Biting the bullet

Culled paper (Photo credit: Dvortygirl)

After two days of hemming and hawing I decided to rewrite this chapter from scratch, too. Technically, it isn't from scratch. When I rewrite a chapter in this draft, I reuse the summary and incorporate new notes then fill in the gaps. But most the words I keep are new. (can't keep the summary) My writing friend who I met with today agrees that the two chapters I have rewritten this way read much better. I just might do all my chapters like this. It might be faster and produce a better product. Just wish I had thought of this strategy earlier. Guess I'm still learning. Someday this will be my first draft instead of my second.

Do you find your job is still a learning experience?

How to Write Dialogue (video)

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-write-dialogue

A video about writing good dialogue, especially for introducing and maintaining conflict.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Dialogue!

This blog post looks at what to delete from dialogue in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. Dialogue is an area I struggle with but many other people love. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

• Doesn't advance story. Story is not just plot. It is also the characters, the world, the mood, and the milieu. If a piece of dialogue doesn't do one – or preferably more – of these things, it needs to go!
• Pace. Fragmenting dialogue and thoughts will speed up the pace. Remove some tags and nonconverstional prose.
• Out of character. It is easy for many writers to write the way they talk. It is harder to write the way the character talks. Make sure to remove your slips of tongue. Keep in mind not only the characters' education, social class, and time period, but also their moods, who they are talking to, and where they are when they are talking (setting).
• Poor logic. There are three pieces to any event: stimulus/cause, internalization/reaction, response/action. In that order, please!

This is Part 5 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on improving dialogue…

Cheney, Theodore. Getting the Words Right. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2005. 2^nd edition.

Kempton, Gloria. Dialogue. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2004.

Spencer, Brent. Dialogue Tips & Traps: A Guide for Fiction Writers. Writers Workshop Press, 2012. 1^st edition. Ebook.

Dramatic Dialogue: Steps to Great Conversation Dialogue

http://www.creativejuicesbooks.com/dramatic-dialogue.html

found by shutethesquare on Tumblr

She says about the link...

Dialogue in a story is different from real-life talk. If we were to record a normal conversation we’d find it filled with idle chatter, incomplete thoughts and broken sentences. Most real-life conversations would be too tedious to read.
Written dialogue has to capture and hold the attention of readers. If your characters ramble on, the way people do in real life, you’ll lose your audience. So cut out the flab: words that don’t serve any useful purpose, sentences and paragraphs that cause the story to drag.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Character!

This blog post looks at what to delete from your manuscript in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

Characters assumes that you have developed the people in your story or have plans to do so. The blog looks at staying true to your characters and your reader. Always, in my book, the reader comes first, the main character(s) comes second, and so on. The blog does NOT deal directly with character development but the tips and strategies will probably help you in this area, too.

• Flimsy reactions. A flimsy reaction is a label like “sad” or “startled”. These reactions are flimsy because they are insubstantial. They don't show anything about your character except at the most superficial level. Delete (or replace) reactions that are not concrete, don't give insight to your character, or don't convey movement.
• Out of character. Each character is an individual with quirks. When a character starts behaving like a stereotype, delete that action. Also delete moments when your character actively runs counter to his/her own nature IF you are not showing the character's anxiety and/or reasons.
• Overlapping characters. There are good reasons for overlapping qualities – especially in the protagonist and antagonist – but multiple characters who fill the same role, have the same personality, or share similar names, can be confusing to the reader. While an excellent effect when done deliberately for group characters, when you find overlapping characters you probably should consider merging or deleting a few.
• Too many characters. This can be confusing for the reader, especially early on, because the reader likes to focus on one (or a very few) characters at a time. When many characters are competing at the same level of importance – especially in the opening sections of a book – someone needs to go.

This is Part 4 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on character development…

Edelstein, Linda. Writer's Guide to Character Traits: Includes Profiles of Human Behaviors and Personality Traits. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2006. 2^nd edition.

Hood, Ann. Creating Character Emotions. Cincinnati: Ohio, Story Press, 1998.

Swain, Dwight V. Creating Characters: How to Build Story People. Norman: Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.

Immerse Your Readers in Your Setting

Immerse Your Readers in Your Setting.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Summaries and Description!

Delete key on PC keyboard (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This blog post looks at what to delete from events in order to improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. By deleting content in your first step of revision, you won’t waste time polishing material you will only remove later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

Summaries and Descriptions may be where your voice shines through most clearly. If you aren't sure what your voice is, here is a great place to look. This area is one that can help define the genre you are writing and every genre comes with its own expectations. Regardless of genre, there are guidelines for good summary and description. I attempt to touch on these.

• Serves one purpose. Good summary and description should do as many as possible of the following: unify the story, ground the reader, establish or intensify mood, develop character and world, show physical and emotional reaction, introduce or develop background, set up or fulfill reader expectations, foreshadow, increase suspense, raise tension, trigger an event (or mini-event), compress time, influence characters.
• Poor placement. Large chunks of summary and description just don't work in the middle of intense action because it slows the pace. One of the exceptions is when you want to stop all forward action – maybe create the impression of a frozen moment of time or a slow motion sequence.
• Dragging pace. Delete any summary and description that is not essential to the story at that moment. If it is important later, put it later (unless you are deliberately foreshadowing or using similar techniques). This strategy of spreading out crucial information (and if it isn't crucial it shouldn't be there at all) can increase reader curiosity and engagement. The largest amounts of summary often happen during transitions and transitions are particularly vulnerable to mistakes that slow the pace of the story.
• Out of character. No matter what POV you are using, you are still using a point of view. Point of view influences what you can mention. Delete anything the character would not notice. Each of your characters will notice some things but dismiss others, be repulsed by this and obsess over that. POV is affected not only by attitudes and preferences but the current state of mind. A person who just visited a dying friend probably won't revel in the glorious sunshine but notice the flies on the trash heaps instead. Or maybe that person (being an individual) would do the reverse. When you use multiple points of view, you may want to show the reader the same setting with this in mind. Delete summary and description that is out of character at that moment.

This is Part 3 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on summary and descriptions…

Alberts, Laurie. Showing & Telling. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2010.

Bickham, Jack. Setting. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 1994.

Rozelle, Ron. Description & Setting: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Believable World of People, Places, and Events. Cincinnati: Ohio, Writer's Digest Books, 2005.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Style!

Symbol delete vote (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

           I'm doing some major revisions of a manuscript. I recommend beginning the revision process by looking for things to remove. Many times deleting content will improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. As an added bonus, by deleting content in your first step of revision you won't waste time polishing material you will only remove your labor of love later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

Whether you have found your writing voice or are still flailing around, there are still ways to make your narrative more logical, precise, and clear to the reader. The blog does NOT intend to place greater value on any particular type of voice (wordy, terse, slang, etc.) or to influence you in a particular direction. If I did, then it wouldn't be your voice, would it?

• Definitely delete any cliché or colloquialism that don't fit with the setting, character background, time period, or genre. Otherwise you risk throwing the reader out of the story. Even if using these is part of your style or you are deliberately using them in dialogue for a particular character and it seems to work, consider deleting most of them. Use just a little bit and your favorites will shine.
• Be concrete. Convince the reader. Delete words like bright. A bright shirt is not a concrete description. A bright yellow blouse is still not concrete. You can get away with yellow (probably) but is the blouse “bright” because it is sequined, caught in a shaft of light, or is it neon? Convince the reader that it is a bright shirt or a bright day or a bright person.
• In line with this last point are adjectives. Search out endings: -ly, -ing, -er, -est, etc., and remove them without mercy. Be concrete, remove most and the few that are left that you absolutely love will have more impact. The On a related note, a and the are also adjectives. Your character leaving the room usually opens the door, not a door. The door is specific and concrete. A door is more abstract. Which door did he open?
• Then there are verbs. Look out for any form of “is” or “being”. These sentences can usually be shorted with those words eliminated. For passives and linking verbs, you can usually cut out half the sentence. Also keep a look out for generic verbs like walked, jumped. Improve clarity by telling the reader how the character does these things. A person can jiggle, skulk, shimmy, disappear into the crowd. Consider modifying generic verbs to show character or mood while staying true to POV and voice.
• Avoid redundancy. The reader is not stupid. A really important point that you want to be obvious about probably shouldn't be said more than three times in the entire book. And remember that what is important to the writer may not be important to the reader. And reader trumps writer. So consider being more subtle than the rule of three. An exception is the character's goal which should be explicitly stated as close to the start of the scene as possible and repeated as often as necessary – like when it changes or is thwarted along the way.

This is Part 1 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

Three very different book on voice...

Edgerton, Les. Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality In Your Writing. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 2003.

Hale, Constance. Sin and Syntax. New York: Broadway Books, 1999.

Payne, Jonny. Voice & Style. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1995.

8 Kinds of Awful Writing Advice by Susan K. Perry

8 Kinds of Awful Writing Advice by Susan K. Perry

1. Advice that demoralizes you. One young poet despaired when a teacher told her to put her poems in a drawer for ten years before sending them out. That advice plays into a paralyzing perfectionism. You can usually manage to see your words through fresh eyes in only a few days or weeks.
2. Advice that limits your potential.  Could it be true, as a novelist once wrote, that if you’ve left a novel unfinished for a few years, you may as well forget about it?  Not if your passion for project is still there or can be resurrected.
3. Advice that cramps your imagination.  Should you only write from your own point of view or about a group to which you belong?  No, that’s too rigid.  Great fiction has been written from the point of view of the opposite gender or from another era or culture. It’s all about pretending.
4. Advice suggesting that what works for you is nonetheless wrong. One novelist worried when told it was best to “Get the story out first, then polish.” His own method was to polish each section before moving on. That worked for him because he never became paralyzed by obsessing over every minor detail to the detriment of making any progress at all.
5. Advice that’s more market-oriented than you are. You may often hear, “Anticipate what the audience wants and then give it to them.” While that has worked well for some authors, others can’t create at all if they’re not pursuing their passions. There’s a time to focus on whether your work is the best it can be for reaching the audience you have in mind. But to prematurely zero in on what you think “they” want can be inhibiting.
6. Advice that’s impossible to follow. My favorite example of this is “Don’t think.” I, for one, can’t write from my toes, elbows, or even my heart. The trick, of course, is to take this less literally, and to learn to think in more inclusive ways than the usual grocery-list-compiling way.
7. Crazy-making advice. Examples: “Read everything,” or its reverse, “Don’t read at all when you’re writing.” Obviously one can’t read everything, even in a particular genre. Focusing on junk leaves little time for the good stuff. I like to immerse myself in the kind of work I’d like to produce myself.  As I read so many books, I’m not worried about imitating someone’s voice.
8. Advice that insists there’s only one correct way to write, propose, query, or submit your work.  Should you always avoid adverbs? Never use the passive voice? Never start a sentence with “there are”? Every one of these “rules” is broken constantly by top writers. And while there are established formats for query letters, nonfiction book proposals, and novel synopses, for every successful sale based on those formats, there are numerous exceptions.
(Source: blogs.psychcentral.com)

Revision Step 1: Delete!

I'm doing some major revisions of a manuscript. I recommend beginning the revision process by looking for things to remove. Many times deleting content will improve clarity, voice, logic, and flow. As an added bonus, by deleting content in your first step of revision you won't waste time polishing material you will only remove your labor of love later on. And if deleting content leaves holes, you can brainstorm and fill the gaps with something even better.

This is the start of a five-part series of articles that looks at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

• Style assumes that you know the basics of grammar – that you know a noun from a verb but may or may not remember an adverb from a adjective. Whether you have found your writing voice or are still flailing around, there are still ways to make your narrative more clear to the reader. The blog does NOT intend to place greater value on any particular type of voice (wordy, terse, slang, etc.) or to influence you in a particular direction. If I did, then it wouldn't be your voice, would it?
• Events assumes that you know the basic flow of a scene. If you struggle with this, you can still use these strategies and tips. This blog looks at relevance on the macro and micro levels, as well as the qualities mentioned earlier. The blog does NOT delve into different types of conflict, a break-down of what a scene is and is not, or types of transitions. Again, each of those would need its own post.
• Summary and Descriptions assumes that these will be where your voice shines through most clearly. If you aren't sure what your voice is, here is a great place to look. Regardless of genre, there are guidelines for good summary and description. I attempt to touch on these. This area is one that can help define the genre you are writing and every genre comes with its own expectations. The blog does NOT break down different genre expectations for summary and description. Instead, it tries to provide guidelines in terms that are relevant across genre.
• Characters assumes that you have developed the people in your story or have plans to do so. The blog looks at staying true to your characters and your reader. Always, in my book, the reader comes first, the main character(s) comes second, and so on. The blog does NOT deal directly with character development but the tips and strategies will probably help you in this area, too.
• Dialogue is an area I struggle with but many other people love. I assume the reader can keep straight who is talking to who. The blog looks at streamlining dialogue, tags, and non-conversational prose. The blog does NOT address increasing conflict, tension, foreshadowing, back-story, or world-building through dialogue. That would be adding and this blog is about subtracting.

“People often ask me why my style is so simple. It is, in fact, deceptively simple, for no two sentences are alike. It is clarity that I am striving to attain, not simplicity.
“Of course, some people want literature to be difficult and there are writers who like to make their readers toil and sweat. They hope to be taken more seriously that way. I have always tried to achieve a prose that is easy and conversational. And those who think this is simple should try it for themselves.”

― Ruskin Bond, The Best of Ruskin Bond
courtesy of Goodreads