Dudley, I believe the issue was with the way you said it, as if no one else's opinion could possibly be correct. As anyone who has been on this site for a while can vouch, we are all very opinionated, but we try to keep it civil on here and respect each other's opinions.
That's right. I believe you must write especially for the pleasure of it, and certainly not for any money you may hope to get from your books. There are (many!) published and known authors whose economical life is a disaster.
I was thinking about this thread again today, and I was thinking perhaps the actual worst thing about writing isn't the writing at all. Perhaps the worst thing is our own internal editors. They nip at us and makes us doubt our decisions and question our resolve.
Maybe that's the worst part. And maybe that little editor just sits there during the writing process trying to delay their own job a little further by pushing a big fuzzy button labeled 'procrastinate.'
Hmmm.
Yes, well said. I'd like to say here what I remember reading from JRR Tolkien: fairy-tales, or Fantasy, is wrongly addressed to young people only. They're not to be taken lightly or non-seriously, contrarily to what one may at first believe.
Well found! He, my own internal editor, is the one with whom I'm indeed for ever struggling. As to tags, I have often come to change my story structure so as to have only two characters speaking, which enables me to avoid the repetitiousness of the word "said." Hemmingway has entire passages without tags where the readers tends to get lost as to who has said what.
Hehe, there's other ways of having several people speaking and not have to use "said"
The key is to intersperse them so there is a good break between repeats of the same technique
These are greatHehe, there's other ways of having several people speaking and not have to use "said"
I'm terrible for having three to six people in a conversation, sometimes more (during meetings when there are 20 people at the table. Not everyone talks but then they still could, and often a big number of them do.)
I combat the overuse of "said" in several ways.
1. Have the person speaking directly interact with the next speaker by name... i.e. 'I shall have to keep an eye on these new troops. I bet Patricia can tell us a thing or two about them.'
2. Note what the person does just before they speak... i'e' "Randall ran a hand down his face and sighed. 'I honestly don't see what the problem is.' "
3. Name the person after the speech. i.e.
" 'I think we should send them all to basic training and be done with it.'
Mòrag thought about Randall's statement a moment before offering her opinion..."
Gosh there's loads of ways to do it
Something I've seen in other people's stuff that I highly don't recommend is saying their name repeatedly. "Sammy, blah blah blah." "Why yes, Sammy, I agree." "Oh, Sammy, that's a great idea." People just don't say names in conversation that often.Thanks @Nicole Wilson Its all about the shuffle isn't it? change the character labeling the next character each time, or the method used if we are having the same character talk again straight away. I think in book 3 I have at least 6 or 7 people having a meeting (more at the table but that many adding their points and as long as you are conscious of the methods used to make it clear who is talking without repeating each method too much or specific names, it works great. After all... life doesn't hand us one person at a time now does itThese are great
Very true. And while dialogue is an interpretation speech and not a faithful recreation of it, everyone take a moment and ask yourself — when was the last time you addressed your significant other directly, by full name and not any form of pet name? I'll bet it's been a very long time, if you can even remember at all...These are great
Only in certain genres. Non fiction and articles should be reproduction and accurate don't you think? Unless the goal is to fictionalise fact and even then it still has to be life-like enough to be believable.
