I just finished reading a good story with interesting characters. The story plot was strong. Unfortunately, the author “furrowed” the brow of many, if not all, the characters. This word, used repeatedly, finally became an inevitable distraction. It’s okay for a writer to furrow a brow occasionally but mix it up. There are many synonyms: wrinkled, creased, crumpled, lined, wrinkly, rutted, crinkly, puckered, crinkled, rumpled, crushed.
Another word used repeatedly in this same book (at least a dozen+ times) was “broken” to describe relationships or a character’s psychological health. Synonyms: wrecked, fragmented, shattered, cracked, smashed, damaged, ruined, destroyed, faulty, malfunctioning, defective could have replaced ‘broken’ to mix it up and keep the writing fresh and inventive.
Don’t feel bad, Anne-Marie, we all do it. A good friend, beta reader/s, or editor saves us from ourselves. Saved from certain words slipping into the descriptions and dialogue over and over. But what if we don’t have any team and have to rely on our own editing? Here’s what you do: Highlight your entire book, right-click on ‘find’, a,’ and type in any word you suspect you’ve been redundant with. A good editing program will highlight the repeated word throughout your manuscript so you can go to each word and make your correction. Now you can change that repeated word with a synonym listed in your writing, Thesaurus program.
“The last thing one knows in constructing a work is what to put first.” Blaise Pascal
“Writing is not a calling; it’s a doing.” T. Sugarek
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How to Write Rich Characters.
“One of the things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time.
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I had a friendly debate with another author when she responded to my Stephen King’s quote about ‘plot being the last resort of bad writers.’ One of her comments to me was, “writers have to accept that their readers might not care as much about your characters as you do.”
Okay, your first attempt at creative writing is finished. In your journal or notebook or in a password-protected file on your laptop, your first completed story awaits you. Now, what are you going to do with it? You can’t possibly let anyone read it! What if they laugh and it’s not a comedy? What if it’s met with poorly hidden scorn? Or when they read the last page, what if they look up, their eyes filled with pity…for you.
Plot: I am currently finishing my newest novel, and I have to tell you, the loosely built plot that I had envisioned when I began it quickly went by the wayside. Way, way off the road and into the forest, in fact. About halfway through, the characters took me on a journey, making their own decisions, loving who they want to love, and building their lives their way. When this happens to me, I welcome their storyline in…they know much better than I do at that point. My characters write a better story than I ever could.
with “spoiler alert” warnings. So I won’t.
My interview with bestselling author Robyn Carr was so generous it became a 3 parter. She said this in the context of the post. I couldn’t have said it better so I borrowed it! Thanks, Robyn!
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1 out of 5 stars
Don’t worry about a story that you haven’t finished. It’s okay to let it ‘rest’. There have been times when I have had three books waiting for me to finish. Just the other day I pulled up my GAN (great American novel) and realized that it had been ‘resting’ for over a year. Life and other stories had gotten in the way.