Writing class has been suspended for the month of December. I'm still writing, and reading, quite a bit. I've read a few more books on the craft of writing, and I think I've been able to better know and strengthen my characters using new techniques. The book "A Writer's Guide to Characterization" is helping. I'm focusing in on the main few to start. I've also went back and revised a few scenes by diving deeper into the thesaurus to find better verb choices. It has improved, I can tell.
I was reading King's "Secret Windows" and picked up a few of the books he reviewed there to get examples of characterization. One of them is "Haunting of Hill House" by Jackson. I'm studying how she made the character Eleanor develop. I'm also seeing examples of how not to do it from Herbert's "The Rats". Great story, not so great characterization.
For the rest of the month, I'm continuing to crank out scenes from the next revision. I'm adding new pieces in where there are holes, and re-writing the last revision to feather in with the new revision. I'm trying to complete a scene every day or two. I hope that work slows down enough where I can focus on writing more during the next few weeks.
I'll report back later. Keep writing out there!
I was reading King's "Secret Windows" and picked up a few of the books he reviewed there to get examples of characterization. One of them is "Haunting of Hill House" by Jackson. I'm studying how she made the character Eleanor develop. I'm also seeing examples of how not to do it from Herbert's "The Rats". Great story, not so great characterization.
For the rest of the month, I'm continuing to crank out scenes from the next revision. I'm adding new pieces in where there are holes, and re-writing the last revision to feather in with the new revision. I'm trying to complete a scene every day or two. I hope that work slows down enough where I can focus on writing more during the next few weeks.
I'll report back later. Keep writing out there!