Coming from a different writing perspective, I was surprised by the vehemence of some writers to phrases like, "I wish we went with them," she groaned. The 'she groaned' is considered a saidism.
Now, I love these quick descriptive phrases. However, when I started to look at them from this new perspective, I found the challenge fun and the outcome of such worth that I love to work on them.
As a writer, they can pull you out of the story. To prevent that, I write the way I'm used to - then I go back in the edit phase and edit them. It's quite hard work - at the beginning - but when I'm finished, the piece is more vibrant, clearer, can take care of descriptive difficulties, and fills me with satisfaction.
I still use 'she groaned' and such, but with decreased frequency.
Yes, learning to use it sparingly. LIke using "ly" sparingly. :-D
ReplyDeleteI know I use lots of saidisms, and also lots of "ly" words. Hopefully, that doesn't take my readers out of the story too often! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think I have the opposite problem-- putting too many descriptions of people's faces instead of using saidisms. Ah, technique! Always a learning process...
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