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Spaceways, v. 3, issue 5, June 1941
31858063101350_007
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SPACEWAYS 7 [title centered] HOW TO BE A HACK The gentleman was doubtless taking a stroll around the rocket as it hurtled through space, and was suddenly annoyed to discover that he'd left his space suit in the ship. But that doesn't concern us. The fact that this also brings us back to one of the most elementary rules of writing, does. The rule: short sentences for action; long ones for descriptions. A few words about characterization. Some time back I saw mention in a column in some fanzine, of "tags" as an aid to the amateurs. The column stunk, but the suggestion is good. A tag is a characteristic, or a number of characteristics, that make a character stand out. One of the most tagged--and consequently best remembered--men in all scientific fiction is Giles Habibula. Follow the same procedure with your heroes and heroines. He may wear slacks habitually. Play that up; wave the tag. The villain may suck a lollipop all the time. Say so. Don't be afraid to disfigure your hero mildly. Lots of nice guys have more sex appeal with their noses busted, or with protruding ears. After all, if Gable's ears are sufficient to pick him up and float him gently through the air in a strong wind, why shouldn't your hero's be ditto? Never, however, [underlined] never disfigure your heroine. The difficulty in applying tags to women without making them appear ridiculous, makes characterizing them a little difficult. Don't take up too much space describing your heroes and heroines; let them characterize themselves by their actions, they mannerisms, their clothes, the way they talk. Then, too don't--ever--say that your hero is an honest, loyal young man, then have him rob the Interstellar Bank, and run off with another girl. That's the height of inconsistency. And don't, as one writer expressed it, just say that an old woman is a grumpy old growler; bring her out and let her growl. Watch the first person narration if you're using that form. It can make the person telling the story appear like a conceited so and so, and ruin any respect or interest your reader may have for and in him. If the story is first person, it's usually best to have the tellee [sic] a minor character, a foil for the hero as Watson was to Sherlock. Imagine how the Sherlock Holmes tales would've sounded if Sherlock had told the story! Shakespeare to the contrary, names are important. You'll help your reader visualize a character if you name him appropriately. Brawne, Stelle, Quietman have obvious connotations, and make excellent names. First names help, too. Roy, Tim, Jack, suggest man of action; Egbert and Eugene the fop. Jake the villain. Philip and Stanley the sensitive idealists. John and Carl the hero's strong, silent assistants. And it should hardly be necessary to point out that the chiseling, painted little vixen in the Martian dive, who does wrong by our hero, probably shouldn't be called Mary Constance. Probably the most difficult single thing for the beginning writer to learn to handle is dialogue. Some have a gift for it, and some haven't, and both have to write and write and write some more before they really get the hang of it. No one can write crisp, sparkling dialogue like de Camp the first time out; it comes only through practice, and no one can tell you how. But pertaining to it are several points that should be brought out. First, dig up a few recent [title underlined] Unknowns and [title underlined] Astoundings; also a slick mag if you have one on hand. Compare the dialogue in these with that in [title underlined] Thrilling Wonder Stories. It doesn't take a very keen perception to see that the really good writers in the former mags use "said" almost exclusively, while the hacks in the latter mags avoid it with deep horror. The fact that the truly great writers have managed to slip by with "said" all these centuries, doubtless fills with fear that they'll start writing too well to sell to [underlined] TWS. Anyway, the idea is that frantic scrambling to avoid using "said" shortly becomes both ludicrous and irritating. It should be used wisely, of course, and occasionally synonyms may get across an effect you want, justifying their use, but needless repetition of "said" should be avoided by mechanical evasion instead of synonyms. Thus: "Bullshooter ran a muscular hand through his black hair. 'There's a chance, of course, if the engines don't crack up.'" "'Mushpuss!' Stinkweed looked up, his eyes wild. 'Good God, Captain, Myr-
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SPACEWAYS 7 [title centered] HOW TO BE A HACK The gentleman was doubtless taking a stroll around the rocket as it hurtled through space, and was suddenly annoyed to discover that he'd left his space suit in the ship. But that doesn't concern us. The fact that this also brings us back to one of the most elementary rules of writing, does. The rule: short sentences for action; long ones for descriptions. A few words about characterization. Some time back I saw mention in a column in some fanzine, of "tags" as an aid to the amateurs. The column stunk, but the suggestion is good. A tag is a characteristic, or a number of characteristics, that make a character stand out. One of the most tagged--and consequently best remembered--men in all scientific fiction is Giles Habibula. Follow the same procedure with your heroes and heroines. He may wear slacks habitually. Play that up; wave the tag. The villain may suck a lollipop all the time. Say so. Don't be afraid to disfigure your hero mildly. Lots of nice guys have more sex appeal with their noses busted, or with protruding ears. After all, if Gable's ears are sufficient to pick him up and float him gently through the air in a strong wind, why shouldn't your hero's be ditto? Never, however, [underlined] never disfigure your heroine. The difficulty in applying tags to women without making them appear ridiculous, makes characterizing them a little difficult. Don't take up too much space describing your heroes and heroines; let them characterize themselves by their actions, they mannerisms, their clothes, the way they talk. Then, too don't--ever--say that your hero is an honest, loyal young man, then have him rob the Interstellar Bank, and run off with another girl. That's the height of inconsistency. And don't, as one writer expressed it, just say that an old woman is a grumpy old growler; bring her out and let her growl. Watch the first person narration if you're using that form. It can make the person telling the story appear like a conceited so and so, and ruin any respect or interest your reader may have for and in him. If the story is first person, it's usually best to have the tellee [sic] a minor character, a foil for the hero as Watson was to Sherlock. Imagine how the Sherlock Holmes tales would've sounded if Sherlock had told the story! Shakespeare to the contrary, names are important. You'll help your reader visualize a character if you name him appropriately. Brawne, Stelle, Quietman have obvious connotations, and make excellent names. First names help, too. Roy, Tim, Jack, suggest man of action; Egbert and Eugene the fop. Jake the villain. Philip and Stanley the sensitive idealists. John and Carl the hero's strong, silent assistants. And it should hardly be necessary to point out that the chiseling, painted little vixen in the Martian dive, who does wrong by our hero, probably shouldn't be called Mary Constance. Probably the most difficult single thing for the beginning writer to learn to handle is dialogue. Some have a gift for it, and some haven't, and both have to write and write and write some more before they really get the hang of it. No one can write crisp, sparkling dialogue like de Camp the first time out; it comes only through practice, and no one can tell you how. But pertaining to it are several points that should be brought out. First, dig up a few recent [title underlined] Unknowns and [title underlined] Astoundings; also a slick mag if you have one on hand. Compare the dialogue in these with that in [title underlined] Thrilling Wonder Stories. It doesn't take a very keen perception to see that the really good writers in the former mags use "said" almost exclusively, while the hacks in the latter mags avoid it with deep horror. The fact that the truly great writers have managed to slip by with "said" all these centuries, doubtless fills with fear that they'll start writing too well to sell to [underlined] TWS. Anyway, the idea is that frantic scrambling to avoid using "said" shortly becomes both ludicrous and irritating. It should be used wisely, of course, and occasionally synonyms may get across an effect you want, justifying their use, but needless repetition of "said" should be avoided by mechanical evasion instead of synonyms. Thus: "Bullshooter ran a muscular hand through his black hair. 'There's a chance, of course, if the engines don't crack up.'" "'Mushpuss!' Stinkweed looked up, his eyes wild. 'Good God, Captain, Myr-
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