Yeah, I realize most of the people here are not going to have a clue what this is about, it's postgraguate stuff that even someone with a B.A. in English may never have heard of. But basically I am trying to organize all my little essaies and blog entries about what fiction is and how to design it into a coherent whole. There wasn't an obvious good order to organize it into, so I did a concept web exercise to figure out what was related to what, then tried to pound it into a linear outline. I don't like this outline a whole lot, so I'm looking for other people's general opinions of putting things in this order, and suggestions for alternate better orders. Also, if anyone would actually like to read my literary theory stuff after I finish organizing it, I'd love to hear about it. [wink] So, here's the outline:

Intro: My intentions in writing this book are
	Describing the form and function of fiction from a structuralist perspective
	Adapting classical and modern non-structuralist theories to incorporate 
		them into a sound structuralist framework
	For the purpose of creating a logical how-to-write book describing how to 
		design a work of fiction
	And also touching on the possibility of a fiction generation engine

Part I: Language and Narrative
	The Human Language Instinct: Ontological Emergence (child psychology)
	Mimesis and Pretend Play
	The Human Narrative Instinct: Phylogenic Emergence (evolutionary 
		anthropology)
	Structural Similarities of Fiction and Language
		Transformational Generative Grammar
		Organizational Principles Are Causality and Teleology
	Fiction's Differences from Language, Similarities to Music
		Dimensions (especially Time)
		Discussion Between Voices
	Current Knowledge About the Structure of Fiction
		Summation From Previous Sections: Causality, Teleology, 
			Grammar, Time, Voices, Discussion
		Vector Theory and Thematic Argument
		Theme=Meme
		Range of Themes in Pretend Play (Scripts)
		Plot Genres (Archetypal Plot Structures)
		Trope Genres (Schemas)

Part II: Designing/Generating A Fiction
	What Makes A Fiction Satisfying?
		Satisfy the Mimetic/Narrative Instinct
		Verisimilitude - “an imaginary world more lifelike than life itself, 
			more directly and honestly concerned with essential 
			problems, more supple in its expression of every aspect of 
			man's nature, less burdened by distracting irrelevancies”
		Achieve Catharsis Of Emotions
		Fulfill Desires Unsatisfied By Life
			Escapism
			Socialization
			Self Esteem Reassurance (Allay inadequacy and guilt)
			Philosophical Reassurance (Allay despair and cognitive 
				dissonance)
			Gather Ideas To Develop Personal Mythology
		Rehearse For Contingencies
	Statement of Purpose
		Meme/Premise/Thematic Argument
		Plot Genres and Trope Genres
		Loglines
		Characters as Thematic Vectors
		Main vs. Secondary Characters and Plot Strands (math)
	Weaving a Fiction
		Circle of Story Elements
		Character Dynamic, Characters
		Plot Strands, Plotting, 'Social Calculus'
		Scene and Sequel
		Details

They look like interesting but heterogeneous topics: a book should have a clear purpose for the reader, to organize your opus a neat website is good enough.
If the main topic is creating stories, you should separate the sections about writing them by hand and automatically and you should only discuss theory that is useful and relevant (what is a story, what kinds of story exist, what stories are pleasant).

The intro appears particularly mismatched with the summary that follows: a structuralist framework with an adaptation of non-structuralist theories can be a good topic for another book, devoid of "how-to-write" applications, but in a storytelling manual a comprehensive theory provides no more value than an eclectic collection of useful ideas.

Quote: Original post by LorenzoGatti
They look like interesting but heterogeneous topics: a book should have a clear purpose for the reader, to organize your opus a neat website is good enough.

You can't sell a website...

Quote: If the main topic is creating stories, you should separate the sections about writing them by hand and automatically and you should only discuss theory that is useful and relevant (what is a story, what kinds of story exist, what stories are pleasant).

Yes, that was my goal. I intended my Part I to cover "What is a story?" and my part two to cover "How do I create a good story?" Perhaps "How do I use a program to generate a good story?" Should be Part III.

Quote: The intro appears particularly mismatched with the summary that follows: a structuralist framework with an adaptation of non-structuralist theories can be a good topic for another book, devoid of "how-to-write" applications

Why? I want the structuralist framework to be the basis for the how-to-write applications. Without the structuralist stuff there is no motivation or logic for my 'shoulds' and 'oughts'.

Quote: in a storytelling manual a comprehensive theory provides no more value than an eclectic collection of useful ideas.

Huh I would say the opposite - I hate how-to-write books which are a random collection of advice on assorted topics, I only buy the ones which have a unifying idea and explore it thoroughly.

I like the idea of starting with Part II, since I'm the kind of person who wants to get right into the knowledge that led me to buy the book in the first place (Designing and Generating fiction). I would work the more mundane and technical knowledge in as it becomes necessary, though I see why you would divide the topics.

By the way, do you have any links to your published fiction?

Quote: Original post by Zenphobia
I like the idea of starting with Part II, since I'm the kind of person who wants to get right into the knowledge that led me to buy the book in the first place (Designing and Generating fiction). I would work the more mundane and technical knowledge in as it becomes necessary, though I see why you would divide the topics.

By the way, do you have any links to your published fiction?

Hmm, so maybe organide the book around the how-to stuff and put the theory stuff in sidebars? Interesting idea, I'll think about that.

I haven't bothered publishing any of my fiction, but I have writing samples on my samples page, which there is a link to in my profile. Recently I've been writing mostly game stories and there isn't any way to publish those except as part of a game, so getting published has been way at the bottom of my priority list. When Xenallure's development is finally complete it will naturally be published, and of course its story will be published with it. And I do intend to eventually publish at least one novel, but I have to finish writing it first, lol.

So you're writing a guide to writing a (fiction) book, when you haven't written a book yourself?

It's not a guide to writing a fiction book per se, it's primarily a description of the form and function of all fiction (including myths, computer games, movies, and novels). Of course the point of understanding the form and function of anything is to be able to analyze, design, create, and improve it. But I'm not trying to share expereinces I have gleaned from writing, I'm trying to share knowledge I have gathered from studying structuralist literary theory and found to be applicable in my writing and presumably others. I'm also something of an expert of how-to-write books, having read all the available ones on plot and scene structure as well as several on other topics.

I have written a complete 5-act play if it matters, those are almost as complicated as novels. I'v also written a workbook for how to start creating a model language, not to mention many essays on how to design computer games, how to create concept art, and of course the essaies on writing I'm trying to collect and reorganize into this book. (You could read some of the material intended to go into this book and judge it on its own merits if you wanted.) At any rate, I'm not trying to say I'm an authority on churning out books, I'm trying to say I'm an authority on structuralist literary theory, and thus qualified to sum it up and explain it to a lay audience.

Very well. I agree with your credentials on every fact except this one:

Quote: I'm also something of an expert of how-to-write books, having read all the available ones on plot and scene structure as well as several on other topics.

I could read a hundred guides on cabinet making, but until I actually sit down and churn out some quality cabinets, I'm not an expert or even a journeyman.

Okay. But at least having read all available plot how-to books means I can say for sure than mine will be different frm all of them.

Sunandshadow's credentials aren't really relevant, the question is what to put in a book about fiction and how to organize it.
I remain convinced that two rather different sets of people are interested in guides about writing fiction and in comprehensive treatises or innovative essays about structuralist and less structuralist theories of fiction.

A book combining the two subjects, even if well written and rhetorically coherent, would be a chimera in which how-to readers would find irrelevant theory beyond their cultural background and intellectual interests and where theory readers would find lots of boring and uninsightful applications of the general principles to activities in which they have little interest.

Of course I wish Sunandshadow's the best of luck with his writing effort, whatever book he chooses to write.