Activity for Ken Mohnkernâ€
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| Edit | Post #37187 | Initial revision | — | over 4 years ago |
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A: Should you avoid redundant information after dialogue? Redundancy is neither good nor bad. It either works for you or doesn't. In your brief lines, you have a lot of redundancy that, not knowing the context, can probably be removed without sacrificing understandability. > "Here's the chip. It's very old so make sure you take care of it." "In question" ... (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: When should the dialogue reference be written, before or after the dialogue? For me, it all has to do with rhythm. Read the conversation aloud. You'll hear where dialog tags feel like they should and shouldn't be. This is one of the ways that reading a lot educates writers about how to write. As you read you're -- among other things -- training your ear for that rhythm. (more) |
— | almost 5 years ago |
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A: What are some effective ways to gain readers? It looks like you're looking for readers of your works in progress. My instinct with that was never to use the shotgun method. I've always just sent my drafts to one or two trusted readers. That might work for you if you're looking for feedback on drafts. (Even then I temper their feedback based on ... (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: Capitalization after use of colon? Lots of opinions here, but let's look to a higher authority. According to the Chicago Manual of Style, the word after a colon is lowercase, even if it starts a complete sentence, unless it's a proper noun. The exception is when the colon introduces multiple sentences or when it introduces speech. (more) |
— | about 5 years ago |
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A: What should I do if I can't properly formulate the personality of one of my characters in my novel? I've never done character charts. When I want to get to know a character better I put them in a bunch of scenes. They're in a conversation with their boss while they have a stone in their shoe. They're flirting with someone while drunk. They get pulled over for speeding and they're late for their wed... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: Why do literary magazines insist on cover letters? I read submissions to a literary journal. I never look at the cover letters. They probably matter to the editors if the piece gets accepted, but not to us, the initial readers. Keep them brief. Mention a couple other stories you've published or someone you studied under or a place where you took clas... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
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A: How can I stop overusing "I" in my writing? I see this a lot in unpublished writing (including my own early drafts): "I entered the room and saw a red couch and a bookcase. I thought it was a particularly nice red. I heard the clock ticking." Remember that we, the readers, know that the words and ideas are coming from you, the writer. So you ... (more) |
— | almost 6 years ago |
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A: "Thought" Verbs: A sign of weak writing or a stylistic choice? Often, sentences that use "thought" verbs tend to provide distance between the reader and the action. This might be intentional or not. Consider your example, rewritten without the "I thought about" and "I realized": > I lay back down. I wasn't unhappy anymore; I no longer had this pressure in my ch... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: Dialogue Writing and Word Repetition To learn punctuation and capitalization, get your hands on a style guide appropriate for your language (or region or company). I have the Chicago Manual of Style and the AP Manual. Also, read a lot. Works published by reputable publishers will (usually) be proofread closely and reflect the punctuatio... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: Details: How do you describe a character's clothing in a story? You have tons of options, depending on the context and the purpose of that sentence: - If we already know the scene is at a football field, then "Aiden watched Number Ten running on the field." ("Football" is redundant.) - If we already know the character Aiden is watching the activities at the foo... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: How to describe a female character's figure without comedy? Read non-comedy books. Learn from other authors how to handle those things. (This is how writers learn how to write.) Also, remember that you don't need to describe how your characters look unless it's relevant to the story. In my own reading it's rare to see a character's physical bodies described.... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
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A: First Person vs. Third Person: Advantages and Disadvantages? A writing instructor once told me that first person should only be used if one of the following cases is true: 1. The narrator is not the main character. So we witness the main character's story through the eyes of a third party. As in The Great Gatsby and A Prayer for Owen Meany. 2. The narrator'... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: Is it okay to have my family edit my book? You should have someone with proofing and editing skills proof and edit your work. If you have one of those people in your family, then go ahead. A professional editor should be able to put aside familial biases. (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: What is the best way to generate ideas? Some of us create a character and place him or her in a situation and just write. Introduce another character and put the two of them in conversation. See what appears on the page. Write ten more pages of scenes, expanding on what's come before. Have your readers look at your work and weigh in on the... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
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A: How many metaphors? @MarkBaker is absolutely correct. I'll add that metaphors occur in more than just sentence structure. Even when you write in a way that doesn't include sentence-level metaphors and similes, your readers might find objects in your story that are metaphors for larger themes. Think of Moby Dick's white... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Issue with flow of dialogue Read a lot. Pay attention to how your favorite authors present dialog. You might find that written dialog doesn't include everything everyone says from when they meet to when they part. It starts when the important stuff begins and ends when it ends. It leaves out all the hellos and how are you's, a... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: Can this sentence have the same detail and yet be simple to comprehend? It's a complex sentence, with a complex structure and many adjectives. I, for one, love a well-constructed long sentence, so I won't suggest breaking it up. Try doing what the midwife does: reconstruct it from its parts. Start with the basics: subject, verb, and object. Keep those clear as you fill ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
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A: How to indicate that another point is mentioned withou explicitly saying that? You can provide a signal at the start of each point. For example, the first paragraph can begin, "First, I want to say blah blah blah..." and the second paragraph can continue your point. The third paragraph begins, "Secondly, there's this..." And the fourth paragraph signals itself as the last poin... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Where can I find a market for "offbeat" short stories about God's relationship with us? Look in the collections of stories you have on your shelves. Usually in the back of the book is a list of places where the stories have been previously published. If you're reading the kinds of stories you write, then you now have a list of journals that publish stories like yours. (It's irrelevant ... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Writing technique resources Writers read. We read lots of things in order to learn from our betters how they do what they do. Read the instructional blogs and books, but being a reader who picks apart stories and sentences to see how they achieve their effects will provide better, more inspiring, instruction. (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: Best platform to run an online writing contest? A lot of literary journals manage submissions via Submittable. I've never used it as an admin, but I know you can assign stories to particular readers and it keeps track of correspondence between you and the authors, and of readers' votes and comments. For submitters, it keeps track of what's been s... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
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A: How to seek an audience? Forget about promotion. Just write your stories. Submit them for publication in journals and magazines. (I much prefer getting my stories into print rather than getting them online.) If you get to the point where you're working with a publishing company (say, on a book), they'll advise you on how to ... (more) |
— | about 8 years ago |
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A: How do I find flaws in a character I'm building? What I do as I'm discovering my characters is to just write them into scene after scene. Don't worry about whether the scene has anything to do with your story. Put him in an argument with his wife. Sit him next to a drunk at the bar. Put a pebble in his shoe. Have the neighbor knock on his door at d... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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A: How can I catch more errors when I proofread? I thought the obvious answer was this: Have someone else proof your work. No matter how many times I go over my story, a reader will still find stuff I've missed. They'll also find sentences that I read as perfectly sensible, but that they can't parse. (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
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A: How do I tell my short story? I once heard from a trusted teacher that first person should only be used when either (a) the main character is someone other than the narrator or (b) the narrator has a unique voice. An example of (a) is A Prayer for Owen Meany, where the narrator, Johnny, is telling us about Owen. For (b), see Mar... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |