Taking it to the next level
I talk about this a lot. It's a phrase I use in rejection letters and when I'm speaking at conferences. I see a great many manuscripts that show promise: good story, interesting characters, steady pacing that builds suspense. But all too often, the writers have jumped the gun and sent me a draft that still clearly needs rewriting.
So what do I mean when I say a writer needs to take something to the next level? I mean they have to make sure the prose on the page actually conveys what they see and imagine in their heads, and in a fresh, compelling manner. The sentences need to be both beautiful and workhorses. Pull the plow, sow the seeds, but still make the reader's pulse race or their throat close up. It's taking "show, don't tell" to its limits.
Writer Sherwood Smith has a fabulous post up on Book View Cafe about this. Go, read, absorb. Then maybe read it again.
Happy writing!
So what do I mean when I say a writer needs to take something to the next level? I mean they have to make sure the prose on the page actually conveys what they see and imagine in their heads, and in a fresh, compelling manner. The sentences need to be both beautiful and workhorses. Pull the plow, sow the seeds, but still make the reader's pulse race or their throat close up. It's taking "show, don't tell" to its limits.
Writer Sherwood Smith has a fabulous post up on Book View Cafe about this. Go, read, absorb. Then maybe read it again.
Happy writing!