Chuck Wendig critiques your stories...

[Fishbowl Helmet]

Chuck Wendig critiques your stories.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

I just loved this story outline he gave.


1. HEY LOOK A PROBLEM
2. I’M GONNA JUST GO AHEAD AND FIX THAT PROBLEM AND –
3. OH GOD I MADE IT WORSE
4. OH F* SOMEBODY ELSE IS MAKING IT WORSE TOO
5. WAIT I THINK I GOT THIS –
6A. sh*t sh*t sh*t
6B. F* F* F*
7. IT’S NOT JUST WORSE NOW BUT DIFFERENT
8. EVERYTHING IS COMPLICATED
9. ALL IS LOST
10. WAIT, IS THAT A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
11. IT IS BUT IT’S A VELOCIRAPTOR WITH A FLASHLIGHT IN ITS MOUTH
12. WAIT AN IDEA
13. I HAVE BEATEN THE VELOCIRAPTOR AND NOW I HAVE A FLASHLIGHT AND MY PROBLEMS ARE SOLVED IN PART BUT NOT TOO NEATLY BECAUSE TIDY, PAT ENDINGS MAKE STORY JESUS ANGRY, SO ANGRY THAT STORY JESUS GIVES EVERYONE MOUTH HERPES

Now I just have to think of a story that matches this outline!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Juliana]

And no one wants to make story Jesus angry...

 

[Christopher Lee]

I love Wendig. He's hilarious and can still write a hellofa story.

 

[Toby Frost]

Is there a law that all articles about SFF have to be written in the style of a character from Buffy?

That said, they are very good points. What strikes me here is how, in about 3 pages of text, Wendig has pinned down most of the things that we are wired to like as readers. That says a lot about Wendig's perception and also how predictable readers are, in a way. I think he's very right to suggest that writing is about questions and answers - immediate questions, like "How will this man find petrol for his car?" and bigger questions like "How did society become this way?". The witholding of the answers to the appropriate point is almost as important as the quality of the answers themselves.