MICE approach to writing

[Bramblethorn]

Interesting thread here about the MICE approach to writing (Milieu, Inquiry, Character, Event). I may need to add this one to the toolkit: https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1177348440692539392/photo/1

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

Actually...

Love it.

 

[Hypoxia]

Interesting thread here about the MICE approach to writing (Milieu, Inquiry, Character, Event). I may need to add this one to the toolkit: https://twitter.com/MaryRobinette/status/1177348440692539392/photo/1

All tweets. I don't do tweets. (*) Does a sanitary version exist? I really do like varied writing approaches. I search Milieu Inquiry Character Event and hit her website which looks clean. Hmmm, MICE was developed by good writer and hateful propagandist Orson Scott Card. Hmmm.
_____

(*) IMHO Twitter and most "social media" are criminal enterprises to avoid. YMMV.

 

[NotWise]

The article is about writing flash fiction, so it seems consistent that it's done in tweets. I had a problem translating the advice to my writing goals, which don't involve getting everything set up in the first thirteen lines.

 

[Hypoxia]

The article is about writing flash fiction, so it seems consistent that it's done in tweets. I had a problem translating the advice to my writing goals, which don't involve getting everything set up in the first thirteen lines.

The website precis doesn't hit me as flash-oriented but it can be applied so. Another MICE search hit seems stricter and mentions plot-organizing on 40 index cards. Is that a commercial screenwriter approach?

My take on MICE: Theorists like counting possible story structures, hey? Three or eleven or seventy-six possible plots. One-to-many-act dramas. Favored methods of Elmore James or Mark Twain or Hildegard von Bingen. Stochastic processes i.e. J.Cage's dice-throwing; Wm Burroughs' chop-n-glue texts, eliminating any need to plot. Let's try-em all, by golly!

I've long been keen on The Blues. Back pre-computers, I thought to build a database of blues lyrics. Flip through randomly, pick lines, assemble in 12-bar structure, and be as creative as a Llullian data-mechanic. Or merely choose story elements from dice rolls. Works about the same.

A Mileau story? Place is a setting. An Inquiry story? Some puzzling occurs. A Character story? Focus on the fucker. An Event story? Asses get bitten or whatever. Pile those together to construct fiction? Maybe a robot could. We will all be replaced eventually.

 

[RandyD1369]

MICE (R) is the acronym for possible motivations:
Money
Ideology
Coercion
Ego
and add
Revenge
and, since we're all here, let's add
Lust
so, MICE(R)+L

 

[Hypoxia]

MICE (R) is the acronym for possible motivations:
Money
Ideology
Coercion
Ego
and add
Revenge
and, since we're all here, let's add
Lust
so, MICE(R)+L

You're nearing Llullian / Laputian territory there, lad. Beware the fruminous bandersnatchii; they bite.

 

[8letters]

Seems like a good way to hand out writing assignments to people who don't have a lot of writing experience. "Last week, we did an Inquiry-focused story. This week, we're going to do a Event-focused story." I don't see much application to people wanting to writing erotic stories.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Seems like a good way to hand out writing assignments to people who don't have a lot of writing experience. "Last week, we did an Inquiry-focused story. This week, we're going to do a Event-focused story." I don't see much application to people wanting to writing erotic stories.

Mmm? I can see all those elements in stories posted here.

 

[Hypoxia]

Seems like a good way to hand out writing assignments to people who don't have a lot of writing experience. "Last week, we did an Inquiry-focused story. This week, we're going to do a Event-focused story." I don't see much application to people wanting to writing erotic stories.

I copied your post http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=90778298&postcount=9 into my "writing approaches" notes. For them too lazy to click, you said, (my formatting):

Thinking more on this, I think "Plotters vs Panters" doesn't really capture my experience of writing. To me, there's four types of stories, based on what the author starts with:

* If the author starts with a few interesting characters and then is more of a scribe describing their interactions, then it's a "character-based" story. From what I've read, Stephen King's "Misery" is this type of story.

* If the author starts with a plot and then figures out what personalities the characters should have to support the plot, then it's a "plot-based" story. Most action movies are this way.

* If the author starts with a couple of anchoring scenes, and then figures out how to connect them, then it's a "scene-based" story. My understanding of Stephen King's "Carrie" is that he started with the scene of her freaking out as she starts her first period in the high school shower and the prom scene, and then wrote a story to connect those two scenes.

* It the author starts with a premise - "Hey what if?" - and writes the characters and plot to support that premise, then it's a "premise-based" story. I can really see "Groundhog Day" being that type of story.

Char-Plot-Scene-Premise looks much like Mileau-Incident-Char-Event. I'm more into HIPO (Hierarchical Input-Process-Output) software structuring, like Initialize-Process-Terminate or any 3-act outline. Robots will soon outperform we hapless humans there. Write-em while you can.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I copied your post http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=90778298&postcount=9 into my "writing approaches" notes. For them too lazy to click, you said, (my formatting)

Chuckle. Looks like Brother 8Letters forgot he did the "how to write better stories" module... .

 

[Hypoxia]

A frustrated taxonomist whose fiction-writing voices have gone silent (like me) can devise many acronym-ed or cute-labeled authorship techniques. MICE, HIPO, Up A Tree, whatever. Throw stuff together and see what fits.

(Are writing methods for sale? Duh...)

I cited Llull and Laputa. Ramon Llull was a medieval logician and willful martyr who invented symbolic logic (sort of) and logic machines (sort of), inspiring Swift's satire of Gulliver in Laputa. Llullian llogic (ha!) devices are spinning concentric circles marked with symbols that, when whirled, combine to create new links and concepts. Mad-Libs are a paper version (sort of). TV_Tropes contains the universe of fictional possibilities. Roll the gaming dice to pick a plot.