1] You and MuchoMAS both, as far as the seemingly endless laying-out of detail. There *is* a place for such things, but it's not always ideal in fiction, unless you're stuck in a Dickensian situation where you're getting paid by the word and need to pad your serials to keep food on the table.
2] Agreed. To give a science fiction example... I've been watching DOCTOR WHO regularly since 1986. The boy and I have cycled through all the available stories from 1963 to 2011 on multiple occasions. When I was younger, my fondness was for companions like Zoe, Liz, and Nyssa... the scientists who were equal or superior in brilliance to The Doctor. The older I get, the more I relate to the "common man" characters... Barbara and Ian, Harry Sullivan, and most recently Donna Noble. I still love Zoe, Liz, Nyssa, and now Martha... but I no longer need to be dazzled to like a character.
3] I'm not telling you to abandon epic fantasy. If someone else is, 'tain't me. I just like seeing writers have range.
P.S. I never realized you had no clue what was meant by the writing expression "show, don't tell".
1] Speaking only for myself, the "detailed orientation" thing is my natural state, and it takes a conscious effort on my part to dial it back. But I'll try to make that effort, at least for my writing.
2] We're in total agreement here.
3] I know you weren't asking me to give up my dream, but you had expressed a concern not too long ago that I might be too fixated upon it. I was just trying to assure you that while I intend to go back to my saga at some point, I now see it is not the only story I have to tell. OK?
PS: I'm sure I had "show, don't tell" explained to me at that writing seminar I took over a decade ago, but my memory is not what it once was. I'll try "showing" at the next opportunity.
More re: 2]. A related quote from Booth Tarkington:
...They were upon their great theme: 'When I get to be a man!' Being human, though boys, they consider their present estate too commonplace to be dwelt upon. So, when the old men gather, they say: 'When I was a boy!' It really is the land of nowadays that we never discover.
I'm doing a helluva lot of introspection nowadays... not unlike Robert, but via different impetuses.
It wasn't a true "hijacking". We were talking about characterization issues, which is a kind of con crit. We didn't end up in Cuba because of the post; we just circled Mount Rushmore a couple of times before continuing on....
2] Agreed. To give a science fiction example... I've been watching DOCTOR WHO regularly since 1986. The boy and I have cycled through all the available stories from 1963 to 2011 on multiple occasions. When I was younger, my fondness was for companions like Zoe, Liz, and Nyssa... the scientists who were equal or superior in brilliance to The Doctor. The older I get, the more I relate to the "common man" characters... Barbara and Ian, Harry Sullivan, and most recently Donna Noble. I still love Zoe, Liz, Nyssa, and now Martha... but I no longer need to be dazzled to like a character.
3] I'm not telling you to abandon epic fantasy. If someone else is, 'tain't me. I just like seeing writers have range.
P.S. I never realized you had no clue what was meant by the writing expression "show, don't tell".
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2] We're in total agreement here.
3] I know you weren't asking me to give up my dream, but you had expressed a concern not too long ago that I might be too fixated upon it. I was just trying to assure you that while I intend to go back to my saga at some point, I now see it is not the only story I have to tell. OK?
PS: I'm sure I had "show, don't tell" explained to me at that writing seminar I took over a decade ago, but my memory is not what it once was. I'll try "showing" at the next opportunity.
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...They were upon their great theme: 'When I get to be a man!' Being human, though boys, they consider their present estate too commonplace to be dwelt upon. So, when the old men gather, they say: 'When I was a boy!' It really is the land of nowadays that we never discover.
I'm doing a helluva lot of introspection nowadays... not unlike Robert, but via different impetuses.
Apologies for hijacking your post.
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