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Writing in a language that is not your own

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Robinne Weiss said:
I have a whole building of my own (albeit a VERY small one), and it doesn't keep the riff raff out.
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Oh, but this is the stuff of dreams…!

I work in the kitchen with a view of the unwashed dishes in the sink, my children draw all over my notebooks and hog the laptop playing games when I leave it unattended for a second. :rolleyes:
 
Sea-shore said:
Oh, but this is the stuff of dreams…!

I work in the kitchen with a view of the unwashed dishes in the sink, my children draw all over my notebooks and hog the laptop playing games when I leave it unattended for a second. :rolleyes:
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I had the good fortune to run a "real" business from home for 10 years before deciding to write--I needed a proper office to run my business. And, truly, our tiny cottage wasn't big enough for all four of us (never mind that I met an elderly lady who lived in it as a child...with her 9 siblings...and no toilet (just a long drop here until 1976)). So, anyway, we built a 10 square metre building for me, but because it's not 130 years old and falling down like the rest of the place, it's the nicest indoor spot we have, so it attracts loiterers.
 
So I add 500 words and then kill 500 Darling words along the way! When am I going to reach that elusive 55k number. On 31k still!! I keep deleting and then adding and then deleting some more. It's almost a new book.

Well today I began editing again and am on 31.3k. I'm not going to touch the first chapter anymore. I'm done with that now until I get to chapter 20. Now going through chapter 2.
 
I got some lovely words down today...... what do you think????



At the back of the restaurant, a long fish tank occupied the wall. It contained a sunken replica of an ancient town with little alleys weaving in between rows of houses. In the center, a large temple had prominence, with high round columns supporting a low triangular roof. The occupants of the fish tank were adept at using the town and the temple to escape the nets sent down from the silvery surface water to snare them for a main course. Over time, the fish and crustaceans had made the town their own, the crabs occupying the temple complex, their claws warding off the evils of the nets above, and little schools of fish, oblivious to the impending prophecy of the fish course, making the houses comfortable, poking their heads out of little windows to talk to their neighbours across a watery alley.
 
KG Christopher said:
I got some lovely words down today...... what do you think????



At the back of the restaurant, a long fish tank occupied the wall. It contained a sunken replica of an ancient town with little alleys weaving in between rows of houses. In the center, a large temple had prominence, with high round columns supporting a low triangular roof. The occupants of the fish tank were adept at using the town and the temple to escape the nets sent down from the silvery surface water to snare them for a main course. Over time, the fish and crustaceans had made the town their own, the crabs occupying the temple complex, their claws warding off the evils of the nets above, and little schools of fish, oblivious to the impending prophecy of the fish course, making the houses comfortable, poking their heads out of little windows to talk to their neighbours across a watery alley.
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That's a great description of the fish tank! Is the fish tank of especial importance to the plot? Does the information play an important role later on, or is this description intended to stretch the pace of the scene relative to what happens next? If not, and forgive me for lack of greater context, but this seems overlong given the subject matter.

"There was a submerged temple and technicolor village at the bottom of the fish tank, which the fish had learned to use to hide from scooped nets" achieves everything of the above paragraph, if it's not something upon which you mean to hold our attention for an extended period of time.

Now, if we have a long paraphrase of exposition and then a goon gets thrown across the room and smashes into the fish tank as machine gunfire erupts through the restaurant, then we have something!!
 
KG Christopher said:
I got some lovely words down today...... what do you think????



At the back of the restaurant, a long fish tank occupied the wall. It contained a sunken replica of an ancient town with little alleys weaving in between rows of houses. In the center, a large temple had prominence, with high round columns supporting a low triangular roof. The occupants of the fish tank were adept at using the town and the temple to escape the nets sent down from the silvery surface water to snare them for a main course. Over time, the fish and crustaceans had made the town their own, the crabs occupying the temple complex, their claws warding off the evils of the nets above, and little schools of fish, oblivious to the impending prophecy of the fish course, making the houses comfortable, poking their heads out of little windows to talk to their neighbours across a watery alley.
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Cute imagery. I like it a lot. :)
 
I always write in imagery, its a style I am trying to develop. And yes Jason, the fish tank, in book two does actually have some importance to the plot. But this is how I see the imagery coming back...

Later on, I don't know yet, someone might ask for a fish main course in the restaurant, and the waiter could look at the tank and think 'Oh no, I have to go and consult the oracle in the temple to see what fish I can sacrifice ???' I don't know, but it gives a hook for a future event.
 
KG Christopher said:
I always write in imagery, its a style I am trying to develop. And yes Jason, the fish tank, in book two does actually have some importance to the plot. But this is how I see the imagery coming back...

Later on, I don't know yet, someone might ask for a fish main course in the restaurant, and the waiter could look at the tank and think 'Oh no, I have to go and consult the oracle in the temple to see what fish I can sacrifice ???' I don't know, but it gives a hook for a future event.
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Okay, now it makes more sense, the investment you make in the description!
 
Fighting the white noise of the summer school holidays--my annual bout with serious depression. Just a few more days to go, and then the kids will be back in school, my brain will clear, and I will be able to function as a normal human being and write again. I don't cope well with the kids' summer vacation...So I'm not counting words, I'm counting days...
But the good news is that my daughter's birthday is tomorrow, so tonight I get to stay up late making a hedgehog cake! (I'll share, of course ;) )
 
Robinne Weiss said:
Fighting the white noise of the summer school holidays--my annual bout with serious depression. Just a few more days to go, and then the kids will be back in school, my brain will clear, and I will be able to function as a normal human being and write again. I don't cope well with the kids' summer vacation...So I'm not counting words, I'm counting days...
But the good news is that my daughter's birthday is tomorrow, so tonight I get to stay up late making a hedgehog cake! (I'll share, of course ;) )
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Damn southern hemisphere... I was like, "you can't have summer break! It's JANUARY!!"
 
I thought passion was a job? Or is it that my job is my passion? Now I'm udderly confusilated !! :p
 
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Kitty

Forthcoming Open Subs for SF/F writers

  • Kitty
  • Replies: 11
Bluma Bezbroda

Writing in a language that is not your own

  • Bluma Bezbroda
  • Replies: 20
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