Books For Fantasy Authors Vii Born Standing Up

BOOKS FOR FANTASY AUTHORS VII: BORN STANDING UP From time to time I’ll advocateâ€"not review, thoughts you, however suggest, and sure, there's a differenceâ€"books that I suppose fantasy authors ought to have on their shelves. Some could also be new and still in print, some may be troublesome to seek out, but all will be, at least in my humble opinion, essential texts for the SF/fantasy writer, so value looking for. Steve Martin's Born Standing Up I was twelve years old when Steve Martin ’s seminal comedy report Let’s Get Small was released. Holy crap, did I love that. I was drawn to it the way in which some persons are drawn to religions. I listened to it over and again and againâ€"it will need to have pushed everybody in my household insane. Like scripture, I memorized every syllable of every word, and learned to carry out it, verbatim, with each pause, and a minimum of as I remember it each nuance of Steve Martin’s amazing comedic timing intact. That must have been actually irritating. It’s a wonder I didn’t develop as much as be a standup comedian. But at the similar time I was memorizing Let’s Get Small, I was devouring Fantastic Four comic books, the first Star Wars and Star Trek novels, rock music, and so forth. I guess I had a pair religions happening at the identical time around that ageâ€"but, y’know, I had a twelve-yr-old’s consideration span. With that early hyper-preoccupation with the work of Steve Martin, it is sensible that I would gravitate to his memoir, Born Standing Up, but it could be much less clear on first blush why I’d embrace it here, in a collection of articles recommending books for the aspiring and dealing SF/fantasy creator. Steve Martin has written novels, sure, however none of them might be strictly codified as both SF or fantasy, and Born Standing Up actually doesn’t match into even the outer edges of either style. Though he discusses his days as a TV writer, the writers-on-writing connection is a bit tenuous, too. So, why Born Standing Up? I’ve long b een fascinated by the creative process, and I’d wish to encourage any inventive individual to share in that fascinationâ€"you too, fantasy authors. I’m a sucker for Inside the Actor’s Studio and the BBC collection Classic Albums, although I’m neither an actor nor a recording artist. Writers are a source of inspiration too, in fact, and certainly one of my favourite books of all time is Ted Morgan ’s seminal biography of William S. Burroughs , Literary Outlaw. Anyone who’s had an opportunity to learn The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction ran across quotes not just from contemporaries who answered e-mail interviews, however excerpts from letters and other writings by Robert E. Howard, and even a line from the Broadway play Gypsy. I’m a huge fan of Howard’s, however not an enormous fan, generally, of the Broadway musical. Still, musicals, and their creators, have so much to show me. So as I learn by way of Steve Martin’s slim little memoir, I laughed at a few of the humorous anecdotes, and raised an eyebrow at a number of the names droppedâ€"I didn’t know he used to hang out with the Eagles (considered one of my favorite bands of the Seventies). But where the guide got here alive for me was when he discussed his method to his craft, and Steve Martin took the craft of comedy very critically. This is a man who would dance around on stage with a balloon hat, a sudden sufferer of Happy Feet, however behind that insanity was a method as clearly intentioned as any properly crafted work of prose. In the chapter describing his teenaged expertise as a magic store clerk and half-time performer at Disneyland , Martin credits a guide, the same way I have been in this sequence of posts: “Showmanship for Magicians is a handbook meant to show amateurs into professionals. Its subtitle is Complete Discussions of Audience Appeals and Fundamentals of Showmanship and Presentation. I held my first copy and solemnly turned the pages, studying each senten ce so slowly that it’s a miracle I might keep in mind what the verb was.” And more: “Following the recommendation in Showmanship for Magicians, I saved scrupulous records of how every gag played after my local exhibits for the Cub Scouts or Kiwanis Club. ‘Excellent!’ or ‘Big snort!’ or ‘Quiet,’ I would write within the margins of my Big Indian tablet; then I would summarize how I may make the show better subsequent time.” Look at thatâ€"one of the profitable stage performers of all time drawing indelible classes from a guide. Oh, please be the next J.K. Rowling and describe in your memoir the first time you learn The Guide to Writing Fantasy & Science Fiction with that same reverence. It’s okay, I’ll wait. He describes transformational moments in his professional life in plain, matter-of-truth language: “. . . if I did spot one thing that was funny, I decided to not simply describe it as occurring to another person, however to translate it into the primary individual, so it was happening to me. A man didn’t walk right into a bar, I did. I didn’t want it to look that others have been nuts; I needed it to appear that I was nuts.” He went from performing old, established magic methods to adding pat one-liners to his magic show, then filtering out some of the magic to emphasise the comedy, and all this is a clear development from the awkward child to the master performer I came to worship within the late Seventies. Born Standing Up is as a lot a manifesto for the concept that success is a result of work, of trial and error, of concerted effort, of listening to and filtering through advice, of observing what works and what doesn’t work not just for you however for different artists, as it's autobiography. But what I want to draw your attention to most is Martin’s quest for the all the time elusive and absolutely important originality. Jerry Lewis acted foolish and invited audiences to snort at himâ€"Steve Martin didn’t invent t hat, and neither did Jerry Lewis for that matter. Martin was not the first particular person ever to play foolish songs on a banjo. He did not invent the balloon animal, or prop comedy normally, however what appealed to the younger Phil, and to literally millions of rabid Steve Martin fans at the height of his standup career, was the mixture of all these things, twistedâ€"perverted wouldn’t even be too strong a wordâ€"into something none of us, aged 12 or 112, had seen before, but at all times with touchstones that any and all of us might acknowledge. He began us out with magic tricks and one-liners then blew our minds with one thing entirely fresh. Let me rephrase that: He began us out with elves and dragons then blew our minds with one thing completely fresh. Imagine the same kind of search-and-exchange for issues like this: “It was true I couldn’t sing or dance, however singing humorous and dancing funny were one other matter. All I had to do was free my mind and start.” Or this with reference to practicing your craft: “The constant work enhanced my act. I discovered a lesson: It was simple to be nice. Every entertainer has a night when every thing is clicking. These nights are accidental and statistical: Like lucky cards in poker, you possibly can count on them occurring over time. What was hard was to be good, persistently good, night after night time, it doesn't matter what the abominable circumstances.” And experimentation: “When I had new materials to try, I would break it down into its smallest parts, actually a gesture or a number of words, then sneak it into the act in its shortest type, being cautious to not disrupt the circulate of the present. If it worked, the following evening I would add the following discreet packet till the bit both stuffed out or died.” I’ll cease there, in any other case I run the chance of retyping the whole guide, and getting sued by certainly one of my idols. I’m not just recommending Born Standing U p, but any book you'll find like it. Writers must learn, and any creative particular person can study from any other inventive particular person. Of course Steve Martin’s process of testing bits could be exhausting to translate into writing fantasy, however learn this guide, experience his journey from child wannabe to mega success. There was luck concerned, but it was no accident. You should have the ability to describe your writing career in exactly the identical means. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans Fill in your details beneath or click on an icon to log in: You are commenting utilizing your WordPress.com account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Google account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting using your Twitter account. (Log Out/ Change) You are commenting utilizing your Facebook account. (Log Out/ Change) Connecting to %s Notify me of recent feedback by way of e mail. Notify me of new posts via e-mail. Enter your e mail handle to subscribe to Fantasy Author's Handbook and obtain notifications of new posts by e-mail. Join four,779 other followers Sign me up! RSS - Posts RSS - Comments