> 00:43:43.220 Rachelle Ramirez: Why? Because even the most heroic action protagonist undergoes some internal change. and even the quietest and most introverted of protagonists has to face troubles from the outside world 238 00:43:44.100 --> 00:43:50.259 Rachelle Ramirez: as a reminder. The plot driven story types are action, crime. 239 00:43:50.400 --> 00:43:52.330 Rachelle Ramirez: horror, and love. 240 00:43:53.850 --> 00:44:00.299 Rachelle Ramirez: while the character driven story types are world view, validation, and redemption. 241 00:44:02.300 --> 00:44:08.719 Rachelle Ramirez: You may have noticed that in several of our examples I mentioned a secondary or supporting story type. 242 00:44:08.730 --> 00:44:14.059 Rachelle Ramirez: for instance, love with action was a complicated love story set in space. 243 00:44:14.740 --> 00:44:17.410 Rachelle Ramirez: Action with redemption was gateway 244 00:44:18.030 --> 00:44:21.170 Rachelle Ramirez: validation with crime going postal 245 00:44:21.520 --> 00:44:24.439 Rachelle Ramirez: worldview with love, the nobodies. 246 00:44:25.380 --> 00:44:28.619 action with worldview, the parable of the sower. 247 00:44:29.630 --> 00:44:42.630 Rachelle Ramirez: a good way to innovate on your Science fiction story is to try unexpected combinations of plot driven and character driven story types, or a combination that you find most personally evocative 248 00:44:43.410 --> 00:44:54.770 Rachelle Ramirez: and a quick recap before we move on to Part 4, we've identified the 7 story types. And for each one we've covered 5 essential story elements. 249 00:44:54.790 --> 00:45:02.209 Rachelle Ramirez: the wants and needs basic motivation. The protagonist of each story type must have 250 00:45:02.880 --> 00:45:12.539 Rachelle Ramirez: what's inherently at stake for the protagonist. That is what they have to gain and what they risk losing as they go after what they want. 251 00:45:12.910 --> 00:45:26.359 Rachelle Ramirez: The arc of change. That is how the protagonist state fundamentally changes from the beginning of the story to the end. The kind of emotions the reader of the story type hopes to feel. 252 00:45:26.850 --> 00:45:31.390 Rachelle Ramirez: and the essential premise or message of the story type. 253 00:45:32.210 --> 00:45:40.320 Rachelle Ramirez: Understanding these 5 elements helps you. The author, meet the expectations of your intended reader. 254 00:45:40.550 --> 00:45:46.980 Rachelle Ramirez: Write a consistent story with a clear beginning, middle, and end. 255 00:45:47.860 --> 00:45:50.940 Rachelle Ramirez: and finish your story 256 00:45:51.620 --> 00:45:53.599 Rachelle Ramirez: now back to Anne. 257 00:45:55.560 --> 00:46:23.850 Anne Hawley: Well, thank you, Rochelle. We're gonna hasten through the last part here. What about that subject that's so near and dear to the hearts of so many Science Fiction writers. World building. It feels like a huge subject, and it comes up a lot in our editing clients who are writing science fiction or fantasy, so we decided to boil it down to a few simple points. We find that there are 3 main questions any author of any kind of story needs to consider about the world in which their story is going to be set. 258 00:46:23.850 --> 00:46:32.830 Anne Hawley: Whether that's the most ordinary street in the most ordinary town in the present day, or on a planet orbiting a pair of binary stars at the edge of the galaxy. 259 00:46:32.930 --> 00:46:39.759 Anne Hawley: And those questions are, what obstacles and opportunities does the world present to the characters in your story? 260 00:46:39.880 --> 00:46:47.749 Anne Hawley: What is your narrative, device and point of view? How much does your reader need to know. In order to keep reading 261 00:46:48.660 --> 00:47:06.470 Anne Hawley: under the broad category of obstacles and opportunities, we include all the things most of us think of first as world building, climate and geography, the socioeconomic system, the culture, including material culture and the history that underlies the stories present and the state of science and technology. 262 00:47:07.110 --> 00:47:14.239 Anne Hawley: Even if you are not writing Science fiction, you probably want to reckon with these 3 elements of whatever world your story is set in 263 00:47:14.740 --> 00:47:24.620 Anne Hawley: life on a space station. Is it above a beautiful blue planet? Is it a good place to live, or is it a limiting environment that your protagonist wants to get away from. 264 00:47:25.340 --> 00:47:37.469 Anne Hawley: Conversely, a squalid Dystopian slum might seem like a terrible obstacle, something a protagonist would want to escape. But what if it's an opportunity? Because the most interesting and subversive people all live. There. 265 00:47:38.220 --> 00:47:47.569 Anne Hawley: Is there a class system in your future alternate world? What is it based on? Can your character move up or fall down in the social order? Do they want to? 266 00:47:47.680 --> 00:47:53.180 Anne Hawley: And how about food? Is fresh food a rare commodity? Does everyone just swallow a nutrition pill? 267 00:47:53.720 --> 00:48:07.090 Anne Hawley: What are the constraints of communication. If your characters can communicate telepathically, for example, how does it work? What about regular messages? Does the speed of light create a significant barrier. Can just any one afford to send messages? 268 00:48:07.500 --> 00:48:33.049 Anne Hawley: How do people in your world get around robot flying cars, wormholes? What's the gravity like in every instance, if your characters go places, important story constraints will include how they go, how much it costs in time and energy, and maybe money, and the obstacles and opportunities posed by the geography or spaceography, for example, a region full of pirates, a difficult planetary feature, an energy barrier in space and so forth. 269 00:48:33.160 --> 00:48:45.109 Anne Hawley: If a journey from point A to Point B is smooth and uneventful. You probably don't need to describe it, and the landscape or spacescape it covers probably isn't important to your story. 270 00:48:46.080 --> 00:48:58.819 Anne Hawley: Maybe you began with a world and a map, and that's great by all means flesh it out. Readers who like adventures in Science fiction lands or faraway places in space usually like to refer to the map. 271 00:48:58.930 --> 00:49:14.070 Anne Hawley: Same is true of fantasy, by the way, but your map is not your story. The geography of your world is really only relevant to the degree to which it limits your character's choices, raises the stakes, defines what they want and need and supports your premise. 272 00:49:15.060 --> 00:49:29.420 Anne Hawley: Now, the second question, after obstacles and opportunities presented by the physical realities of the world, is, what's your narrative device and point of view. This means who's telling the story? To whom? Why, and from what distance, in space and time. 273 00:49:29.450 --> 00:49:30.540 Anne Hawley: for example. 274 00:49:30.650 --> 00:49:44.369 Anne Hawley: in the Martian mark, Watney is keeping a log, partly to have a feeling of someone to talk to, so he doesn't lose his mind and partly to document his ordeal for posterity. His narrative is aimed primarily at his NASA team back home. 275 00:49:44.490 --> 00:49:55.049 Anne Hawley: For those reasons he reveals tons of technical and personal information and explains his actions. He's an engineer and a scientist, and he details virtually everything he does. 276 00:49:55.080 --> 00:50:13.729 Anne Hawley: Your narrative device probably won't be as obvious as the Martians, but you need to have some idea of who your narrator is, why they're telling the story, to what audience and from how far away in time, that will constrain how much of your Science Fiction world you should describe, explain, or simply drop hints about. 277 00:50:13.950 --> 00:50:41.409 Anne Hawley: For example, if your point of view character is entering a new world for the first time, everything is going to be strange. Everything is a potential danger. Everything is unknown. When Katniss first rolls into Panama on the fancy train in the Hunger games there's room in the first person present tense narrative for the reader to experience quite a bit of detail through her eyes and her senses. But much of it can't be explained, because Katniss herself doesn't yet understand what she's seeing. 278 00:50:42.050 --> 00:50:56.110 Anne Hawley: On the other hand, if your point of view character is in their everyday world, they will only notice what's different or out of place, and you, the author, have to select the details that would naturally occur to that point of view character, and will help bring the reader along. 279 00:50:56.240 --> 00:51:17.530 Anne Hawley: Rick Deckard has always lived in the Los Angeles of Blade Runner, so, in order for the audience to understand what's going on. The film uses the narrative device of a film Noir voiceover, where Deckard seems to speak directly to the audience and explain things. The film has often been criticized for this device. So if you use it, use it with caution. 280 00:51:18.330 --> 00:51:33.590 Anne Hawley: we've all absorbed thousands of stories, and increasingly, most of them are via video filmmakers add a vast amount of world building detail in every shot as novelists. However, if we try to do that in words on the page, that's what I call the movie mistake. 281 00:51:33.920 --> 00:51:58.949 Anne Hawley: Let me give you an example. Here's a screenshot of a market place in Wakanda, in Ryan Couler's film. Black Panther, Prince Tichola. May he rest in peace, is out walking in Wakanda with his lady friend Nakia. It's hot, it's dusty. There's a smell of spices in the air. Handmade baskets hang from pegs outside, a shop plants grow up the sides of the buildings. Everywhere the architecture is a jumble of exuberant shapes and forms 282 00:51:59.090 --> 00:52:20.149 Anne Hawley: colored patterns, black and white stripes, and the streetlights are hoops of vibranium buildings rise right up a steep, lush green hill. Taking advantage of every available space in this crowded, vibrant city. A streetcar with ovoid windows and copper trim, makes its leisurely way along the narrow street, and the brightly dressed people stroll out of its way. 283 00:52:21.300 --> 00:52:24.899 Anne Hawley: Are you bored yet? Would you like me to get on with the story? 284 00:52:26.360 --> 00:52:41.389 Anne Hawley: I don't know. I don't know your reader. I don't know you as a writer. Specifically, the point is, some readers, like a good bit of description in scene setting in order to feel grounded in the story, and some have little patience for it at all. So the question is, what do you like? Write that? 285 00:52:41.400 --> 00:53:00.649 Anne Hawley: Test it with Beta, reader? Sure be prepared to modify it based on feedback. But no reader is ever going to picture the scene exactly as you do, anyway, so all you can do is provide the 2 or 3, or maybe 4 or 5 details that drive the story forward while helping the reader enter the spirit of the setting and form their own impressions. 286 00:53:01.510 --> 00:53:08.110 Anne Hawley: But don't leave the reader in an empty room, or a vague outdoor space either. You may have a vivid picture in your mind of 287 00:53:08.130 --> 00:53:12.329 Anne Hawley: everything in the scene, and forget to share it with the reader. I do that all the time. 288 00:53:12.420 --> 00:53:28.980 Anne Hawley: Alternatively. Alternatively. Excuse me, you may be a fantasic someone who doesn't actually have visual images in your mind. To begin with. Either way, it's important to select or think up a few details to include on the page. For instance, what's out the window? 289 00:53:29.360 --> 00:53:35.400 Anne Hawley: How do people in this space get around? Can you reveal character with a detail like decoration. 290 00:53:35.510 --> 00:53:50.349 Anne Hawley: a hint of the comfort or Spartanness of the space, or some other detail that could reveal the nature of the character who lives there be selective and precise in these choices, and most readers will feel that they are experiencing the full setting 291 00:53:50.940 --> 00:54:14.779 Anne Hawley: to wrap up this world building discussion. We've got 3 pretty good rules of thumb for how much to include on the page first, less is usually more. If you show us a ship emerging from a wormhole into the region of a beautiful home planet, how much do we need to know about the mechanics of the wormhole? Maybe a little, maybe nothing depends on what the role the wormhole is going to play in your story. 292 00:54:15.250 --> 00:54:22.730 Anne Hawley: If you show us the shanty in the dystopian future favela on the edges of San Francisco, do we need to know how many windows. It has 293 00:54:22.750 --> 00:54:25.309 Anne Hawley: only if your character is going to escape that way. 294 00:54:25.880 --> 00:54:37.639 Anne Hawley: Second, if the reader genuinely needs to understand an aspect of your world in order to stay with the story, prefer description over explanation, and try not to interrupt action with either 295 00:54:37.750 --> 00:54:47.490 Anne Hawley: description or explanation. Remember that dialogue is a form of action, too. So show us a character using a technology rather than telling us the history of that technology. 296 00:54:47.700 --> 00:55:00.379 Anne Hawley: Show your protagonists flying around in a derelict freighter in space. And even if you know the whole story of the freighter, and how it got there, and that history is really cool, think hard about how much of it. The reader needs to know 297 00:55:01.860 --> 00:55:12.030 Anne Hawley: select details that will pay off later. For example, if you're going to have a character's community wiped out by a meteor in the third act. You probably need to introduce the meteor in the first act. 298 00:55:14.140 --> 00:55:16.489 Anne Hawley: Okay, this has been a lot to absorb. 299 00:55:16.770 --> 00:55:28.419 Anne Hawley: Let's quickly recap what we've covered. Today, you've learned the 5 essential elements that every story needs. You've learned why the science fiction genre does not determine what kind of story you're telling. 300 00:55:28.570 --> 00:55:33.870 Anne Hawley: You've learned the 7 story types and their importance to Science Fiction writers and all fiction writers. 301 00:55:34.140 --> 00:55:43.270 Anne Hawley: You've learned how story type can help you meet all your readers expectations and how you can use the story types to innovate in the Science Fiction realm. 302 00:55:43.330 --> 00:56:03.129 Anne Hawley: And you've got a distilled philosophy of world building. and we hope you're ready to go to work on your Science fiction story before we go to the Q. And a. We'd love to remind you to stop by pages and platforms.com slash sci-fi for our free written guide to the 7 essential story types. 303 00:56:03.660 --> 00:56:05.989 Anne Hawley: And now let's go to your questions 304 00:56:09.900 --> 00:56:38.580 Rachelle Ramirez: alright. So just a reminder that questions go into the QA. Box. I've pulled a couple out of the chat, but that if you've put something in the chat, and you still want the question answered, go ahead and put it in the QA. And we don't have much time. So Jack Ryan asked, is it possible to include all 7 story types in one story? And I'll answer that quickly. Yes, it's possible to do anything you want? But it might 305 00:56:38.680 --> 00:56:51.040 Rachelle Ramirez: probably won't be a story. It'll probably be a bunch of things that happen. So if you are writing a story, our suggestion is generally not to combine more than 3, 306 00:56:51.340 --> 00:56:55.009 Rachelle Ramirez: 4 is pushing it. So you know. 307 00:56:55.310 --> 00:57:20.910 Rachelle Ramirez: try to narrow it down as much as you can. The idea is to have a primary story, a primary want for a single protagonist. Even if you have a an ensemble list of characters couples as primary, you still have one primary protagonist and their story, their struggle should be the primary. He heaviness of the story. 308 00:57:22.220 --> 00:57:28.609 Rachelle Ramirez: Jim asks, what would you say is the difference between Science fiction and speculative fiction. 309 00:57:31.110 --> 00:57:44.489 Anne Hawley: I do not have a scholarly answer for that question. I think of it, science fiction as being the science is the key word. You want technology. There's machinery. There's robots, whatever. You medical bio. 310 00:57:44.710 --> 00:58:07.740 Anne Hawley: biological technology, that sort of thing, whereas speculative can include things like we mentioned Matt Haig's the Midnight library, where it's not quite fantasy, but it's definitely not in the realm of the ordinary everyday material reality. That'd be a very loose definition. And I really, I've looked around and I don't. I don't find anything more specific than that. It's kinda like, you know, when you see it. 311 00:58:07.770 --> 00:58:08.930 Anne Hawley: you know that 312 00:58:08.970 --> 00:58:10.810 Rachelle Ramirez: I think of it as I like. Think of it. 313 00:58:10.940 --> 00:58:26.119 Rachelle Ramirez: all science fiction is likely speculative fiction, but not all speculative fiction is science oriented. What if these scientific things happen so, and then you'll get 10 answers if you ask 10 different people. 314 00:58:26.430 --> 00:58:38.059 Rachelle Ramirez: anonymous says any thoughts on sci-fi connected with horror, mystery, genre close to resident evil style. I'm gonna skip that because I don't necessarily think that's a question. 315 00:58:38.170 --> 00:58:45.590 Rachelle Ramirez: And we got a lot coming in here. Niosi. I hope I pronounce it that pronounce that cricket correctly. 316 00:58:45.880 --> 00:59:07.970 Rachelle Ramirez: I heard story fiction was a genre of hard scientific facts like Star Trek. That's why they put Star Wars into Science fantasy because they don't focus much on the science, but the fantasy of the magic. It's called the force until the prequels were written, and they tried to explain the force. That's actually a pretty good 317 00:59:07.970 --> 00:59:20.789 Anne Hawley: example of the difference between science fiction and and sort of science. Fantasy or fantasy is when they got those Midi chlorines, and then they had to have a material world explanation for the magic of the story. 318 00:59:21.660 --> 00:59:27.809 Anne Hawley: that's that's a really good example. until they introduced Midi chlorines. It was magic, and then it became science. 319 00:59:28.730 --> 00:59:47.490 Rachelle Ramirez: An anonymous attendee says, from editor and author, point of view, what do you think about stories set up in the same time. For example, first book follows 2 main characters, but there is a complementary book that explains other things that main characters do not see in the first book. 320 00:59:47.980 --> 01:00:12.970 Anne Hawley: Sure, I mean, you're talking about Bill. There's not that much difference between something like that. And let's say, Jessica Fletcher in Cabot Cove, where you have a setting, and you tell different stories in that in that world, in that setting. I don't know if we can be more specific than that than your question. But what do I think about it? Yeah, it's a great idea. Why not? What I wanna say about. That is, I love that idea different stories of the same world taking secondary characters and then making their stories. 321 01:00:12.970 --> 01:00:23.280 Rachelle Ramirez: I want to flag one something. One thing here, though. The question was, what do you think about a second? Another book that explains keyword explains 322 01:00:23.280 --> 01:00:24.520 the 323 01:00:24.600 --> 01:00:39.829 Rachelle Ramirez: the main character. What the main characters don't see in the first book, so we want it to be shown, not explained. Right? So right. If you find yourself thinking, I need to explain, I want to explain. Quote, the reader needs to know. 324 01:00:39.840 --> 01:00:47.099 Rachelle Ramirez: Take a deep breath and ask yourself, how can I show this instead of explain it? Because explaining something is not story. 325 01:00:47.340 --> 01:00:48.020 Thank you. 326 01:00:48.360 --> 01:00:56.940 Rachelle Ramirez: Boris asks, are the story types the same as the 7 basic plots of Mr. Booker. Absolutely not booker's 327 01:00:57.150 --> 01:01:12.330 Rachelle Ramirez: 700 page trunk book definitely worth reading if you're into that sort of thing. But no, his things are like drama, comedy. They're entirely. They're entirely different. Those 7 basic plots. 328 01:01:12.330 --> 01:01:29.409 Rachelle Ramirez: I didn't find very helpful, but our brains all think in different ways. So if you're into plots and story arcs and that sort of thing, and really differentiating one from the other, because you're not set on using one or the other. Go ahead and check that out. It might appeal to you. 329 01:01:30.160 --> 01:01:56.790 Anne Hawley: Rm, archers, can your book contain different story types for each primary character's arc? I would first say, you better have one primary character, and everybody else is a little, at least a little bit secondary to that. That, said, let's say in a typical love story you have a primary character, and then you have the love interest, and they almost are like 49, 51% of the story. And the answer is, yes. The secondary character can be going through a different internal arc 330 01:01:56.890 --> 01:02:06.909 Anne Hawley: from the primary character. One needs to have a redemption and the other needs to lighten up person. You know, something like that. That's I'm talking in romance terms here. But yes, you can do that. 331 01:02:09.090 --> 01:02:26.509 Rachelle Ramirez: Andrew Hyman asks, how would you characterize a military Sci Fi story that is full of action and adventure. However, the protagonist, initially bent on revenge against the enemy, doesn't get what they need until they reject being a soldier and embrace. Love 332 01:02:26.810 --> 01:02:28.740 Anne Hawley: sounds a little redemptiony to me. 333 01:02:28.860 --> 01:02:34.190 Rachelle Ramirez: I'm I'm gonna say, when I get this kind of question, it's usually validation 334 01:02:34.190 --> 01:03:01.230 Rachelle Ramirez: he set set on being a soldier, and what a soldier means to him and his external status and that sort of thing. And I'm gonna succeed as a soldier. But he realizes that his true values lie elsewhere, and being a soldier does know does doesn't express his true values. So I'm gonna say, look at a combination. Revenge would be action. So I'm gonna say, check out the combination of action and validation, and see if that fits for you. 335 01:03:02.760 --> 01:03:08.209 Anne Hawley: anonymous. Ask, how do you self publish a book of your story has many elements. 336 01:03:08.210 --> 01:03:34.670 Rachelle Ramirez: yeah, that's a really big question. And so ha! Sci-fi, but also mystery action. Go ahead, Richelle. This is a really large question. Oh, well, I'll make it. I'll make it short, sweet sci-fi, but also mystery, action. And there's a faint hope of romance, but not the main plot romance here can be the little black dress of the story. Yes, it's set in a sci-fi world, and it's a mystery action story done. You've got a you've got a mister. I would probably market it as mystery sci-fi mystery. 337 01:03:34.970 --> 01:03:49.260 Rachelle Ramirez: That's probably. What do you put on the back cover to sell? What do? What's your blur? What does your blurb say? What? And I guess. What are the main stakes? Is it, is it more towards crime for mystery, or is it more towards action? 338 01:03:49.400 --> 01:03:53.059 Rachelle Ramirez: And that's what you're gonna play up in your back cover, blurb. 339 01:03:53.810 --> 01:04:05.649 Anne Hawley: I'm gonna pass Marilyn, cause we we answered that one already the more than one story type. neoc neolithic says. You say that I love stories as 340 01:04:05.760 --> 01:04:32.049 Anne Hawley: is a story driven story. We say that it's both plot and character driven is actually what we say. But if you want to create an action driven story, and the characters must create a good relationship to work together to defeat the antagonist. Is that an action plus a love story? Sure, there's such a thing as like romantic thrillers. And that type of story where the 2 characters in their relationship has to work in order for them to accomplish the larger external goal of saving lives solving the crime, those types of combinations. 341 01:04:32.440 --> 01:04:49.290 Rachelle Ramirez: Right? We are running out of time here. So I'm gonna say, let's do one last question, will we receive the resource on the 7 story types. If we sign up for the newsletter on the site, or is it something separate? You sign up. You'll get that. Get the newsletter. Yeah. 342 01:04:49.880 --> 01:04:51.070 Anne Hawley: And 343 01:04:52.810 --> 01:04:58.859 Anne Hawley: let's see, I'm just scrolling through. We got a lot of questions. Thank you for your enthusiastic interest here. 344 01:04:59.980 --> 01:05:03.109 Anne Hawley: Would the careers and assistant factualization stories 345 01:05:03.300 --> 01:05:18.870 Anne Hawley: would character self actualization stories be considered, probably worldview as typical. But there's you've given Wizard of Ozzy. Pray love some really widely varying examples. There. Either worldview or validation is typically self actualization. 346 01:05:19.100 --> 01:05:26.740 Anne Hawley: Either they self-actualize through gaining success or facing failure, or they self-actualize through accepting a truth or having something revealed to them. 347 01:05:28.490 --> 01:05:29.390 Rachelle Ramirez: Alright! 348 01:05:29.590 --> 01:05:33.839 Rachelle Ramirez: Well, thank you all for coming, Michelle. Do you have any closing things to say? 349 01:05:33.950 --> 01:05:46.249 Michelle @ ProWritingAid: Thank you so much, Richelle and Anne, that was great. We've received so much great feedback on the presentation already, and it's always a pleasure to have you both here with us for our events. So thank you again for being here. 350 01:05:46.400 --> 01:05:48.419 Anne Hawley: Thank you. Thank you so much. 351 01:05:49.820 --> 01:05:51.990 Rachelle Ramirez: Bye, everybody see you next.