Nice Bit of Showcasing and Feedback

Just wanted to give a thank you to all those over at the Murder by 4 blog. I sent in an excerpt from my unpublished mystery novel, Dying to Dream, for submission to the blog's monthly writing critique. The authors have given me feedback and it is much appreciated. Hopefully, my novel finds a home someday with proud publisher parents who will want to adopt it! Again, thanks. Maybe those who drop in here to read this will drop in over there to Murder by 4. It's a great blog with lots of interesting and useful tidbits. Enjoy!

A Tip or Two...

Monica Wood in her book, Description, has some final thoughts at the end. She advises writers with a tip or two. I thought it would be nice to share some with you. And perhaps throw in a couple of my own.

Tip One: Colors. Think outside the crayon box. There's more to life than basic red, blue, green, and so on. What about russet when describing the leaves? Or even giving other descriptive words to naming your colors, like storm-colored or mustard-colored? Be creative and unique.

Tip Two: Adverbs. Many are guilty of tipping the scales when it comes to adverb usage. The author suggests circling them, or perhaps you can highlight them (use the highlighting feature in Microsoft Word if you are doing this on computer). Such an approach will make them obvious to you. Then you can begin the process of tossing them out where needed! One of the situations where writers tend to use adverbs too much is tacking them onto "he said" "she said". Example: "he said loudly" or "she said angrily". Stop it. Stop being so lazy and try harder to be creative.

Tip Three: Adjectives. Do it again...circle, highlight. You want description, of course. But let's not overdo. The broad, green, leafy tree shadowed the skinny, brown-haired, freckle-faced, tired boy. Oh, boy. Stop it. Again, it's too much, too overpowering. Sometimes less really is more. And while you're at it, quit grabbing for the thesaurus or clicking on that shift +F7 every chance you get. Sometimes plain words work just fine. They seem more realistic, for instance, in dialog. After all, do you have a thesaurus in your hand while you talk? I hope not. :-)

Tip Four: Dialog with a smattering of description. When your characters speak, they can be doing other things, too. Nothing wrong with a little multi-tasking. Plus it will break the monotony of lengthy, back-and-forth conversation. Example: "Have you heard from your mom?" Jane glanced up from the table to see Mary's reaction. "You haven't mentioned anything about her recently." Or something like that. Readers can then "see" what's going on with the characters as well as hear what they have to say.

Tip Five: Read aloud. This is one of mine. I've written this before, but it doesn't hurt repeating. When you write, especially dialog, read it back to yourself, but out loud. This will help you decide if it makes sense, sounds realistic, or if you need to polish it up.

Tip Six: Names. Okay, this one may seem trivial, but I'm going to throw it out there anyway. I think it wise to give considerable thought to the choice of names for your characters. I think some names just sound too over the top. Or they don't seem to fit the character. Try getting to know your characters, and then give them names. Again, this may not seem very important, but as a reader as well as writer, I've often wondered about name choices.

Okay, I think that's enough for this time. I hope they help. Give me feedback. If there are others you would like to share? Drop a comment or two :-)

Joining A Writers' Forum -- Pros and Cons In My Opinion

I know, I know... it's been a while, a long, long while. My time away from here has been well spent... more or less. I wanted to try out a website --a writers' forum for showcasing and critiquing work--to see how beneficial it might be. After a couple of months, I've come to some interesting observations and conclusions.

The website is fanstory.com and is open to anyone who is serious about writing, sharing their work and/or critiquing others. After spending what I felt was an adequate amount of time being actively involved both in submitting writing pieces and reviewing others' works, I found both pros and cons to the site.

I'll start with the negatives. First of all, while other writers' sites are free to join, fanstory has a price, if you want to partake in all features such as submitting your writing or entering contests. It's $6.95 a month or $48 for a year's membership. For limited use, there is a "free" membership. Once you join, you may post as many writings as you like, though you may be limited to how many you post in a twenty-four hour period, depending on the category. You may enter contests, but many of them cost member dollars. Member dollars can be accumulated by reviewing others' works. When you search for pieces to review, you will find that each offers anywhere from 2 cents to over a dollar in exchange for your comments. Each time you review you add the "money" to your "account". Then after you accumulate a significant amount you can use your member dollars to help promote your posted work. Also, member dollars can be purchased with a charge card, if you don't review that much and need the bucks. I think you can see where I am going with this. Members who post work that offers a sizable amount of member dollars and cents will get the most reviews because members want to accumulate dollars, as much as and as quickly as they can, so they in turn can offer big bucks to promote their work to get lots of reviews. Whew! Are you as dizzy as I am? Do you feel like the mouse on the treadmill? As for contests, many of them, which can be created by members as well as the fanstory staff, may be free or may charge member dollars to enter. Yet, another way for you to make money as well as spend it.

However, there are several benefits to this forum. First, there are many stellar reviewers on board. They offer some great insight and are painfully honest at times. But then again, isn't that what you want? Not a pat on the back from Aunt Maude, telling you what a wonderful writer you are, when in fact your work may be crap. So, in this respect you may have the opportunity to improve some aspects of your writing. Another perk involves reading others' works. You get the opportunity to see what's out there, both good and bad. And in reviewing you may learn things as well. With the contests, though you may find some that cost to enter, if you win, you take away the "pot" and with the staff generated contests the winner may take away a gift card for as much as $100. Overall, this forum encourages you to write, to keep practicing your craft. Rather like taking an exercise class to keep you disciplined and in shape. In my experience, I came away with a splendid reviewer who now critiques my work through an email exchange. I feel fortunate in that respect.

So, would I recommend fanstory? I think it is worth trying out, if you have a lot of time to devote to it. The site has a significant following and many neat features to participate in. It is well-organized, very user friendly, and monitored for any inappropriate activity (at least that is what they claim). The main drawback -- and this is what makes it less than fair -- is the use of member dollars. Too often, though not always, the work that gets the most reviews and wins many of the contests is the one that offers the most member dollars as a payoff. Still, it is worth a look. It doesn't cost anything to peruse the site, or even to partake in some of the features. But for the "full course meal" you're going to have to pay. There are other writers' forums out there. You should check them out before spending money on any. Happy writing!