Posts from the ‘BRAD R. TORGERSEN’ Category

Crumbly bits of good author stuff, from LTUE

Life, The Universe, and Everything is Utah’s premier symposium for serious SF/F creatives (who aren’t always so serious!) and has been an ever-expanding project of the local SF/F fan-creative community for almost four decades. My first one was in 2009, and by the following year I wound up on the other side of the panel table, dispensing what knowledge I could about this nutty new career I’d invented for myself. Due to military deployment and other issues, I wasn’t able to attend in 2016 or 2017, but I was thrilled to be back for 2018, and even more thrilled to find the symposium had grown even more — attracting an ever-larger pool of professionals, semi-professionals, and aspirants. Both from around the state of Utah, and from across the country as a whole.

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Let an old Western teach you about good story elements

A couple weeks ago I had the great pleasure of seeing an old favorite from the 1980s: Silverado. In its time, it was not a blockbuster. Nor did it achieve the iconic silver-screen cultural footprint of other contemporary Western productions like Young Guns or Unforgiven. But it did have a long life on the cable movie networks, gaining a substantial amount of audience traction among those who appreciate a good old-fashioned Western feel-good drama. Silverado has an excellent ensemble cast, with numerous faces familiar to anyone who knows the eighties. But more than that, it has great story elements which are instructive for anyone considering how to properly plot and pace their writing.

HOOK BEGINNING. Everyone talks about how the opening of Star Wars hit them. With the Imperial cruiser roaring over the top of the audience, blasting away at the Rebel blockade runner. I think Silverado does a very similar trick. With very little context — other than a slow, silent pan shot across what is clearly rustic cowboy gear in a rustic cowboy shack — we’re plunged directly into the action, as nameless desperados shoot up the shack, attempting to kill our as-yet unnamed protagonist. He gets the best of his opponents, of course. In a feel-good Western, the hero always does. And in the process, we discover that our man is lightning-fast with a revolver, as well as a rifle. He’s got skills. And the canvas for his story is going to be the gorgeous backcountry of the American Southwest. The entire sequence taking less than two minutes. That is how you rope your reader in. Hit ’em quick, show ’em a lot, and given ’em something compelling. Don’t meander into the thing, over chapters and chapters. Put the stakes up front.

ORGANICALLY BUILD YOUR CAST. Just as the opening credits finish, we meet our next hero. A man down on his luck. Left for dead. With very little dialogue, we learn that our gunslinger is also a compassionate man, while the new guy has a sense of humor; even in the face of personal catastrophe. Together they ride. It’s an association of expediency, sure, but we sense quickly that these are decent men. Even if they’ve both become more acquainted with jails than is healthy for honest citizens. It’s discovered that the new guy was the victim of still more desperados, though not the same bunch who targeted our initial protagonist. The two men suddenly have an alliance of interest: who did this to us, and why?

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