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Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Fuse #8, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 8 of 8
1. Ask an Editor: Worldbuilding After the Apocalypse

Stacy Whitman photoStacy Whitman is Editorial Director and Publisher of Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS that publishes diverse science fiction and fantasy for middle grade and young adult readers. This blog post was originally posted at her blog, Stacy Whitman’s Grimoire

Yesterday, Sarah Hannah Gómez wrote about people of color in dystopias. Today I thought we’d look at the post-apocalyptic genre (which overlaps with, but is not always the same as, dystopias) from the craft side. A while back, as I was going through submissions, a few thoughts formed for me about worldbuilding in the genre due to things I was seeing again and again. This isn’t by any means a comprehensive list of things to think about—just a few things that struck me as a pattern in some recent reads (and something I notice when it’s done well).

I guess everything I want to say actually falls under the old (and very useful) “show, don’t tell,” – which of course is relevant whether or not your novel is set after the apocalypse. So, here you go:

inverted pyramid

  • If you include newspaper clippings/stories as metatext to support the main narrative, make sure that it actually sounds like a news clipping. Use inverted pyramid structure, starting with the most important details and filling in backstory and history only once important details have been included. Who, what, why, where, when: these are the most important things to focus on in the first paragraph.

One of my first publishing-related jobs in college was as a newspaper reporter, and the end of my stories—even my feature stories—often got chopped off for space. In news writing, your lede has to be an actual lede, not an introductory sentence, and you don’t include common-knowledge information (stuff all the characters would know because they live in that world) as an infodump in the second paragraph.

  • Less is more in post-apocalyptic worldbuilding.

We usually don’t need to know every detail of the apocalypse in the first chapter, or even by the end of the book. In fact, it usually just slows down the reading and even occasionally turns off a reader to be reminded in every sentence just how bad the world is because of global warming’s effect a hundred years ago or because we ran out of fossil fuels or because a great plague hit the world three hundred years ago. These things are common knowledge to the characters—or perhaps they’re lost knowledge for the character, depending on how long ago the apocalypse happened and how much technology/media had broken down in the years since.

But generally letting the reader know exactly what happened within the first chapter or two turns into an infodump or an as-you-know-Bob. Actually, what you want to do is revealed in that last link—I didn’t know there was a name for it! Incluing, at least according to Wikipedia (which is of course so reliable, but let’s go with it for now unless someone knows of a more technical term), is what you really want to do.

  • Reel out worldbuilding details little by little, cluing the reader in to worldbuilding details as they need the information (or slightly before, so as not to be jarring).

The best incluing example, the one I always go back to, is the first page or so of The Golden Compass, in which Lyra is talking to her daemon as they spy on a conversation in another room. We have no idea what a daemon is, even the basic concept of what one looks like, within the first page—that’s something Philip Pullman spools out to us little by little, creating a mystery, through small, specific details, that hooks us enough to make us want to know more.

Joseph Bruchac does this well in the first few chapters of Killer of Enemies. We’re on a hunt with Lozen, and we learn about the Cloud and Gemods and the place she lives, Haven, little by little over the course of a few chapters. Her inner narrative is a good way to spool out details slowly, thought it only works if your character has the knowledge to share. worldbuilding block quote

These ideas are pretty basic, but so important in a good postapocalyptic tale, in my opinion. The only exceptions I can think of to sharing details of the apocalypse slowly, over time: zombie post-apocalypses, such as Carrie Ryan’s The Forest of Hands and Teeth (we know the cause of the apocalypse was zombies, because they’re everywhere; though we might not know the cause of zombies, we know the cause of the breakdown of society) and stories in which the apocalypse is currently happening, such as The Carbon Diaries (we see the breakdown of society through the main character’s eyes, and she has limited information)—though in either case infodumps still won’t be appreciated.

But in general for most post-apocalyptic tales, I argue that less is more when it comes to revealing the cause of society’s death and allowing it to be a mystery that the reader discovers along the journey. Sometimes that journey will be figuring out why their current society is a dystopia, and hence figuring out the cause of the apocalypse that triggered this new society (The Giver would be a classic example of that structure). But, as I mentioned above, post-apocalyptic and dystopia aren’t synonymous, so sometimes it’ll simply be common knowledge that Earth that Was died in some way so we had to set out for the stars, or that in the characters’ great-grandparents’ generation a great plague swept the earth (like in For Darkness Shows the Stars), or that global warming caused the world to become so flooded that people live on boats, fight over what little earth there is available on those boats, and evolve to grow gills and webbed feet.

Okay, Waterworld isn’t exactly the best example, but you could do worse for a short sweet example of how to worldbuild an apocalyptic backstory, even if the plot and characters weren’t all that successful . . .

Check out these titles from Tu Books that utilize the worldbuilding tips that Stacy talked about:

Diverse Energies
Killer of Enemies
The Tankborn trilogy (Tankborn, Awakeningand Rebellion)


Filed under: Tu Books Tagged: ask an editor, dystopias, post-apocalyptic world, post-apocalyptic YA, Tu Books, worldbuilding, writing, writing tips

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2. A true 19th century Batman

Here's the trailer for Eoin Colfer's new novel, Airman.

The novel gets a good review over at Fuse #8.
Here's a bit of what she says there:
Is it fantasy? No more than any historical novel where the hero indulges in science. Is it science fiction? Only if you consider the notion of one man discovering the use of propellers on his own fantastical. Is it steampunk? No. Stop being silly. No this is, odd as it may sound, fiction with spice. That's not really a category, so I don't know if you can call it anything but original.

I think we'll be needing this one. And incidentally, anyone who isn't in awe that Elizabeth Bird is doing a review a day and doing them darned well needs a slap upside the head with a good book.

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3. Hot Men of Children's Literature

Over a year ago, our German author / illustrator Sebastian Meschenmoser appeared on A Fuse #8 Production blog as one of the Hot Men of Children's Literature that Betsy so generously shares with the kidlit world.

Our spring 2008 books are finally visible on line, which means our authors and illustrators appear now as well. Don't miss the
video featuring Felice Arena reading from his new book: Sally and Dave, A Slug Story. Felice Arena is a very talented - not to mention handsome - author and illustrator from Australia. I'd say he'd make a great addition to the HMOCL collection! (Are nominations still open?)

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4. Things you might have missed...


(Oh, yeah... bring it on, Lubar!)

As we're scurrying around the web, friending the good folks who've already got us on their blogrolls, we keep coming up with tidbits about 2k8. We thought you might like to know that:

We got a mention in this PW article about the Class of 2k7 (our big sibs)!

And one over here, at A Fuse #8 Production, the blog of librarian extraordinaire, Elizabeth Bird!

Brilliant, bearded, and balding author David Lubar even saw fit to make fun of us. Yeah!

Not too shabby...

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5. I heart Fuse.

This morning before church I was perusing some of the latest posts of my favorite blogs. I went to Fuse #8(aka Betsy Bird)'s blog. She had posted her Video Sunday post. (OK, take a second to go to that link.)

OH MY GOODNESS FUSE #8 POSTED OUR TRAILER! And when she described me she used words like "our very own" and "extraordinaire"!!!

I grinned and squealed and hugged my mom a couple of times and screamed some more. Very fun, very fan-girly.

Tonight I was talking to Traci (who co-made the trailer with me) and I said, "So, you know A Fuse #8?" And she didn't. So I went on to explain how Betsy is a librarian at the New York Public Library and she served on last year's Newbery Awards panel and how it was pretty much my life ambition to be noticeably linked by her! And in case she still didn't get how huge this was, I told her, "OK, in acting there is me and there is Julia Roberts. That is the difference between me and Fuse #8. She's a celebrity." So then I hear Traci telling her mom some mixed version about "Newbery, she picked those" and "She's like Julia Roberts!"

The whole time I am of course grinning and laughing. But seriously, Fuse . . . or am I allowed to call you Betsy now? You made my day. This was even cooler than when the publisher linked us on their website.

8 Comments on I heart Fuse., last added: 11/6/2007
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6. Spell Chequer

Make sure your teachers, students and all writing friends see this video on the perils of spell-check and editing from Fuse #8's Video Sunday.

I make sure to dial up Fuse on Sundays just to see what she has found each week.

2 Comments on Spell Chequer, last added: 8/25/2007
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7. New York City

I love New York City in small doses. 48 hours this weekend was just enough time for a taste of city before we headed home to Lake Champlain. I checked out the Museum of the American Indian to do some research for my new MG historical. It's a lovely museum, but I was disappointed that only a few galleries were open because of renovations.

We saw JERSEY BOYS (loved it) and XANADU (loved it in a different, fun, silly kind of way). The kids made pilgrimages to the American Girl and Toys R Us stores, and I made a small pilgrimage of my own:



This is the NY Public Library's Donnell Central Branch, home of Children's Literature Blogger-Goddess Elizabeth Bird, better known as Fuse #8. I read her blog religiously and wanted to stop by on the off-chance she might be working a Saturday. (Forgot about ALA, though!) That's okay, because we got a chance to visit some other important friends who live at the Donnell Central Children's Room...



These are the original stuffed animals that A.A. Milne gave Christopher Robin Milne -- the REAL Pooh, Eeyore, Kanga, Piglet, and Tigger. They look so loved, don't they?

It was a great city weekend, but with a high of 95 degrees today, I'm so happy to be back on the lake today. Heading off to the deck now with my raspberry-chocolate coffee and Catherine Murdock's DAIRY QUEEN. Life is good.

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8. Have a Seat. I Have Something to Tell You.

This isn't going to be easy.
I'm moving.

No no no no no! I'm not moving from New York. That won't happen for a good year and a half, if ever.

No, I'm talking about Fuse #8. It's moving. I thought about waiting to tell you this until the day in question, but I figured it might be a better idea to let you know ASAP. We've had some fun times together here on Blogger, haven't we? The pageantry. The fact that Blogger will randomly, and for no apparently reason, shut down when you least expect it. The random nature of the comment selection. But for all that, I'm going to miss the old place.

You see, School Library Journal expressed an interest in the old Fuse. So they offered the following: Appear on their website and do exactly the same thing I'm doing now but with pay. Negotiations were made. They're going to lift all my archives and put them on their site. I retain the right to leave them insofar as I give them a month's notice (and vice-versa). When I leave, the posts I've made are my own, though they have the right to use them however they please.

There is, however, a requirement. Hold onto your seats now. To appear on their blog I must write...

... drumroll please ...

THREE POSTS A WEEK.

I don't know if I can handle that kind of pressure.

So basically I'm going to get paid to do exactly what I'm doing now, but on a website which may raise my visibility. Here's a FAQ or two, though you can definitely pummel me in the comment section if you like (and I'm certain you do like).

Q:
You say they're not going to touch your content. Really? Even if you wrote a scathing expose of SLJ? Even if you wrote reviews that contradicted the ones written in the magazine?

A: Actually, SLJ informed me that they'd prefer that I contradict them in my reviews. They want a variety of opinions on their site. As for scathing exposes, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I write on the news and nothing is going to affect what I do or do not comment on.

Q: So the blog is going to look exactly the same as it does now?

A: Oh... uh. Um. About that. Okay, so here's the deal. We're switching from Blogger to Wordpress, so that'll change things right there. And of course, there won't be a banner (which is fine since it's out-of-date with the whole review a day mention). There will be a picture of my mug with every post. And this, in turn, will affect my posts because, quite frankly, as much as I love my mug, I don't really want to see it over and over and over, five times a day. So I might start consolidating my pieces a little. And, most importantly, there are my links to consider. At this moment in time, I can't create any for the side of my blog. However, I have been assured that in time they'll find a way to allow us to modify our links. When that happens I'll reinstate everything. It'll just take a little time.

Q: You've sold out, old man! You're going to have ads on your site, won't you? Won't you?

A: (Old man?) Yeah. There will be ads. SLJ ads for books n' stuff. There are worse ads to have and I've never found the SLJ ads to be intrusive. So that's too bad but there's nothing to be done. Hopefully you won't find them distracting.

Q: What's to stop people from thinking that your reviews of books are the official stance of SLJ?

A: Nothing. SLJ and I talked about this. There's bound to be confusion and complaints, but that's life. If they don't mind, I don't mind.

Q: Oh, bloody hell. Am I going to have to change your URL on my website?

A: Probably you will if you have a RSS feed or LiveJournal link. For those of you who link from blogs and websites, I've been told that SLJ will link the site in such a way that Fuse #8 will immediately redirect clicks to the new site. We'll see how that goes.

Q: When will this happen?

A: Early June. The end is near.

Q: I don't like this. I fear change.

A: So do I, sweetie. Don't worry. We'll just have to see how it goes.

63 Comments on Have a Seat. I Have Something to Tell You., last added: 6/4/2007
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