Writerly Ways
Aug. 27th, 2023 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessI'll tell you about my day tomorrow because it's nearly midnight and I'm just sitting down.
It was very involved and rather in sepia tones for some reason. I was the head of some lab, might even have been a mad scientist. I know this part of the dream went on a long time but what I remember was me, hypodermic needles and serums. I might have been experimenting on rhesus monkeys but since one of them was talking to me and also using lab equipment, either I created Planet of the Apes or I was happily living in it. Also there with me was Steve Rogers (not in uniform, Chris Evans version).
For the life of me I can't remember what we talked about but he suggested I needed a rest so I went back to my room...which was down a labyrinth of halls to a 70s era hotel. My room was a surprise to me as if I had never seen it. It smelled dusty, looked it too (might have had something to do with my sheets smelling a little musty when I stripped and made the bed yesterday. I need a better way of storing sheets in the months I'm gone) and definitely a hotel room vs a work office or apartment. Again everything was brown and gray. I had two beds in the room. I explored them. One was barely a double and the other was a hospital gurney. The sheets dry rotted and crumbled when I touched them.
Suddenly there was a large desk in there too and I sat down just to see what was in there because nothing was familiar. I pulled out bunch of cheap vinyl photo albums empty and thought my friend would love these. Also in there were clippings and small photos of a bunch of women. It slowly sank in these were missing women and I was responsible for finding them.
I was shocked out of that realization as the door opened and three men in black came in, trying to pretend they were house keeping (IN black suits? Right) I instinctively hid the photos from them. As they advanced on me, Steve popped in and said I needed to come with him now because the meeting was starting. Had no idea what meeting but I was glad to be away from those men.
Bang we were at the meeting. Diana Prince was there and a few others. (Bruce? Clark? Arthur? who knows but it was a DC/Marvel fusion) I can't remember what they were saying exactly but the gist was, they wanted me to leave their group. I kept saying my powers were intact (sadly I don't know what they might have been) and Steve kept pointing to my leg. I was in a short skirt so my scars were visible. I insisted I'm a LAB person and my leg in no way stops me from doing my job. I'm behind the scenes, not on the front line. Too bad I woke up before I found out if I could still be a superhero/mad scientist or not
So today's Writerly Ways is brought to you by my complete inability to NOT overuse words/phrases/actions. I'm about in tears of frustration at this point. So there is this What Are Filter Words? How to Find and Remove Them for Better Writing I was cautioned last time out in my previous novella with them that I use them a bit much.
So I found this article (among many others) and before submitting anything I look for them. However that isn't going to help you with repeated words. My characters are snorting, laughing, eyerolling, smilers. No seriously. Some of my overused words are over 100 X the word Like was in the document over 400X. It took me over two hours to root them out and I still have to go root out over 900 uses of the word That.
It's not as easy as just axing them (just is another one I'm great at over using) Don't I wish. No you have to come up with other actions to make it less repetitive. Sometimes you can delete the whole sentence as filler rubbish. Sometimes the whole thing needs to be reworked into something better.
Now I'm not complaining here. At the end the story will be better. But it can be a) frustrating b) boring c) tedious AF.
On the other hand using the above article and a couple on crutch words (like just, really, very) I can get a lot of it fixed before submission. Over the last few years after being called on this nonsense, I'm learning to not even think in those terms. They don't even make the page and if they do I get most of them out before submission so yes, you will get better, you will not make the mistakes over and over if you put out some effort.
So where do I go from here? I take the list of over used words, put them in my filter/crutch word file and then I use them pre-submission to stop being lazy in my writing.
Any phrases/words you overuse and wish you didn't?
Open Calls
Love Letters to Poe Volume 3 Original gothic fiction and poetry directly inspired by “The Tell-Tale Heart” (I'm interested)
Northern Nights horror/dark fiction anthology in the vein of previous anthologies of Canadian speculative fiction
Note: Canadian Authors Only
It Came From The Trailer Park Volume 4 I'm still waiting to hear about my story for #3 I AM thinking on this one too
Here There Be Dragons Nice pay rate. How is it I have no dragons?!?
The Ex-Puritan Fall 2023 Issue
Death’s Other Kingdom: Horror Tales of World War I Horror Tales of World War I
The Map of Lost Places (maybe if my Dog Man story doesn't get picked up or maybe my one in Wales...hmmmm)
Intrepidus Ink Fall 2023 Window
Fear Forge Fall 2023 AnthologyHorror for the spooky season of Halloween
30 Literary Magazines Accepting Creative Nonfiction
From Around the Web
5 Tips for Adding Otherworldly Elements Into Your Novel
Darkest Moment: Why Losing Everything Matters
5 Ways to Survive a Publishing Drought
What Types of Editing Does a Book Need? (6 Types To Know)
David Steffen. His Diabolical Plots & Submission Grindersylvanwitch this is the other submission place I was thinking about
How to Write a Book (and avoid distractions)
Can a Self-Published Book Be Successful? hint: yes
10 Important Parts of a Book for First-Time Authors
Getting a pass by an agent a twitter thread
From Betty
The Dos and Don’ts of Using Magic in Romance
Using Your Conlang Without Ruining Your Story
How to Find the Writer Within, Your Creative Self
4 Tips For Memorable Characters From Jack Sparrow
How to Write Sharable Newsletters Part 2—A Fish Story
Red Herrings, Foreshadows and Creating a Mystery
Do You Have Dirty Links? (should be called Amazon is ridiculous and here's how to make it less so)
Give Your Characters Memories
Writing About Pain: Three Stages of Awareness
Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Doomsday Prepper
Writing About Pain: Different Types to Explore
It was very involved and rather in sepia tones for some reason. I was the head of some lab, might even have been a mad scientist. I know this part of the dream went on a long time but what I remember was me, hypodermic needles and serums. I might have been experimenting on rhesus monkeys but since one of them was talking to me and also using lab equipment, either I created Planet of the Apes or I was happily living in it. Also there with me was Steve Rogers (not in uniform, Chris Evans version).
For the life of me I can't remember what we talked about but he suggested I needed a rest so I went back to my room...which was down a labyrinth of halls to a 70s era hotel. My room was a surprise to me as if I had never seen it. It smelled dusty, looked it too (might have had something to do with my sheets smelling a little musty when I stripped and made the bed yesterday. I need a better way of storing sheets in the months I'm gone) and definitely a hotel room vs a work office or apartment. Again everything was brown and gray. I had two beds in the room. I explored them. One was barely a double and the other was a hospital gurney. The sheets dry rotted and crumbled when I touched them.
Suddenly there was a large desk in there too and I sat down just to see what was in there because nothing was familiar. I pulled out bunch of cheap vinyl photo albums empty and thought my friend would love these. Also in there were clippings and small photos of a bunch of women. It slowly sank in these were missing women and I was responsible for finding them.
I was shocked out of that realization as the door opened and three men in black came in, trying to pretend they were house keeping (IN black suits? Right) I instinctively hid the photos from them. As they advanced on me, Steve popped in and said I needed to come with him now because the meeting was starting. Had no idea what meeting but I was glad to be away from those men.
Bang we were at the meeting. Diana Prince was there and a few others. (Bruce? Clark? Arthur? who knows but it was a DC/Marvel fusion) I can't remember what they were saying exactly but the gist was, they wanted me to leave their group. I kept saying my powers were intact (sadly I don't know what they might have been) and Steve kept pointing to my leg. I was in a short skirt so my scars were visible. I insisted I'm a LAB person and my leg in no way stops me from doing my job. I'm behind the scenes, not on the front line. Too bad I woke up before I found out if I could still be a superhero/mad scientist or not
So today's Writerly Ways is brought to you by my complete inability to NOT overuse words/phrases/actions. I'm about in tears of frustration at this point. So there is this What Are Filter Words? How to Find and Remove Them for Better Writing I was cautioned last time out in my previous novella with them that I use them a bit much.
So I found this article (among many others) and before submitting anything I look for them. However that isn't going to help you with repeated words. My characters are snorting, laughing, eyerolling, smilers. No seriously. Some of my overused words are over 100 X the word Like was in the document over 400X. It took me over two hours to root them out and I still have to go root out over 900 uses of the word That.
It's not as easy as just axing them (just is another one I'm great at over using) Don't I wish. No you have to come up with other actions to make it less repetitive. Sometimes you can delete the whole sentence as filler rubbish. Sometimes the whole thing needs to be reworked into something better.
Now I'm not complaining here. At the end the story will be better. But it can be a) frustrating b) boring c) tedious AF.
On the other hand using the above article and a couple on crutch words (like just, really, very) I can get a lot of it fixed before submission. Over the last few years after being called on this nonsense, I'm learning to not even think in those terms. They don't even make the page and if they do I get most of them out before submission so yes, you will get better, you will not make the mistakes over and over if you put out some effort.
So where do I go from here? I take the list of over used words, put them in my filter/crutch word file and then I use them pre-submission to stop being lazy in my writing.
Any phrases/words you overuse and wish you didn't?
Open Calls
Love Letters to Poe Volume 3 Original gothic fiction and poetry directly inspired by “The Tell-Tale Heart” (I'm interested)
Northern Nights horror/dark fiction anthology in the vein of previous anthologies of Canadian speculative fiction
Note: Canadian Authors Only
It Came From The Trailer Park Volume 4 I'm still waiting to hear about my story for #3 I AM thinking on this one too
Here There Be Dragons Nice pay rate. How is it I have no dragons?!?
The Ex-Puritan Fall 2023 Issue
Death’s Other Kingdom: Horror Tales of World War I Horror Tales of World War I
The Map of Lost Places (maybe if my Dog Man story doesn't get picked up or maybe my one in Wales...hmmmm)
Intrepidus Ink Fall 2023 Window
Fear Forge Fall 2023 AnthologyHorror for the spooky season of Halloween
30 Literary Magazines Accepting Creative Nonfiction
From Around the Web
5 Tips for Adding Otherworldly Elements Into Your Novel
Darkest Moment: Why Losing Everything Matters
5 Ways to Survive a Publishing Drought
What Types of Editing Does a Book Need? (6 Types To Know)
David Steffen. His Diabolical Plots & Submission Grinder
sylvanwitch this is the other submission place I was thinking aboutHow to Write a Book (and avoid distractions)
Can a Self-Published Book Be Successful? hint: yes
10 Important Parts of a Book for First-Time Authors
Getting a pass by an agent a twitter thread
From Betty
The Dos and Don’ts of Using Magic in Romance
Using Your Conlang Without Ruining Your Story
How to Find the Writer Within, Your Creative Self
4 Tips For Memorable Characters From Jack Sparrow
How to Write Sharable Newsletters Part 2—A Fish Story
Red Herrings, Foreshadows and Creating a Mystery
Do You Have Dirty Links? (should be called Amazon is ridiculous and here's how to make it less so)
Give Your Characters Memories
Writing About Pain: Three Stages of Awareness
Character Type & Trope Thesaurus: Doomsday Prepper
Writing About Pain: Different Types to Explore
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no subject
Date: 2023-08-29 02:44 am (UTC)I think "watched" comes with the transition from screenwriting to prose since the back of my mind is always focused on where the camera would be.
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing it.
no subject
Date: 2023-08-29 03:47 am (UTC)