Sheesh...Cut it out!

We spent a bit of time last week, in creative writing class, doing some edits to editing our short stories. It's often been said that "sometimes less is more," and this is certainly the case in writing. You can read a myriad of 'how-to' books on writing and find suggestions for keeping it straight forward and to the point, but nothing quite impacts you like reading a book and saying out loud, "c'mon c'mon, get to the point already."

If you've found yourself saying that, it's likely that the writer could have cut out some unnecessary words, sentences or even whole paragraphs.

So, what's the point!?

The point is pretty much summed up in that phrase. "Sometimes less IS more." Give it a try. Take a look at your WIP and see if there's anything you could reasonably cut out. You may be sharpening your story!

Whirpool-of-Suggestions Question

As a novice writer, I could benefit from plenty of advice in the area of creative writing and novel planning in general. I'd like to tap my resource of friends (YOU) and ask:

Are there any seminars, conferences, classes or utilities that you believe I could benefit from, other than books about said topic?

What has helped you as a writer/author?

Shocker

So my beautiful bride-to-be tells me that she's not a bookstore person.............................. 'breathe' I have to tell myself...............ok, all better.

My response: "I thought you liked books?"

Her reply: "My dad could totally get lost in a bookstore and be happy as a clam, but me, I could care less."

Talk about "Opposites Attract."

So, what about you guys out there? Do your significant others share the same passion for books that you do?

Are You Up For the Challenge?

I'd like to propose a challenge to my fellow writers. We all have words that we've come across which roll off the tongue about as well as a mudslide rolls off a mountain. Ugly words. Words which, if it were up to us would be removed from the language.

So, here's the challenge. Peruse your dictionary, find such a word and see if you can work it into your novel or work in progress'. The challenge though is not to just use the word, but to use it in such a way as to make it sound so good that the reader would desire to use that word in their own writing (if they write).

I'm interested to know what words you all would like to try to use and maybe if you work it in, you'd be willing to share how it was woven into your masterpieces! :)

Happy Writing.

P.S. Thanks everyone for the warm wishes on getting better. I'm still a little under the weather, but I see little rays of light in the near future.

The Write Conditions

So, I'm a mostly-native Phoenician here in Arizona and as most people imagine, it's SUNNY SUNNY SUNNY 24/7. The implication of that would be, I hate the sun... (Ok, hate is a strong word, maybe not hate, but definitely don't enjoy) I get the sun so much that I can easily say I'm sick of it. When we get a nice overcast day out here, I really pep up. I mean, it's like running into a long lost school mate that you used to be best friends with and haven't seen in years.

On to the point:

As I think about it, I imagine what my best conditions would be for writing. If it were up to me, it'd be something like this.

1. It would be overcast and or pouring rain.
2. I would be in my office which would have books from wall to wall around me
3. I'd have a Siberian Husky curled up next to my desk
4. I'd have no children within 800 yards of me
5. I would have breakfast, lunch and dinner served to me via butler or french maid! :P

I'm pretty sure that's my dream writing conditions. What would yours be?