Category: Writing Exercise

Editing Rant: Rosemary

Erin Penn 1 Comment

Rosemary Stock Photo

Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Know Your Topic

Oh for the love of … if you write about something common from a historical setting that still is used today, at least get it right.

“She stripped rosemary leaves off a plant and dropped them into a woven basket.”

Leaves? Really? Rosemary Sprigs, yes – rosemary needles, yes. Leaves – no.

And in one sentence the author has thrown all cooks and gardeners out of the story. Amazing how simple it is to put in an epic fail into a book. With herbalist ability a popular part of magic and also historic medicines, I would recommend writers either find a Beta reader familiar with the material or study up on the topic.

This goes for all topics actually. A male friend of my mine had the misfortune to write a gun battle where a character thumbed off the glock’s safety. He didn’t know, his editor didn’t know, and his proofreader didn’t know. But his audience let him know loud and clear glocks do not have external safeties.

Another edit I had a person performed CPR on a character gasping for breath. CPR is to start a heart, not breathing.

Obviously a writer cannot know everything they write about, which is why a good stable of beta readers from a variety of backgrounds is essential. The worse things are the things you think you know about, but you don’t or they have changed since you learned them. 

Not everything is important to get prefect. Don’t know guns, then don’t be specific about guns. Not everyone is a gun owner. And really in the middle of a fight what does a character care if a 22 or 34 is aimed at them – there is a gun aimed at them. Details really don’t matter.

On the other hand – FOOD – food you need to get right. I have yet to meet a reader who does not eat.

Good luck.

WRITING EXERCISE: This one is a little different; learn something new … not through reading or YouTube. Take a class from a person. The class can be a one-hour course but needs direct interaction with a subject matter expert. Comb through your local newsletter, your town’s webpage, “what’s happening” at your library, the local gardening club, free classes offered at the community college or high school, or other sources and find something you think a WIP character of yours may need to know. 

READING EXERCISE: Read two non-fiction books on a subject related to your most recent Read-In-Progress. Examples: Reading about pirates in space – read about Chinese women pirates or Blackbeard; your present Urban Fantasy has Knight Templar, read about them; the mystery centers around monks in an herb garden – study herb gardening. Children books from the library’s non-fiction section have some really good information.

Writing Exercise: Tools of the Trade

Erin Penn

Buffalo Skull Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tools of the Trade

Writers, as all occupations, need to know the tools of the trade and be skilled in their use. For a writer, knowing the language is key. Most people have a fairly solid grasp of noun and verb by finishing primary school levels; a slightly less solid grasp of pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives; and a questionable grasp on punctuation and grammar. Language includes parts of speech, punctuation, structure (like paragraphs and sentences), and more esoteric items like figures of speech.

I’m going to concentrate on figures of speech today. These can also be called rhetorical devices or stylistic devices.

figures of speech

“any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification,or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense,or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect.”
(from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/figure+of+speech – copied Feb 26, 2015))

Painting pictures with words is what writers do; becoming skilled with the various figures of speech will hone that skill.

Examples of figures of speech: allegory, allusion, analogy, antithesis, catachreis, euphemism, hyperbole, hypocatastasis, irony, metaphor, oxymoron, paradox, personification, puns, simile, tautology, understatement.

(from http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/writing-stylistics.php#.VO877_nF-2F and http://grammar.about.com/od/rhetoricstyle/a/20figures.htm)

… the most complete list for those wanting to go to the next level is here: http://changingminds.org/techniques/language/figures_speech/figures_speech_alpha.htm

“The four fundamental operations, or categories of change, governing the formation of all figures of speech are:

  • addition (adiectio), also called repetition/expansion/superabundance
  • omission (detractio), also called subtraction/abridgement/lack
  • transposition (transmutatio), also called transferring
  • permutation (immutatio), also called switching/interchange/substitution/transmutation”

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Figure_of_speech – copied Feb 26, 2015)

WRITING EXERCISE: Ready for this month’s challenge? Write a five sentence description of a character from your WIP (work in-progress) without any figures of speech. Then do it again using a least one figure of speech per sentence.

*****

Severance

Sheriff Severance was a little less than six foot tall. His wrinkled face had been exposed to lots of sun and had a permanent tan. His clothes were always dusty from the desert, worn and faded. The only thing on his person shiny and well-kept was his gun. Roy had never had to draw it on someone from his town. (words 60)

*****

Tall enough to make most men look up in the 1800s, Sheriff Severance was just shy of six foot. His leathered face was well-tanned from years in the sun, but new wrinkles had been carved deep on a face aged from the badge since the curse had consumed his town. Ill-fitting, worn clothes hung on him; desert dust clinging to the fabric with skeletal fingers sucking shine and color from Roy. Only his gun was in mint-condition, oiled and cleaned daily before he left the jailhouse. He never had drawn it on someone he knew and hoped like hell he never would. (102 words)

  1. “Shy” – height cannot be shy
  2. “Leathered” “tanned”
  3. “carved”
  4. “aged from the badge”
  5. “curse had consumed”

(ect.)

(first published 3/14/2015; republished in new blog format 9/27/2016)

 

Other Cool Blogs: SFWA April 19, 2016

Erin Penn

Steam On Pan In Kitchen Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of Toa55 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Synopsis

I admit it. I’ve been avoiding posting anything on the subject of Synopsis creation. I think partially from the subconscious avoidance of the subject. But also because I haven’t found a good set of instructions I identified with. Sure, taking my outline (since I am a pantser I got outlines galore) and turning it into a couple pages of prose seems straight forward but it really doesn’t explain why I am doing it, how I am doing it. It doesn’t explain the ART.

For a  Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) post, Curtis C. Chen masters the dilemma by comparing the process of paring a novel down to a synopsis to the cooking process of reducing a soup to gravy in “Special Synopsis Sauce“. This is exactly what I have been looking for. I actually “get” his explanation.

You can find the full recipe here: http://www.sfwa.org/2016/04/special-synopsis-sauce/

Another “Write-by-number” recipe has been created by Kalayna and posted at the Magical Word website on 5/11/2011 here: http://www.magicalwords.net/specialgueststars/write-by-number-synopsis-recipe/

WRITING EXERCISE: For your present WIP, write a three-paragraph synopsis (if a novel) or three-sentence synopsis (if a short story). Remember this is different from an elevator pitch where you are selling your product; this is the synopsis to show an agent or publisher who is already interested in the product. … Next the hard part, … show it to someone and ask if it could be shorter or if it needs to be more active.

Other Cool Blogs: Magical Words May 1, 2012

Erin Penn
Mannequin Head Stock PhotoImage Courtesy of siraphat FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Lazy Writing

Another treasure from the Magical Words trove, this time written by Carrie Ryan, a blog entry she entitled” The Difference between faux and real mysteries”. What struck me once she defined faux and real mysteries, is faux mysteries are just lazy writing. Basically I, as the lazy writer, don’t want to take the time to craft tension and suspense into the plot so I am just going to just not tell the reader the information needed until later.

What do you think? Does Ms. Ryan’s definition of a faux mystery hit home to you? It defined something I knew deep down I didn’t like, but never put my finger on. An epiphany or a whatever?

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a scene (500 words or less) with a faux mystery as defined by Ms. Ryan. Rewrite the scene this time without the faux mystery; how does the tension change?

READING EXERCISE: Think about a previous Read which had a faux mystery. Did it bother you? Was it necessary for the tension in the book to keep you reading or could the Reveal have happened sooner?

(PS I love the comments where one of the blog readers says she wrote a story where the POV character is deliberately not thinking about something very important and asks the MagicalWords hive mind what they thought. One response, two sentence change later, and the faux mystery goes away. Cool comment exchange from Laura.)

Other Cool Blogs: Science Daily May 5, 2015

Erin Penn

Hand Written Text In A Letter Stock Photo

Image Courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Words, Those Things, I Used Them

Sometimes the most experienced writer sounds like … well … like an idiot, when talking. How come these masters of words stumble and search for words? With many writers either returning to school or sighing relief as their children return to school, let’s look at what a John Hopkins University study discovered about how the brain processes words when writing and speaking. You would think the brain is sorted like a filing cabinet or library with a section marked dictionary and another Freshman English Sentence Construction and these sections get activated any time language is used. Well “Say What? How the brain separates our ability to talk and write” from May 5, 2015 in Science Daily indicates something a little different.

Thinking about using Dragon Voice Recognition Software? Maybe it won’t work exactly the way you think it should.

Go here for more: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150505112216.htm

WRITING EXERCISE: Write a flash (50 to 500 words) illustrating the disconnect between speaking and writing. Could it be someone can only write “I love you” but not say it aloud? Maybe the person has a brain dysfunction in the language area. How about someone is talking on the phone but writing a message down and something crosses?