Thursday, June 22, 2006

Learning Experience

- Character development is absolutely essential. For inspid passages of exposition or narrative, tie them back to the characters to gain focus and significance.

- Abandon pedestrian metaphors and similes. Slightly unsettling word combinations are pleasant surprises and transmit mood better. Omit needless words.

- Approach with an effect in mind.

- Each word and each sentence should be able to stand alone. The right word will make the sentence shine. Beyond a word's meaning, consider connotation, sound, and feeling.

- Leave meaning to reader's imagination, but clarify all actions and transitions.

- Don't tell. Show.

- If it feels wrong, it probabably needs to be deleted.

It's amazing how much I've learned from this project in these two months. Looking back at my early blog posts, I feel like I've come so far ^^ Besides my own reading into good English, grammar, writing advice, and a new perspective when reading others' works, I've also learned from experience and conversations with my writing buddies. Much <3 to Sapphirefly and Chocolatelova-- for our discussions about writing techniques, character motivations, and scenes in the series, and for their support for me in both writing and personal lives.

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