Authors Are Like Onions
Well well well.
Three holes in the ground.
I caught up on a few boring tasks. They keep saying do the legacy tasks first. I keep ignoring them. Legacy tasks are hard to complete when you're feeling anxious about bills, notes, emails, and all the rest — but I think that's when the switch will take place. I think that's when I will transition from a young man who writes often into a full-hearted writer. Imagine that.
Dang. Honestly, I'm a full-hearted writer (whatever exactly that means). I just keep pasting silly, sad titles on myself — probably to excuse how little I write. Starbucks probably doesn't help my focus though.
Speaking of that, I'm off to get an iced tea...
So that's getting made.
Let me share a tiny discovery I made about writing!
To improve your writing, do multiple things at once!
Check this out:
In a given sentence, you can provide features: raw description of some person or object.
You can show surroundings: talk about plants, weather, landscape, buildings, furniture, and the like.
Characters can act: leap, stab, throw, launch, pour, swim, or any other action verb.
You can show emotions: it can be a gentle touch, a silent glare, a gruff exhale, or any other.
And of course your characters can dialogue: old-fashioned talking.
Now, here's the magic: If you can do two or more of those at once, your writing will be richer.
I think I've done a reasonable job of implementing this throughout the years. Raw practice helps.
However, it was really exciting to discover it as an official concept. I was teaching a student of mine, and up cropped that idea. POOF.
For example, if you just describe a man — "He had blonde hair and blue eyes." — you'll have the makings of cheap, fangirl literature.
If you just describe action — "He leapt over the chair." — you've got a dynamic puppet.
However, if you put them together — "His blonde hair billowed in the air as he leapt over the chair." — you can make something vivid.
Granted, above are corny samples.
You can find a better exploration at this link. In that sketch, I explored action and description at the same time.
I describe the man a lot, but it's almost exclusively alongside action: him dragging the sword, him leaping through the air, him sailing downward.
Obviously, it's not foolproof. You can't just pack layer upon layer and pray for good writing. However, it's a healthy thing to call to mind as you look over your own stuff and think how to make it more engaging.
Three holes in the ground.
I caught up on a few boring tasks. They keep saying do the legacy tasks first. I keep ignoring them. Legacy tasks are hard to complete when you're feeling anxious about bills, notes, emails, and all the rest — but I think that's when the switch will take place. I think that's when I will transition from a young man who writes often into a full-hearted writer. Imagine that.
Dang. Honestly, I'm a full-hearted writer (whatever exactly that means). I just keep pasting silly, sad titles on myself — probably to excuse how little I write. Starbucks probably doesn't help my focus though.
Speaking of that, I'm off to get an iced tea...
So that's getting made.
Let me share a tiny discovery I made about writing!
To improve your writing, do multiple things at once!
Check this out:
In a given sentence, you can provide features: raw description of some person or object.
You can show surroundings: talk about plants, weather, landscape, buildings, furniture, and the like.
Characters can act: leap, stab, throw, launch, pour, swim, or any other action verb.
You can show emotions: it can be a gentle touch, a silent glare, a gruff exhale, or any other.
And of course your characters can dialogue: old-fashioned talking.
Now, here's the magic: If you can do two or more of those at once, your writing will be richer.
I think I've done a reasonable job of implementing this throughout the years. Raw practice helps.
However, it was really exciting to discover it as an official concept. I was teaching a student of mine, and up cropped that idea. POOF.
For example, if you just describe a man — "He had blonde hair and blue eyes." — you'll have the makings of cheap, fangirl literature.
If you just describe action — "He leapt over the chair." — you've got a dynamic puppet.
However, if you put them together — "His blonde hair billowed in the air as he leapt over the chair." — you can make something vivid.
Granted, above are corny samples.
You can find a better exploration at this link. In that sketch, I explored action and description at the same time.
I describe the man a lot, but it's almost exclusively alongside action: him dragging the sword, him leaping through the air, him sailing downward.
Obviously, it's not foolproof. You can't just pack layer upon layer and pray for good writing. However, it's a healthy thing to call to mind as you look over your own stuff and think how to make it more engaging.
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