Featuring
an Interview
with Double Dragon Press Publisher
Deron
Douglas
Welcome to issue # 12!
First, I would like to thank Bethanny Davis who stepped in as copyeditor when our regular person (Beth Adelle Long) took time off for a writer's retreat. She did an excellent job helping out! Thank you again!
We have two themes for this issue -- Preparing for the New Year and Art in Fiction -- Fiction as Art. I hope you find helpful information in both sections! Be sure to read Katherine Derbyshire's wonderful article, Writing is Giving, and remember it the next time someone suggests that there are better things you should be doing with your time than writing. And Louis E. Catron has a really great article in "Keep Attribution Simple..."
Thanks also to all our readers. It's been a wonderful two years, and we have great things planned for next year as well. See you in 2003!
If
you have any comments, drop us a line at vision@lazette.net.
We would like to know what you think of Vision, and what types of material you might
find interesting in future issues.
Vision
is also available Adobe Acrobat™ and Palm Systems™ downloadable
versions. We also have a new archive section for the on-line
back issues.
Interview
Deron Douglas, Double Dragon Press
Well, I've been involved in the publishing business in one way or another since about 1978. I started out as a graphic artist for a very small publishing company. At that time we didn't use computers for all of our graphic needs.
Preparing for the New Year
Writing
is Giving
By Katherine
Derbyshire
Storytelling is a survival skill. It allows members of a group to learn from each other's experiences and from previous generations. It allows individuals and societies to explain the inexplicable. It appears in all societies, from the cave painters of Lascaux to the street children of modern Miami.
Preparing
for 2003
At Forward Motion
By Lazette Gifford
The
New Year is coming! Some people at
Forward Motion take the time at the end of the year to look at their writing
goals and prepare for the next year. Here
are a few of the answers to a recent pole on the site!
Overcoming
Writer's Block
By
Linda Adams
If you've ever had writer's block, you know how frustrating it can be.
You look at a blank computer screen and simply can't come up with
anything. It can even be like a
snowball rolling downhill, getting bigger and bigger.
"I can't come up with a good idea" becomes "I'll never
come up with a good idea again." What
can you do to overcome it?
The
Healthy Writer
By
S. Labloch
No writer
wants to get carpal tunnel or any other repetitive stress injury. One way to
stay limber is with these easy moves. Just getting up and taking a break every
hour or less helps, too. Your eyes will thank you.
Theme Articles
Limning
the Fire of Jazz
By
Matthias Hoefler
Jazz is a truly American music. If
you’re trying to set the stage for an American experience, particularly from
about 1900 on, jazz may be the thing you’re looking for.
The
Arts in Worldbuilding:
Music for Your Fantasy World
By K.R. Mercik
Music is, and always has been, an important part of culture and society. From the earliest humans beating on hollow logs to modern electrical music, it has always been a part of the human spirit and advancement, and is one of the oldest forms of expression known.
Cavemen,
Explosions and Psychothyretics:
By Bob Billing
When
humans first moved into caves, they began to decorate the walls. It's reasonable
to guess that they were responding to a deep-seated desire to represent what
they saw around them, to practice make-believe about good hunting. And perhaps
they simply wanted something nice to look at. What they did was largely dictated
by what they could do; by the pigments they could find and the natural
fibres that made the first artists' brushes.
Can
Genre Fiction Be Art?
By
Theresa Smith
Can genre fiction really be art? You bet it can! Any form of writing can be art. Unfortunately, not all of it is. When you think of a specific genre an image immediately pops into your head of the 'stereotypical' protagonist of that type of work. Mystery elicits Ms. Marple, Sam Spade, and Lord Peter Whimsy. Space Opera floods us with Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, and of course, Captain James T. Kirk. The fact that these images are held lovingly in the mind’s eye of millions shows that the writers did it -- they achieved art.
Advanced Writing
NaNoWriMo
Madness
Strikes Forward Motion!
And this is what we do for fun...
“Keep
Attribution Simple...”
By Louis E. Catron
You’ve likely been advised that “said” is perfectly adequate attribution for dialogue in novels and short stories, and you’ve probably heard that writers shouldn’t labor to find such synonyms as uttered, pronounced, responded, or retorted. Substitutions for “said” can interrupt the story’s flow by causing the reader to hiccup mentally while trying to figure out how the synonyms pertain to the dialogue.
How
Holly Lisle's Vision Led Me
to $7,000 in Sales ...
by
J. Harlowe
What is the
value of an online writer's group? In my case, that's an easy answer. So far,
writing one article for Vision has led me to $7,435 in sales -- and the
number is still rising.
Revision Letters: Wide
Angle
and Zoom Lenses Required
By
Carol Stephenson
When I received my first revision letter on NORA'S PRIDE, I attacked it systematically. As I covered each point raised, I checked it off. At the conclusion of the revisions, I had 'X''ed out every single item. Victory was mine, I thought.
Writing Effective Dreams
by Robert A. Sloan
Genre fiction or mainstream, any story or novel may require dream
sequences. Dreams can show character traits vividly, foreshadow events in the
story, and add color within the narrative. Within any story with psychic or
supernatural content, dreams may even be shared. Lucid dreaming may allow a
character to make fantastic discoveries. Yet powerfully written dream sequences
are rare, and many otherwise brilliant writers slip into clichés and stylized,
unmemorable or implausible passages.
So
-- Where Do You Get
Your Ideas From?
By
John Ravenscroft
In his excellent
book On Writing, Stephen King -- a writer who makes a little more money
at the game than I do -- says this: "We are writers, and we never ask one
another where we get our ideas; we know we don't know."
Genre Articles
Fantasy:
Why I Like My Fantasy Ole
Skool
By Eric West
For many people, Tolkien was the beginning of fantasy.
Oh you may talk about Lord Dunsany, William Morris and George MacDonald,
but the simple fact is that most of us wouldn't know what fantasy was if not for
Lord of the Rings.
Mystery & Suspense:
A
Murderous Art:
Theme And the Modern Mystery
By
Rob Flumignan
The mystery story has evolved a great deal in the last ten to fifteen years. Characters have grown more complex, the writing more sophisticated, and the themes deeper and more varied. This trend probably started with Raymond Chandler, credited for bringing the detective story out of the pulps and into the "literary" world.
Romance:
Plotting
the Romance Novel
By
Andi Ward & June Drexler
"Romances
are so easy to write," the saying goes. "Boy meets girl, girl
hates boy, boy seduces girl, end of story. How hard can that be to come up
with?"
Young Adult & Children:
Storytelling
For Children
By
Jim Francis
Can writing
a children's story be easy? The answer is yes -- and no. Yes, because the basics
are simple. No, because children are not simple. That's all very well, I hear
you saying, but it doesn't tell me much. Many new authors do not recognize that
the basic rules for writing a children's story are the same as for any story.
With all stories, from flash fiction to family saga novels, the ideal is usually
to start the plot when an extraordinary event changes the main character's life.
Young Writer's Scene:
Taking
the Plunge
by
Radika Meganathan
I
admit that it must be very confusing. You know you love to write, but you
aren’t sure if that means you are a writer. You might also be doubtful about
how good a writer you really are: whether you are going to be another pea in the
pod, or what you must do to make a difference.
And much more!