Mark Lawrence - Genre Fiction

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Published by Mark Lawrence at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 Mark Lawrence

Cover Design byJames, GoOnWrite.com

This ebook islicensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not bere-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to sharethis book with another person, please purchase an additional copyfor each recipient. If youre reading this book and did notpurchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then pleasereturn to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you forrespecting the hard work of this author.

Table ofContents

A slightly left of centre guide to themechanics, --and plumbers--, of the fiction writersworld.

This ebook will disclose the background information thatdefines genre in the publishing industry. This is the stuff no-onewill teach you, mainly because it doesn't matter. Here you willlearn the finer points of category or genre fiction. Romance,fantasy, science fiction; the author has extensive knowledge innone of these areas. But the little he does know he is more thanwilling to share.

Six of the major genres are examined regarding length, namingcharacters, plot and setting. Each genre is then fleshed out with asample of creative writing that illustrates several of the pointscovered.

The author guarantees that thise-book will not in any way improve your writing but does guaranteeat least a raised eyebrow, or a snort, a shake of the head, achuckle, perhaps a guffaw. Occasionally there may be tears and ashortness of breath. Please note that laughing your head off is notcovered by most private health insurance providers.

Plot

If real-life novels deal withthe here and now then science fiction deals with there and someother time or the here but not now, or the then but not here, orthe anywhere and anytime, or the over there just last week, or justslightly left of centre of the known universe a lambs shake intothe big bang, or a righteous heartbeat before Armageddon wheneveryone is vainly trying to remember how to appease the bigfella.

In other words, other times,other places.

Science fiction relies ontechnology. If it plugs in, turns on, powers up, emits mechanicalcachank, cachank, cachank noises, treads ponderously on slabs ofduracrete the size of tennis courts, is able to cross entiregalaxies without the need to rest, relax, refuel, realign or havean attitude rearrangement then it's part of a science fictionstory.

Characters in science fiction aredrawn to explore. They can be crayoned, penciled or sketched. Oftenthis accounts for their unusual characteristics or temperaments, asthey aren't finished. Sometimes they are a shade too dark, orone-dimensional. And some have this weird little half smile thatdrives people nuts.

At times, they may need to raceacross the galaxy, wandering through wormholes, planing throughportals, enjoyably entering event Horizon's, blasting through blackholes, tripping through time, hurtling through hyperspace andwantonly warping whenever weather was wild.

Other times, the exploration will beinternal. A team of microscopic Nano robots are assigned to savethe life of the only man able to prevent the earth's destruction.Stealthily slipping in via suppository, the team, having survivedthe sphincter, would weave their way through the bowel, moving infits and spurts, jetting explosively from cover to cover, blockageto blockage.

After carefully crossing thebadly distended stomach and avoiding the huge lumps of inorganicwaste found within the team prepare to survey the lungs. They setup a system of safety lines and don protective coverings againstthe corrosive smoke-filled wasteland that lies ahead.

Naturally, being mechanical,the Nano robots can do without oxygen and it's just as well. Oxygenlevels within the lungs barely register on their sensitiveinstruments.

Having successfully navigated thedepths of the tortured lungs the team regroups as they enter thebloodstream and are swept along to the heart here they must stabilise themselves before performing a battery of tests todetermine if the final phase of their journey will benecessary.

They received the green light,they're good to go. Now they must make a difficult traverse up intothe right nostril. Here, the final obstacle. The Nano robots moldthemselves into a pin, and then manoeuvre themselves into the fleshy end of an indexfinger.

This finger, placed there andforgotten by its owner, is contributing to the brain being slowlystarved for oxygen.

Now that it's removed, the USPresident can sign the treaty that will ensure worldpeace.

Length

Science fiction stories tend tobe long. Because the author invents so much stuff there's alwayslots that need explaining. So, if you have a character using ahyper scriber turbo comm modulator you will need to explain thatthis is a pen.

The length will be needed todevelop your characters fully. If Jon Smith is an alien fromLigatar, your readers will need to know that in times of stress hisrace is able to split their bodily parts off so they can escapeindividually.

So if Jon is just about to beblasted by a Turnock wielding Skanag your readers will not bealarmed if he collapses into a bloody pile of limbs that startscattering as best they can. Of course, this adaptation also allowsyou to experiment with plot twists. What if when Jon breaks apartthere's no guarantee that his limbs will reattach in theirconventional positions.

Imagine his frustration as hetries to pilot his Artabalangijung Vipplesnapper when his left armhas joined at the shoulder while his right rejoined at his crotch.Hunched over awkwardly he tries so hard to ignore his genitaliadangling from his right shoulder. It's very tempting to give it aquick lick just because he can.

And what if sexual intercourseitself became too stressful. Imagine the confusion when there aremultiple body parts all looking for a home. All sorts of strangecombinations spring to mind. Then of course you could have aclimactic orgy scene. Tension is running high then suddenly ahysterical voice announces that they're received word of a bombthreat. What a mess that would be.

Characters

Again the world is your oyster.At one end of the scale, you could have a swarm of amoeba likecreatures who each know a line of the theory of relativity but havetrouble getting the order right, and at the other a sentient blackhole with an IQ of five that just wants to eat whatever itsees.

In between, you can havewhatever you like. Humans, aliens, clouds of intelligent gas, rocksliving in communes, trees that can make animated copies of whateverthey touch from blades of grass and crushed slugs, aliens thatdon't want to mate with a super model, humans that mean what theysay.