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Repost from 2009 - Lessons in Writing from...Marion Zimmer Bradley

Tue, 24 Dec 2024 22:45:11 GMT

As stated, this is a repost from 2009. Obviously many things have changed. The biggest of course being the revelations about MZB and the allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse made by her daughter Moira, whom she spoke lovingly of in the intros in the Sword and Sorceress anthologies, making her persona non grata in many corners of the writing worlds especially the fantasy one. Additionally, those who've kept some of MZB's legacy going and/or were closely associated with her-Elisabeth Waters, Vera Nazarian and Diana L. Paxson-have been involved in their own
'scandals' to put it mildly. I still think that the material below is helpful to writers and bear in mind that they are things that many writers who are not MZB et. al would advise.

I never had a formal writing course. That is, I took creative writing in college, but to fulfill a requirement, not as a focus. Many of my lessons in writing came from paying attention to the general introductions and the mini-introductions to the short stories of the Sword and Sorceress anthologies edited by the late, great Marion Zimmer Bradley (MZB).She was a prolific author who wrote in many genres at some point in her life. She lived very comfortably in fantasy. In addition to her Darkover novels (which also showed her sci-fi chops at times), she was well known for her retelling of the Arthurian Mythos from the female perspective in a book known as the 'Mists of Avalon.'I read the Sword and Sorceress (S&S) anthologies beginning in high school.

To this day, I must admit that my first reading of the anthologies were always of those introductions and then I would go back and read a story or two here and there. The mini-introductions reminded me of the irascible grandmother or grandfather, who knew their craft and didn't understand how these kids could get as far as they did without doing things proper.

Tips I picked up from these pages included:

    Being able sum up a story and/or a novel in one sentence
    Following the guidelines so that you are giving the editor what they are looking for
    Working at it until you get it write
    Watching that grammar

MZB died in September 1999. I found out first by looking at the S&S XVII and noticing that the copyright was in the name of the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust. Then I found one of those retail bookstore newsletters that you usually ignore and I saw her picture and then that dreaded term-the 'late' Marion Zimmer Bradley.

There is a website for the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust:

http://mzbworks.home.att.net/

If you don't happen to have the money or the time to collect the S&S anthologies, there is a section at the Marion Zimmer Bradley Literary Works Trust website that just happens to be called 'Articles on Writing,' which just happens to have an article entitled 'Advice for New Writers.' Each article is relevant and full of sound advice told in that MZB style. Definitely worth reading and worth coming back to for a refresher from time to time.

So thanks MZB, for inadvertantly teaching me useful things while I read about strong swordswomen and sorceresses.

Current Mood: mellow
Current Music:Saved By Zero - The Fixx

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A Post from Soap Fan Sound Off

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:21:10 GMT

[I created this blog to find a place to store my off the cuff observations about the different soaps that I've followed since I was a pup. It started with my glee over the return of Robin Scorpio to 'General Hospital' and then it catalog my lament as I say a strong and capable character be subjected to the noose of soap opera womanhood. I don't get to update it as I might like, but it's a cool way to practice posting.]

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Streaming

The Bold and The Beautiful: Of all of the soaps on daytime tv now, this one with the exception of Passions and NightShift is the youngster. Unfortunately, it is the youngster that doesn't understand why it's bad to go 100 miles an hour in a residential area and runs itself off into a ditch and continues to do things that shock, thinking they are being clever and cool but they aren't. I intermittedly listen to the show. They only time I paid exclusive attention was when they had storylines concerning Bridget Forrester, when she was portrayed by Jennifer Finnigan (now Mrs. Jonathan Silverman). Once she left to do Crossing Jordan, I lost interest and I completely hate what they did with her character after she left. Today's story featured the quagmire that is Eric and Stephanie's marriage or rather impending divorce. Mixed in this is the "reprucussions" of a stupid storyline where Stephanie, in order to discredit her longtime nemesis Brooke, hired a creep that ended up raping Brooke and now Brooke's family in their ways want to get her and Stephanie's children somehow found a way to excuse her. This irritated me because it seems that this show plays fast and loose with the issues of rape and abuse-one could argue in a very Beverly Hillsian-Paris Hilton way.

As The World Turns: An excellent example of what happens when you run a car into the ditch and you keep the engine running. The Paul/Meg/Craig/Rosanna storyline is truly irritating. Then I always get irritated when smart people (Meg) do really dumb things for no real reason other than it serves the demeted plot the writers wrote after their bender. This goes for the Carly/Jack/Katie/Brad/Holden/Lily/Dusty quagmire. I have to ask-what toxic chemical are these people being exposed to at the Snyder farm? None of the Snyders can make a smart move to save their lives except the kids and they are falling prey to their parents' bad programming.

The Young and the Restless: Still the best written soap by far-on CBS at least. Poor Victoria will either lose her life or her long hoped for baby and her parents are the one that have to make the decision and they are divided-Victor wants to save Victoria, Nikki wants to save the baby. Brad, the alleged baby daddy, has no say and for someone like him, that's not acceptable. It will force the issue of paternity.

An Introduction

Sun, 11 Jan 2009 02:30:36 GMT

I like showcasing my other posts, which are written on other blogs I own and will do that here.

The format I developed is to post a sample post, which is preceded by a description and a link to the original site.