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
Blog
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
Friday Faves
I got an email from Goodreads informing me that I'd started reading The Complete Short Stories of Truman Capote 127 days ago and suggesting that I might want to update my progress. Oh yeah, Truman Capote's stories. Never finished them. Didn't grab me. But I did finish some other books in the last 127 days. So… Continue reading Friday Faves
