What Not to Do

[lisagailgreen]

So often we hear all the ways to make our story better.  Characterization.  Plot.  Motivation.  World building.  Dialogue.  Pacing.  You get the idea.  But, what I find interesting is the amount of "rules" on what not to do.  I guess the idea is that newbies (and even some not so newbies) tend to make the same mistakes.  The thing is, for every

Comments

[hooton]

:delurks:

Adverbial dialogue tags: I am guilty here. It's a hard habit to break and every once in a while, well... It all goes to the show don't tell adage.

I don't have a problem with their ocassional use because sometimes there's just no other way of conveying tone or context. But yeah, going overboard is bad.

I'm actually guilty of "saiditis" and put it in even when the dialogue is good enough for it to stand without tags (e.g. because there's only 2 characters in the conversation and it's obvious who's saying what when).

Don't follow the trends:

Word. If it so happens that a trend crops up right when you're in the middle of writing something similar then that's cool, but I always think it's good to make stuff your own as much as possible and if you're going to be stuck writing something for so many months, write something you love.

Don't use stereotypes:

Word.

To Be or Not To Be:

Word. Every word should be doing something and adding something.

Don't send out anything less than perfect:Wordy McWord

[lisagailgreen]

Hey! Thanks for the reply. Sometimes cutting and pasting are fun. :)

[lisagailgreen]

Yes. It is hard to know. I think when you're tweaking the same little things over and over its as ready as its going to be. Just have to be sure yours aren't the only eyes that have seen it.

[pjatd]

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