I, too, would like to know how to use that search function more effectively. Thanks for asking, Brenda.
I'm a newbie to posting here (though a long time lurker) and I can't believe I just finished reading this entire thread. Even the arguments about "and then."
Jennifer, or anyone else, can you tell me where the discussion on 'and then' is located? I need a refresher.
When I first visited AW, I read page after page of Jim's thread about writing and have recommended them to several writers. Today, after reading several posts, I used the 'search' feature but must be doing something wrong as it didn't show results for 'and then' or even 'then.' But I know I'm not always using the features correctly as Jennifer's quote didn't show the right way.
Here's what I might suggest: Take a writer you admire and attempt to "channel" him or her. Pretend to be that person and have him or her write your book for you.
BTW, I didn't say "no music," I said "no radio." Radios have announcers, disk jockeys, the news, weather ... things that will break your concentration, take you out of that place where the creative things happen.
I like music myself for writing ... I prefer requiems, but maybe I'm just strange.
Whatever helps you get into the state you need to be in....
But there's a warning coming.
Don't couple destructive things with you writing. If you light up a cigarette when you start writing, if you quit smoking you'll find you can't write any more.
Same with drinking booze. Same with eating bon-bons. Coupling bad habits with writing will mean that you'll never be able to shed the bad habits.
One of the popular images of writers is of the guy with a bottle of whisky beside the typewriter.
It probably won't make you a better writer, or even make you a writer at all. It will rot your liver and empty your bank account.
quote: One trick to revision -- is to read the work aloud. Where you stumble, the reader will stumble. You'll notice different things, too, when you're reading aloud. You're using a different part of your brain than you are when reading silently.
I had to smile when I read this, I found that out the hard way. I've been writing for quite awhile, but only have one fully completed novel that I began editing for submissions. I stumbled on the fact that when I read the scenes out loud, I could immediately tell if they "sang" or not. I WISH I had known this sooner..but it was so refreshing to see it written in here as one of the things to do. It is an excellent way to proof your material....that and the coffee shop thing, which I borrowed out of Rowling's page, it kept me from suffering so much from cabin fever.
I'm finding this area very informative Thanks for this thread!
The idea is to use a different part of your brain when seeing your work. Getting a fresh view. Revision = re-vision. Looking again.
If this trick doesn't work for you ... there are others.
If only I knew Anthony Hopkins.
Oh -- here's a cheapie: Reprint your book in two-column justified ten-point Times New Roman, and read it in that form (presuming that you've been reading it in standard manuscript format).
I think the 'sitting thing' is by far the best advice when it comes to editing. It allows you to become detached from the work.