J. Martin

June 20, 2021

Writing in Pseudoprose

Last week, I became so absorbed in my writing project (good!) that I haven’t written a single blog post (bad!). But I’m getting closer to finishing my current draft, and fast. A mere 1,500 words are left which I need to write from scratch (but I know what’s going to happen), and the closing scenes beyond that I already put down in what I call—analogous to pseudocode—pseudoprose. When I develop a scene while not at my keyboard, e.g., while running, having a shower, enjoying a drink on the balcony, or cultivating a hangover, I want to put it down on paper as quickly as possible before the details fade. That’s when I write pseudoprose: a well-structured but hasty, crude, coarse-grained version of what it’s eventually going to become. It works particularly well with dialogue-heavy passages and acceptably well with action scenes. It doesn’t work with descriptive passages—I have an idea why that’s the case, but it’s a topic better suited for a blog post. Does anyone else use pseudoprose? I don’t know. But it’s certainly something that comes in handy.

On Flickr, besides my daily Singapore image, I uploaded a second Beijing album last week, a walk around Dongzhimen (25 images).

Now on to the fun stuff, without ado. My favorites last week were Pandas on a Slide from 2012, posted by the Chengdu Panda Base on YouTube. Then Baby Foxes in Our Garden!, four successive clips on Twitter (just scroll down), each cuter than the one that precedes it. And, also on Twitter, this gem, When the Question Is Also the Answer, which cracked me up.

Finally, not a game recommendation, but a writing-on-games recommendation: Lake and the Alluring Escapist Fantasy of the Readily Available, Decent Job by Carolyn Petit. It’s among the best articles on games and game-related media I’ve read in a while.

Enjoy the scorching summer!
J.