Uncle

[paulak_rumin8]

About seven months ago I read a fanfic so good it was scary. Totally threw me off the story I was working on at the time and gave me a lot of incentive to improve my descriptiveness. Today I made the tactical error of revisiting the same fanfic. That piece is still scary good. It is humbling just to read it. I still can't figure out how to incorporate that level of sensory awareness without bogging down the plot. If I had to pinpoint where this writing style excels (and I struggle) it must be in pacing. The author seems to have an intuitive sense for when to amble forward with the plot and when to sit and stay a while.

I wrote the first third of Chapter 7 last night. I was really going to try and finish up that chapter today, but I feel a need to retreat for a bit. Maybe I'll watch some SMK episodes and catch some inspiration.

Maybe if I spent more time reading books I would have a more expansive vocabulary. I have a pretty good range, as far as nouns and adjectives. I feel really stifled when it comes to verbs and adverbs. I keep using the same favorite set over and over, which gets tedious. Describing facial expressions is difficult, too. I can see it, but to get it in written form is a challenge. How many synonyms are there for the word "look"? I need five more than that.

I pulled apart a little piece of chapter 8 to try and rewrite it more vividly, but that is not working out right now and I'm getting frustrated with it. Must remind myself not to read fanfic while I write fanfic. That sure stirs up all the little neuroses.

Comments

[actiaslunaris]

Ah! A challenge! I know I can't think of five, but here I go.

Look: glance, stare, gaze. I seem to have run out.

Hang in there. Do whatever feels right for the story and I'm sure things will pull together.

(When I get to that spot with my writing, I usually tell myself, "Just write, you can fill in details later." Sometimes it actually works.)