Thirty years ago, in Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey first introduced readers to the world of Pern and the flying dragons that protected it from the ravages of Thread. In the ensuing years she has written over a dozen books set in that same world–each one giving her readers more insight into the people and dragons that populate Pern. The world of Pern and the threat of the Red Star have become mainstays in the science-fiction genre.

MasterHarper Robinton, a much-beloved supporting character in many of the other books, is now given his own volume in The MasterHarper of Pern. In this book we are shown Robinton’s life, from his birth all the way until the beginning of the Pass when the dreaded Thread is due to fall again.

Robinton is a musically-talented child, the son of MasterComposer Petiron, and MasterSinger Merelan, and conflict is seen almost immediately as Robinton’s father becomes jealous of the attention that Merelan gives the young Robinton. Throughout the book we see the development of Robinton’s musical and diplomatic prowess, even as the relationship between father and son disintegrates. During this time there is also a great deal of upheaval in the world of Pern, with the approach of the Red Star and the disbelief of many that Thread will ever fall again. Adding to the mix is the ruthless Fax, who intends to carve an empire out of the northern continent. Robinton finds himself at the heart of the conflict and ends up shaping the destiny of Pern as only the MasterHarper can.

Fans of the Pern books will enjoy this prehistory of the world we were first introduced to in Dragonflight. We are given an insight into the character of Robinton that we only had glimpses of previously. We share his joys and heartbreaks, and his passion to see the people of Pern protected both from Thread and conquerors such as Fax.

Another delight for fans familiar with the Pern books is to see characters as children, who later grow to positions of power as the Pass comes. Characters who were previously only referred to in passing, such as F’lar and F’nor’s father, and Lessa’s parents now have life breathed into them. Throughout the developments of the fifty years before the Pass begins with its deadly rain of Thread we’re allowed to see what it is that causes these characters to be so thoroughly convinced that the threat of Thread is a genuine one. The last chapter of the book comes across as a bit contrived as it ties into the beginning of Dragonflight, but overall it is an entertaining read that is sure to satisfy the many fans of the Anne McCaffrey and her Dragonriders of Pern.

Other books by Anne McCaffrey:

Dragon Harper

Dragondrums (Book 3, sequel to Masterharper of Pern)

Dragonsinger (Book 2, sequel to Masterharper of Pern)

The Masterharper of Pern is a post from: The Blue Rose Bouquet

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In the beginning my first drafts were filled with holes, barely resembling the story I wanted to tell. The characters were cardboard, rambling mindlessly on far too many unknown paths, and usually ending up in a lagoon or bug-infested swamp with no where to continue forward.

Consequently, I hated writing first drafts. I abhorred them. I procrastinated writing those first drafts; and then when I would finally get started, it took me forever to write them. I think I would have preferred cleaning bathrooms all day. Seems there were some days I did.

Now, however, my approach to writing first drafts is totally different. I no longer dread them. I can’t say that I love writing first drafts because that would be an outright lie, but I no longer hate them. Now first drafts are actually fun to start, and I can’t wait to write that first sentence, first paragraph, first page. Once I’ve written that first page, I try not to stop until I reach THE END, and the faster I can get there, the better.

Why the change of heart? I learned what a difference pre-plotting can make. You already pre-plot, you say? That’s what I said too until I took a weekend-long screenwriting workshop and realized how little I was plotting and defining my characters. The different techniques I learned in writing a script, I found were techniques that I could apply to fiction writing, even nonfiction.

The secret? Basically, it comes down to creating a storyboard. I employed such techniques as using 3 x 5 cards or Post-its, then making an extensive outline once I’m satisfied with my story structure. Consequently, this pre-writing allowed me to write that first draft fast. I couldn’t help BUT write fast since all my thinking had been done in the plotting stage. Now I was just dictating the character’s speech and writing down how they moved across the stage of their story.

The last book I wrote, the first draft took me only four days to write. Granted they were long days: 18-hours, and a couple chapters missing. Astonishingly though, by the time I got to the end of the book at the end of that fourth day, I knew what needed to go into those missing chapters. I liked how I didn’t waste time wondering what to do next. I had skipped over that part, knowing I could fill it all in later. The process worked.

A second key component was that as I was writing the first draft and knew that I had to make changes to earlier dialogue or even plot structure, rather than going back and rewriting at that time, I simply make notes about those changes. By the time I got to the end of the first draft, half of those changes were no longer necessary, because I had made other changes that took care of those issues. Had I gone back and rewritten at that time, I would have been wasting my time, not to mention getting off-track from the first draft.

The best thing is that now my first drafts resemble what used to be my fourth or fifth drafts. I’m saving time.

I used to spend one-fourth of my time plotting, and three-fourths of it writing; now my time spent is flip-flopped. I spend three-fourths of my time plotting and developing my characters and only one-fourth of that time in actual writing.

Shitty first drafts? They’re a thing of the past for me, providing I do all the necessary pre-writing, which often can take a year or more and I ponder, research, scribble, and ponder some more. Consequently, my first drafts rarely find themselves stuffed in a drawer, ending up deserted and forgotten, which also means that I get that project out in the mail and get it sold.

That’s a great bottom line in my draft of a book.

Copyright © 1998-2008 Diana Fox (Diana Stout)
Used with permission of the author
All rights reserved

Author bio:

Diana Stout, who wrote this original article and has written romances as Diana Fox, began her writing career with a humorous weekly newspaper column, then wrote magazine articles and short stories, then published three romance novels, and optioned a screenplay.  Her writing  (fiction, nonfiction, drama, screenplays, and plays) has won awards, and she is a frequently requested speaker.  Stout has a M.F.A. degree in Creative Writing, with a huge interest in Medieval Studies and Woman’s Studies.  She has taught in the English departments at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Valley Community College, Kellogg Community College, and Davenport University.  She taught online for a number of years privately, through the former Painted Rock writer’s colony where she taught Writing Fast, Creating Characters, Time Management for Writers, and other classes, and has taught on several other online writer’s websites. A professor of remedial English, composition, research writing, and business writing at Davenport University, she is also the Department Coordinator for English, Communications, English Foundations of Learning, and Foreign Language, overseeing thirty-plus adjunct instructors, covering Kalamazoo, Holland, and Battle Creek, Michigan locations.  Stout is currently at work on a medieval mainstream novel.

Fast and Efficient Creative Writing is a post from: The Blue Rose Bouquet

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