How the The Crown Prince of Jupiter Undid the Universe at tor.com, The Tragic Fate of the City of O-Rashad at Lightspeed, and Writing Very Long Sentences
How the The Crown Prince of Jupiter Undid the Universe at tor.com, The Tragic Fate of the City of O-Rashad at Lightspeed, and Writing Very Long Sentences
How the Crown Prince of Jupiter Undid the Universe, or, The Full Fruit of Love’s Full Folly at tor.com How the Crown Prince of Jupiter, or, the Full Fruit of Love’s Fully Folly is live at tor.com! I love this story a great deal—it started when I was exhausted from writing novels and gave myself permission to write anything I wanted, without plans or structures. I think that the final story retains some of that joy and playfulness (even if the ending, well—)
First of all, I just want to say, I’m a big fan. I think you’re the best speculative short fiction writer out there, and I’m looking forward to reading your novels. I love that you are sharing your craft insights here as well as your career news. And thank you for this topic in particular. I tend to write short sentences and color in the details later, so, it was helpful to watch you go through the process. It was also just fun following along as you played with the parenthetical, adjusted the rhythm, and brought us all back to the dragon.
I love this level of craft analysis, and it inspired me pull a book that has been sitting lonely on my shelf: “25 Great Sentences, and How They Got That Way” by Geraldine Woods. It’s starts off with Virginia Woolf—a good place to start—and a deep analysis of a sentence from “Mrs. Dalloway”. Woods used this example to introduce—for me, anyway, you may be familiar with the term—the concept of “pocket” sentences. You begin and end the sentence with a strong declaration like—in your example—“there’s a dragon over the hill”, or—in Woolf’s example—“The war is over!” The declarations form the pocket, and then you tuck inside this pocket … well, whatever contents you like: memories of a childhood friend in your dragon-facing protagonists’ case, memories of society women grieving their casualties of war, in Mrs. Dalloway’s case.
Good stuff.
Thanks again. Looking forward to seeing what you have for us in December. Have a productive and fun November.
I love this so much. I have ordered “The Carrier-Bag Theory of Fiction”. Thank YOU for the recommendation.
Another thought related to the “pocket”: the contents can threaten the integrity of the container. The stitches of Mrs. Dalloway’s pocket are torn by the reality that the war is by no means over for the women grieving their dead sons, however much Mrs. D wants to believe it is over. I’m not sure how much this concept applies to Le Guin’s theory. Looking forward to finding out.
First of all, I just want to say, I’m a big fan. I think you’re the best speculative short fiction writer out there, and I’m looking forward to reading your novels. I love that you are sharing your craft insights here as well as your career news. And thank you for this topic in particular. I tend to write short sentences and color in the details later, so, it was helpful to watch you go through the process. It was also just fun following along as you played with the parenthetical, adjusted the rhythm, and brought us all back to the dragon.
I love this level of craft analysis, and it inspired me pull a book that has been sitting lonely on my shelf: “25 Great Sentences, and How They Got That Way” by Geraldine Woods. It’s starts off with Virginia Woolf—a good place to start—and a deep analysis of a sentence from “Mrs. Dalloway”. Woods used this example to introduce—for me, anyway, you may be familiar with the term—the concept of “pocket” sentences. You begin and end the sentence with a strong declaration like—in your example—“there’s a dragon over the hill”, or—in Woolf’s example—“The war is over!” The declarations form the pocket, and then you tuck inside this pocket … well, whatever contents you like: memories of a childhood friend in your dragon-facing protagonists’ case, memories of society women grieving their casualties of war, in Mrs. Dalloway’s case.
Good stuff.
Thanks again. Looking forward to seeing what you have for us in December. Have a productive and fun November.
I love this so much. I have ordered “The Carrier-Bag Theory of Fiction”. Thank YOU for the recommendation.
Another thought related to the “pocket”: the contents can threaten the integrity of the container. The stitches of Mrs. Dalloway’s pocket are torn by the reality that the war is by no means over for the women grieving their dead sons, however much Mrs. D wants to believe it is over. I’m not sure how much this concept applies to Le Guin’s theory. Looking forward to finding out.
Best to you.
--David