Monday, November 4, 2013

Name That Flaw

Quick entry tonight, as this just occurred to me as I was editing.  What's your flaw?  What do you always catch yourself doing as you write, what can't you stop yourself from doing no matter how hard you try?  And would you stop if you could?

For me, it's overwriting.  I cut a lot of words while editing, and that's because I tend to write a half-dozen words when two would do.  It's like, if there's a casual way and a formal way to put something, I'll use the formal way, even if it's ridiculously inappropriate.  In TAW, I think some of that is character voice, but still.  Even when I was writing college students, I overwrote, and ended up shortening their dialogue and descriptions a great deal.

On the plus side, I know to look out for this while editing, and I'm used to it.  So I know what I think is a wonderful turn of phrase while writing, I'll roll my eyes at while editing, and cut it out without a second thought.  If nothing else, I'm used to murdering my darlings, because there's so damned many of them.  @_@  Sometimes I write something and think, "Yeah, I'll have to fix that later," and sometimes I try to fix it right away.  But most of the time I just keep writing.  And later, I wince, and cross that passage out.

I also use the word 'all' way too much, though that might be just this book.

Now, I'm not asking for any self-pity parties here.  If insecurities were winning lottery tickets, writers would be the richest people in the world.  I'm just curious - what do you do that you know you'll have to fix later?  Are you okay with this?  Do you even try to stop yourself?  And, best of all, have you ever written something you knew you shouldn't have and kept it anyway, because it actually worked out well?

Next entry: no idea!  I'm off to Blizzcon this weekend, and it's a wonder I can think of anything else right now.  Bwa ha ha!

8 comments:

  1. *SNORTS*

    I blow shit up. No really. If there's a way to do it with diplomacy or intellegance, I ignore those routes if someone has a bomb or a spell, or just a really well timed speeding vehicle. I *like* explosions. So do my MCs, so I'm constantly looking at scenes going, dude, I don't REALLY need an explosion there. Maybe I should cut that.

    FYI, I saw a book in the book store titled The Accidental Sorcerer. Sounds like something you ought to go find a copy of and read because whether you mean to or not, you'll be compared to that title because of how similar they sound.

    Now, what can I blow up in this opening scene of my NaNo project?

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    1. Hah! Not what I was expecting, but not a surprise either. ^_^ And now you've got me wondering if I blow up enough stuff. Hmm...

      As for the other book, thanks; I'll take a look. Oddly enough, my first title for this was The Reluctant Warlock, until I did a search and found a book with that title already existed. Much as I like TAW, if I have to change the title again, I can accept that, I even have another that might work.

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  2. I have people shrugging and rolling their eyes way too much. I try to stop myself from writing these actions in and I just can't! I don't know why I am obsessed with these two things but it's a terrible habit and makes my characters seem obnoxious LOL.

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    1. I hear you there. I have to check the last time I used words like shrug, smile, blush, all that kind of thing, to make sure everyone's not doing the exact same thing they did two paragraphs ago. Oi!

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  3. I'm with you, Mason. I overwrite like it's going out of style. For me it's not about being formal; it's about making sure my reader really, really, REALLY GETS what I'm saying. I don't trust my writing, so I over-explain. And then, like you, I go back and cut it all to shreds!!

    BTW, I nominated you for a Liebster Award today :)

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    1. I know I do the same, but I also get flowery and melodramatic in my writing. Gotta love those times looking at what I wrote and saying "Seriously?!" out loud while editing. @_@

      And thank you! ^_^ I feel like I'm finally starting to get used to this thing (only took a year and a half...), so it'd be great to get that and get more readers in here.

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  4. I either have too many facial expression changes (be funny to watch the contortions in a movie!) or tend to treat the reader as if they were stupid and mention things again and again.

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    1. Yeah, I make people do the same expressions too much - lots of eyebrow-raising in my stories. And the mentioning thing is difficult - if it's important, the reader has to know, but it's easy to go too far. Hrm.

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