[SKRIVA] Lovecrafts "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction"
- From: Ahrvid <ahrvid@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <skriva@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 15:18:24 +0200
Hittar inte Lovecrafts "Notes on Interplanetary Fiction" som nättext, men väl
en annan artikel: "Notes on Writing Weird Fiction":
http://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/essays/nwwf.aspx
Det kan vara värt att sammafatta HPL:s fem bastips:
1) Gör ett synopsis över händelserna, i händelseordning (inte i
berättandeordning). Inkludera de detaljer som behövs och motiv för händelser.
2) Gör ett andra synopsis, denna gång i den ordning de berättas. Inkludera än
mer detaljer. Lägg till mellanhändelser eller stryk de som inte behövs.
3) Skriv berättelsen, snabbt och utan för mycket självkritik enligt synopsis 2.
Men ändra vad som behövs.
4) Redigera och revidera texten, särskilt med avseende på ordval, grammatik,
rytm osv.
5) Gör ett snyggt utskrivet manus, utan att tveka om att revidera än mer.
Lovecraft skrev vanligen för hand, men i slutskeded såg han till att få ett
maskinskrivet manus. (Han kunde låta en vän skriva ut det eller skrev det
själv. Han torde ha haft en skrivmaskin men gillade att skriva på den.)
Artikeln nedan är bättre än "Notes on Interplanetary Fiction", som mest
handlar om personskildring, att man måste tänka på berättelsepersoners beteende
och motiv, det skall märkas att man är på främmande planeter, och främmande
varelser får liksom inte vara ungefär som människor utan det måste märkas att
det är något främmande.
--Ahrvid
-----
NOTES ON WRITING WEIRD FICTION
My reason for writing stories is to give myself the satisfaction of visualising
more clearly
and detailedly and stably the vague, elusive, fragmentary impressions of
wonder, beauty, and
adventurous expectancy which are conveyed to me by certain sights (scenic,
architectural, atmospheric,
etc.), ideas, occurrences, and images encountered in art and literature. I
choose weird stories
because they suit my inclination bestone of my strongest and most persistent
wishes being
to achieve, momentarily, the illusion of some strange suspension or violation
of the galling
limitations of time, space, and natural law which for ever imprison us and
frustrate our curiosity
about the infinite cosmic spaces beyond the radius of our sight and analysis.
These stories
frequently emphasise the element of horror because fear is our deepest and
strongest emotion,
and the one which best lends itself to the creation of nature-defying
illusions. Horror and
the unknown or the strange are always closely connected, so that it is hard to
create a convincing
picture of shattered natural law or cosmic alienage or outsideness without
laying
stress on the emotion of fear. The reason why time plays a great part in so
many of my
tales is that this element looms up in my mind as the most profoundly dramatic
and grimly terrible
thing in the universe. Conflict with time seems to me the most potent and
fruitful theme
in all human expression.
While my chosen form of story-writing is obviously a special and perhaps a
narrow one, it is none the less a persistent and permanent type of expression,
as old as literature
itself. There will always be a small percentage of persons who feel a burning
curiosity about
unknown outer space, and a burning desire to escape from the prison-house of
the known and the
real into those enchanted lands of incredible adventure and infinite
possibilities which dreams
open up to us, and which things like deep woods, fantastic urban towers, and
flaming sunsets
momentarily suggest. These persons include great authors as well as
insignificant amateurs like
myselfDunsany, Poe, Arthur Machen, M. R. James, Algernon Blackwood, and Walter
de la
Mare being typical masters in this field.
As to how I write a storythere is no one way. Each one of my tales has
a different history. Once or twice I have literally written out a dream; but
usually I start
with a mood or idea or image which I wish to express, and revolve it in my mind
until I can
think of a good way of embodying it in some chain of dramatic occurrences
capable of being recorded
in concrete terms. I tend to run through a mental list of the basic conditions
or situations
best adapted to such a mood or idea or image, and then begin to speculate on
logical and naturally
motivated explanations of the given mood or idea or image in terms of the basic
condition or
situation chosen.
The actual process of writing is of course as varied as the choice of theme
and initial conception; but if the history of all my tales were analysed, it is
just possible
that the following set of rules might be deduced from the average procedure:
(1) Prepare a synopsis or scenario of events in the order of their absolute
occurrence not the order of their narration. Describe with enough fulness to
cover
all vital points and motivate all incidents planned. Details, comments, and
estimates of consequences
are sometimes desirable in this temporary framework.
(2) Prepare a second synopsis or scenario of eventsthis one in order
of narration (not actual occurrence), with ample fulness and detail, and with
notes as
to changing perspective, stresses, and climax. Change the original synopsis to
fit if such a
change will increase the dramatic force or general effectiveness of the story.
Interpolate or
delete incidents at willnever being bound by the original conception even if
the ultimate
result be a tale wholly different from that first planned. Let additions and
alterations be
made whenever suggested by anything in the formulating process.
(3) Write out the storyrapidly, fluently, and not too criticallyfollowing
the second or narrative-order synopsis. Change incidents and plot whenever the
developing
process seems to suggest such change, never being bound by any previous design.
If the development
suddenly reveals new opportunities for dramatic effect or vivid storytelling,
add whatever is
thought advantageousgoing back and reconciling the early parts to the new
plan. Insert
and delete whole sections if necessary or desirable, trying different
beginnings and endings
until the best arrangement is found. But be sure that all references throughout
the story are
thoroughly reconciled with the final design. Remove all possible
superfluitieswords,
sentences, paragraphs, or whole episodes or elementsobserving the usual
precautions about
the reconciling of all references.
(4) Revise the entire text, paying attention to vocabulary, syntax, rhythm
of prose, proportioning of parts, niceties of tone, grace and convincingness or
transitions
(scene to scene, slow and detailed action to rapid and sketchy time-covering
action and vice
versa. . . . etc., etc., etc.), effectiveness of beginning, ending, climaxes,
etc.,
dramatic suspense and interest, plausibility and atmosphere, and various other
elements.
(5) Prepare a neatly typed copynot hesitating to add final revisory
touches where they seem in order.
The first of these stages is often purely a mental onea set of conditions
and happenings being worked out in my head, and never set down until I am ready
to prepare a
detailed synopsis of events in order of narration. Then, too, I sometimes begin
even the actual
writing before I know how I shall develop the ideathis beginning forming a
problem to
be motivated and exploited.
There are, I think, four distinct types of weird story; one expressing a
mood or feeling, another expressing a pictorial conception, a third expressing a
general situation, condition, legend, or intellectual conception, and a fourth
explaining
a definite tableau or specific dramatic situation or climax. In another way,
weird tales
may be grouped into two rough categoriesthose in which the marvel or horror
concerns
some condition or phenomenon, and those in which it concerns some action of
persons in connexion with a bizarre condition or phenomenon.
Each weird storyto speak more particularly of the horror typeseems
to involve five definite elements: (a) some basic, underlying horror or
abnormalitycondition,
entity, etc., (b) the general effects or bearings of the horror, (c) the mode
of manifestationobject
embodying the horror and phenomena observed, (d) the types of fear-reaction
pertaining
to the horror, and (e) the specific effects of the horror in relation to the
given set of conditions.
In writing a weird story I always try very carefully to achieve the right mood
and atmosphere, and place the emphasis where it belongs. One cannot, except in
immature pulp
charlatanfiction, present an account of impossible, improbable, or
inconceivable phenomena
as a commonplace narrative of objective acts and conventional emotions.
Inconceivable events
and conditions have a special handicap to overcome, and this can be
accomplished only through
the maintenance of a careful realism in every phase of the story except that
touching
on the one given marvel. This marvel must be treated very impressively and
deliberatelywith
a careful emotional build-upelse it will seem flat and unconvincing. Being
the principal thing in the story, its mere existence should overshadow the
characters and events.
But the characters and events must be consistent and natural except where they
touch the single
marvel. In relation to the central wonder, the characters should shew the same
overwhelming
emotion which similar characters would shew toward such a wonder in real life.
Never have a
wonder taken for granted. Even when the characters are supposed to be
accustomed to the wonder
I try to weave an air of awe and impressiveness corresponding to what the
reader should feel.
A casual style ruins any serious fantasy.
Atmosphere, not action, is the great desideratum of weird fiction. Indeed,
all that a wonder story can ever be is a vivid picture of a certain type of
human mood.
The moment it tries to be anything else it becomes cheap, puerile, and
unconvincing. Prime emphasis
should be given to subtle suggestionimperceptible hints and touches of
selective
associative detail which express shadings of moods and build up a vague
illusion of the strange
reality of the unreal. Avoid bald catalogues of incredible happenings which can
have no substance
or meaning apart from a sustaining cloud of colour and symbolism.
These are the rules or standards which I have followedconsciously or
unconsciouslyever since I first attempted the serious writing of fantasy. That
my results
are successful may well be disputedbut I feel at least sure that, had I
ignored the considerations
mentioned in the last few paragraphs, they would have been much worse than they
are.
--HP Lovecraft
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