I absolutely concur with Peter's comments regarding the value of opening critiques and full copy editing by Harvey. I've recently taken him up on the openings critique for my two currently in-progress novels and he has copy edited all three of my published novels.
My philosophy is that the story is the characters' and my job is to tell their story to the best of my ability. Hopefully my ability improves with each thing I write. Harvey's critiques and copy edits help me leapfrog my learning without touching the characters' stories. The 'why' in his comments on suggestions is critically important information on how to best present the characters' story to the readers.
I was probably one of the St. David workshop participants (I remember doing at least one there).
Before Harvey found and tried WITD, I just thought I was a lazy writer because I wouldn't follow all the outlining and other nonsense that's pushed as necessary.
Thanks Harvey, for all the continued learning opportunities!
Indeed. And work on new things, not on one thing over and over. That's the beauty of the Bradbury Challenge, committing to writing a new thing every week. What opportunities for practice!
Some really good offers in here that I'm going to take advantage of. (Yes, I ended my sentence in a preposition and I'm not changing it. lol )
I have a question about the use of unfamiliar words. Leave them in or take them out?
When I find an unfamiliar word, I just google it. I used to open a friggin' unabridged dictionary when I was younger. When I write, especially my historical stuff, I will use archaic words or words appropriate to the time and place, and I'll do it in such a way that the meaning can be gleaned from the context. But then advance readers will ask for a word's meaning. If more than one person asks, I'll remove the word, assuming it detracts from the story. But I really HATE it. Most recent case was the word massif when referring to a mountain.
Great question. First, it's impossible to define "unfamiliar" for all readers. Whether your advance reader recognizes a particular word has no bearing on whether other readers will.
In every case, I recommend doing exactly what you said, making the word understandable within the context of the story.
To use your example, when you use the word "massif" you might write "the massif loomed blue in the distance, its peak probing the sky, its eastern slope stretching down toward the sea" or something along those lines.
A book to study for parens use is Stephen King's The Shining. I can't get to my copy since it's at home and I'm in another country (finished hiking in Iceland), but he used italics and parentheses in cool ways.
Thanks, Emilia. And after I suggested not using parens in fiction, I found a couple of places in my current novel where I used them to great effect. :-) And of course I always recommend King's work for what to study to learn new techniques.
Hi, Harvey. In today's post in the section about colons and Em dashes, in number 2, shouldn't there be an Em dash instead of a colon in the example? Or am I getting too old at 73 to read accurately? (grin).
I absolutely concur with Peter's comments regarding the value of opening critiques and full copy editing by Harvey. I've recently taken him up on the openings critique for my two currently in-progress novels and he has copy edited all three of my published novels.
My philosophy is that the story is the characters' and my job is to tell their story to the best of my ability. Hopefully my ability improves with each thing I write. Harvey's critiques and copy edits help me leapfrog my learning without touching the characters' stories. The 'why' in his comments on suggestions is critically important information on how to best present the characters' story to the readers.
I was probably one of the St. David workshop participants (I remember doing at least one there).
Before Harvey found and tried WITD, I just thought I was a lazy writer because I wouldn't follow all the outlining and other nonsense that's pushed as necessary.
Thanks Harvey, for all the continued learning opportunities!
Thanks, KC! I'm happy for all your success as a writer and I consider you one of my own successes as an instructor. :-)
I owe much of my improvement as a writer to you. I do give myself credit for mostly listening to your teaching. ;)
Thanks, but instruction means nothing if the writer doesn't sit down and do the "work."
Indeed. And work on new things, not on one thing over and over. That's the beauty of the Bradbury Challenge, committing to writing a new thing every week. What opportunities for practice!
So when are you gonna jump back in? 🙃
Allow me to "ditto" that first sentence.
So much good advice!
Thanks, Tiffanie.
Some really good offers in here that I'm going to take advantage of. (Yes, I ended my sentence in a preposition and I'm not changing it. lol )
I have a question about the use of unfamiliar words. Leave them in or take them out?
When I find an unfamiliar word, I just google it. I used to open a friggin' unabridged dictionary when I was younger. When I write, especially my historical stuff, I will use archaic words or words appropriate to the time and place, and I'll do it in such a way that the meaning can be gleaned from the context. But then advance readers will ask for a word's meaning. If more than one person asks, I'll remove the word, assuming it detracts from the story. But I really HATE it. Most recent case was the word massif when referring to a mountain.
Great question. First, it's impossible to define "unfamiliar" for all readers. Whether your advance reader recognizes a particular word has no bearing on whether other readers will.
In every case, I recommend doing exactly what you said, making the word understandable within the context of the story.
To use your example, when you use the word "massif" you might write "the massif loomed blue in the distance, its peak probing the sky, its eastern slope stretching down toward the sea" or something along those lines.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
A book to study for parens use is Stephen King's The Shining. I can't get to my copy since it's at home and I'm in another country (finished hiking in Iceland), but he used italics and parentheses in cool ways.
Thanks, Emilia. And after I suggested not using parens in fiction, I found a couple of places in my current novel where I used them to great effect. :-) And of course I always recommend King's work for what to study to learn new techniques.
Hi, Harvey. In today's post in the section about colons and Em dashes, in number 2, shouldn't there be an Em dash instead of a colon in the example? Or am I getting too old at 73 to read accurately? (grin).
Yep, there should be. Two readers have pointed it out thus far. I'll offer a correction at the beginning of tomorrow's post. Thanks!
And glad you had a great time at your reunion. Welcome back. Always look forward to your daily posts.
Thanks, Bob.