Above the bar thingy (hopefully my masterful computer jargon is understood, ha ha) on the blog pages there's a link that says next blog, and hitting it a couple of times I’ve noticed something. Every author has a blog. I swear. There's so many author blogs, or there's “oh look at me I’m so cute blogs.”
Okay, author blogs I understand, we're writers. Which is usually a stay at home job, or a hang out and be cool in a coffee shop job, so when it comes to selling, work, connecting, etc. we type. From home, or a coffee type hangout. Hence all the blogs by authors.
But the other type I don't get. Maybe because I don't like to share myself. Not important. Just something I noticed about the use of blogs. You want to tell people everything you did, go ahead. Some of these blogs have a good following (unlike my blog) and I don't see anything wrong with it, I just don’t get it.
Also, speaking of blogs, does everyone like the way I blogged more often like I said would? Yay, me. I would say I procrastinate, but then I would have to look the spelling up, (thank you overused spell checker.) and I was going to do it, but then big fish games released a new game, my favorite show was on, and blah blah blah.
So okay. Enough good excuses as to why I didn't blog more. My editor sent me back the draft for “Thief of hearts.” Well, actually, a different editor, the original one. She's made a few helpful suggestions and comments. Comments. Comments.
I got to admit, she's a better writer than me. Some of her comments are good suggestions. And the ones that aren't good suggestions, are comments about rules of grammar, which I need to brush up on, so they're useful comments, just not suggestions, technically.
This editor, like the last ones i've had, has offered to go the extra mile and explain a few things so that I can become a better writer.
We all know the show don't tell rule. (if you point out a best selling book that breaks this rule, I will hunt you down and kill you with a badly edited best seller. We all know they're out there, now shut up. Pay attention, so you don’t make the same mistakes.) a basic example, for me, that I use a lot, is saying she felt scared.
Characters will use all five senses, but they will not feel, felt or feeling.
Very important. I wrote myself a note, and will remove such sentences from future novels, I hope.
And then I will see an example in a famous book, and be like whatever. You hack. Learn to write, you mega selling author.
A character feeling scared is not feeling scared, they have goosebumps. They can smell the yellow puddle they just produced between their feet. They can have chills walking on their spine. They can taste the forewarning of death, harsh like blood. They can see shadows, see themselves shake, or see a hooded figure with a scythe following them around, maybe a fleshless toe peeking out from under the robe. They can hear their own heartbeat in their ears.
Taste, touch, smell, see, hear, ESP. I don't care, but I must fight the urge to say feel. Was feeling. she/he felt.
The pirate novel is coming along pretty good, about half way done with that, then I stopped to re do thief of hearts, which I just finished proofing and re writing bits and will now send back on Saturday to see how it does. And now, hopefully, it won't have feeling characters in it.
I wrote a book last year for nanowrimo, and hated it. Was sick of it. Put it aside. Now, I’m looking at it like wow I suck. But this part isn't so bad. It's actually good! And then it sucks again. Sigh.
So that's what I will be doing.
Eventually. After I look up procrastination, and then maybe play a few games, and then , well. Eventually.