Pulp Fiction

Tony Ellis · 11 May 1999, 17:24 · from urth-v0026.mbox · original

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From: "Tony Ellis" <tony.ellis at futurenet.co.uk>
Subject: (urth) re: re: Pulp Fiction
Date: Tue, 11 May 1999 18:24:26 +0100
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Rostrum wrote:

> I'm not sure how much you can conclude from that one example.
>
Well, it's an example with significant repercussions: the whole thing
about Severian's parentage traces back to this one event. Dorcas gives
us Ouen gives us Catherine gives us Katherine.

> ...I'd think
> even the most "plan-ahead" type of writers occasionally come up with a
> cool scene they want to write without really knowing yet where it's going
> to go.  I imagine most writers having some combination of planning and
> working things out as they go.
>
Oh for sure. But which is Wolfe: a "plan ahead" writer, or a "make it up
as you go along" one? Fifty-fifty? I wanted to raise the "makes it up as
he goes along" argument because it seems to me the natural assumption
might be the opposite. As I said, to me the structure and pace of
TBOTNS  is very much that of a story being made up on the spot (and then
polished by a grade-A genius, mind you) -- but what do other people
think?


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