Descriptions

At Saturday's Skyline meeting, a fellow writer said (about the chapters I presented) that she had trouble visualizing exactly where my characters were. She said that, as she read, she thought of places described in other books and used that description to 'see' the what of what I was writing.

I found that quite disturbing. It means, to me, that she is being taken out of the story. That is horrid news. But -- easily remedied. I now have a reason to go back and delve deeper into my scenes and make them more real, make them more alive, make them more vivid. For me, it is an easy fix. I know what these places look like. They are burnt into my mind by the Muse. I am not sharing what I see with my readers. Good point. I'm so glad I have a great group of critiquers to rely upon.

I also found it interesting. Does that mean that my book reminds her of such and such a classic? Does that mean that my writing is as good as, say, Shakespeare? *g*

Another little note. I once wrote a 500,000+ word fantasy epic. It was my first attempt at writing. I made ten thousand mistakes. I love the book. It's got over 50 characters, lots of subplots, and covers one man's life, all 90+ years. I learned how to keep track of all the years and the events and the characters by focusing completely on the script. During the almost eight years that it took me to write that book, I honed the skill of focusing.

With 'Blue' I've discovered that I can still write and 'know' where I'm at in the story and who belongs where, etc. etc. etc. I don't have nearly the characters and such, but I am pleased that I don't need copious sticky notes - just a couple.

As for tools to use, I find my handy-dandy droid works great for helping me with this aspect of writing. Today, I was reading over the final MS of 'Blue' without a pencil. I wanted to make sure the flow worked. Well, I couldn't go very long without wanting to correct some things I found in it. So I pulled out my droid and sent myself message after message. The changes weren't monumental, but they were necessary.

I've spoken about tools before. I urge you to use anything and everything at your disposal to keep yourself on track and to help you, when the time comes for publishing.

Life is full of tracks. 

PS - Sent out 'Sorrysorrysorry' to another publisher. Fingers and toes crossed.