That was weird
Jul. 9th, 2006 02:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
james_davis_nicollI don't think I am giving away trade secrets when I say that on average, my report synopses (sp?) are somewhat shorter than the books they describe. Part of the process for me [1] involves a one day cooling off period, where the plot "compresses" in my mind: what I remember and my notes are generally enough to turn 600 pages of book into something more than a hundred times shorter.
The last book I reported on, not for the SFBC, did not want to compress. It was like my unconscious was convinced everything, including the minor characters who show up once and disappear forever, were vitally important.
1: For novels. For short stories, there's no cooling off period but I get to play "now describe a Howard Waldrop novella about the effects of a 1933-1940 American Social Credit government on the Negro film industry of the 1950s in just one or two sentences, bearing in mind that 'very carefully thought out weird shit happens' is not acceptable."
Apparently, I'm very good with short stories.
The last book I reported on, not for the SFBC, did not want to compress. It was like my unconscious was convinced everything, including the minor characters who show up once and disappear forever, were vitally important.
1: For novels. For short stories, there's no cooling off period but I get to play "now describe a Howard Waldrop novella about the effects of a 1933-1940 American Social Credit government on the Negro film industry of the 1950s in just one or two sentences, bearing in mind that 'very carefully thought out weird shit happens' is not acceptable."
Apparently, I'm very good with short stories.
