"Hey" is for Horses

I hadn't met this pony before and as I put the camera up, this was his response!! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

"Hey, hey". That's how I greet the horses every morning. I'm not much of a "hey, you" kind of girl but it it fits for horses because of how it sounds. Playing with words is probably natural to writers. And when I find I'm doing it, it makes me smile. It can make readers smile, too, or roll their eyes. So where do you draw the line?

• Style: It is all in your style. The richness of your voice, your playfulness, all set the reader up for the tongue in cheek or unusual turn of phrase.
• Character: When playing with words in dialogue or thought, some characters do it more naturally than others. If you are going to do it, you probably should make it a character trait and have the character play with words several times. One time will stand out but not necessarily in a good way. Make this a real trait and not just a behavior for laughs. What kind of character would say or think such a thing? A person with a certain kind of depth and certain sense of humor.
• Reader: Everything is for the reader. This does not mean that your word play needs to be so blatant that it is caught by every reader. It does mean you should remember that your reader probably will not catch a play of words that is an inside joke only between you and your friends. But they might.

Revision Step 1: Delete for Conflict!

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.

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. The post carries the subtitle “Delete for Conflict!” because most of an event is made of conflict (I know you know this). But remember to look at the entire event – both before the conflict starts and after it is resolved – because the entire event can benefit from these warning signs.

• Ignores main story goal. The characters are not trying to reach (or prevent) the main story goal. Every sub-goal needs to tie back to that main story goal.
• Lacks conflict, tension, or suspense. The three are not the same. Conflict is a struggle between two or more characters. Tension is the physical, mental, and emotional strain caused by the conflict. Suspense is the reader's uncertainty about how the conflict will end. If you are missing any of them, the reader will probably loose interest.
• Takes tangents. A tangent differs from a valid digression. Sometimes a character will get deflected from the initial scene goal – and that can be fine. BUT: Is the scene goal answered by the finishing event? Can you justify the diversion? Was it somehow caused by the last event or did the even “just happen”? (Hint: the second scenario is bad.) Does the tangent serve some purpose? Ex., foreshadowing, essential backstory. If not, it needs to go.
• Story still drags. When this happens, then the pace may be too slow. Use all the articles as a check-list to see what can be removed. But don't stop there. Also try shortening the length of sentences and paragraphs. This alone will make the story flow faster.
  
  

This is Part 2 of a series of five blog entries that look at deleting to improve Style, Events, Summary and Description, Characters, and Dialogue.

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Three very different book on planning events…

Bell, James Scott. Conflict & Suspense. Cincinnati, Ohio: Wiriter's Digest Books, 2011.

Dibell, Ansen. Plot. Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer's Digest Books, 1988.

Franklin, Jon. Writing for Story. New York: Plume, 1994 (republished).

Revision Step 1: Delete! (crossword puzzle)

English: A crossword puzzle created for the learning exercise component of the chapter on Reading in the Psycholinguistics textbook project. Made with the free crossword puzzle generator at http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Here’s a crossword puzzle for the material covered in the blog series, “Revision Step 1: Delete!” I’ll post the answers this evening. Hope you like it!

http://www.armoredpenguin.com/crossword/Data/2013.04/1909/19092529.785.html

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.

“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