Authors Electric

  Writing the first draft, or dirty first draft, you should be in the zone and writing like a demon, not worrying too much about word choice for every single word. You are trying to get the overall story down and you can sort things out later. The editing stage comes next and this is where you make the changes to strengthen your writing and your narrative. However, habits often creep in which actually weaken your writing rather than strengthen it, especially with writers at the beginning of their careers. Those of us who are more established shouldn't sit back on our laurels either as we can often fall into the same traps. So, here are seven signs to look out for when you are self editing your work. Adjectives and Adverbs used as modifiers as though you've been given a free pack and you need to get rid of them. They are used to shore up verbs to make them stronger. You need to completely renovate your verb if a prop is needed to support it. Rip it out and use a stronger verb. ...

  A quick tour--even a virtual one--of any bookstore's fiction shelves will be enough to convince you of this: the fight to survive under ironclad rules governing minimum word count has led too many writers to pad for dear life. Check out the opening pages of book after book if you want shocking proof that writers at large are becoming a tribe of Word Accountants. And as you read, you'll hear the clicking of their calculators' keys and picture the poor bastards working it out:  'OMG, I'm 10K words under...so I need to add--let me see...at least 30 (or 40 or 50) words to every page. What if I add 15  adjectives or adverbs per page plus 20 to 30 extra words of dialogue or description? How about 2000 words of research here and, say, 1500 there?" They should be tarred on Live TV.  But you know what they say about horses.   The Padders aren't the worst offenders. They're easily spotted, at least, and they can be ignored. Their counterparts--the Marners--real...

There's no joy in watching an average sinner burn. But there's more fun in viewing the flights of the best than in hearing an angel hosanna. Now, before your knickers start doing The Twist, as the British like to say, I mean saints and sinners in writing. And I'll start with a few wee examples to help set the stage for my rant. In fact, let's make this a brief game, with your identifying the relevant sin. The examples are taken from Sullivan's Sting, a delightful mystery by Lawrence Sanders, one of my favorite writers. 1)  Mrs. Winslow was happy she'd worn her basic black and pearls, for all the women were in evening gowns and the men...were spiffy in white dinner jackets and plaid cummerbunds. She was introduced around and everyone was just as nice as they could be. Champagne was served in crystal flutes. 2)  "Mort, I told you not to bet," Nancy said morosely. "David always wins. I need another drink." 3)  More regula...

Good morning, class. Our lesson today, for your edification, is on Brazen Boobies. And if you belong in this classroom, you've already started to wonder which sort of boobies we'll discuss. Do we mean the mammaries that delight the memories of Jan Needle's tribe, the Needle-ites? Or do we mean nincompoops, also known as boobies? Have you fallen for the sort of misdirection prized by the Kirtonians, founded by Bill Kirton? If so, take comfort in knowing that the real game has only begun. For now that you're here we can turn to word one. That's right, let's focus on It's worth a close look for two reasons: 1) Adjectives, like adverbs, are commonly forbidden. 2) Brazen's dual use here lets us to study when adjectives work or do not.. Brazen Boobies #1  w ill draw in a certain crowd but the phrase is unemployed. We could just as easily write Luscious Tatas or Supremo Patooties. Brazen Boobies #2  works because it  does  work. After lea...