On writing - word abuse

Yes Word Abuse!

This isn't really the abuse of a word but the abuse of my eyes when I see it over and over and over.  Worse, seeing it twice in the same sentence.  Some more savvy writers might call this redundancy but I call it criminal!

"Her body was like a magnet, drawing him closer with every movement of her body."

The second "body" really isn't even needed but if you feel the need to expound here then use another word or phrase to say the same thing. You're a writer, goddamnit!

"Her body was like a magnet, drawing him closer with every movement of her sensual form."

or  "...every sensual movement" since we've already established it was her body that had his attention.

When you read back over your work (you do read back over your work, right?) look for redundancy or word abuse.  I don't like to use the same subject or descriptive word more than once in a string of two or three sentences if I don't have to.

Sure there are exceptions to everything but readers are way smarter than we want to credit them with sometimes.  Maybe they can write as well or better than you and maybe they can't but they sure as shit will notice things like this.  Even if it's only on a subconscious level.  They will decide that they don't like your style and put the book down and never pick you up again. Death.

How do you prevent this?  

Read what your wrote and, yes you've heard it and heard it, but read it aloud until you can train your inner editor to speak during the drafting process.  Feel stupid doing this?  Me too.  Find a place where you can be alone.  Drive to Walmart and do it in the car.  I'm sure there are crazier people in that parking lot than you and, if not, just go inside when you're done.  You won't feel so bad.  If it doesn't sound right to you vocalized, read it again.  If it still sounds weird, there's your first clue.

Also, don't reread what you wrote for a few days, or even a couple weeks if you can help it (yes I realize there are deadlines but that deadline don't mean squat if you're turning in junk).  Reading your work when it's still fresh in your mind will cause your brain to screw you over.  You know what you were trying to say so you will read it that way because you remember writing the right way dammit and no one's gonna tell you how to write in your own damn brain!  That's the problem really.  A week or two later, it won't be so fresh and you're find far more typos and problems than you would have ever thought were there.

Listening to: Heart - Sylvan Song - Dream of the Archer

Discovery writing is good

Yes well I couldn't say it any plainer.  Discovery writing is good!  There I said it with a flourish, well an exclamation point, anyway.  Don't judge me.

I've become such a plotter/outliner in my horror and sci-fi work that I forgot the joy of discovery writing.  It's like a new lover.  I know where I want to take her.  I know the thousands of things I want to do to her, but she has ideas of her own.  We abandon all logic and let the passion take us where it will.  That's discovery writing for me. 

Writing erotica has been a liberating experience, not just as a man but as an artist and I can't imagine a time when I won't want to do this. 

Outlining makes the most sense when I approach a novel or serial fiction, which is the non-erotic project that takes up a great deal of my time, and there is a discovery element there.  But, when I sit down to write, I either feel like I've already told the story, if only to myself, or I'm bored with those pesky in-between parts that are necessary to get from A to C. This is a problem I've diagnosed before in my tabletop roleplaying days.  As the Storyteller of the group, I learned to never create a story from any of my writing ideas, or I'd never get to them.

Of course, discovery writing has it's pitfalls, the biggest one being the need to do a great deal of editing when something in the story changes mid stream because it makes more sense.  It can be tedious tracking down every part of the book where changes need to be made.  Though, I guess this can happen no matter what your process is when that brain tidal wave hits unexpectedly.

In the end, we all have our creative process.  What is yours?  Would you ever consider stepping out of it to try something new?

Listening to: Versailles- Silent Knight

If you're not a fan of or familiar with the Japanese Visual Kei movement, this band is the place to start.  This is an instrumental but I defy you to find a Western metal band that could top Versailles technically. 4:14 is you're eargasmic moment.  Isn't Hazaki, the blonde guitar, just adorable in that Victorian gown?  I just love him.  Yes, him.  I'll let that sink in until next time.

Stubborn pride- Excerpt

Excerpt from tonight's writing.

    And that was it.  This beautiful person, this angelic creature, made her want to fall to her knees and beg for affection. 
    She slammed her glass of ice--minus the tea that was already warming her cheeks--on the table with a mental shout of NO!  She’d submit to no man, nor woman.  She knew it was likely a strange mental condition but the idea made her feel like less of a person.  No, she would be in control.  She would claim her playthings and make them beg for her and no one would ever possess her, heart, body or soul, ever again.
    And with this, came a strange calm, a dark confidence, that wrapped her in its cool embrace.  She’d left her gothic armor behind tonight in exchange for civilian attire, but, with this feeling, she’d never need it again. 








Listening to Concrete Blonde- Darkening of the Light

The Character of Emotion

We define ourselves as beings of reason but it is our emotions that define us.  Emotion cannot be recorded, measured or even accurately predicted but it has the power to continually reshape the world, from the face of the planet down to the course of our own lives.  Emotion can uplift and it can destroy.  It can inspire in one moment and bury one in the darkest depths of depression the next, robbing us of self, purpose and passion.

I feel that studying the intricacies of the heart is an absolute must for any writer.  And not just our own hearts, but writers must have empathy in order to examine and attempt to understand the emotions of others.  If we fail our characters emotionally, they remain flat, unrelatable, boring, unappealing.  Think of real emotion as the breath of life that we breath into our creations to make them jump off the page and, in my case, grab me by the balls and take me where they want to go.

I find that I lean too much toward showing emotional reactions then internal narratives that give the how’s and whys of a character’s feelings.  I often spend a lot of time in the second draft filling in some of these gaps, trying to find a balance.

What is your view of emotion as a writer or as a reader?  How do you use emotion when plotting or deciding what path a character will choose?

Listening to :Lacuna Coil - Swamped With Lyrics

 

To write with belief

I often wonder if others can see, feel and hear, touch, smell and taste my characters.  Is the setting real enough that they feel the darkness creeping and smell the smoke from the candle so recently snuffed?  When I wonder these things, I got back a few days later to reread.  Often I am pleased.  Sometimes I am not. 

I know that I can convey a scene in such a way that it moves my reader along, sweeping them away on the currents of dream, be they sweet and salty or dark and terrifying.

It is with belief in myself that I write.  It is with belief in the worlds and characters that I love, and lust and sometimes hate, that I dare to call myself a storyteller.  This belief cannot be taught.  It cannot be trained.  It must be harnessed from successes and failures and the continual honing of skills based on innate talent.

A DJ once told me that he didn't like my friends, who were in a pretty decent rock band.
I asked why.
He replied, "Because they're all cocky little shits."
"Of course they are," I said.  "They wouldn't be able to get on stage and do what they do otherwise."

Write with belief.  Love with belief.  Fight with belief.  And when your time comes, DIE with belief, belief that you did all you could with what was given you.  And those who are not at least willing to try to believe in you, scrape them off lest they burden your wings and ground you in stoney earth.

Listening to Heart- Go on Cry

Standing out among the gifted

I’m a writer, an artist of some decent ability, a musician, somewhere near genius in respects of IQ and a pretty damned good cook.  I’ve always stood out from mere humans, by design.  I know no other way to be.  When I say mere humans, I mean, non-creatives.  Creatives, artists, those touched, and often raped, by the muse, are something more than human to my thinking.  In such a crowd I often fail to stand out as the measure of greatness is set so much higher.

I’m okay with that, from a personal stand point.  I don’t have to always shine. 

From a marketing standpoint, this is a bit perplexing.  Next to Bob the grocer, my talents are impressive.  Next to the greats in my various areas of creative talent, the bar is raised higher than I knew it could go.

Recognizing this could be a motivation killer.  I’ve let it happen before.  Guitar is a lover of 20 years but I cannot play lead like some who have only know her for months.  I’ve tried and tried and continually failed.  I can, however write expressive music that salves my soul and catches the ear of others. 

As a writer, I could allow myself such comparisons to halt my forward movement.  I choose, instead, to find inspiration in the wordsmithing of my betters, learn from their excellence and to grow so that I might rise above my own limitations. 

Just watched:

Twitter

So I've tried the blog thing before, before there was Twitter or perhaps before I knew anything about it.  Traffic was limited to only those few writer friends from Myspace (yes that long ago) who were kind enough to check out what I was doing and most never returned. 

With only 12 people following me on my 3 day old Twitter account I was able to get 12 views to my blog from one tweet.  That's rather gratifying.  It may have been just enough for them to dismiss me as a waste of time but I'll choose to look at this as a positive thing, continue to blog and continue to grow my Twitter base as I go. 

I must say that this is quite interesting.