tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1847902007209931042.post5091239290295848463..comments2024-01-05T05:46:30.140-08:00Comments on Angie's Desk: SF WorkshopAngiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11920578701763415331noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1847902007209931042.post-40609112493574233102017-05-02T14:55:41.201-07:002017-05-02T14:55:41.201-07:00Charles -- seriously, if you ever have a chance to...Charles -- seriously, if you ever have a chance to take a writing class with her (one of the genre-focused ones) do it. Spend the money, take vacation, and go. The other workshops are good too, I've raved about them before here, but if you want to focus on the writing, these are the classes to take.<br /><br />I'd love to share a classroom with you some time. :)<br /><br />AngieAngiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920578701763415331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1847902007209931042.post-71058897470214860972017-05-02T08:35:16.275-07:002017-05-02T08:35:16.275-07:00Sounds great. I've heard she's a very fin...Sounds great. I've heard she's a very fine teacher. I know I could benefit from this kind of stuff.Charles Gramlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02052592247572253641noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1847902007209931042.post-31001613959744824952017-04-29T05:30:39.237-07:002017-04-29T05:30:39.237-07:00Linda -- that's where I am right now, having t...Linda -- that's where I am right now, having to think about it. Definitely looking forward to the point where it loads into the back of my brain and comes automatically. [nod]<br /><br />And I know what you mean about some writers doing it badly. :P I remember there was a thing going around among romance writers in the late 80s about using all five senses. Someone had their character walking along through a house, in their way to go somewhere and actually go someplace with a purpose, but then -- screech! -- they stopped in front of a fruit bowl on a table. The fruit bowl had a peach in it. Character looked at the peach, noted its color and its ripe roundness, then picked it up and felt its soft, fuzzy skin, lifted it to her nose and smelled its sweet scent, then took a bite and tasted the sweet, syrupy peachiness of it. I forget what they did for sound -- maybe dropped it and heard it make a squishy PLOP! when it hit the floor? [eyeroll] At any rate, that was it, they had their five senses, and the character went on walking to wherever they were going, to do whatever they were going to do.<br /><br />Yeah, definitely doing it wrong. :/<br /><br />I haven't heard anyone say writers should just cut way back on descriptions, though. That sounds like horribly stupid advice. I mean, that's like observing that Electra and Catwoman both bombed, and deciding that movies with female leads bomb and shouldn't be made anymore. (Oh, wait, that's pretty much how Hollywood thinks!) But seriously, if something sucks, then having more of that sucky thing is of course bad. The trick isn't to just keep doing less of the sucky thing. The trick is to stop sucking. [wry smile]<br /><br /><i>That's why you're getting form rejects.</i><br /><br />Most likely.<br /><br />AngieAngiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11920578701763415331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1847902007209931042.post-18727232862803441172017-04-29T05:03:29.008-07:002017-04-29T05:03:29.008-07:00Details like this I spent almost a year just strug...Details like this I spent almost a year just struggling to get it into the story when I write. I had to consciously think, "I need sense of smell," or I'd skip right into my default. I'm only starting to get it in more automatically.<br /><br />One of the problems is that description tends to get a bad rap. Writers do it badly, so everyone says to do it in drips so you don't have too much ... and that's just horrible advice because no one's explaining how to do it right, only not to do it too much. I've actually seen advice where the writer says not to put in the five senses or do a lot of description and other writers agree because they saw one book where a writer went overboard. And all I can do is think, "That's why you're getting form rejects."Linda Maye Adamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07203020058437093901noreply@blogger.com