RonEhrs
Ron's Updates
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2022
- Posts
- 5
There is a famous piece of editorial advice, “Kill your darlings,” which is typically understood as meaning if you fall in love with some phrase or some piece of description or whatever, you should probably cut it. I don’t agree with that. For me, those are often my favorite outcomes from the writing process.
“He leaned forward and began sucking wildly on her breasts. A newly adopted puppy could not have been more eager.”
But you should definitely check your darlings carefully and make sure that they work.
Another kind of “darling,” however, is the kind of phrasing you overuse. This is not that it’s wrong exactly, but you use it way too much.
For me, I have a tendency to start sentences with “So.” I mean, it kind of ties the action together. Sometimes it’s actually appropriate. When I’m editing, I do a complete search through the document looking for “ So” to find every sentence that I have started that way and see if I can drop the “So.” I end up getting rid of most of them, but not all.
Same thing for beginning a sentence with “And.” It was liberating to realize that the high school admonition to never start a sentence with “and” could be ignored, and it can add to the rhythm of what you're writing, but you need to keep it to a minimum, so I go through and double check every instance.
“That” is another major check-point. “I said that I had been at home at the time of the murder” is grammatically correct, but today’s editorial practice is to eliminate any unnecessary “that.” That doesn’t mean it’s never appropriate or necessary, but definitely do a search for “that,” and if you can leave it out, get rid of it.
A famous admonition is to never use the word “somehow.” I think the idea is that it’s a lazy way to avoid explaining something. Actually, at the right moment, it can be a perfect way to describe a situation where the character is in denial and /or doesn’t want to accept responsibility for what they’ve done: “Somehow, as she was sitting up telling him this, her left breast and nipple moved right in front of his face, specifically right in front of his mouth.”
Again, “somehow” is definitely worth doing a “search and check” on. Overuse or lazy use makes your writing look lazy.
I tend to use “I mean” a lot, but typically in dialogue. It’s something that people do, so it’s not wrong, but worth checking on to avoid overuse.
I’m probably over fond of the word “actually,” so one more word to add to my checklist.
Each person’s checklist is different. Look at the words or phrases that you use a lot, or even all the time and make your own checklist for editing.
Another thing you may want to check for is paragraph length. In times past, writers often took pride in long and carefully constructed paragraphs laying out “mini-arguments” within the larger argument of the whole piece. If you look at the work of someone like Henry James, you can probably find paragraphs that run a full page or more.
In this age of TikTok, readers' attention span has shrunk drastically. Moreover, a great many readers now read nearly everything on their cell phones, which makes long paragraphs even more daunting. So keep paragraphs, if possible, to two or three sentences. If you find a long paragraph, look for places where you may be able to break it up.
This can actually be a good thing. Readers tend to focus on the beginning and end of anything – the whole piece, the paragraph, the sentence. Having more paragraphs makes it easier for readers to pay attention to more of what you’re saying.
This holds true for dialogue as well. If one character is going on about something, break it up into shorter paragraphs, or, better still, have the other character interact with dialogue of their own. A long exposition can easily feel like an “info dump.”
One other thing I might mention is the question of “of course.” Your spellchecker will almost certainly put a comma after this. If you’re beginning a sentence with “Of course,” consider how it works in the sentence. “Of course, one does have to consider the other person’s argument,” is very different from “Of course she would do that. She’s a bitch.” Different rhythm, different meaning. Don’t follow the spell check suggestions automatically.
In fact, be very careful when you use spellcheckers and especially grammar checkers. Sometimes the suggestions that I have seen are simply bizarre. It’s your work – own it.
One other thing: adverbs. Everyone professes to hate them. I think this hatred is silly and overblown. A lot of people say that instead of using an adverb, you should look for a stronger verb that will incorporate the idea. This can lead to thesaurus-driven writing, with people looking for “just the right word,” or at least a peppy action word.
For example, suppose I say, “John walked quickly.” Lots of people will say, “You should say, ‘John hurried,’ ‘John jogged,’ or pretty much anything that won’t involve an adverb. To me, “John walked quickly,” says exactly what I want. Don’t worry about adverbs.
A note about flow. Rhythm is a key element of writing that keeps the reader engaged. Vary your sentence lengths. Sentence fragments are fine – if you know what you are doing. Vary your paragraph lengths. If you have sections (I break up different parts of the story or even the action with “* * *” to let the reader take a break and also to understand that a new something is starting), you can even very section length.
Readability tip. If you’re using Word and use the spell check/grammar check option under the “Review” tab, you’ll get a summary showing you total word count, paragraph lengths, etc., along with readability scores, including a grade level reading score. (You may have to go into settings to set this up.)
My stories in Literotica usually end up with a fourth or fifth grade reading level, which is fine, especially since there is typically a lot of dialogue. Readers in general are not looking for a hard slog, they just want the story to roll along.
Formatting: I love to be in control of formatting. I like to be able to use italics (especially in dialogue), although I also try to be careful not to overuse them. If you are submitting to Literotica and you are dropping your text in (as opposed to submitting a Word document, which tends to be much slower in processing) there is no text formatting.
Formatting requires you to insert commands before and after the word or words you want to italicize or apply other formatting to. The “after” is especially important, since if you forget it, everything after that point will be in italics or bold or underlined. (That’s why it’s essential to check your document when it is converted before submitting for publication.)
Here are some basic format commands:
<b> = bold (closing tag </b>
<i> = italicized (closing tag </i>)
<u> = underline (closing tag </u>)
<center>put your text here</center>
<p align="right"> put your right justified text here</p>
"paragraph align": <p align="center">put your centered text here</p>.
<blockquote>put your text here</blockquote> – indents both ends of each line in the section
<br> creates line break – since it just makes a new line, it does not have to be turned off
<p> and </p> start and end a new paragraph, putting a blank line before the next one. Normally, you don't need it, since a blank line does the same thing, or just using the Enter key to start a new line in Literotica. But when using the "align" code, it has to be embedded inside the paragraph code.
“He leaned forward and began sucking wildly on her breasts. A newly adopted puppy could not have been more eager.”
But you should definitely check your darlings carefully and make sure that they work.
Another kind of “darling,” however, is the kind of phrasing you overuse. This is not that it’s wrong exactly, but you use it way too much.
For me, I have a tendency to start sentences with “So.” I mean, it kind of ties the action together. Sometimes it’s actually appropriate. When I’m editing, I do a complete search through the document looking for “ So” to find every sentence that I have started that way and see if I can drop the “So.” I end up getting rid of most of them, but not all.
Same thing for beginning a sentence with “And.” It was liberating to realize that the high school admonition to never start a sentence with “and” could be ignored, and it can add to the rhythm of what you're writing, but you need to keep it to a minimum, so I go through and double check every instance.
“That” is another major check-point. “I said that I had been at home at the time of the murder” is grammatically correct, but today’s editorial practice is to eliminate any unnecessary “that.” That doesn’t mean it’s never appropriate or necessary, but definitely do a search for “that,” and if you can leave it out, get rid of it.
A famous admonition is to never use the word “somehow.” I think the idea is that it’s a lazy way to avoid explaining something. Actually, at the right moment, it can be a perfect way to describe a situation where the character is in denial and /or doesn’t want to accept responsibility for what they’ve done: “Somehow, as she was sitting up telling him this, her left breast and nipple moved right in front of his face, specifically right in front of his mouth.”
Again, “somehow” is definitely worth doing a “search and check” on. Overuse or lazy use makes your writing look lazy.
I tend to use “I mean” a lot, but typically in dialogue. It’s something that people do, so it’s not wrong, but worth checking on to avoid overuse.
I’m probably over fond of the word “actually,” so one more word to add to my checklist.
Each person’s checklist is different. Look at the words or phrases that you use a lot, or even all the time and make your own checklist for editing.
Another thing you may want to check for is paragraph length. In times past, writers often took pride in long and carefully constructed paragraphs laying out “mini-arguments” within the larger argument of the whole piece. If you look at the work of someone like Henry James, you can probably find paragraphs that run a full page or more.
In this age of TikTok, readers' attention span has shrunk drastically. Moreover, a great many readers now read nearly everything on their cell phones, which makes long paragraphs even more daunting. So keep paragraphs, if possible, to two or three sentences. If you find a long paragraph, look for places where you may be able to break it up.
This can actually be a good thing. Readers tend to focus on the beginning and end of anything – the whole piece, the paragraph, the sentence. Having more paragraphs makes it easier for readers to pay attention to more of what you’re saying.
This holds true for dialogue as well. If one character is going on about something, break it up into shorter paragraphs, or, better still, have the other character interact with dialogue of their own. A long exposition can easily feel like an “info dump.”
One other thing I might mention is the question of “of course.” Your spellchecker will almost certainly put a comma after this. If you’re beginning a sentence with “Of course,” consider how it works in the sentence. “Of course, one does have to consider the other person’s argument,” is very different from “Of course she would do that. She’s a bitch.” Different rhythm, different meaning. Don’t follow the spell check suggestions automatically.
In fact, be very careful when you use spellcheckers and especially grammar checkers. Sometimes the suggestions that I have seen are simply bizarre. It’s your work – own it.
One other thing: adverbs. Everyone professes to hate them. I think this hatred is silly and overblown. A lot of people say that instead of using an adverb, you should look for a stronger verb that will incorporate the idea. This can lead to thesaurus-driven writing, with people looking for “just the right word,” or at least a peppy action word.
For example, suppose I say, “John walked quickly.” Lots of people will say, “You should say, ‘John hurried,’ ‘John jogged,’ or pretty much anything that won’t involve an adverb. To me, “John walked quickly,” says exactly what I want. Don’t worry about adverbs.
A note about flow. Rhythm is a key element of writing that keeps the reader engaged. Vary your sentence lengths. Sentence fragments are fine – if you know what you are doing. Vary your paragraph lengths. If you have sections (I break up different parts of the story or even the action with “* * *” to let the reader take a break and also to understand that a new something is starting), you can even very section length.
Readability tip. If you’re using Word and use the spell check/grammar check option under the “Review” tab, you’ll get a summary showing you total word count, paragraph lengths, etc., along with readability scores, including a grade level reading score. (You may have to go into settings to set this up.)
My stories in Literotica usually end up with a fourth or fifth grade reading level, which is fine, especially since there is typically a lot of dialogue. Readers in general are not looking for a hard slog, they just want the story to roll along.
Formatting: I love to be in control of formatting. I like to be able to use italics (especially in dialogue), although I also try to be careful not to overuse them. If you are submitting to Literotica and you are dropping your text in (as opposed to submitting a Word document, which tends to be much slower in processing) there is no text formatting.
Formatting requires you to insert commands before and after the word or words you want to italicize or apply other formatting to. The “after” is especially important, since if you forget it, everything after that point will be in italics or bold or underlined. (That’s why it’s essential to check your document when it is converted before submitting for publication.)
Here are some basic format commands:
<b> = bold (closing tag </b>
<i> = italicized (closing tag </i>)
<u> = underline (closing tag </u>)
<center>put your text here</center>
<p align="right"> put your right justified text here</p>
"paragraph align": <p align="center">put your centered text here</p>.
<blockquote>put your text here</blockquote> – indents both ends of each line in the section
<br> creates line break – since it just makes a new line, it does not have to be turned off
<p> and </p> start and end a new paragraph, putting a blank line before the next one. Normally, you don't need it, since a blank line does the same thing, or just using the Enter key to start a new line in Literotica. But when using the "align" code, it has to be embedded inside the paragraph code.
