Friday, July 27, 2012

Show Don't Tell: Weak Words



Wow, this blog post is so totally timely that it's not even funny. It doesn't matter how long you've been writing, telling instead of showing is going to sneak up on you. I'm for real on this. Either you'll find it, or your lovely critique partner will. Don't get me wrong, it isn't bad if they point it out. At least then you get a chance to catch it before your editor does. I covered in my first 'show don't tell' post about how to spot when you are.


Here's a small re-cap on those things.


To get into showing, you need to get into deep POV(Point Of View). It's an intense point of view, not only using sights, sounds, and smells, but also their reaction and the unique way your characters look at the world. For this you will need this formula: 
  • Action
  • Decision
  • Thought
  • Emotion 
So, let's say you have that down. I bet now you're feeling pretty good about your book, right? Well, there's something else that can mess you up too and bring you out of showing. I know you're thinking 'damn, something else.' That was my reaction too as I was learning. It's not bad, so don't go into a panic attack or anything. These things are called weak words or filler words by some. I bet you're wondering what they are about now, aren't you?  While working on edits for my new book I found some of these in my manuscript. Okay, I'm going to put you out of your misery. These are some words to look for.

  • Oh
  • Just
  • Well
  • So
  • Like
  • As if
  • As
  • That
  • While
For some reason my crutch word in this book seems to be 'that.' Don't fret, just go in and weed these words out. Once you do, it will make your book shine so much more. What pops up for you in your books that are crutch words?

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

News!

Before I get to my big news there's something I need to let my readers know. With a sad heart I won't be doing Eye Candy Monday anymore. Due to a blog post I read and doing some research on the matter I have decided to close it down. Roni Loren blogged about using pictures and what happened to her. I'm not going to go into details of it as you can read her post.

Basically, unless it's not free to use you can't on your blog or for anything for that matter. Are the chances high that it would be a problem? No, but I'm not taking the chance. It would be wrong for me to get mad at pirate sites having my books on them, and then use a photo that's not free to use. This includes going to google and grabbing pictures off of there. Roni gives some great advice and I suggest other authors read it as well.

Now onto my news...



Bound To Protect is going to print! I'm beyond thrilled about this. I don't know the paperback release date yet, but as soon I know I'll post the details.


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