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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 5/20/2008 1:35 PM | | 'kay, question for all you anthologizing editors out there:
How do you go about determining story order?
I labored a long time on my own choices in Return of the Sword, let me tell you. So I'm curious how y'all make your decisions, what you base things on or seek to set up.
(This will be appropriately cross-posted for readers in the, hmmm . . . . Right Now I'm Reading thread seems best)
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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| Posted By : Bill Ward - 5/20/2008 2:19 PM | I had a lot of fun thinking about this when Rob and I did the M&M ToC. Basically, we ordered them by style (tone, tempo), and length (mix up lengths, long and short). Strongest pieces usually to start and finish, though that can be suspended if you need a certain quality for those spots (as in a quickly accessible piece for the front, and something with a lingering quality for the end). If a few pieces are similar I'd spread them out as much as possible.
billwardwriter.com |
| Posted By : Hermit - 5/22/2008 11:01 AM | It depends a lot on the nature of the antho.
With a fiction anthology, I would most likely stick what I considered the best story up front and the best told story at the back. From there I would work to what makes sense from the perspective of reading from first to last. The 'weakest' would likely be third from the end and halfway between the first and center story.
If poems come into play, I place them either as a complement (or contrast) to a suitable story, or I save placing it for when I do layout and let layout determine placement.
All in all, I ask the content how it wants to be ordered. If that fails, I know I don't have everything I need - or have too much.
I do hold to the bookend pattern, though. That's my only rule that's not so flexible as to seem arbitrary. Science has demonstrated that the first and last are the most important from the sentence up. And my experience confirms it. So, best two front and back.
"The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight." --Joseph Campbell
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| Posted By : crystalwizard - 5/22/2008 1:35 PM |
You put the majority of it together Lyn ;) You put the large stories into some kind of order, then gave it to me and I dropped the cartoons, illustrations, small bits, jokes and clip art into it where things would fit. I moved tiny stuff around some as needed to keep the pages all from having large chunks of blank space. I'm not sure we had a specific feeling we were going for though, just lots of variety so readers didn't have a chance to get into a rut. |
| Posted By : Hermit - 5/22/2008 2:02 PM | | Actually, I also look at the entire antho as one work. It has to be balanced/symmetrical/proportioned as a whole as well as an amalgamation of disparate parts. Literary version of a mosaic . . .
"The schizophrenic is drowning in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight." --Joseph Campbell
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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 5/22/2008 2:33 PM | Which is the way I approached it. I attempted to create an overall crescendo effect in my setup and placement, taking a careful approach toward developing and hopefully deepening a reader's involvement. I went for overall sensory saturation with startegic placement at certain junctures done to establish certain points I wished recognized.
While not emphatically stressing such certainties of particular placement of specific tales as you earlier stated, David, I did strive for that same effect in overall atmosphere. The anthology should read in ever widening and expanding waves that peak at certain places for specific reasons, all of it ever rising in that desired crescendo that should satisfactorily end with that appropriatly appealing ending even you noticed: Charny laughed joyously.
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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| Posted By : Jordan Lapp - 5/23/2008 1:59 PM | I've got zero experience with anthos, but MysticWino makes a strong case.
Jordan Lapp
Managing Editor
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| Posted By : kaolin fire - 6/26/2008 4:35 PM | It's like a mix tape. :) Try to get a variety of works that blend together but don't turn into a drone. Move from mood to mood, tempo to tempo (but no jarring changes unless that's the point), theme to theme. Maybe try to turn the collection into a story in and of itself, or maybe just paint it as an experience...
Lead piece and tail piece I feel are the most important (hook; then aftertaste), but of course everything needs to work "just so". :)
Greatest Uncommon Denominator Magazine - literary + genre fiction, poetry, art, and articles
(see our submission guidelines) |
| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 6/26/2008 6:17 PM | nice comparison, I like that image, kaolin fire.
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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| Posted By : Camille Alexa - 6/27/2008 12:29 PM |
von Darkmoor said...
'kay, question for all you anthologizing editors out there:
How do you go about determining story order?
I labored a long time on my own choices in Return of the Sword, let me tell you. So I'm curious how y'all make your decisions, what you base things on or seek to set up.
(This will be appropriately cross-posted for readers in the, hmmm . . . . Right Now I'm Reading thread seems best)
This interesting post by Jay Lake might prove useful: "Editing the Wild Anthology."
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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 6/27/2008 8:48 PM | Very good read, Camille, thanks for posting that.
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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| Posted By : Camille Alexa - 6/29/2008 3:08 PM |
von Darkmoor said...Very good read, Camille, thanks for posting that.
Hope it was useful. I thought it had a good "demystification" component. It has tempted me to over-analyze the placement of my own stories in anthos, however.
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| Posted By : von Darkmoor - 6/29/2008 4:28 PM |
Camille Alexa said...
von Darkmoor said...Very good read, Camille, thanks for posting that.
Hope it was useful. I thought it had a good "demystification" component. It has tempted me to over-analyze the placement of my own stories in anthos, however. HA! I can totally see that happening 
I'm not a proponent of the 'best stories at the start and the end of the book' just because they're the best. Of course I want people to keep on reading once they've started and to finish on a good, strong note so they walk away with a good taste in their mouths, but I'm still going to place my selections on the basis of whatever theme I've (deliberately or not) created by the stories I've selected. His ranking system seems just fine, and of course the alternating lengths and emotional appeal is common sense, but I'm still going to set my anthologies up in an overall arc that is supposed to emphasize certain components that I deem desirable.
Having said that, the type of anthology totally dictates story placement though. My Rage of the Behemoth has 5 separate sections of 4 stories each. My headlining authors will lead off each section respectively - so I only have to play around with placement of 15 stories spread over 3 per section. That pretty much leaves me with only one key story placement to decide - the final tale.
I won't know till it's in print how much agonizing I'll do over this ToC, but I don't think it will be as difficult's as RotS's was.
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Ever waltz with the Devil? Or devil with a Waltz?
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