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#12, #29 - heck, at various times I'm stilled plagued by lots of it. Practice, practice.
Good stuff.
Good stuff.
No. Not rocks.
May I suggest an AK-47?
no offense but this is poisonous advice for writers.11: Avoid sounding ‘writerly’. Better to dirty up your prose. When you sound like a writer, your voice has crept in and authorial intrusion is always unwelcome. In the best writing, the author is invisible.
15: Whilst it’s good to assume your reader is intelligent, never assume they’re psychic.
23: Don’t allow your fictional characters to speak in sentences. Unless you want them to sound fictional.
24: Cut out filtering devices, wherever possible. ‘He felt’, ‘he thought’, ‘he observed’ are all filters. They distance the reader from the character.
I've read each of those 5 times but I don't taste the poison. They each seem like sound advice to me. Do you have a reason why you believe they're poinsonous?no offense but this is poisonous advice for writers.
I've read each of those 5 times but I don't taste the poison. They each seem like sound advice to me. Do you have a reason why you believe they're poinsonous?
I'm not sure what purpose I'd serve by having characters who are supposed to be well-educated and literate, but never speak in complete sentences.
Also, why shouldn't I filter through my viewpoint character's perceptions if I am using a point of view that depends on knowing what a particular character is doing, sensing, thinking, and feeling?
I don't think these are meant as absolutes, especially judging by the final point. My interpretation is looser. If you have a character, no matter how educated, whose life is in peril, perhaps hanging from the window ledge of a burning building, and you have that character say, "Help! I think my hands are slipping and at any moment I might fall to my death." I don't think that's realistic.I'm not sure what purpose I'd serve by having characters who are supposed to be well-educated and literate, but never speak in complete sentences. Also, why shouldn't I filter through my viewpoint character's perceptions if I am using a point of view that depends on knowing what a particular character is doing, sensing, thinking, and feeling?
If you have a character, no matter how educated, whose life is in peril, perhaps hanging from the window ledge of a burning building, and you have that character say, "Help! I think my hands are slipping and at any moment I might fall to my death." I don't think that's realistic.
I happen to wholeheartedly agree with removing the filtering from a point of view character; unless your intention is to distance the character from the reader.
For example, I rarely say something like: Thomas heard the sound of a shotgun blast. Instead, I try to say: A shotgun blast rang out. I think it's more immediate, uses stronger language, and, doggonit, it's just better writing.
I wouldn't do it that way either. Instead, I'd do the following: "Thomas threw himself to the ground as a shotgun shattered the night behind him."
So what are you disagreeing about in respect to filtering?
The undernoted is exactly what Guthrie is suggesting.
24: Cut out filtering devices, wherever possible. ‘He felt’, ‘he thought’, ‘he observed’ are all filters. They distance the reader from the character.
**hands him more catnip**
If you've established that you're writing in third limited (as in, inside one character's head) it should be relatively obvious to the reader that those opinions are those of that character. The occasional filtering device may still be necessary, but only very occasionally.Great list, but I have a question here. How do I show someone thought something (when using 3rd person) without saying they thought it? Can I just state it and assume the reader knows these opinions are those of that particular character and not some floating entity?
If you've established that you're writing in third limited (as in, inside one character's head) it should be relatively obvious to the reader that those opinions are those of that character. The occasional filtering device may still be necessary, but only very occasionally.
You cannot, in fact, get high by smoking catnip (not that I've ever tried or anything).*smokes up* Thanks. Your avatar's got nice legs, by the way.
You cannot, in fact, get high by smoking catnip (not that I've ever tried or anything).
You cannot, in fact, get high by smoking catnip (not that I've ever tried or anything).
You gotta snort it.*meow* Really?
2: Use oblique dialogue. Try to generate conflict at all times in your writing. Attempt the following experiment at home or work: spend the day refusing to answer your family and colleagues’ questions directly. Did you generate conflict? I bet you did. Apply that principle to your writing and your characters will respond likewise.
6: Keep speeches short. Any speech of more than three sentences should be broken up. Force your character to do something. Make him take note of his surroundings. Ground the reader. Create a sense of place.
19: Don’t allow characters who are sexually attracted to one another the opportunity to get into bed unless at least one of them has a jealous partner.
20: Torture your protagonist. It’s not enough for him to be stuck up a tree. You must throw rocks at him while he figures out how to get down.
23: Don’t allow your fictional characters to speak in sentences. Unless you want them to sound fictional.
I don't see the problem...John took the knife out of its sheath and stabbed Paul with it. Well, that’s good news for Paul. If you travel backwards from ‘it’, you’ll see that John has stabbed Paul with the sheath!
I don't see the problem...