Ahhh, so that's what they mean!

[jebbypal]

*claps* Got my 2 books today as well as my Tom Mcrae CD -- It's the Just Like Blood one. I like it but it's a tad slow and soft overall. And my efforts to get his self titled album have yet to succeed. Am going to check Barnes and Noble and bestbuy in person though before I risk buying from one of the sellers listed on Amazon though. I've actually had okay time w/ the amazon affiliated ones but am still smarting from the debacle w/ the ebay seller and The Shield Season 2 boxset.

Books! Books. Got two books on editing (though the other deals w/ a lot more than just editing). So far just skimmed through one but thought I'd share w/ ya --


So I bought Self-editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King. It looked incredibly useful on Amazon and it looks even more useful up close and personal. So far I've just browsed one itty bitty section on dialogue and that in and of itself has answered so many of my nagging questions.

Like, you know how you are always told to use only "he/she said" and not "he whispered/breathed/ad infinitum". Yeah, it kinda always blew my mind cause I'd have that told to me or read it but no one would say WHY!!

Thanks to this book, now I know...and I'll share. The authors state quite plainly that the reason saying something other than "he said" after dialogue is lazy is because the dialogue and characterization should be such that the reader should know how the statement is being said. So if you have to tell them that the character is "whining" then the dialogue or text can be tightened and better so that it's obvious that the character is whining. Another case of "show don't tell". And lordy, if you already showed that the character is whining, don't repeat it.

*dances* See, now I never knew that and no one had ever been able to satisfactorily explain it to me. Of course, now I want to go back and delete every fic I've ever written because I have so horribly violated this rule in the past out of ignorance, but am trying to restrain myself.

That's all the tidbits I can share for now.


So yeah...Camouflage shall be getting such a huge makeover even if I don't read any more of these books until after I finish it.

Comments

[inlovewithnight.livejournal.com]

Using non-"said" words as dialogue attribution is a weakness of mine. I KNOW it's badness...but I just can't help it sometimes. :) It's so...shiny!

[jebbypal]

I think the key is doing it only sometimes.

And well, fanfic, who cares. We aren't having to impress a publisher w/ it:) I just didn't know why it was badness and so couldn't care less.

[shetiger.livejournal.com]

Also, when you use 'said' instead of constant action verbs, the mind sees it as white noise. It acts only to identify and give the reader a verbal breather without interupting the impact of the dialogue.

[fleshlycherry.livejournal.com]

Hunh. Good to know. Very good to know. *scurries off to fix Better Left to comply with this new, shiny information*