Literature trained a lot of us to drone on a bit. William Faulkner's Absalom! Absalom! has a single sentence that clocks in at 1,288 words. Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables offers up an 832 word gem. Modern writing, especially genre writing, are more about the sharp. One of my biggest revision tasks revolves around bulldozer sentences. These come … Continue reading Writing Polish: The Bulldozer Sentence
Writing Polish: Putting Things in Order
One of the most valuable experiences of having a good critique partner or editor is finding all the mistakes you didn't know you were making! In the current draft of a Witch in Wine Country, my critique partner found a couple of bad writing habits that, while not terrible, added up to clarity problems when … Continue reading Writing Polish: Putting Things in Order
“Ejaculated Slughorn” – Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
Among the well-meaning advice I thoroughly disagree with, new writers are often told to never use a dialogue tag other than "said" and "asked." The most quoted example used to support this comes from JK Rowling's Harry Potter series: "Snape!" ejaculated Slughorn, who looked the most shaken, pale and sweating. Technically, yes, ejaculated is a synonym for … Continue reading “Ejaculated Slughorn” – Dialogue Tags and Action Beats
No, People Won’t Like Your Book
I was browsing Twitter yesterday, and came across a post from someone I really admire. They were complaining about romance arcs in mystery novels, and vice-versa. I looked at my fresh new fragile baby of a first novel, which has both mystery and romance arcs, and winced. The rest of the conversation was a series … Continue reading No, People Won’t Like Your Book
Character Development: Asking, “Why?”
When I read a novel, I can sometimes tell when the author really struggled to get into their antagonist's head. The antagonist is either a vague puppet moving to the convenience of the author, or a flat caricature of a human being. One of the most common questions I ask while reading these books is, … Continue reading Character Development: Asking, “Why?”
5 Things That Make Me Stop Reading
Let me start out by saying that this is an entirely subjective post. If anyone looks up their favorite book on Amazon or Goodreads, they'll probably find a few one and two-star reviews, because everyone's taste is different. So as a reader, I don't claim that my opinions are at all universal. That said, I'm … Continue reading 5 Things That Make Me Stop Reading
The Many Right Ways to Fall in Love
As a writer, I love me some slow-burn, will they/won't they, long sighs and significant glances romance. But as a reader, I don't understand the pushback against what many call "instalove." Love at first sight. Soulmates. The characters lay eyes on each other and just know. People deride it as unbelievable, and even lazy writing. … Continue reading The Many Right Ways to Fall in Love
All the World’s a Stage…And your Characters Should Act Like it!
Technically a lot of things make up a really good book. But as a reader, I will forgive an author many plot and style problems. The one thing I can't get past is the characters. Good characters can make an atrociously bad premise readable. Bad characters can render the most meticulous world-building pointless. The thing … Continue reading All the World’s a Stage…And your Characters Should Act Like it!