Let's Get Technical.
So. It's week two of NaNoWriMo, and lots of people are bragging on Twitter about how they are ahead of their word count and thus free to lounge about gorging on bonbons and fine cheeses.
But let us not forget what happened to that braggy hare while the tortoise determinedly plugged away at his word count. The hare stared at his computer screen for two hours after work, and then gave up and went to see how many grapes he could fit in his mouth. Eventually, he wrote a harried seventy-six words before staggering, satisfied, to bed. Don't forget what happened to him - the braggy hare made technical errors.
Here are five ways to make you stand out from those who rushed along to hit their word count:
- SAID IS DEAD! Try these tags instead:
"I think we should get Mexican tonight," she opined. This one really lets your reader know exactly how the sentence was said, and it uses a fancy word.
"Look, Carl, a red cat!" he hissed. Get creative with your dialogue tags! This is called reverse personification/dehumanization/animification. Just because there isn't a single S in that sentence doesn't mean the speaker didn't get on the ground and wiggle like a snake. And how does a snake speak?
This technique is rather controversial among the literary community. But would you say that if I grew fangs and an unkempt mane and ran around eating woodland animals, I still couldn't growl the words "What a nice fellow you are" at someone?
"Sometimes I get so lonely I ride the subway all the way to the end. If I wait long enough and sit very still, maybe somebody will accidentally sit next to me," she laughed. Above all things, editors love complex, multi-dimensional characters. Make the tone contrast with the actual words, and you'll have readers drooling over your elegant treatment of your characters' psychological profile. - Voice:
Voice is one of the most important aspects of your writing. It's what will separate the wheat from the chaff, writer-wise. So here's an exercise to try:
Pick out your favorite dirty word. Make sure it's a good one - one that feels just right when you roll it around your tongue. Now go into the bathroom, where the acoustics are stellar, and say the word to yourself in the mirror. Whisper it softly by the faucet, then scream the word, but muffle the shout with a bath towel. Put a little lilt at the end of the word. Turn on the shower; find out how the word would sound if you said it under water. Maybe use a couple of accents. Know the word in any other languages? Try sounding like the opposite gender, or pretend you've smoked a pack a day since you were six.
Bonus: Do this dirty word exercise at work or school, and nobody will ever make fun of you again. At least, not to your face. - Description:
If you want to be a successful writer, it's all about the details. People will tell you that the days of exhaustive description are over, having died out with Dickens. "He was being paid by the word," they'll say. "You'll be lucky if you get paid at all!"
I disagree. In this stark, postmodern, minimalist literary climate, your writing will stand out only if you hearken back to the chapter-long descriptions of meals and scenery. Readers always want to know more - more back story, more motivation, more physical details about minor characters. Next time you start a scene, try asking yourself these questions, and I think you'll see a definite improvement in the quality of your writing:
Write a scene in which your character is waking up in the morning. In fact, this is probably the best way to start out every chapter. How many birds are tweeting outside? Which parts of her body are achy, and which feel pretty okay? Is she hungry? Has she drooled all over her satin pillow? Has a stray animal wandered into her bed in the night? Let the reader really get inside the character's head by listing seventy-five reasons why she chose yogurt over an egg white omelet for breakfast. Really want to catch an editor's attention with your gritty realism? Detail your character's bowel movements.
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