[Screws fall out all the time. The world's an imperfect place.]

[badboy_fangirl]

The Breakfast Club is on AMC right now. Because finally, a movie that is actually an American Movie Classic. Yeah, baby. Except of course all the cable editing for bad language. Replacing words like "assholes" with "airheads," like John Bender would ever say that. So annoying. Also, Emilio Estevez when he was young and thin and I had a crush on him

Comments

[miss_blanche]

I actually feel guilty of this a lot. The problem for me is that I often worry that the themes I'm trying to portray (through plot/metaphor/whatever else that is not blatant telling) are not obvious enough for the reader, so I make them too obvious. (And when I say that, I don't mean the reader is stupid, I just mean I feel like I've completely failed at conveying the point, haha). And then I have to go back and cut and then when I've cut I think, "but what if they miss that? THEN THIS IS POINTLESS" and end up adding it back in again, haha. I personally need to come to grips with being vague and it being okay, but I digress :)

As for how to deal with it? That I am not sure of. Being aware it's happening is probably a good start, so you can at least write it out when it happens.

[emiv]

(Just for the record, that gif totally distracted me for a good 10 seconds before I even realized what was happening. Well done. ;))

I'm sure I'm guilty of too much TELLING and not enough SHOWING

I think we all are. I know for a fact I am. It's easy to do. I'm constantly worried about maintaining the balanced between show and tell. I'm not a flowery-long-detail sorta girl; I like things clean and neat with a punch, but I've found that tending toward brevity makes it much easier to fall into the telling trap.

Do you have any system or process where you try to keep control of that?This is one of those things I compulsively edit for; it's right up there in my editing process with the holy trinity of hacking adverbs, removing the word 'that' and replacing 'to be' verbs

[upupa_epops]

I actually think I have the opposite problem. I'm so obsessed with not making stuff too obvious that I end up going too vague and then no one can understand me ;). So I'm not sure if my method is any good if it leads me to making the opposite mistake.

[badboy_fangirl]

Yes, this could be true of you. There have been a couple times I wasn't sure what was going on, but I don't think in general I feel that way. Of course maybe I'm used to you by now ;-)

[upupa_epops]

Maybe I'm just getting better at it ;). I remember that a few years ago, I used to ask a friend to read my stories for me before I posted, just to see if they could understand everything XD.

[bogwitch]

I think with the short one shots you tend to write, it doesn't matter that much.

[badboy_fangirl]

I think I fail to see how the length of a fic excuses it from bad writing? That really makes no sense to me

[archangel_blood]

Honestly? I try not to think about it too much. I tend to be a bit OCD about details and such, so I very consciously try to avoid causing myself more anxiety.

That said, I’ve discovered that I prefer writing 1st person (specifically Damon’s POV), and this can be extremely tricky. I mean, we’ve all seen stuff like “I was still asleep when he walked in; he came to stand by the bed, watching me.” Really, now. lol So what I try to do is actually become my narrator for the fic’s duration (totally fun and also mildly disturbing with Damon :D), and I’d write only what I would be able to see, feel, know myself. This helps me with a lot of writing issues, including show vs tell. Not always, of course; when I go back to my old fics I usually find a line or two that make me cringe, but what can you do.

Also, purposely vague is good, I like vague. You get so many different readings, which is nice.

(On a completely unrelated note, The Walking Dead is so good, seriously, so FREAKING GOOD! I’ve just finished watching 3x13 and the last vestiges

[badboy_fangirl]

I think with your more metaphorical approach to everything you write that way by default; that's just my opinion, but I think where I tend to be more straight forward in my style, I have a tendency of being TOO straight forward, so I have to be more careful? Does that make sense?

I actually loathe 1st person--generally to read and I never write it if I can help it. But I have found a few authors in TVD fandom that do Damon 1st person bloody brilliantly, and that's awe-inspiring to me. But I see what you're saying about it helping with those kind of details.

BTW, who doesn't cringe when they go back and read old stuff? I've been known to edit FOREVER ;-)

And yay for TWD! I told you, it's AMAZE-BALLS. You should make a post of all your thoughts! I would love to discuss it in-depth with you!

[archangel_blood]

It does make sense, and you're right, it would be more obvious when the writing approach is less abstract. For what it's worth, I can't recall ever being thrown out of your fic for whatever reason. The flow always feels organic to me, so as far as I'm concerned this is really not an issue with your writing.

I used to dislike 1st person too, until I started writing Damon. It just felt right somehow. I suppose I just enjoy being in his head.

Ooh, that's a great idea, if I can just get my thoughts together. Which sadly seems unlikely at this point. I keep trying to write stuff (stuff Lori. Things.), and somehow it always ends up being Klaus/Rebekah ickiness? Also, I'm still reeling over the fact that I've turned into a Daryl shaped vortex of feelings and wants overnight. WTF is wrong with me. lol

[badboy_fangirl]

Daryl is actually the most popular character in the fandom, from what I've seen. I like him, but Rick's my fave, always has been. The only TWD fic I ever wrote was a Lori POV one, as a matter of fact. From S1. I miss Lori. And Shane. I'm afeared for everyone else...except, kill the governor. DIE DIE DIE.