Writing for Readers
One of the things that annoyed me when I
started writing down my various stories was
the ignorance of the writing gurus. They
had some good points on occasion, but
they clearly didn't know much about English
or linguistics. Then I started editing other
people's writing.
So I'm going to start a protracted but
occasionally amusing rant about illiterate
writers and how not to be one. We'll start
with action beats.
The theory is that it's tedious to read a
dialog with a lot of "John said" and "Mary
said"--and rather confusing if there is not
John or Mary, but that's literally another
story. So instead John and Mary do
something, and the reader gets the idea
that they are also speaking.
First, the idea's false. Unless you're using
"said" in each paragraph, which is
unnecessary, it does the job just fine, and
it's so common the reader won't even
notice it's there. In any case, once you've
set up the conversational volley, you just
need to remind the reader who's who every
few paragraphs.
Second, the result is usually bad English. If
you absolutely must use action beats, keep
them to themselves. Don't substitute them
for "said."
Mary smiled, "Have a nice day!"
You can smile a welcome, an invitation, and
so on, but you can't generally smile a full
sentence--even when it's a cliché. But it
can be worse:
"I've got pneumonia," John coughed.
Stout fellah! I can't usually cough a
complete sentence even when I'm well.
Fred picked his nose, "What disgusting
juvenile habit?"
Okay, no comment needed--I hope. But all
of these would work as two sentences:
Mary smiled. "Have a nice day!"
John coughed. "I've got pneumonia."
Note that it works better to introduce a
quote with an action.
Next time: removing the stress from your
writing.
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Stephen Leon Rice, author of the Christian
sci-fi, League of Superheroes, is known for
his knowledge of linguistics, foreign
Languages, professional editing/ writing,
theology and infectious wit (as displayed in
print—in person he denies all charges of
silliness, ahem, humour.
Check out his novel League of Superheroes
(and buy a copy to keep him out of the
bingo parlours), his blog Back to the
Mountains, and his Amazing bio.
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Grace Bridges has just arrived home in
New Zealand after an extreme literary
tour of the USA...
63 days. 16,000 miles. 15 beds. 28 hosts.
18 states. 17 Lost Genre writers. 21
dogs. 14 cats. 9 kids. 5 other writers. 9
critique partners. 3 fans. 2 publishers.
42 blogs. 84 videos. 1000 photos. 30
hours in 8 flights. 40 hours in 12 private
cars. 45 hours in 14 buses and 9 bus
stations. 60 hours in 11 trains.
The numbers tell you the facts. They
can’t come close to describing the
feeling of visiting stranger after stranger
and finding them to be friends! Yes, we’
d worked together online, for years in
some cases—but never met until now.
One figure you’ll notice I didn’t
mention: the dollars. Not worth it! I
owe a great deal to the members of the
Lost Genre Guild—and to Frank for
founding it—because their collective
hospitality meant my only cost was
travel wherever I went. Woohoo!
It was a unique experience to meet my
writing friends one by one. To put faces
and characters to what had only been
names. I’m enriched by knowing these
people in person—talking, watching
movies, doing odd bits of writerly stuff.
There are things you can never know
from someone’s online presence—such
as the hours they keep, the food they
eat, their accents, the decor of their
houses, the books on their shelves, the
thoughts in their heads, their computer
habits.
But I’d read their books and
manuscripts and websites. Often,
arriving in someone’s home, I’d sleepily
notice some detail or other and
recognise a shadow of something they
wrote. A book is like a distilled
personality, isn’t it? Something drawn
from an entire life’s experience and
funnelled into plotlines and scenes and
dialogues.
Some authors write themselves
transparently into their stories. With
others it’s not so obvious, still the
parallels are always there. And guess
what...I have no shortage of fascinating
characters to draw on when next I take
up my pen!
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Grace Bridges is an original member of
Frank Creed's Underground and author
of the sci-fi novel Faith Awakened.
Check out Grace's blog at Grace Bridges
and learn more about her, her writing,
and her travels.
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