Good point. No wonder she's gone. Except mosquitoes feed only at night. The black flies would do it, though.
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Good point. No wonder she's gone. Except mosquitoes feed only at night. The black flies would do it, though.
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Mosquitoes only feed by night? That'll be a big surprise to our North Country mosquitoes.
I expect she'll have some pretty good goosebumps, too. Maybe she needs to put on a sweater.
I expect she'll have some pretty good goosebumps, too. Maybe she needs to put on a sweater.
Hm, if she's now wearing only a sweater, that would make for a memorable image too. I wish I hadn't pictured it.
Oh yes, that was the article that made me a fan of the Atlantic. And ended my guilt for disliking Cormac McCarthy.
Interestingly, over on the Analog forum we're having a discussion regarding SF writing where we've been talking about characterization recently. One point I brought up was that editors, agents, and publishers want to see active characterization in novels, but that bestsellers seem to have some really cardboard characters in them.
Oh, add in deer flies, horseflies, and a few sundry other flies to the mix of mosquitoes and black flies. Any area of exposed naked flesh is going to be a feeding ground for local bugs.
Then there are the sand fleas which will crawl onto the flesh and into any available wrinkle or moist crevice along with other similar arthropods and suddenly you're talking real, ahem, difficulties, especially for women (me, I keep my clothes on and buttoned up when in the woods).
Oh, add in deer flies, horseflies, and a few sundry other flies to the mix of mosquitoes and black flies. Any area of exposed naked flesh is going to be a feeding ground for local bugs.
Then there are the sand fleas which will crawl onto the flesh and into any available wrinkle or moist crevice along with other similar arthropods and suddenly you're talking real, ahem, difficulties, especially for women (me, I keep my clothes on and buttoned up when in the woods).
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Hmmmmm.... I'm kinda glad I did ....
This story is getting more interesting by the minute.
Just at that moment, a Kodiac bear stepped from behind an elderberry bush.
"Put down that camera!"
"What do you mean? I gotta carry it. I'm a Kodak bear!"
"That' Kodiac, not Kodak, you fool! Now fetch me a pair of pants or I'll see you're made into a rug."
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bestsellers seem to have some really cardboard characters in them.
quote]
What? Like the cardboard Elvis cut-out in Odd Thomas?
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Punched-out I assume to mean like holes punched out of a piece of paper.
The "mercifully" part is easy. Beloved is set in the post-Civil War period, with flashbacks to slavery. The abuse that most of the characters had endured (unfortunately, historically accurate) makes you understand why they would think it a mercy not to have to look on this world.
Yet Morrison manages to give these same characters a dignity even in their brokenness that is almost palpable. An incredibly powerful novel that I highly recommend.
I never claimed that you couldn't learn something from the various "how to"s, but there's a point of diminishing returns that anyone who reads with a writer's eye reaches all too soon.
The Atlantic article confirmed something I had long lamented. And it's a shame, because longer metaphors don't necessarily have to suck. Take Harlan Ellison, who once wrote, "It was the kind of voice one suspected would accompany the body attached to the moving finger writing mene mene tekel in letters of fire." He spent half a paragraph describing this voice before summing it up in a single word. Why does this succeed where, say, Cormac McCarthy fails? Because Mr. Ellison knows what words mean.
Still, there will always be the "cultural" "elite" who define art as "anything an artist makes." I still don't see how "mercifully" and "punched-out" go together, even in punch cards, but then I'm not too familiar with slavery. Were they, like, wage slaves? Did they have those early computers like before magnetic tape was around?
I think too many people get hung up on descriptions. I think that description should serve two purposes: to define (in the true sense, like a sculptor cutting away the marble that is not David) and to impress. The latter is key, the diction of description is a freeby for telling the audience what to think. "Thieflike eyes" imply so so much in so little space.
The Atlantic article confirmed something I had long lamented. And it's a shame, because longer metaphors don't necessarily have to suck. Take Harlan Ellison, who once wrote, "It was the kind of voice one suspected would accompany the body attached to the moving finger writing mene mene tekel in letters of fire." He spent half a paragraph describing this voice before summing it up in a single word. Why does this succeed where, say, Cormac McCarthy fails? Because Mr. Ellison knows what words mean.
Still, there will always be the "cultural" "elite" who define art as "anything an artist makes." I still don't see how "mercifully" and "punched-out" go together, even in punch cards, but then I'm not too familiar with slavery. Were they, like, wage slaves? Did they have those early computers like before magnetic tape was around?
I think too many people get hung up on descriptions. I think that description should serve two purposes: to define (in the true sense, like a sculptor cutting away the marble that is not David) and to impress. The latter is key, the diction of description is a freeby for telling the audience what to think. "Thieflike eyes" imply so so much in so little space.
In my version, she'd prefer to have that bear turned into a fur coat rather than a rug considering the fact that she's not wearing a whole heck of a lot at this point...
Easier said than done. Have you ever tried to turn a bear into anything? Even a side-street? And this one is armed with a camera!
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And I'm pretty sure he's chewing some bubble gum. Bazooka...Yeah, but it's just a Kodak! Now if it were a Canon...
What do you mean by impress? I hope you don't mean to influence the reader to think "what a natty writer - coming up with telling descriptive phrases like that". I hope you mean to implant a strong image in the reader's mind.
I have those, btw, thief-like eyes. Very shifty. I never could look anyone in the eye. I've flunked untold quantities of job interviews because of them. And going through customs at airports is a nightmare!
I think 'thieflike' is giving far too much away, but that's beside the point.
Whatever the point is.
Whatever the point is.
That is a brilliant description. I think what's also helping it is the fact that Mr. Ellison isn't mixing metaphors for the same sensory impression. The examples of Proulx's work especially made me wince.
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"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass... and I'm all out of bubblegum."
Rowdy Roddy Piper as Nada in John Carpenter's They Live.
Speaking of mixed metaphors...
Just so.
Being confident also gets you frisked at airports. "Hey wait, this guy is on time for his flight, he has all his paperwork in order, he proceeded through the line without fumbling, and he isn't sweating... Only a terrorist would know our system so well!"
@MumblingSage:
I think 'thieflike' only gives away too much if that quality is supposed to be a surprise. Otherwise, it says everything in just a word.
I love Ellison's descriptions. They can be wordy, even lengthy, but they're always poignant. Even if you don't know the reference, you're going to get the idea.
Standing on the precipice of a runaway train, nice.
Communication
Hi guys--came up for air on what is currently page 145.
Jim and reph with link answered the "over and out" question in radio communications. Thanks. That was years ago for some of you, but recent for me. I'd like to add some flavor for novel writing.
The most important reason for opening with callsign exchange, changing speaker with "over" and ending transmission with "out" is discipline.
Communications is the most important technical aspect of running a military unit and other high risk endeavors. Ya hafta talk. When the sh*t hits the fan, a unit without radio discipline blocks their own frequencies This can include coms with any technology--think people rather than machines.
People panic, talk simultaneously and there's no way to tell them to be quiet. I have experienced this and it's a helpless feeling, to put it mildly. In training, accidents become more likely. In warfare, the self-paralyzed unit may die at the hands of an opponent who maintains communications. The NVA destroyed many green U.S. units in Vietnam at this moment of opportunity.
From the NVA's perspective, they were the good guys, just like characters in any novel. It's a matter of perspective. Hope this helps when your cyborg army deploys against the infidel dog people. Wuff! ;-)
Btw Jim, I too served in the Republic of Panama, but as a UH-60 commissioned officer in the Army. Stayed for four years and loved it.
Phil
Hi guys--came up for air on what is currently page 145.
Jim and reph with link answered the "over and out" question in radio communications. Thanks. That was years ago for some of you, but recent for me. I'd like to add some flavor for novel writing.
The most important reason for opening with callsign exchange, changing speaker with "over" and ending transmission with "out" is discipline.
Communications is the most important technical aspect of running a military unit and other high risk endeavors. Ya hafta talk. When the sh*t hits the fan, a unit without radio discipline blocks their own frequencies This can include coms with any technology--think people rather than machines.
People panic, talk simultaneously and there's no way to tell them to be quiet. I have experienced this and it's a helpless feeling, to put it mildly. In training, accidents become more likely. In warfare, the self-paralyzed unit may die at the hands of an opponent who maintains communications. The NVA destroyed many green U.S. units in Vietnam at this moment of opportunity.
From the NVA's perspective, they were the good guys, just like characters in any novel. It's a matter of perspective. Hope this helps when your cyborg army deploys against the infidel dog people. Wuff! ;-)
Btw Jim, I too served in the Republic of Panama, but as a UH-60 commissioned officer in the Army. Stayed for four years and loved it.
Phil
It will make more sense once you've listened to the song Uncle Jim linked in post 8017 (Linked as "mixed metaphors").
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Someone thought that these titles and these examples of cover art were good ideas.
Real Books That Look Like Photoshops
Remarkably, many of these weren't self-published. I've seen several of them in the wild (and may I say, it's worth getting a copy of Scouts In Bondage: it's a collection of unfortunate book covers over the ages).
Real Books That Look Like Photoshops
Remarkably, many of these weren't self-published. I've seen several of them in the wild (and may I say, it's worth getting a copy of Scouts In Bondage: it's a collection of unfortunate book covers over the ages).
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