My husband told me I had to let it go. I had to stop muttering at the TV whenever I see a trailer for the movie, Lucy (which is based on the idiotic myth that humans only use 10% of our brains - I'm not even going to link to any of the thousand articles that set… Continue reading Dumb Ideas
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Friday Fable: The Writer and the Word Limit
You may have heard the old story, The Crow and the Pitcher: A crow was nearly dead of thirst when he spied a pitcher of water on a picnic table just beside the dried-up river bed. He flew over and tried to take a sip but, alas, the pitcher was close to empty. Only an inch… Continue reading Friday Fable: The Writer and the Word Limit
He Said/ She Sighed Part 3 – Enough Already!
Here’s one last rant sparked by a “how to write fiction” book that advised using “said/say” as the only dialogue verb (as in, "'I spent thirty dollars on jelly beans at Mont Tremblant this weekend,' she said.") (That is a true statement, sadly. They fool you with the $2.99/100g sign. I still think in pounds. "Grab a bag each,"… Continue reading He Said/ She Sighed Part 3 – Enough Already!
He Said/She Sighed Part 2
I grabbed twenty books from the living room shelf, opened each to a random page, and checked out all the verbs used in dialogue. And here is what I learned: Almost all the authors used a simple “said” at least half the time. But none of them used said all the time. None. Not one.… Continue reading He Said/She Sighed Part 2
He Said/She Sighed – Part One
I dislike lists of rules for writing fiction. There are many good writers whose work I can’t stand. And many books I’ve loved that were obviously flawed. I would not advise anyone to make a paint-by-number novel. Big picture rules are good, like: A book should spend more words on important scenes and fewer words… Continue reading He Said/She Sighed – Part One
Catherine Austen 