Being a Good Critter

Nina S said:

Another suggested I put action after every bit of dialogue so instead of having:
"Jimmy likes peaches," Jon said.
"Who eats peaches?"
Its:
"Jimmy likes peaches," Jon shrugged pursing his lips.
Kelly sank into a chair, "who eats peaches?"
(Maybe not the bestexample, but you get the drift?)
I hope this helps
[/FONT]

Click to expand...

So they said instead of using said use action tags, totally incorrectly? That's terrible advice.

Action tags definitely have their place, but they would read: "Jimmy likes peaches." Jimmy shrugged, pursing his lips. No comma after peaches. (Though I'd be trying to figure out why he's pursing his lips.)

Use a good mix of the two.

As for the acronyms, as long as it's made clear what they are, yeah, you have to have them for military jargon.

Crits. Use what's useful and leave the rest behind.

ladybritches said:

lol. I don't think I was clear on what I meant. My point was that you can be direct and still focus on your "response" as a reader. I don't like critiques that pussyfoot around the problems like critters are trying to spare my feelings. I don't have feelings. Ha. I like bluntness.

Click to expand...

lol^2

Funny. I think of myself as serving the coffee black. It's really hard to tell from fake examples.