Monday, 11 June 2001

I survived turning in my 8010 word story. It will be critiqued tomorrow.

I've started a new story. I want to do a fantasy story with beautiful prose, because so many other people have done one and I feel left out. (Actually, I really like writing such stories. Neither the one I just turned in nor either of my submission stories falls into that category, so I haven't gotten any critique of how I write when I write that way. So it seems like a sensible choice.)

This is Kelly Link week. Kelly said she wouldn't be doing any straight lecture type teaching. She is going to just do critiques, and then maybe people who are interested would get together later in the day for more free-wheeling discussion of writing and the writing business.

She did go over a few things that she wanted us to work on. (I don't know if this list came from mistakes she'd found in what she'd seen of our work, or if they were more general than that.)

• She wants us to be very sparing in using adverbs. She said this was mostly just the current fashion--a bias against flowery language. It is my own inclination as well, I think. (I say "I think," because I had searched for "ly- space" in my just-finished story and found many more adverbs than I'd expected.) I think each adverb is a clue that the verb might be weak. Whenever I notice myself typing one, I try to think of a stronger verb that can carry the whole meaning without needing an adverb.
• She thought we should avoid characters that just advance plot (such as by asking the questions that will let the author provide necessary information). Every character should be a source of complication.
• She said she dislikes "wine label" descriptions where you introduce the character with just a couple of adjectives as if that told you anything.
• She said that everything should serve more than one purpose--advance plot, elucidate character, provide description, indicate motive, etc.

The chilly damp weather of the first few days is now only a distant memory. We're still getting cool nights, though, so it is quite tolerable.

My cold isn't bothering me much during the day. Last night I had trouble sleeping because of my stuffy nose. I think I'm past the stage where extra rest will help, though, so did all the ordinary stuff today.

We played Mafia again today, with Kelly Link joining us. I was Mafia the first game and was doing okay, but got killed toward the end and the Mafia lost. The second game I was a villager, but got killed very early. (These people hold grudges against Mafiosi who manage to fool them!)