At 11:17 PM 2/10/98 -0500, you wrote:

[snip]

	Three major "good writing" types--elements of a story that will
grab and hold a reader.

 1. The Epic Weaver. The writer manages to draw together vast plots and
many diverse characters into one story, without losing sight of detail
and the individual storylines and people within the larger picture.
Thing that seem unrelated, perhaps, at first, are pulled together, as
well as the characters involved. And furthermore, it is accomplished in
a way that jumps between those varied lines before they join so as to
keep them all fresh in the mind of the reader, in a fashion that doesn't
confuse the reader through all the jumps.
 Imagine a person weaving a vast tapestry. He has to work from one end
to the other, going in separate, parallel lines that eventually build up
into one great big picture.
 Example: John Biles. The man's a genius for epics: Sailor Moon Z,
Dance of Shiva, even Lemon Sherbert. Large, grand stories which manage
to mesh seemingly unrelated plot points into one complete story.

Hmm. I guess the Scriviner falls under this one.

 2. The Wordsmith. The writer carefully crafts his prose for maximum
effect. Word choice, word order, phrase and sentence order make huge
differences in a way something reads. Describing things in a roundabout
manner, rather than directly, makes the reader think a little about
what's being written--showing, rather than telling, the story. This is
especially used for shock and humor pieces, as the work is trying to
evoke a strong reaction of some type. And, of course, lemons....
 Imagine a blacksmith hammering out a tool or weapon. Precision and
strength is put into what is being forged, making a sharply defined
piece of work.
 Example: Hmm, I have trouble finding a definitive author on the anime 
fanfic scene.... RpM, perhaps? In TMTC and TPOH--the humor in them is
particularly potent through his careful selection of words.

Actually, I'd like to read one of these kinds of fics. TMTC and TPOH, huh?

 3. The Mood Shaper. Similar to the above, in that word choice is
important, but not so much for biting effect--rather, to give an overall
mood for the piece. Little comments and details give a sense of
completeness to the story. And then, the story itself is also shaped
along the lines of the mood. This is probably the hardest one of the
three to appreciate, because the background effect part works almost
subconsciously.
 Imagine an artist painting the background of a work. He puts in
selected colors, little details, etc. as a setup for what will be the
foreground. Then, the foreground comes in...and boy, does it ever.
 Example: Chris Davies. The small, seemingly insignificant things he
puts in his works set them apart from more normal fics. And the moods
expressed in his "Images of Tenchi" kind of just wrench at your head.

Oh, gee, hmm. 'Saishu no Wakare'?

 (A fourth possibility was pointed out to me, that of the character-
based work, where the author writes a character in with such soul that
you can't help but be pulled in. It certainly is an excellent type of
writing for grabbing a reader, but I do find it to be a combination of
types 2 and 3: choosing the character's thoughts and words carefully for
impact, plus illustrating the feelings and observations of that
character so fully that you can just almost see them yourself....)

*grin* I remember 'All Alone, In The Night'.

 Of these three, only the epic is something that you consciously plan
out for the story. The other two are elements that flow into the work as
it is being written. Also the one that is hardest to develop is the
epic. It is not something that can be "practiced" for; it seems to
either come naturally, or not at all. It takes a mind that is capable of
stringing together myriad points together, something difficult to
attain. Crafting words and painting moods are in a large part a
vocabulary-based effort, so it can be "studied" for, the way one would
study for the verbal section of a standardized test. But, just as some
people simply test well, these two also come more naturally for some,
compared to others.

I actually tend to plan for #1, from the start... but end up doing either
#2 or #3. At least I try to. Yen Town was intended to be a #1, but it's
turning out to be more of the other two...

 Of course, they are not exclusive, not in the least. Take Chris: he is
also an epic writer--Together Again, for example. He combines that with
his skills at "painting" for truly marvelous work. For RpM, TMTC and
TPOH are epic-scale works, too. And John Biles can also evoke moods
brilliantly--"The Kiss", for one. Then, when you can get someone who
does all three, well...no anime fanfic author comes to mind as a shining
example of that, so I'd give that one to Terry Pratchett. His Discworld
series utilizes all three elements beautifully. As for myself...
"wordsmithing" is probably the one I can do best--it's what makes NGEjd
better than my previous things. Since writing this, I've tried my hand
at "mood shaping" in my "I Mustn't Run Away" piece, and according to my
reader reactions, I seem to have succeeded. That one definitely wasn't
number 3 alone; I put in a good part of number 2 also. As for grand
epics...they are just beyond me. I wish I could. I really do.

Actually, I'd place you smack dab between #2 and #3. Evanjellydonut is a
#2. All Alone is a #3.

 Any more types? Any comments?

Oh, gee. Um...
Actually, I have a theory, a trichotomy of writing style, if you will.

NOTE: These are MY terms. If you find a book on writing already discussing
these styles, and using other terms, don't crucify me. 

1) Writer/Reader Omniscient

The writer (and, as a consequence, the reader) is in everyone's head. All
thoughts are fair game. The w/r can see everything the characters can see,
and stuff they can't.

This makes for a holistic sort of story, sort of like a comic book.
Everyone's thought bubbles are right out there for everyone to see. This is
good, when capturing a sort of manga-style story, especially the Ranma
type. However, (bad for control freaks like myself) this may lead to the
reader empathizing with the wrong character at the wrong time, if the
authotr is not careful. In other words, emotionally-charged fics are
sometimes diffused because of the presence of so many inputs, of course
depending on the writer's skill.

Script-style fics usually fall under this category. 

2) Writer/Reader Detached

Like the Omniscient method, the Detached method has the w/r untied to any
one character's impressions. However, unlike the Omniscient method, this is
done by completely denying the reader of any direct thoughts by the
characters. In short, the reader cannot tell anything that he/she would not
be normally able to is he/she were actually in the scene. This challenges
writers to convey emotion to the reader without stating it outright,
instead giving visual/auditory/tactile clues to imply them, like most
movies and shows (unless voice-overs are given to simulate thoughts).

This sort of method is best when capturing the style of movies or shows,
which generally have to rely on the skill of the actors to convey emotion,
because except in a few cases, the characters' thoughts are never directly
stated unless they are said outright. This method, of course, like any good
movie or anime, is perfectly capable of making the reader experience
intense emotions along with the characters, but, like I said, it all
depends on the actors' performances.

The Detached style author would best be armed with very good descriptive
skill.

And wouldn't you know it, the Scriviner falls under this one.

3) Writer/Reader Character Keyed 

The reader is told the story through the eyes of one character at a time.
Only his/her thoughts and impressions are stated outright. The actions of
others are filtered through the character's perception before they reach
the reader.

This is my FAVORITE style. Maybe it's my bias, but I feel that this is the
purest form of the written story. It tells a story in a way no movie or
comicbook can, constantly through the eyes of one character at one time.
Movies can narrate through voiceover and comics through word panels, but
can never really filter the input. Whether told in 1st or 3rd person, the
reader must see the world through the character's eyes, and hear the
character's thoughts.

The reader is subjected to the full intensity of emotions the keyed
character, often the protagonist, experiences. This makes for very good and
intense mood stories. One of my favorite stories, 'Saishu no Wakare', is
told from 3rd person Character Keyed. Whether the keyed character is Ranma
or Akane, the reader is completely gripped, experiencing the emotion that
the character feels.

This may be seen as, oh, 'unfair and unwilling control' on the part of the
writer, but since it is often done very subtly, the control is often
subconscious.

This is especially effective when the story is keyed at certain points to
the antagonist. Before the reader is alerted to the 'danger', he/she is
already empathizing with the keyed character, the antagonist. A lot of good
horror novels have scenes where the story is keyed to the antagonist, to
chilling effect.


That's my two and a half cents. If anyone can add or refute these, well,
the list is a discussion place for writers, right? (looks hopefully at All
Purpose Cultural Cat-Girl White Wolf and Tybalt)

>From Andrew Huang, brought to you by his computer, Oddzilla
Oddzilla says, "Mmmmm...Evanjellydonut...."
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~alhuang/
Harvard Anime Society, President

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"The story grew in the most convoluted way, as many people will be
surprised to learn. Writing episodically meant that when I finished one
episode I had no idea about what the next one would contain. When, in the
twists and turns of the plot, some event su
ddenly seemed to illuminate things that had gone before, I was as surprised
as anyone else."

--- Douglas Adams, "A Guide to the Guide"