Writer's Wednesday: Some Writing Errors to Avoid

 I've been reading and listening to books more than I'm writing, but my writer brain is clearly turned on, because I've stumbled on--or over--some writing mistakes that I certainly felt shouldn't have gotten by the editor. 

The worst, a constant irritant in an otherwise pleasant (if somewhat saccharine) series, have to do with what I'd have to classify as info dumps. I'll call this one, "The dog had three legs, he remembered." The particular author I'm listening to (who I see no reason to name) has a tendency that I don't think I noticed so much when it was on paper, to use "John remembered that blah blah" in order to get info dumps out there. To make it worse, some of them don't really even matter to the story at any time. 

A subset of this, equally a clunky device for sharing background the reader may need but shouldn't trip over (from a different writer, whose works I also usually really enjoy), is, "She remembered she'd been meaning to ask about X." Apropos of nothing, we learn of something that suddenly will become important to know.

Back to the first author, another thing that's irritating me as that at times the books, set in an Irish village, read as though they are meant to introduce the American reader to the language, customs, and culture of Ireland, rather than just to tell a story. I wonder at times in an editor told the author he needed to explain all this stuff for then poor idiots across the pond. The result is lots of awkward leveraging of "he knew the Americans would call that soccer." (In fact, do I have hold of an edition meant for the US market, or is it all that way, because the sport is consistently referred to as soccer by the narrator and I think even the characters, which jars on my ear every time).

Enough of my ranting. I think it boils down to: if your backstory and local colo(u)r don't fit into the story organically, leave them the heck out! This is a hard one for me to believe sometimes, but: your reader doesn't need to know everything you do about the characters, the setting, or the history.

Photo Friday: Random shots

 I didn't feel like putting together a proper post for this week, so I'm just going to share a few random photos from my recent trip to Colorado (I wasn't traveling frivolously, lest you wonder. I was delivering Eldest Son to Boulder to start graduate school. I admit that while I was there I took the opportunity to do some backpacking, though!).

A too-friendly deer

One of the millions of Colorado trees killed by bark beetles.

Virga--rain shafts that never reach the ground (though some very soon after this made the ground very wet indeed).

Nevada sunset

More Nevada sunsets

A bit of the burn area in Glenwood Canyon along I70 in Colorado. We were lucky that the freeway reopened a day before we headed back west. (Photo on my phone by Griffen Dempsey)

Train crossing the Bonneville Salt Flats

I promised you random! I think that delivers :)

All images and text ©Rebecca M. Douglass, unless otherwise indicated.
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!

IWSG: The best Beta-partner? & Writer's Update

 

 It's the first Wednesday of the month, and that means IWSG posting! 

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!

The awesome co-hosts for the September 2 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, J Lenni Dorner, Deniz Bevan, Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, and Louise - Fundy Blue! 

Every month there is an OPTIONAL question:

September 2 question - If you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner, who would it be and why?

 ***

I've had some fun thinking about who I'd like to have as my beta partner. I mean, I already have some of the best, members of this group with a keen eye to plot and prose. But what could I learn from Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie? 

Maybe not as much as I think. I love their books, but there's no denying their writing styles are dated. So maybe I can think about someone contemporary... I'll pick on a few mystery writers I really admire, and whose style I think would compliment my own. Here's the short list off the top of my head: 

Jacqueline Winspeare. Her Maisie Dobbs mysteries are beautifully crafted, both plot-wise and linguistically. And I bet she could help me get a grip on my characters' feelings. 

Rhys Bowen: Her "Royal Spyness" series proves she knows a lot about goofiness and sometimes wild plots, developing characters that are just a touch over the top, and how to balance humor with murder.

Elena Taylor/Elena Hartwell. She knows a thing or two about quirky small towns, as well as about humor in murder mysteries. Plus she set her first series in Bellingham, WA, just a stone's throw from Pismawallops Island. 

Finally, just for the sake of some of the best prose I've ever read, I'll take Ivan Doig (see an example of my ravings about his writing here or here). 

***

Now for my writer's update. I spent a lot of the last month on the road, or in the wilderness, so much of my writing was mundane journalling, with some less mundane entries, and a little work on the main character of the new mystery series I'm contemplating. 

But all is not about hiking: I did manage to complete and send in my entry for the new IWSG anthology, and am still plowing, little by little, through the edits on Death By Donut.  I have a lot more travel on my agenda now through October, but I do have some hopes of completing the book and bringing it out early in the new year, though I don't think I can make the pre-Xmas target I was trying for before the world turned upside down.

My mind wants to skip around, too. I still have other stories and some anthologies in mind to work on. Maybe as my ability to focus returns (not that it's ever great), and when I settle in this fall to stay home for a couple of months (mostly), I'll be able to at least edit the shorts and put together those anthologies! 

Every word written, every page edited, is a triumph.

This month's photo treat: a couple of really nice moose. Meese? Mooses?

 ###

All images and text ©Rebecca M. Douglass, unless otherwise indicated.
As always, please ask permission to use any photos or text. Link-backs appreciated!