Deb, are you on AIM?

Deena, insending.

Holli, I am now...

And returned, Deb.

Today my writers group told me the scene from Anna I brought it was "very visual." That's a first, and something of a triumph. Problem is, it doesn't yet feel like an organic part of my writing. I think, "Oh yeah, there's that visual description thing my betas always say I lack. Should try to put something in. Let's see, what would my POV character be noticing? That the stuffed-shirt lieutenant who'll eventually be the villain of the piece is practically the only person left in the unit wearing a completely regulation uniform, with shiny silver buttons and well-polished boots. OK, I'll describe that, and contrast it to Mr. POV's rather frayed jacket and the boots he looted off a French corpse." And apparently it works, but I have to think about it hard. Dialogue is by far the most natural kind of writing for me, and I can't figure out why, since I'm rather introverted and hardly a witty conversationalist.

That's interesting, Susan. I think I'm the opposite, because of the time I spent writing text rpgs, where it's all sensual and the players fill in all the dialogue. I notice that my most recent piece is all description and action and introverted What They Feeeel, and very little actual conversation.

I like it balanced, but you have to go with the requirements of the scene, I think.

I couldn't write something like a text rpg to save my life, because it'd break my brain having to describe EVERYTHING.

The other cool thing about the new story is when I was writing the one before it, I thought I'd never come up with two characters I liked more than my hero and heroine. Now that I'm into the new one, I'm enjoying its protagonists even more, and my writing group is already half in love with the hero. Though I'm worried that I've made him a little too good in all his common decency, innate generosity, and subtle courage. Must ponder his flaws.

Susan, I had one person tell me the characters in my books are too civilised.

I pointed out they were Brits. Left the nice brawly American lady to figure out why that made a difference...

Heh. I had to work at convincing a member of my group that my hero, Jack, who's been in Portugal and Spain more or less continuously for three years or so, would speak pretty good Spanish. Because Brits don't usually bother learning other people's languages. I stuck to my guns, since the Brit in question is smart, curious, and cognizant of the value of speaking the language of people who might offer an allied army useful intelligence and support.

Thing about Jack is that he reminds me a lot of my father--I didn't write him that way on purpose, but it occurred to me after I'd written a little from his POV that if there's ever a book I should dedicate to Dad, this is the one. So now I'm trying to decide what Dad's flaws are, just to see if that'd work for Jack, and, you know, I'm lucky, because it's hard. I mean, he loses his temper if you push him really hard, and he doesn't suffer fools gladly, but I'd have a hard time writing those as anything other than virtues...