A. E. Van Vogt on John W. Gallishaw's rules for Writing

a synopsis by L J Hurst

Write a story in scenes of about 800 words, which procedes through five stages:
1. Let the reader know the location of the scene
2. Establish the purpose of the main character or the purpose of that scene
3. The interaction of his trying to accomplish that purpose
4. Make it clear: did he or did he not accomplish that purpose
5. In all the early scenes: no matter whether he achieves that purpose or not, things are going to get worse

Every type of story has its own type of fictional sentence
• 'confession' stories have to have emotion in every sentence
• in science fiction you have to have a little bit of a 'hangup' in each sentence: the author furnishes information, but each sentence in itself has a little hangup in it

This information comes from Charles Platt's interview with A. E. Van Vogt, in WHO WRITES SCIENCE FICTION (Savoy Books)