What do you over-do?

Namatu · Oct 25, 2007

When adding emotional angst in a story, I tend to get too melodramatic. It can be quite painful to read through later. What was I thinking?

What do you tend to over-do in your writing (or, if you're superbly perfect now, what writerly pitfall did you overcome)?

PeeDee · Oct 25, 2007

Long sentences. When things start zipping, my sentences just go on and on. They read okay, but I don't like it. I'm fairly self-conscious when I write (by which I mean, I am constantly watching what and how I write) and so I catch it more often than not these days, try to shorten things up. It always sounds better when I do.

CaroGirl · Oct 25, 2007

I overdo symbolic language. Metaphors and similes in my descriptive passages tend to get a little out of control. It's okay, though, I'm joining a support group next week.

Calla Lily · Oct 25, 2007

I'm the opposite of PeeDee. When I'm rocking and rolling, my sentences get short. Then shorter. Pretty soon I'm writing mere syllables and trying to pretend they're moving the story along faster.

sunna · Oct 25, 2007

Long sentences for me as well. One of the things on the list for 1st pass, 2nd pass, and 3rd pass, is shortening my sentences.

Adverbs. I love adverbs. I don't even realize I'm using them half the time; I firmly believe they get all fruitful and multiply when I shut Word down every night.

PeeDee · Oct 25, 2007

callalily61 said:
I'm the opposite of PeeDee. When I'm rocking and rolling, my sentences get short. Then shorter. Pretty soon I'm writing mere syllables and trying to pretend they're moving the story along faster.

"Heart?"

"Dead."

Sat down. Sad. Held head. Angry! Tired... Crowd thinned. Alone. Rain started. Cigarette? None. Waited. Then, left.

CaroGirl · Oct 25, 2007

PeeDee said:
"Heart?"

"Dead."

Sat down. Sad. Held head. Angry! Tired... Crowd thinned. Alone. Rain started. Cigarette? None. Waited. Then, left.

I like that. It's pithy. Ship it!

Calla Lily · Oct 25, 2007

PeeDee said:
"Heart?"

"Dead."

Sat down. Sad. Held head. Angry! Tired... Crowd thinned. Alone. Rain started. Cigarette? None. Waited. Then, left.

Hmmm... can I use this...

Nah. That last comma slows it down.

PeeDee · Oct 25, 2007

"Damn periods, always wanting people to pause! What's that about!?"

(actually, I kind of like it too)

Calla Lily · Oct 25, 2007

I have a homemade laser calibrated to incinerate any semi-colons that try to sneak into my writing.

Devil Ledbetter · Oct 25, 2007

Semicolons, definitely; I love them.

WittyandorIronic · Oct 25, 2007

I am with the shorter and faster crowd (heh, which my mother never appreciated).
I was recently writing a piece of dialog and I knew what I wanted it to say, and was typing so fast that I swear to god my hands vomited.
That's right. When I looked up at the text it literally looked like:
"So"
"I don't bite"
"Yes you do"
"It won't hurt"
"really?"
"No" evil laugh
"thats mean"
Blah, blah, blah on for about 200 more dialog words.
It was a little scary. When I went back and edited, moved it around, added blocking and a few tags it actually read really well, but it really started out horribly. I don't know, for some (slightly insane?) reason I just had to get the skeleton out right then, and then went back to add in the detail.

jodiodi · Oct 25, 2007

Good question.

My characters think a lot. They muse on things, wonder about stuff, compare concepts, and generally waste a lot of time in their heads. I have to make myself cut off the inner visions of the characters.

I have to force myself to show, not tell.

Soccer Mom · Oct 25, 2007

WittyandorIronic said:
I am with the shorter and faster crowd (heh, which my mother never appreciated).
I was recently writing a piece of dialog and I knew what I wanted it to say, and was typing so fast that I swear to god my hands vomited.
That's right. When I looked up at the text it literally looked like:
"So"
"I don't bite"
"Yes you do"
"It won't hurt"
"really?"
"No" evil laugh
"thats mean"
Blah, blah, blah on for about 200 more dialog words.
It was a little scary. When I went back and edited, moved it around, added blocking and a few tags it actually read really well, but it really started out horribly. I don't know, for some (slightly insane?) reason I just had to get the skeleton out right then, and then went back to add in the detail.

Oh, I do that. I get rolling in dialogue and there are no tags, no location, just words. I come back later to read and go WTF? Who said that? I have to decipher my own code. Ack!

Calla Lily · Oct 25, 2007

Soccer Mom said:
Oh, I do that. I get rolling in dialogue and there are no tags, no location, just words. I come back later to read and go WTF? Who said that? I have to decipher my own code. Ack!

Better yet: If I'm writing with pen on paper at a soccer game I use this weird semi-shorthand I made up when I was in HS so I could take notes faster.

Trouble is, I scribble.

So a day or two later, when I'm trying to type it all up, I'm turning the paper sideways, rereading 2 paragraphs above, trying to get the sense of what the heck I was trying to write, muttering uncomplimentary things about my state of mind at the time...

Azraelsbane · Oct 25, 2007

I tend to either ramble or go too short sentence wise. Although admittedly, my dialogue is rarely short. A few of my characters REALLY love the sound of their own voices.

Namatu · Oct 25, 2007

Sometimes I have to stop myself from having my characters look, gaze, stare, and glare too much.

WendyNYC · Oct 25, 2007

Devil Ledbetter said:
Semicolons, definitely; I love them.

Dit-to. I'm all about semicolons; they pop up far too often.

ccarver30 · Oct 25, 2007

jodiodi said:
Good question.

My characters think a lot. They muse on things, wonder about stuff, compare concepts, and generally waste a lot of time in their heads. I have to make myself cut off the inner visions of the characters.

I have to force myself to show, not tell.

Mine too. :^\

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 25, 2007

I tend to overdo examples, literary illustrations, similes, analogies, and metaphors to make my point, my case, my argument, my rationale, my description, my purpose if you will.

MidnightMuse · Oct 25, 2007

If I'm not being careful, I find myself directing a play instead of writing a novel. With each piece of dialog, I start having the speaker DO something - huff, laugh, shake his head, pace, take a drink of his beer, etc etc.

It's like I'm trying to choreograph a dance ! I have to keep reminding myself that sometimes Less is More.

c.e.lawson · Oct 25, 2007

I love description. I love setting the scene. I'm one of those people who'd be happy to describe each and every type of food on the table. I like reading this stuff, too, but I know it's not everyone's cup of tea so I do reign myself in. (I hope.) I also tend to have my characters nod too often, and probably over stage direct.

c.e.

ChaosTitan · Oct 25, 2007

PeeDee said:
"Heart?"

"Dead."

Sat down. Sad. Held head. Angry! Tired... Crowd thinned. Alone. Rain started. Cigarette? None. Waited. Then, left.

James Ellroy, is that you?

I always over-do dialogue tags. Fortunately, they're easy to remove during editing and I slay with abandon.

Shadow_Ferret · Oct 25, 2007

MidnightMuse said:
If I'm not being careful, I find myself directing a play instead of writing a novel. With each piece of dialog, I start having the speaker DO something - huff, laugh, shake his head, pace, take a drink of his beer, etc etc.

It's like I'm trying to choreograph a dance ! I have to keep reminding myself that sometimes Less is More.

I'm the opposite, I have lines and lines of dialog and I feel compelled to ADD stage directions because it seems like they're just standing there, not doing anything--arms strapped to their sides, faces needled with botox--except talking.

TheIT · Oct 25, 2007

Always reaching for the same shorthands for movement to add action to dialog: smile, nod, glare, frown, grin, sigh, blink, jaw dropped. I'm going to have to perform a search and destroy mission during my revision to turn all those into something more interesting.

What do you over-do?

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