Demesnedenoir
Myth Weaver
Instead of further derailing the "Making it More" topic, I decided to pop in this new thread. And I want to add just because I pick on writers' writing doesn't mean there is anything personal against them or the readers who love them, or that I won't read a writer I pick on... fact is I ordered a Sanderson book the other day, and in several ways I think he and I share some similarities of style. But anyhow...
These are things I catch when I'm in self-edit mode. More shocking is how much gets past editors (the crack thing in Sanderson, several things in Rothfuss' first chapter or two that keep me from reading any more), it's not all up to the writer. Brandon is not a huge offender compared to some other folks. His story telling overcomes minor errors, obviously, just check the sales, and his biggest issue (outside of the double door crack which is more funny than a deal breaker) is the excessive use of began. We all have bad habits and phrases we cling to... for instance, I recently discovered that when I use the word "tear" as in crying, I tended to have "welling"... okay, fine, but it got old even if nobody else in their right mind would notice. So I went back and switched stuff up. That's nitpicky, but that's the artist as it forms within me.
The writer wearing the artist's hat (as Sanderson might say) should not be satisfied with the number of begans he uses, IMO. Sanderson has taken several lessons from screenwriting, as demonstrated in his BYU lectures, but he seems to have skipped the "began" lesson from this industry. For the most part, began is a junk word and even when justifiable, it is a good flag for an improvable piece of prose in novels while also mirroring the time-stop concern in screenwriting.
I will also admit that as a reader I no longer have "immersion" to break like I used to. I'm in constant edit/study mode looking for what I like and don't like and wasted words, bad echoes, continuity issues, whatever, they are always smacking me in the face. The closest I've come recently to just reading without getting clobbered is Cormac McCarthy. This is probably because I fall into the strong voice, much like Faulkner, where wasted words are part of the particular vernacular choice. Twain would be similar.
One I found from a writer (thanks to Helio) I've never read was on page 1 or prologue, I don't recall... but a character slams something into a glass window, and the writer said something like "it made no impact at all". Well, I know what they mean but it jars me from the reading and absolutely made an impact on me. The glass did not crack, it did not break, but the fact they slammed it meant there was impact... this sort of thing leaps from the page and into my eyeballs to say "stop reading here" because the writer doesn't have the same sensibilities as I do as a reader, and if they do this on the first half of page 1? fergetaboutit. And you have to throw in Helio's pet cliche, a single tear down the cheek also on that page. On page 10 or 20 without other glaring issues, I'd ignore this, but page 1 it slaps my nitpickiness, LOL.
I don't expect anyone else to read as insanely as I do, nor to even get rid of every "began" in a book, but they are things I think the writer as artist should be aware of. And it's also good to see wildly successful writers demonstrating their own "bad" habits. How unnecessary is the word began? In 124k words of my current book, I use began a grand total of 3 times, and none are a reference to beginning an action, they are references to past activities such as "...where life began and memories were made..." In a glance at Sanderson's work that I have searchable, he uses began 21 times... i don't have a word count there, but it's excessive for my sensibilities, but won't keep me from reading it... I ordered the book.
Now I will pick on myself, my past self... my pet word was "that"... OMFrigginG. When I restarted my current work I about gagged myself on "that"s. They were everywhere! Not entirely worthless, mind you, but it gets way over used by a lot of writers including me. Still. I've cut my usage severely pre-edit (about 20% of what it used to be) and still I can kill more as I edit. Eventually "that" like "began" will disappear from my writing except where it truly works.
Well, that's enough babbling for one morning, LOL.
Ah I hadn't even noticed things like this. To be honest I don't much mind words like suddenly, in moderation. I did catch a few typos in his books though which break my immersion more than anything, but I'm pretty forgiving with how books are written as long as I can follow what is happening without effort.
I tend to switch off the critical part of my brain when I read lol, and try to dumb myself down a bit and not try to guess things. I enjoy it when I get taken by surprise by twists and the unexpected.
These are things I catch when I'm in self-edit mode. More shocking is how much gets past editors (the crack thing in Sanderson, several things in Rothfuss' first chapter or two that keep me from reading any more), it's not all up to the writer. Brandon is not a huge offender compared to some other folks. His story telling overcomes minor errors, obviously, just check the sales, and his biggest issue (outside of the double door crack which is more funny than a deal breaker) is the excessive use of began. We all have bad habits and phrases we cling to... for instance, I recently discovered that when I use the word "tear" as in crying, I tended to have "welling"... okay, fine, but it got old even if nobody else in their right mind would notice. So I went back and switched stuff up. That's nitpicky, but that's the artist as it forms within me.
The writer wearing the artist's hat (as Sanderson might say) should not be satisfied with the number of begans he uses, IMO. Sanderson has taken several lessons from screenwriting, as demonstrated in his BYU lectures, but he seems to have skipped the "began" lesson from this industry. For the most part, began is a junk word and even when justifiable, it is a good flag for an improvable piece of prose in novels while also mirroring the time-stop concern in screenwriting.
I will also admit that as a reader I no longer have "immersion" to break like I used to. I'm in constant edit/study mode looking for what I like and don't like and wasted words, bad echoes, continuity issues, whatever, they are always smacking me in the face. The closest I've come recently to just reading without getting clobbered is Cormac McCarthy. This is probably because I fall into the strong voice, much like Faulkner, where wasted words are part of the particular vernacular choice. Twain would be similar.
One I found from a writer (thanks to Helio) I've never read was on page 1 or prologue, I don't recall... but a character slams something into a glass window, and the writer said something like "it made no impact at all". Well, I know what they mean but it jars me from the reading and absolutely made an impact on me. The glass did not crack, it did not break, but the fact they slammed it meant there was impact... this sort of thing leaps from the page and into my eyeballs to say "stop reading here" because the writer doesn't have the same sensibilities as I do as a reader, and if they do this on the first half of page 1? fergetaboutit. And you have to throw in Helio's pet cliche, a single tear down the cheek also on that page. On page 10 or 20 without other glaring issues, I'd ignore this, but page 1 it slaps my nitpickiness, LOL.
I don't expect anyone else to read as insanely as I do, nor to even get rid of every "began" in a book, but they are things I think the writer as artist should be aware of. And it's also good to see wildly successful writers demonstrating their own "bad" habits. How unnecessary is the word began? In 124k words of my current book, I use began a grand total of 3 times, and none are a reference to beginning an action, they are references to past activities such as "...where life began and memories were made..." In a glance at Sanderson's work that I have searchable, he uses began 21 times... i don't have a word count there, but it's excessive for my sensibilities, but won't keep me from reading it... I ordered the book.
Now I will pick on myself, my past self... my pet word was "that"... OMFrigginG. When I restarted my current work I about gagged myself on "that"s. They were everywhere! Not entirely worthless, mind you, but it gets way over used by a lot of writers including me. Still. I've cut my usage severely pre-edit (about 20% of what it used to be) and still I can kill more as I edit. Eventually "that" like "began" will disappear from my writing except where it truly works.
Well, that's enough babbling for one morning, LOL.
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