Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.
-Jane Yolen
Category: Tips and Advice
Classic Tip: It’s vs Its
Here’s a classic tip for anyone who might occasionally get tripped up – courtesy of Grammar-Monster.
It’s
It’s is short for it is or it has. This is a 100% rule. It cannot be used for anything else. If you cannot expand it’s to it is or it has, then it is wrong.
Its
Its is like his and her.
Visit the Grammar-Monster post for a good list of examples and even a quiz! And make sure you check out the example with frogs – the best frog-related trivia we’ve ever seen.
Writing Quote
All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald
Writing Quote
A word after a word after a word is power.
– Margaret Atwood
Writing Quote
It is perfectly okay to write garbage – as long as you edit brilliantly.
– C.J. Cherryh
Writing Quote
A classic quote to comfort us all!
The first draft of anything is shit.
– Ernest Hemingway
Dialogue Attribution – Pt 2 ‘Adverbs & Redundancy’
When writing dialogue an aspect to consider is ‘attribution’ also known as ‘tagging’. This is usually a simple cue to alert the reader to who is speaking and sometimes how a line of dialogue is delivered. Dialogue conventions of any given genre aside, there are still some core issues worth looking at. Adverbs & Redundancy It’s easy to push a little hard with dialogue attribution in an effort to ‘make sure’ the reader understands tone or emotion in a conversation. This might include adding a modifier (be it one word or even a whole phrase) to clarify. The risk is over-explaining and straying into redundancy. Often these single word modifiers are ‘ly’ adverbs, though that’s not always the case. Generally speaking, it’s best to use any modifiers carefully and to effect, rather than using them to beat the reader over the head. Let the dialogue breathe, let it speak for itself and give the reader credit in their interpretive ability. Compare:
“This way,” Lisa shouted loudly. “Sounds like a bad idea,” he said uncertainly. “Trust me, can you?” she said angrily. “Love to but your track record isn’t exactly great,” said Robert with a sarcastic tone. “Dad would have agreed with me,” she said quietly. “Yeah, yeah, you’re the favourite. I remember,” he said bitterly.
With:
“This way,” Lisa shouted. “Sounds like a bad idea,” he said. “Trust me, can you?” “Love to but your track record isn’t exactly great.” “Dad would have agreed with me.” “Yeah, yeah. You’re the favourite. I remember,” Robert said, a trace of bitterness in his voice.
The first example is quite laboured. Every emotion is prescribed for the reader even to the point of redundancy in the first line. A ‘shout’ is by definition ‘loud’ and so the adverb adds nothing to the dialogue. Further, the pace of the conversation is damaged and there’s even a sense of the writer manipulating the characters by pressing ‘emotion buttons’ line by line and forcing the characters into melodrama. In the second example however, there’s a more natural flow to the conversation. This is partly because there are only two modifiers. First, ‘shouted’ where the volume of Lisa’s voice is still clear and the second, ‘bitterness’ whereby an emotion is given to the reader for a phrase that could be interpreted multiple ways; anger, regret, sarcasm:
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the favourite. I remember,” Robert snapped. “Yeah, yeah. You’re the favourite. I remember,” Robert said softly. “Yeah, yeah. You’re the favourite. I remember,” Robert said brightly.
The first substitution in the conversation also uses ‘shouted’ to replace ‘said’ and thereby adds variety for the reader’s eye. As mentioned at the end of Part 1, there are more techniques to follow this one and each of them can be used to deliver dialogue in conjunction with the other. More on dialogue next time!
Writing Quote
Words can be like X-rays if you use them properly – they’ll go through anything. You read and you’re pierced.
– Aldous Huxley
2015 Poetry and Place – Submissions Open!
Close-Up Books‘ first poetry title will be the 2015 Poetry and Place Anthology – due for release in December.
Submissions are open now, details here!
Dialogue Attribution – Pt 1 ‘Said’
When writing dialogue one of the aspects to consider is ‘attribution’ which is also known as ‘tagging’. This is usually a simple cue to alert the reader to who is speaking and sometimes how a line of dialogue is delivered.
Dialogue conventions of any given genre aside, there are still some core issues worth looking at.
Said
In some genres, ‘said’ is the preferred method for dialogue attribution. “He said/She said/Character’s name said” is just about all that’s used, which means the dialogue itself (and scene context) has to do the heavy lifting when it comes to conveying tone and subtext in a conversation.
However, overuse of the word ‘said’ can be its own problem, snagging the eye. In terms of the pacing of a conversation – dropping ‘said’ or all attribution can work just as well.
Compare:
“This way,” Lisa said.
“Sounds like a bad idea,” he said.
“Trust me, can you?” she said.
“Love to but your track record isn’t exactly great,” said Robert.
“Dad would have agreed with me,” she said.
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the favourite. I remember,” he said.
With:
“This way,” Lisa said.
“Sounds like a bad idea,” he said.
“Trust me, can you?”
“Love to but your track record isn’t exactly great.”
“Dad would have agreed with me.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re the favourite. I remember.”
The pace of the first is slower, and quite repetitive, whereas the second example reads smoothly. Of course, there’s even more variety and subtler means to create rhythm in a conversation – but more on that next time!
Close-Up Editing & Assessment 