But that's just my point! You she obeys! She obeys you! There's obeying going on right under my nose!

Wash ,'War Stories'


The Great Write Way, Chapter Two: Twice upon a time...  

A place for Buffistas to discuss, beta and otherwise deal and dish on their non-fan fiction projects.


Amy - May 27, 2006 8:38:51 am PDT #6796 of 10001
Because books.

Profile address, yeah.

Easiest way to calculate -- 250 per page, no matter what your computer count is (this is based on how publishers calculate expected printed length, with white space and margins and blah blah). So a 100,000 word manuscript is 400 pages. You can subtract from there.


Amy - May 27, 2006 8:40:16 am PDT #6797 of 10001
Because books.

But for breaking up dialogue, I go for tagging with action, not direction. So I'd go for

"You want to do what?" Her eyebrows were all the way up. "Are you kidding me?"

This, as TypoBoy also pointed out, is a Very Good Thing. You want to *see* the people in the scene, too.


SailAweigh - May 27, 2006 8:45:18 am PDT #6798 of 10001
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

Erin, backflung.

My own take - and habit, and tastes - run to "tell them to shut the fuck up and do something". If there's going to be a lot of dialogue, please to do something to break up the gab and bring them to life by having them move their arms and legs and bodies. Bit of a soap-box issue for me, but honestly, I've found too many books these days are pure talky-meat. Very few people in the real world do nothing but talk; people live. It's writing them living that makes a book interesting to me.

I don't think Erin's going to have a problem there at all. I found what I'd read so far to be a good mix of action and dialogue, with lots of description. All three chapters were a breeze to read and kept my attention throughout. In fact, I am Oliver Twist: more, please.


deborah grabien - May 27, 2006 8:47:53 am PDT #6799 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

I don't think Erin's going to have a problem there at all. I found what I'd read so far to be a good mix of action and dialogue, with lots of description.

I didn't say I thought Erin was going to have a problem with it. I don't think so either. I was answering a specific question about a general issue.


Ginger - May 27, 2006 8:50:13 am PDT #6800 of 10001
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda

There is a story that Ernest Hemingway was once addressing a group of students. One student pointed out that, in the short story "A Clean Well-lighted Place," there's a long sequence of alternating dialogue between the Old Waiter and the Young Waiter, without any attribution. There's a point where it's really hard to tell who is talking, and it makes a difference in the story. Hemingway read through the exchange and replied, "It's perfectly clear to me."

The moral of the story: Don't be Hemingway.


Amy - May 27, 2006 8:50:59 am PDT #6801 of 10001
Because books.

Snerk.


deborah grabien - May 27, 2006 8:51:04 am PDT #6802 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

The moral of the story: Don't be Hemingway.

hits the floor laughing


SailAweigh - May 27, 2006 8:51:21 am PDT #6803 of 10001
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb

I'll be more specific, Deb. Erin was worried, I should have directed that straight to her. I never thought you thought she would have a problem.

Erin, don't worry! You're dialogue is great! I loved the banter with Mr. Inscrutable and her adding emphasis to it with the pointy shoes of retribution.


Strix - May 27, 2006 8:53:08 am PDT #6804 of 10001
A dress should be tight enough to show you're a woman but loose enough to flee from zombies. — Ginger

and, insent, Sail. Excellent feedback, sugar.

Good info on the dialogue. Having read 8 gazillion books in my life, I too detest he said/gasped/declaimed villianously BWAHAHAHA, but sometime you need someonee else to kick your ass and say SHOW ME, moron!

But, yo, sometimes I just like to be slapped around.

And I am double-spaced and page numbered and editing out italica and vague word choices as we speak.


deborah grabien - May 27, 2006 8:54:42 am PDT #6805 of 10001
It really doesn't matter. It's just an opinion. Don't worry about it. Not worth the hassle.

Heh. I am evil, in that I submit with italics. So far, no problem, but then, I've been with my publisher for years and they're used to it.

I hate underlining with a stone raging passion. Visually for me, it turns the manuscript into a homework assignment from the 1960s.