Being a Better Writer’s Summer of Cliche Writing Advice: Let Your Readers Breathe · 6:53pm Sep 16th, 2019
Hello readers! Today’s post is going to be short and sweet because … well, to put it bluntly, I am majorly under the weather. Fever last night and through the night, stomach doing more flips than a circus acrobat, and other, less savory stuff.
Anyway, I’m pretty wiped, but I’ve got a drive to deliver to you readers what I’ve promised. So we’re going to go with a shorter post today (I hope) because I do want to curl into a ball somewhere for a little while and just close my eyes.
But first, before I get to that, there were two posts I made this weekend that drew a large number of traffic, and if you’re not a weekend frequenter (it’s not my usual time to post) you may have missed them. There was on titled What Can You Do For Your Favorite Authors about, well, what readers can do for authors they enjoy. Then there was a second post behind it called Invisible Censorship and Books which definitely got some attention, and if you haven’t read it, you should.
Okay, enough of that. I’m going to write about writing now. Or rather, writing advice. That is what the Summer of Cliche Writing Advice is all about. One thing life as an author brings is cliche bits of writing advice from every relative or well-meaning stranger out there.
The thing is, this advice usually comes in the form of quick, easy-to-recall statements that are simple to repeat, and sure, based on actual advice from somewhere. However, as we’ve discovered this summer, the act of truncating these sayings down to something that’s so quick and easy to remember, well … Sometimes it makes it less than useful advice.
Sands, sometimes it wasn’t very good advice to begin with, or has been taken painfully out of context. But either way, we take a look at it, dive into what makes it tick, and whether or not it’s worth following or repeating.
So this week? We’re going to look at a slightly less-common bit of advice, but one many young authors have still likely heard.
Let your readers breathe.
I've never understood this problem. Ever since I first started writing more than 20 years ago, I never had it in my head this idea that only the big stuff was important. In fact, my biggest problem in the earliest years was taking too long to get to those scenes! So when I hear people talk about this, or see other people doing it while reading for my blog, all I can do is scratch my head and wonder where they got this idea from. It's one of the more persistent problems I tend to find with newer writers, which is one of the reasons it frustrates me.
Good luck with your, er, whatever it is that has you under the weather.
Sorry to hear you've been sick. Your ability and determination to get work done anyway (and for free) has not ceased to amaze me.
And hooray for finding a piece of good advice! Though I think I usually have the opposite problem.
Huh. Also got a stomach bug that knocked me out Saturday to Monday, and still suffering.
Peel and thinly slice ( or Julianne, or mince) ginger, and boil it in water for 10-20 minutes depending on how strong you want it with a slice of lemon. Add honey for sweetness to taste. If you want a bit more spice, add Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Cardamom, and if you want some alcohol, some Bourbon.
Now as for the topic on hand, this image is what I think of:
pbs.twimg.com/media/CqJA8ivVMAQszqS.jpg:large
The second thing that comes to mind right now at least was how the plot of Terminator and T2 played out. Even when there was a time-jumping nigh-invincible robot coming after the protagonists, there was still screen-time dedicated to showing how the characters break down a bit and have some time to process.