Comments on: Uncle Chris’s Writing Tips #3: What The Hell Is A Jazzlewozzy?

By: An interview with Joseph Evans | Just One More Page

An interview with Joseph Evans | Just One More Page — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:35:43 +0000

[...] authors, Chris Wooding, wrote a blog on this once, and It was very helpful. Here’s the link. I took a lot of advice from this post, as it is very important to balance the completely alien [...]

By: JL

JL — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 13:51:50 +0000

I get how hard it would be to have to create all of these things. I had to write a short story for school last year, and I tried writing a fantasy thing that was totally unique, and it ended up way weird. It was totally over the page limit, and I couldn’t explain anything! I ended up scrapping it and writing something totally different.

By: Chris Wooding

Chris Wooding — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:10:44 +0000

It’s not just you: I dump books midway through all the time. Life’s too short, books are a big time investment, and the vast majority of books that are out there aren’t all that great. I’ve read too many of them to hang on for an amazing twist that’ll knock my socks off: it almost never happens. If it’s not caught my interest by 100 pages in, it’s never likely to, so it gets slung into my Voracious Metaphorical Fireplace Of Doom.

THE HAUNTING OF ALAIZABEL CRAY? Never heard of it. Silly name, too, if you ask me. How are you supposed to pronounce it?

By: Tierney McKee

Tierney McKee — Sun, 02 May 2010 18:47:50 +0000

I agree with your assessment of BONESHAKER. I have a bad habit of reading a good portion of a book, liking it, and then losing interest. And I always assumed it was me — not the storytelling — so when other people said that they liked a book, I’d rave too. That’s kind of bad for an English teacher, isn’t it? No critical integrity. Worse yet, I’ll often just skip to the end. I bought COURT OF THE AIR by Stephen Hunt, and found that — what shall we call it? Point of Return? — about 1/3 of the way through it. Then I read the end, and passed it along to a student. Kind of like second-hand clothing, but without the tax write-off.

Of course, I’ve never done this with any of YOUR books.

No, really, I haven’t. I think that’s why I get so thrilled when I actually find an author who can hold me through the whole story. And when that happens, I will read for hours and hours on end. POISON was a gem, and so was STORM THIEF. It’s why I’ve been a fan for years, and why I’ve ordered Permabound copies for my classroom. It’s also probably why I’m so nervous about giving the proper time to my own stuff. Ideas in their pure form are so perfect — why mess them up by trying to write them? I know I’ll never do them justice.

So if you have any good advice about overcoming that mental reluctance, I’m all ears. And in the interest of integrity, forget what I said about THE MAGICIANS (first 1/2 was good, and the end was satisfying) and only read about 2/3 of INCARCERON. If our scale includes just those books that “can’t be put down,” then I’d proffer The CITY & THE CITY by China Mieville, and THE HAUNTING OF ALAIZABEL CRAY by…

Well, you’re probably already familiar with that one.

By: Chris Wooding

Chris Wooding — Sat, 01 May 2010 18:43:28 +0000

I found myself really underwhelmed by Boneshaker, in the end. It started off great and got worse until I gave up about two-thirds through. I thought the mother-son relationship was great in the first few chapters and I was nailed; but oddly, once it ‘got going’ I stopped liking it. Lots of zombies, lots (LOTS) of running about, and not much else…

On the other hand, I just read PUSHING ICE by Alastair Reynolds and that has to be one of the best science fiction books I’ve ever read, ever ever. I am now hounding my editor for more of his books. Meantime, am a third of the way through THE WINDUP GIRL which is another one that everyone in America seems to be talking about, and that one’s really good so far.

By: Tierney McKee

Tierney McKee — Sat, 01 May 2010 11:25:44 +0000

I read BONESHAKER recently, and loved it. Passing it around to all interested students — just a great, great book. And another one I really loved is THE MAGICIANS. That one was unsettling — I still think about the creepiness of it.

Thank you very much for answering me back. Lest you believe that I am just on your website to plug other authors, I should tell you that MALICE is also in heavy rotation in my 11th grade classroom. My kids are really digging it.

Congratulations on the award situation!!! I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

By: Chris Wooding

Chris Wooding — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 19:46:19 +0000

@ Joseph – Yes, it’s Edward Miller. Actually, the reason I first picked up Perdido Street Station was because Scholastic showed me a few covers from his portfolio when we were talking about Alaizabel and I thought how ace it looked. I also lament the original covers. Don’t like the new one at all.

Syberia was kinda steampunk, you’re right.

@ defcaasi – Originality isn’t a word that springs to mind when I think of Eragon, to be honest… kind of the opposite, actually. Sorry, I’m not a fan.

@ Tierney – I do YA stuff and adult SF/Fantasy stuff, for two different publishers. That’s where the division lies. As to the genre boundaries, I don’t really think about it that much: most of the time they’re for the convenience of publishers, who need to quickly sell books to booksellers, who don’t have time to read everything they sell. The place these decisions are made tend to be on fan-forums, who thrash out the terminology by a democratic kind of shouting match. I’d recommend hanging out on some of the major forums if you want to keep up on the subgenres.

Haven’t heard of INCARCERON; I’ll check it out. Another one that sounds very much like steampunk is BONESHAKER by Cherie Priest. Am quite interested in checking that one out…

By: Tierney McKee

Tierney McKee — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:52:25 +0000

Hi, Chris! I have been a fan of yours for — oh, I guess it’s been five or six years now — and I treasure every nugget of writing advice you’ve offered. Thank you for it, by the way. If my books never get written, it won’t be for lack of background knowledge.

Anyway, I wanted to throw my two cents in regarding the steampunk evolution. I am almost through with INCARCERON (sorry for the caps — can’t do italics) by Catherine Fisher. It’s one of the most original stories I’ve ever read, and I think it fits the steampunk definition as I understand it. But I teach a Speculative Fiction class at a US high school, and I’m finding that adequately defining the range of subgenres within Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror is a daunting task. New Weird? What the heck is this?

I have read all the Wooding novels I can find here. There are so many ways to classify them. And sometimes I find your work in the YA section, and sometimes I find you in the SciFi/Fantasy section. How do you define what you tend to write? Or do your publishers? Or do you simply not worry about, write whatever tale is in your head, and let the dystopian/steampunk/dark fantasy/gothic chips fall where they may?

Thanks in advance for whatever insights you can offer.

By: Hope

Hope — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:28:27 +0000

I feel as though I’ve had a revelation.
You are a beautiful human being.
And I’ve never read any steampunk, but I like the word. So I’ll read it. Plus, I remember I liked Wild Wild West. Cracked me up. Plus, the whole atmosphere was really cool.
OH! Wait. I did READ The Golden Compass (This happens to me a lot. People ask, ‘Oh, have you seen [insert title of book-based movie]?’ ‘No. But I’ve read the book.’ ‘There’s a BOOK?’). I can’t remember much of it, though… I read it when I ought to have been sleeping, so that might explain it.
And I am getting a bit tired of paranormal romance… I’ve been avoiding it. The only things I’ve managed to get down this week are Through the Looking-Glass and The Maze Runner.
@ Joseph – I too am sad that Alaizabel has a new cover. I love the original.

By: Kel

Kel — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:52:21 +0000

You keep hitting all these nails directly on their stubborn, unyielding heads. World building is such a tricky line to tread. I’ve loved, for the most part, the way you’ve worked through it, but goodness knows there’s a whole pile of encyclopedias for every gem of an original world.

And ditto on the steampunk hoping. I can’t tell you how tired I am of seeing shelves flooded with paranormal romance. Maybe steampunk will bring a little more action, plot, and fun(ny) characters back to our stores!

Thank you very much for the lovely post! Your blunt honestly is refreshingly helpful, and I usually get a good chuckle or two here as well.