Don't stop writing!

- Think hard about having your character 'find' things he needs. (I run across caches of weapons, food, and equipment at least once a week. Doesn't everyone?)

Remember Mike Medintz's misc.survivalism FAQ - "...this whole thing
will be like a one-man birthday party. You get no presents that you didn't
bring for yourself."

Thank you for taking the time to create and write these stories.

 

You beat me to it Speedo!

I was just musing on starting a thread about things I don't like in PAW fiction.

A lot of the time things seem too easy for the hero. Fiction thrives on conflict and overcoming problems. I've lost count of the number of times I've read a story which started along the lines of: The lights went out, Bob reached into his EDC belt pouch and pulled out a XYZ-123 Mk.2 flashlight. Too easy. As much as I like PAW fiction, I think in terms of story telling, it is better to read about people who are not survivalists, or at least have the main character not a survivalist. As well as conflict and overcoming problems, we like to see the hero change as a person, on some sort of emotional journey and emerge as a better person, not starting off being the uber-prepper and having the solution to every problem in their BOB.

A lot of us tend to be real gear heads too, and sometimes we bring that into fiction and being too techy can ruin the flow of a good story. I'll be in up to my neck in a good story and then I'll be confronted with a list of technical specifications about the hero's gun, the magazine capacity, the trigger weight, the rail mounted accessories and suddenly I've jumped out of the story and feel I'm reading Guns & Ammo and the spell has been broken. Sometimes I'd rather the author didn't spoon feed me too many details and let my imagination do the rest based on the characters and what I've learned about them. If he's carrying a .45 then say so, but don't interrupt the story to tell me about muzzle velocities and jacketed hollow points.

 

I do some writing myself. I have done a bunch of technical books (24 or so last count) and 3 fiction books (action adventure, a collection of short stories and a sword and sorcery). I travel a good bit with my job (presenting at conferences, helping clients, even vacations once in a while) and have often thought about how the heck I would get home if TSHTF. Believe me when I was stranded in Seattle on 9/11 I really thought about it.

I may try my hand at a dual sided story, the wife and kids on one side of the country and how they survive with all the gear right there and the father some where else, probably not as dramatic as New York and San Francisco type separation but at least a few days to weeks of travel if it was an EMP event.

I agree, you can't make it too easy.

 

Great thread l33t. One thing allot of stories about PAW lack is character development. It's hard to imagine what a character is doing when the only visual you have in your head is a cardboard cutout holding an AR and load bearing vest. It can be done in a slight way to, almost passively if you can do it. Slight hints in the middle of commentary can do it, like a facial scar, color of a woman's hair in the wind, things like that. Another pet peeve of mine is over detailed load outs of the characters gear and then no visual cues or references about the characters surroundings.

I am currently taking a fiction class at the college here and hope to learn more about the inner workings of fiction. This is the reason I haven't finished the second part of my story: A World Away, I want it to be more streamline for when I finally post it.

I just hope to become a better writer and welcome constructive criticism. I just wish people would point out small flaws and errors more, it can really help a beginning writer out in the log run. You don't always catch errors as the creator of a piece and it sometimes takes an outside opinion. So keep the creative juices flowing people, us book junkies can never get enough of PAW fiction!

This thread can become a good learning tool for all of us.

 

character development is key. that, and plot. most stories i read here (no offense, i find them interesting), just dont seem to have an overall plot. they seem to be aimlessly running forwards and thats why i (imo) think most dont finish. they become lost to the back pages of the forum.

 

Absolutely. The single biggest thing that will make people keep turning the page is some sort of feeling for the hero and wanting him to succeed and overcome his obstacles.

And a good villain always helps too, especially if he's not irredeemably evil and has some admirable qualities despite being an otherwise nasty piece of work.

I've heard it said that good characterisation will go a long way to making up for a weak plot, but the best plot in the world won't make up for boring, unsympathetic characters.

 

I agree with all that is being said here, however, we not not lose sight of the fact that a story belongs to the person writing it.

In that, it is his or her story and can do with it as they wish.

To write a story that will be enjoyed by the most people, a writer must have some insite into the mind of man. The writer (if not writing for himself) must write to the class of people the story is intented for.

I am not sure what I am saying, well, that is not right, I know what I am wanting to say, but I am saying it badly.

Later
wayne

 

wayne i think what your trying to say is that if the writer wants his story to be read then he needs to tailor it to the intended audience. that about it?

 

Some stories are like a listing to a 5 year old tell you about her day.

Mike wakes up to the sound of his alarm clock, groans, sets up, yawns, stands up, walks out of the bedroom, walks down the hall and in to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom he sets on the pot and drops a big smelly duce. Gets up and washes his hands and face and comes his hair. He walks out of the bathroom, turns left and walks down the stairs arriving at the bottom just in time to see a bright flash.

Let the reader fill in the blanks it helps then get into the story by making it their own.

Mike wakes up at the sound of his alarm and commonness with his normal morning routine. He walks down stairs and is greeted at the bottom by a bright flash.

 

Better to begin with action! If you don't catch the readers interest in the first page, you may not get them at all.

Mike awakened to an intense flash of searing white light. Odd shadows danced on the walls as the light poured not around his thick cloth shades, but through them as if they were tissue thin. Stumbling out of bed, he felt the beginning of a rattling vibration through the soles of his feet that intensified until it shook the entire house, knocking paintings from the wall and spilling his books from the bedroom bookcase into an untidy pile on the quaking floor. Nearly pitched from his feet he stumbled over to the window, the white light had faded to orange as he drew the shade up and looked in horror at the rising mushroom cloud that obscured his normal view of the city only 20 miles away. He quickly dropped the shade as the blast wave hit the house, shattering the window behind the shades and threatening to rip the wood frame house from its very foundation. Today was not going to be a good day.

Just off the top of my head....

Mike

 

Geat Tech is OK
Just add a Glossary