Algis Budrys on GUARANTEED fiction-selling success
Also, we’re pivoting to monthly.
Hey y’all,
Welcome to the first issue of my revamped newsletter.
If you’re here, that means that at some point, you probably subscribed to my updates-only mailing list. I’m so glad you did! But in the three years since I started that list, I’ve sent a grand total of seven (7) emails.
I always intended to transition to a more regular newsletter, but I was frankly afraid to. I didn’t think I would have enough news. Recently, though, I’ve found that I have… quite a bit of news.
So we’re switching to monthly. Each newsletter will have a quick intro telling you what I’m up to – events, publications, and so on – and then a short essay about a creative writing resource or some other element of craft.
In the coming months, I’ll talk about:
Brandon Sanderson’s free lecture series
an upcoming writers’ workshop in Martha’s Vineyard
my experience in the last-ever Pitch Wars cohort
I hope you’ll stick around for the new edition, but if you decide it’s not your jam, you can always find the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the email.
Today: Upcoming publications & events; Algis Budrys’s Writing to the Point.
Before we get started...
One of the things I’m really excited to do here is interrogate the how-to of creative writing. So: What’s your absolute favorite craft resource? OR, if you’re new to the field, what’s a question you’ve always had about fiction writing? Respond to this email and let me know, and I’ll talk about it in a future newsletter.
Upcoming publications & events
I’ve got a short story forthcoming in Shoreline of Infinity. It’s about mermaids, pervasive technology, climate anxiety, and the joys and horrors of self-isolation. It should be out in September.
On August 31 at 4pm EDT, I’m teaching a one-hour workshop on the speculative as metaphor.
On September 28 at 7pm PDT / 10pm EDT, I’ll be doing a reading at Story Hour.
In October, I’m going to Viable Paradise, a one-week workshop in Martha’s Vineyard, to study with the likes of C. L. Polk, Patrick Nielsen Hayden, Elizabeth Bear, and Scott Lynch.
Algis Budrys’s Writing to the Point
Algis Budrys was a Lithuanian-American science fiction writer in… I want to say the 1950s and '60s? Alongside Philip K. Dick and Robert Heinlein and the like. I’m speaking with excessive confidence here; I’ve never actually read a Budrys novel, although Hard Landing, his final novel, has sat on my e-reader for years. However, I was eager to read his pamphlet on how to write fiction – partly because it came highly recommended, partly because it’s only 65 pages long, and partly because the second sentence in the book is: “If you pay proper attention to the precepts in this book, and do them, and only them, you will sell.” Sign me up!
It’s worth noting that this book was first written in 1994, within the context of a completely different fiction landscape. These days, it is frankly impossible to make any kind of meaningful money, let alone a “comfortable living,” selling short science fiction stories to magazines. So that’s fun for me. But even though you can’t make any real money, you can still sell stuff, hopefully! Onward!
However, I was briefly thwarted in my quest to Become a Bestselling Writer By Reading a 65-Page Pamphlet, because this book is almost IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. Used paperback copies on Amazon start at TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS AND NINETY-NINE CENTS. It’s not available as an ebook anywhere. It’s not at any of my four public libraries. I emailed the publisher that re-released the book in 2015, asking if I could buy an ebook from them directly, but they said they no longer carry this title and suggested checking Amazon for used paperbacks. Which cost two hundred dollars and ninety-nine cents. Finally I managed to track down a copy on the Open Library, a website I abhor, but I will link to it this one time because the book is literally not available anywhere else. So, here it is: Algis Budrys’s Writing to the Point.
Now that we’ve got that sorted, the book can be broken up into roughly three sections:
How to write a story
How to sell a story
Appendices
It’s entirely thanks to the “how to write a story” section that I’m recommending this book at all, let alone enthusiastically. The “how to sell a story” section is more or less useless in this day and age. (For the love of God, do NOT put your social security number on your manuscript! If you’re looking for a resource on how to format a short story, use Shunn. And even then you can probably leave off your address.) The appendices are fine, but they’re all reprinted essays that rehash the first half of the book. But the “how to write a story” section is gold.
Here is Algis Budrys on how to structure a story.
There are seven sections of a story. In the Beginning: (1), (2), and (3). In the Middle: (4), (5), and (6). At the End: (7).
In the Beginning, we have (1) a Character, (2) in a Context, (3) with a Problem. These can be presented in any order.
In the Middle, we have (4) a Logical Attempt to Solve the Problem, followed by (5) an Unexpected Failure. These both repeat three times, ramping up each time.
Then we have (6) a Final Do-or-Die Moment, culminating in Victory.
And at last, in the end, we have (7), a Moment of Validation, where someone says or does something that indicates to the reader that the story is really over – like “Who was that masked man? I wanted to thank him,” or some nonsense like that.
It’s That Easy!
I have yet to actually try to write a story using this framework, but I’m eager to. I’ve been noodling over whether the framework applies to existing stories, both mine and others, and I think, for example, my recent publication in Underland Arcana follows it quite well – except that the story starts in a different place. But all the beats are there, just shoved forward a bit. Budrys notes that although every story has the above elements, the version that is written down doesn’t necessarily explicate them all; a skilled writer can set it up so that some of the beats are implied, or re-ordered, or so that the reader figures them out on their own.
I’m really enamored with how similar this structure is to Freytag’s Pyramid – or the Hero’s Journey – or the analysis of Greek tragedy in Aristotle’s Poetics. Obviously it’s extremely western-centric, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t effective.
A lot of what Budrys says also aligns with lessons in Stephen King’s On Writing; for instance, they both suggest that you not enumerate every single detail of description, because the reader will do a lot of the work for you in their own mind. Or Lisa Cron’s Story Genius; both Budrys and Cron insist on the importance, in a text, of purpose.
Budrys also says this:
‘Writing,’ though it is called that, has as its least important part the writing down of words, however beautifully arranged. Far more important is the creation that goes on in your head.
And I feel powerfully that he’s right. When I was teaching composition to undergraduates, the most common problem wasn’t that they didn’t know how to put words together; it was that they hadn’t got their thoughts straight. You can’t reason out how to say something until you know what you’re trying to say.
After laying out this framework, Budrys goes on to talk about how to inject meaning into it, in order to make it, y’know, emotionally resonant. And then he talks about ways to twist the framework up, deploying as examples short stories from Roald Dahl and John Collier. He tosses in some extra little scraps of wisdom, which you can take or leave, and then we have the aforementioned “selling” part, and the appendices, which, whatever.
This book won’t be for everyone. For one thing, you can only read it via the Open Library, oy. For another, the voice is pretty arrogant. It happens to appeal to me nonetheless; it’s straightforward and digestible, it’s to the point (haha), and I feel like I can decide for myself whether the advice is any good or not. But I understand that a person might read a passage like, “You now have absolutely all you will ever need: the basics. All you really have to do is practice them. Them, and only them. I’m not kidding,” and bristle a little bit.
On the other hand, if the book resonates with you, well... The useful part is only 32 pages long. A person could read it on their coffee break and be implementing the lessons by lunchtime.
What do you think of this framework? Write me back or comment on Substack and let me know. And let me know if you check out the book!