På sf-författaren Terry Bissons hemsida finns en ambitiös lista med hela 60
regler för "short sf", dvs noveller (inkluderar även fantasy):
http://www.terrybisson.com/page2/page2.html
Nu bör man nog inte hålla med om eller hålla sig till SAMTLIGA regler. En del
regler han föreslår är helt åt skogen och många är nog mindre viktiga. Men
nedan är listan, med ev kommentarer. Markerar de regler som verkar särskilt
intressanta med !!!
1. Keep it short . It can and should be read in one sitting. That's the first
rule.
2. The novel's timeline is folded into the reader's real time. The short story
is itself a real-time event. That gives the form a certain "Hey, you!"
authority, like a fire or an arrest. Use that authority.
3. The SF reader is a gamer who brings a problem-solving intelligence to the
story. This is the SF writer's one great advantage. Use it.
!!!4. The more extraordinary the idea, the more ordinary the language.
Experimental writing is for quotidian events. James Joyce and Virginia Woolf
understood this.
5. Keep your timeline simple. Flashbacks are out of place in a short story.
(AE: Tyvärr är Flashbacks ibland helt nödvändiga för den intrig man ränkt
sig. Dessutom bvehövs flashbacks ofta för att ge bakgrund.)
!!!6. Never write in present tense. It makes events less, not more, immediate.
Past tense IS present tense.
!!!7. No dialect. Jargon is OK but only if doesn't have to be explained.
!!!8. One world only. Dreams are out of place in a short story.
(AE: Ja, "drömmar", långa interna tankegångar o dyl är överskattat.)
9. Fantasies are out of place in Fantasy.
!!!10. The stranger the idea, the realer the world must seem to be.
!!!11. A few objects make a world, the fewer the better. William Gibson's good
at this. It's called art direction.
!!!12. No info dumps. The short story IS an info-dump.
13. The short story is the controlled release of information. Let the reader
know from the first line who is in control.
14. Be stingy. Generosity is out of place in the short story.
!!!15. Don't be chatty. The novelist makes friends with the reader. The SF
reader is both accomplice and adversary but never friend. Think of it as a
contest in which he is pleased only if he loses.
16. Genre is a matrix of expectations. They are yours to grant, deny or delay,
but you must know what they are. Don't be writing SF if you haven't read it.
!!!17. One idea is enough for a story. Two is more than enough. Three is too
many.
18. One POV is enough. Two is more than enough. Three is too many.
(AE: Undantagsvis kan flera PoV behövas.)
19. Watch your POV and keep it consistent. Be strict. If you relax, your reader
will too.
20. The main character should be a little stupid. This flatters the reader.
(AE: Njae. Är HP smart och man kanindentifiera sig med denna blir man som
läsare också smickrad.)
21. One character should never tell another character the story. Conrad could
do this but you can't.
(AE: *Bitar* av en story kan berättas i dialogen.)
22. If you have more than one character, make them work at cross purposes. You
can kill one if you like.
!!!"23.Too many little impediments make a story seem jiggly. One or two big
ones are better.
!!!24. A short story should cover a day or two at most. A week is stretching it.
!!!25. One setting is best. Movement is not action.
26. Action is overrated anyway.
!!!27. Every character has a history, but most don't belong in the story. This
is Hemingway's rule.
!!!28. Know who is telling the story, and why. This can be the hard part.
!!!29. Even a story without a narrator has a narrator.
30. Polish. Short stories are like poems in that they may be read more than
once. A really good short story will be read several times. Beware.
31. Polish. Your readers should fear you, a little.
!!!32. Use your characters to release the information. This is what they're
for. Try not to have them read it in newspapers.
!!!33. Make their dialogue do double or triple duty. Small talk in SF is like
carbonation in wine. It detracts.
34. Humor is OK but only if it seems offhand. Never pause for a laugh.
(AE: Njae. Man kan fläska på mer med humor, men det är svårt.)
35. No funny names, please.
36. No magic carpets or Once Upon a Times. A fable is not a short story. A joke
is not a short story.
37. No wizards or dragons. They will make your short story seem like a part of
a longer, less interesting piece.
!!!38. Don't meander or digress. You can pretend to meander for misdirection.
See below.
!!!39. Misdirection is interesting. SF readers like puzzles.
!!!40. Fights are only interesting in real life. They are boring in stories.
41. Novels are made out of characters and events. Short stories are made out of
words alone. They are all surface. Polish.
42. Plot is important only in time travel stories. They must have a paradox.
This limits their range severely.
(AE: Helt FEL!)
43. Symmetry is more important than plot. A short story must make a pleasing
shape, and close with a click.
44. Sex is out of place in a short story, unless it has already happened or
will happen after the story is over. See 40, fighting, above.
45. Surprises are good, but only if they appear to be planned.
(AE: Helt till synes oplanerade överraskningar funkar bättre!)
46. Try to put something interesting on every page. This is Gene Wolfe' s rule.
!!!47. Telling can be better than showing. It all depends on who's doing the
telling.
48. Racial and sexual stereotypes are (still) default SF. Avoiding them takes
more than reversals.
49. Space breaks regulate timeline. They make a story look modern but also
conventional.
!!!50. Go easy on character descriptions. Nobody cares what your characters
look like. They only need to be able to tell them apart.
51. Repetition is good for symmetry but must be used carefully, like Tabasco.
52. Never write about a writer. It makes you seem needy.
!!!53. Leave stuff out. It's what's left out that puts what's left in to work.
54. Withhold as much information as possible for as long as possible. When the
reader knows everything, the story is over.
(AE: Fel! Håller man inne med viktig info blir läsaren bara förvirrad.()
55. After you finish your story, go back and cut your first paragraph. Now it
is finished.
(AE: Nix. Man skall däremot lägga ned mycket möda på första stycket. Att då
ta bort det är bara dumt.)
56. Imagine a reader both sympathetic and cruel. Pretend you are that reader
when you edit.
57. Read your story aloud. It must run under a half an hour. This is about 4000
words. Anything longer than this and people start to fidget.
58. Don't do voices. A dry, academic reading style is best unless you are John
Crowley or Gahan Wilson.
59. Ignore these rules at your peril.
!!!60. Peril is the SF short story writer's accomplice, adversary, and friend
--Ahrvid
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