People Said My Writing is Creepy (Happy February!)
I don’t know what prompted them to say this, but I had no idea what they were talking about at the time.
Is it the themes, and how they’re talked about? Possibly. In the next issues, you’ll see what I mean.
Is it because it’s a Sci-Fi, and for the most part it seems kinda ‘normal’? That might be it, too.
But I’m not just slapping the content on a page and calling it a day. I’m looking for places to describe instead of explain. Because of the way my sensory processes work, I may write something extremely specific.
The convention is “show, don’t tell”. We paint a picture with words, but there’s a time and a place for showing the scene and the actions. It’s easy to take this too far.
That’s why I follow “describe, don’t explain”. In my brain, it’s like I now see where the boundaries are for description and action. Your first draft is so easy to explain upon, and if you’re that way inclined, try description on your second draft, where the writing falls weak.
The people who read the first few issues found my aftermath description of Queen Meina’s death too unsettling, as if they were tossed into a room made of concrete flooring, cinder block walls, and antique yellow paint. When someone like a queen dies, we’re expected to mourn. But the description of her character, every character’s opinions, and her apparition seemed to have built suspense for something down the line.
Am I leaning into Meina? You bet. I know that’s big spoilers, but it’s about what I do with her, not the fact of the matter. It’s like finding out that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father. We don’t stop watching because that’s now happened - we keep watching Star Wars to see how Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewbacca tackle the problem of the Empire. Episodes IV to VI are oddly solid in that fact.
Onto the latest issue. I wasn’t proud of this issue when I wrote it because it feels like filler - everyone’s meeting each other, and there’s not really any action. A character’s dream has already come true. So what’s next? It might be time to challenge that dream.
In the meantime, I’m going to keep being specific as much as I can. Following the motion of someone’s arm is kinda boring.