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In general, van Vogt seems to me to fail consistently as a writer in these elementary ways: |
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1. His plots do not bear examination.
2. His choice of words and his sentence-structure are fumbling and insensitive.
3. He is unable either to visualize a scene or to make a character seem real. |
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Damon Knight, "Cosmic Jerrybuilder: A. E. van Vogt" (1945), In Search of Wonder: Essays on Modern Science Fiction (1956; rev. ed. Chicago: Advent, 1967), pp. 5860 |
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Very well, then, let us suppose you have conceived an excellent idea for a science fiction story. Now, you are sitting down to write. What next? |
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Think of it in scenes of about 800 words. This is not original with me, but I have followed that rule religiously ever since I started to write. Every scene has a purpose which is stated near the beginning, usually by the third paragraph, and that purpose is either accomplished or not accomplished by the end of the scene (. . .) |
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By adopting this "secret" of the 800 word scene (it can be 600 words or a 1000 words), I wrote and sold my first story and it has formed a solid base for all the stories I have sold since then. |
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Readers have a habit of being right about an author. Some years ago, in a "little" magazinethey call them fanzines in the science fiction and fantasy fieldI was described as an "idea" man. Meaning that my science fiction stories abounded in ideas, twists and odd angles. |
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This description startled me for I had never thought about it in that way. But, almost immediately, I recognized the accuracy of the description. Ever since I started writing for the science fiction field, it has been my habit to put every current thought into the story I happened to be working on. Frequently, an idea would seem to have no relevance, but by mulling over it a little, I would usually find an approach that would make it usable. |
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There are writers who would warn you against putting all your ideas into one story. Hold them back, they say, for soon there will be another story coming along where they may be more useful. This has a certain logic to it, but let me issue a counter warning: The brain does not develop on negative expectations. If a person attaches too much importance to one |
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