Heat-induced madness.

[allana]

The heat and guilt over the impending house-move have driven me to crazy craziness.

So far today, I have:

Run round the house and collected all the old, empty, half-finished bottles/jars of everything.
Hoovered--this is a Herculean task. My hair clings to the carpets as if they are angst-ridden lovers....
Cleaned the bathroom floor which was revolting.
Chipped the limescale off the sink in the bathroom.
Done some dusting.

Today's temperature was 27-29C. And I think it's about 80% humidity just now. I don't know how silentinflames has the energy for all this damn housework!!

Is it any wonder that I'm hot, bothered and grumpy? Mercifully the wonderful Dave (whose loveliness cannot be stressed enough--he isn't paying me to say that either!) went to Sainsbury's so I don't need to venture outside where it's hotter than hell.

I've also found my favourite editing book and confirmed that I've done an awful lot of telling instead of showing in my latest WIP. I think I'll be doing some substantial revisions.... It's up to 2900 words currently and I'm determined to finish the first draft before the weekend.

Comments

[madandy.livejournal.com]

Oh God. I need that book. I'm suffering from an attack of "aaargh! I should be a writer by now!"

(Subtext: Going back to work full time makes me want to cut my own throat)

Dusting? Whassat?

[hanks-lil-pit.livejournal.com]

You should most definitely be a writer...

oops...

sorry. Did I say that out loud? Damn.

*laughs behind hand*

I dunno what dusting is though, can't help you there.

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

Dusting? Whassat?

Dusting is that thing you do before you move house, so that you can get all your deposit back.

And you are a writer. Never doubt that. My favourite book is "Self-Editing for Fiction Writers" (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0060545690/qid=1121375433/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl14/104-4714302-8371143?v=glance&s=books&n=507846). It's available through amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. I've linked to the .com as it has substantially more reviews. Alas, you can't look inside the book :/

It's recommended by Uncle Sol (Sol Stein--one of my favourite writing authors), feelforfaith and evaine. I've found it very helpful.

[hanks-lil-pit.livejournal.com]

*sends over a large block of ice and Devon to fan you into submission*

Hey.

You know I've always wondered about that telling versus showing. You know of any great explanations on the web of that problem. I mean, I think I know what it means, but I'd rather be sure.

What are your biggest transgressions?

Hank zee curious

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

From my links list, here are some which talk about showing and telling, and also how to fix it up.

Showing vs telling

http://www.sfwriter.com/ow04.htm
http://www.barbaradawsonsmith.com/showdon'ttell.htm
http://www.vivianbeck.com/writing/tips/dontell.htm
http://www.shirleyjump.com/articles/show-not-tell.htm

It's one of those things which is only a crime when you spend the majority of your story telling. Plus, showing tends to be more immediate and vivid, and you can reveal character subtly through it, instead of having one of your characters play Exposition Fairy.

My transgressions? They are legion. I've managed to cut down on my over-use of adverbs, but I tend to write (a) sentences which talk about someone's personality and (b) long paragraphs of narrative summary. Neither are huge crimes, but I'd like to take the next step and show personality through actions. It would eliminate both of those problems.

I probably do tons of things badly, but those are the two that are bugging me just now. Oh, and my sex scenes are too graphic. Need to pare them down a bit....

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

I want to try the "less is more" thing at least once. I just... feel the need to. This is probably brought on by reading too many books about writing.

Mind you, I'm still quite proud of the scenes in Manipulation. Thanks muchly for the review, btw!

[hanks-lil-pit.livejournal.com]

Sex scenes too graphic...bwahahahahahaha

*cough*

Sorry. Yeah. Anyway. It's not my personal preference but I understand where the need comes from. There are for more people who don't read explicit gay porn than those that do...meaning the buying market is geared towards less is more.

I like less is more, but I like every last detail just as well.

Hank

[silentinflames.livejournal.com]

Here's my trick:

1. I did it all while it was not as hot and as humid as it is now. (Okay, that was coincidence...)

2. I don't have carpets. I loathe carpets. I've got laminate and tile flooring. Muuuuuuch easier to keep clean.

3. I had Sunday breathing down my neck, with guests coming here. This is a brilliant motivation, particularly if you mother is among the guests.

So there. :)

*runs off to check her newest baby on "telling" versus "showing"* :/

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

Those are good tricks!!

[dreammonkey.livejournal.com]

It's getting all lovely and cool here with a nice breeze. This means we can drastically decrease the ice-cube use of past days. (No filthy thoughts please).

Actually managed to sleep under the duvet last night as opposed to sleeping with one toe covered or whatever...

[glam-ang.livejournal.com]

Today is much cooler. In fact, I found myself cursing that the sun had disappeared as I was trying to raise some dough :P

I'd never think anything filthy about you and ice-cubes! Honest! ;)