Opinions about writing style

POSTED BY: Desertgirl
UPDATED: Thursday, October 25, 2007 21:36
VIEWED: 11769
PAGE 4 of 4

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4

MAL4PREZ

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 4:42 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by wytchcroft:
(adopts Ilyria stance "I wish to do more nicotine" and stomps off...)

*snort* Good one.

-----------------------------------------------
hmm-burble-blah, blah-blah-blah, take a left

MERRYK

Thursday, October 18, 2007 12:47 AM

Good points, Wytchcroft. The characters have lived in my mind ever since I watched the show (long before I started writing fanfic for it, too), and they have many many conversations there, which is probably the only reason my dialogue isn't go-se, but I'm never sure if I've got the hang of Verse-speak. Perhaps that's why I like writing Simon and River rather than the others...they speak in unique ways, but I don't need to worry about leaving out the equivalents of "naked and articulate", "a whole acre o' you fellas", "lip ferret", "foofaraw", "corner of no and where", "wheel keeps turnin'", "swear by my pretty floral bonnet", and other such things that make Verse dialogue what it is.

I know it sounded like I write my daydreams, but that's not quite it. It's as if the characters not only live in my mind, they live in the Verse in my mind, and I can eavesdrop on them in the Firefly timeline and also alternate timelines. However, my eavesdropping comes to me very vividly and a lot like a movie playing in my head, so writing it down can be difficult. Though this is prose, I think dialogue is very important to Firefly fanfic especially. I usually don't like fics that don't have a lot of dialogue, because it never feels exactly like it could come from Firefly...it sounds too book-like. (The exception is short fics that give an inside view on characters thoughts/emotions.) Fics that I think are well-written usually give me the feel of a TV episode without being all in dialogue or script fashion. Though I also like the different angles a prose work rather than a TV episode can provide...still, I aim for a style with plenty of visual and auditory cues.

--
"My way of being polite, or however...well, it's the only way I have of showing you that I like you. Of showing respect." Simon Tam, Jaynestown

SUPERUNKNOWN

Thursday, October 18, 2007 1:12 AM

I have to admit one of my pet hates is Mary-Sue Fanfiction, where the author creates a stylised version of themselves, drops it into the 'verse, and they end up superseding the original characters. Ironically, I could be rightfully criticised for doing a similar thing in OF A THOUSAND, but I deliberately wrote that in first-person to show how one's experiences of the crew vary.

I've been writing since Kindergarten and I'm seriously hoping to make a career out of writing screenplays (I was even approached to write our college's musical this year ... it wasn't as good as ONCE MORE, WITH FEELING, but I did include Anya and Xander's "I'll Never Tell" as a tribute to it), and one of the reasons I want to move into screenplay is that I find my works are often dialogue-heavy. I'll describe the important things or a speaker's tone, but I often find I skimp on the details. Either that or I'll describe the setting and then the dialogue, which makes it feel very disjointed because there's an obvious transition from one to the other and back again. It doesn't flow. If you read OF A THOUSAND - especially the latest two parts - you'll see what I mean.

But I also think it's very important to develop one's own style. I'm part of another forum for Australian author Matthew Reilly who has a very distinctive style: he writes like it's a Hollywood action film, but without the budget constraints. Each book often has a few action sequence, first and foremost being a forty-page hovercraft chase in one book. I often find that when people write fanfiction on the forums, it's in an attempt to mimick his style. They go for the action set-pieces but it never come soff the right way because that's not their style.

It's the same with Joss Whedon. As much as I love the 'Verse and writing in it - I think the dream of everyone here is to work with him; I know I'd love to - I find it difficult because I have to apply my style to someone else's works. There are often two schools of thought in writing: those who do dialogue and those who do plots. Writers typically fall into one of the two categoies with very little cross-over. Joss is one of those people who does both exceptionally well and I'd like to think I can do both as well, though I feel I lean towards the plotting side of the fence.

I also have an intense disliking for fluff. This is Firefly, not Mills and Boon ...

DESERTGIRL

Thursday, October 18, 2007 4:28 AM

Quote:

Try out different POVs on the same scene of talking... write letters from the characters - pretty soon you'll find it helps make things a little more natural. atleast that's my PLAN!

Great ideas for writing assignments to help one improve quality of one’s work.

I have great intentions of doing all sorts of short writing pieces to practice this or that, but I have a really hard time keeping things short. My current fic started off as an attempt at a character study, I am now working on chapter 7 and I’m not yet to the of the climax story.

Anyway I totally agree with you that it is practice that makes the difference, that and attention to detail.

Remembers bad joke “how do you get to Carnegie hall……”

Brings brain back on subject - Another activity someone mentioned somewhere was trying to write an entire scene with dialogue without modifiers and see if your reader can figure out not only who is speaking but what is going on visually as well.

I think a key to good dialogue in a story is to have a good mix. Some just short sentences without modifiers. Some with long modifiers describing the scene and what is going on outside the dialogue. Some ‘saids’ and some more descriptive tags. Some long flowing speeches and some short explanations. If you keep mixing things up the reader will hopefully stay interested.

Quote:
so i write a lot of voice stuff and keep my fingers crossed.

I rely on my beta (at least on the big series type stories) to double check my dialogue, because sometimes I am sure something will come off one way, and well it just doesn’t. Often it is just the change of a few words that can change it for me. There is just no substitute for a second opinion. I make my husband triple check it for type o’s as well.

ANNUETTE

Thursday, October 25, 2007 9:36 PM

I think with pet peeves, minus some that everyone seem to dislike such as bad spelling mistakes and the like, the phrase 'different stokes, for different folks applies. Someones peeve will likely be anothers love, and someones love will possibly be anothers peeve.

Personally I find second person fics harder to read, i prefer third person or even first. That's my personal preference and i have read a couple of really good second person ones it's just to me, if i chose to read fic, it won't usually be second person because reading that way feels awkward to me.

I tend to rely on my beta's a lot. I have the awful habit of starting to write in past tense then when i get swept into the writing it goes straight to present. I would write in present all the time but i find then using memory, recollection and flashback difficult to write, so past is more workable for me.

Sometimes i know my style of writing can be frustrating. Barring pwp fic (or sometimes including ><), i love to get inside a character's head, to work out their thought patterns and actions, to have them see the others around them and weave it into the plot. Some people might find this jarring, especially with the occassional thoughts and musings, but it's my way of writing and writing another way doesn't feel right. Feels like I'm not telling a whole story to be honest, especially when i know i can put that stuff in. I'm guessing this ties into your own pet peeve because you said about the 'telling' not doing. I tend to do both, tell the past, do the present, i don't know if that would peeve you but it's likely *grins*

PREV PAGE 1 2 3 4