pub resource - blog post - overwriting advice

[drusillas_rain]

One of the publishing blogs I read had a really interesting post about "overwriting" - the tendency to string together as many adjectives, adverbs, and "replacement" nouns as possible, among other things.

The blogger is an editor, so the post is written from their perspective of having to edit a promising manuscript, and shares tips on how to identify if you're an overwriter, as well as a list of words that scream out "overwriter".

http://editorialass.blogspot.com/2009/01/overwriters-anonymous.html


One of the bad words on the list is "sudden (suddenly)" and I know I succumb to that one. I think I need to find some resources on how to deal with that better...

Comments

[lusiology.livejournal.com]

Brilliant link. Cheers! One thing that has always bothered me is that I don't seem to be able to write pages of fic, with minute details, like others can. Maybe I should just accept that I'm a succinct, rather than under, writer.

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

Exactly! Plenty of authors, even famous ones, are minimalist. Like Hemingway :)

[incapricious.livejournal.com]

One of my high school English teachers was really hard on overuse of "suddenly" so I at least am aware of that one. I should go search through my fics and see if I have been using it anyway... :\

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

I only had 1 highschool teacher who cared about writing (he was a published poet himself), but he never really shared any tips with our class :(

[callistianstar.livejournal.com]

Though I know that I'm garrulous and wordy, this was a funny but intelligent blog. I really have to cut down on these colorful words, unless they are just curse words.

But I really like "sneer" ... :(

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

Heh, I like sneer too :)

I think the author probably combined a few different examples into one particularly wordy one.

[mordyn4]

From what I've seen, you are not an overwriter. ;)

This is a great link, though. :D

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

*g* that's very true - maybe I should think about adding a few of the bad words into my fic to seem less minimal :p

It's one of few blogs that I check daily.

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

Great link!

When I first started writing fanfic, my beta at the time repeatedly beat me over the head with the Overwriter stick. It made me a better writer and a better, if more depressed, beta.

There are a few words I'd add to her list: really, totally, sheer, pure... I could go on.

But if you're writing Snape fic, how can you avoid using "sneer"? ;)

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

hehehe - that's exactly what I thought re sneer!

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

Thanks for that link!

[drusillas-rain.livejournal.com]

*G*