Being a Better Writer: Catchphrases · 7:42pm Nov 6th, 2023
Hello writers, and welcome back to another installment of Being a Better Writer! Which I hope won’t be too out of sorts. As most of you have likely noted from Friday’s post (which I haven’t written yet, but that’s scheduling for you) I spent most of last week—that’s a lie, all of last week sick. Nothing serious, but sick enough that my brain felt like the hamster wheel was moving at half-speed or less. And when that happens, well …
Let me put it this way. Early on in my writing career I was determined not to let my being sick get in the way of writing. After all, I’m just sitting at a computer typing, right? I might work a little slower, but surely I’d still be able to work, right? So I spent a miserable four days forcing myself to write while I recovered. It was slower, and it meant my quota took sometimes 12 hours to accomplish, but I got it done. And when I recovered, I was happy with my work, right?
Oh no. The moment my head was clear again and I looked over what I’d written, I realized how awful it was. Truly terrible. Not even editing could save it. Characters were completely disconnected from themselves, the dialogue was awful, the pacing was incomprehensibly bad … It was some of the worst writing I’d ever done.
I erased it. Not even editing could have saved it, as it would have been more work trying to rewrite it in editing than it was to simply cut all 16,000-20,000 words and start from where I’d been a week ago (this is because editing can involve multiple rewrites of something, so instead of another 20k worth of work it probably would have been closer to 40k).
Since then, I have learned: Don’t work while sick. Just take the break, relax, watch a movie, read a book, or play a game, and come back when my head is in the right space.
Today? I’m on the mend, so hopefully this post comes across without any issues. And on a side note, maybe a BaBW post on health and self-care for writers would be something you folks would be interested in? Leave a comment.
Anyway, with all that said, let’s get down to business with today’s BaBW topic which is admittedly a bit of an odd one. After all, who needs to think about catchphrases, right?
Well, here’s the thing. Think of a favorite character of yours, maybe one from your childhood, and think about some of the catchphrases they might have had. Can you think of any? I’d wager a number of you could. Furthermore, I’d wager further still that if you thought about it longer, you’d start be able to do the same with friends and family members.
But before we dive too deeply into things, let’s have the break so that this post isn’t dominating too much of Unusual Things’ front page. Hit the jump, and let’s keep talking about catchphrases.
Spoon!