Magna Carta One
As I mentioned in a previous post, here’s my Magna Carta I.
Well, just to refresh your memory, Chris Baty talked about two Magna Cartas of noveling in his NaNoWriMo primer No Plot No Problem. The first is all the things I think go into a good novel. (That’s what this one is.) And the second is the list of all the things that I think should be definately left out of a good novel. (That’s for a future post.)
So, without further ado, here’s my Magna Carta I, Elements of “Good” Fiction:
- Violence. Lots and lots of violence.
- Mystery
- Exotic locales
- Magic, or at least the hint of magic
- Religious beliefs
- A real villain who has good points (ie. “loves his mother”)
- A tough “everyman” hero who’s good but has bad habits
- Surreal interiors (ie. Basement hothouse, warehouse filled with Asian antiques, building facades that hide something super cool)
- Smart use of current technology
- Slightly futuristic/near future sci-fi stuff
- Exotic creatures
- Characters who change based on the plot
- Characters who LEARN during the course of the book
- Something criminal, or potentially criminal
- Books, lots of books
- Libraries
- Big, strange houses filled with rooms of unusual things
- Quirky supporting cast
- Characters who worry about bills, money and similar every day concerns
- Characters who have bodily functions
- At least one scene inside a bathroom
- Guns
- Knives and swords
- A monk, or hermit, or wiseman or guru
- Characters with strange things in their pockets
- Secret organizations
- Adventure and daring-do and, maybe, even a bit of swashbuckling
- Memorable images
- Cinematic moments: action and description
- Humor from what the characters say, not bad writing (ie. Humor from the characters being funny with each other.)
Up next… My Magna Carta II, Elements of “Bad” Fiction.
(And, sadly, I had computer trouble last night on my main system, so I have sincere doubts that I’ll be able to make up my 12000 word deficit at this point. Still, I keep working at it. Hope springs eternal! And, yes, this also appeared on my other blog: Diary of a Network Geek.)
