Tag: writing

Hello! Would you mind doing an example of not using filter words in a first person point of view? While I know that you can just switch out the pronouns for I/me/my, I just want to see it in action and when you should (and shouldn’t) use the filter words. Thank you!

thewinterotter:

the-writers-society-deactivated:

Hi there! I would love to! I think I’ll start out with an example with filter words and then cut out the filter words to show you the difference.

For those of you who haven’t seen my post on Filter Words.

Now, for the example:

I felt a hand tap my shoulder as I realized I had made a huge mistake. I knew the consequences would be unsettling, but I had no other choice. I saw the light of my desk lamp bounce off of the officer’s badge before I had even turned around. It seemed like I always found my way into trouble.

It was the first thing off the top of my head, so it’s a bit rough sounding….

Now for without filter words (And a bit of revision):

A hand tapped my shoulder as it dawned on me: I had just made a huge mistake. The consequences would be unsettling if I didn’t get out of this mess, but I had no other choice. The light of my desk lamp bounced off of the officer’s badge. I always found my way into trouble.

By taking out filter words, you get right to the point.

I’d also like to add a few more notes that I didn’t have the chance to post previously.

Some Examples of Filtering:

  • I heard a noise in the hallway.
  • She felt embarrassed when she tripped.
  • I saw a light bouncing through the trees.
  • I tasted the sour tang of raspberries bursting on my tongue.
  • He smelled his teammate’s BO wafting through the locker room.
  • She remembered dancing at his wedding.
  • I think people should be kinder to one another.

How can you apply this?

Read your work to see how many of these filtering words you might be leaning on. Microsoft Word has a great Find and Highlight feature that I love to use when I’m editing. See how you can get rid of these filtering words and take your sentences to the next level by making stronger word choices. Take the above examples, and see how they can be reworked.

  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: I heard a noise in the hallway.
  • DESCRIBE THE SOUND: Heels tapped a staccato rhythm in the hallway.
  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: She felt embarrassed after she tripped.
  • DESCRIBE WHAT THE FEELING LOOKS LIKE: Her cheeks flushed and her shoulders hunched after she tripped.
  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: I saw a light bouncing through the trees.
  • DESCRIBE THE SIGHT: A light bounced through the trees.
  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: I tasted the sour tang of raspberries bursting on my tongue.
  • DESCRIBE THE TASTE: The sour tang of raspberries burst on my tongue.
  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: He smelled his teammate’s BO wafting through the locker room.
  • DESCRIBE THE SMELL: His teammate’s BO wafted through the locker room.
  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: She remembered dancing at his wedding.
  • DESCRIBE THE MEMORY: She had danced at his wedding.
  • FILTERING EXAMPLE: I think people should be kinder to one another.
  • DESCRIBE THE THOUGHT: People should be kinder to one another.

See what a difference it makes when you get rid of the filter? It’s simply not necessary to use them. By ditching them, you avoid “telling,” your voice is more active, and your pacing is helped along.

The above list is not comprehensive as there are many examples of filtering words. The idea is to be aware of the concept so that you can recognize instances of it happening in your work. Be aware of where you want to place the energy and power in your sentences. Let your observations flow through your characters with immediacy.

Ok, sorry for the lengthy answer, I know you just wanted an example…. sorry!

If you have any questions, feel free to ask at my ask box

THIS IS SO GREAT. I dind’t even know there was a term for this (I should have figured, right, because writers have words for everything), but it’s one of those things that being aware when you’re doing it (and editing it right the fuck out) will improve your writing SO MUCH. Removing the filtering helps to draw your readers more intimately into the action of your story, and as the text above says, adds power and immediacy to every sentence. THIS IS SUCH AN IMPORTANT TIP I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT IT.

Hey, so, this is kind of a stupid question, but– all my novels depend on people growing closer together within the time frame of the novel. This might be in a platonic way, or a romantic way, but no matter what, the characters need to go from strangers to at least good friends who trust each other, if not lovers. But I don’t know how to do that. I’ve been trying to figure it out for essentially the entirety of my writing life, but I don’t know! Help?

legit-writing-tips:

You said it yourself – building trust between your characters is instrumental for what you want to happen. So let’s look at how trust is built in relationships. 

1. Communication. No relationship grows without healthy, two-sided communication. So give your characters opportunities to talk to one another. If they’re not naturally chatty, force them into situations where they’ll need to or want to speak to one another. 

2. Trust is based on history – not on short-term decisions. To that end, as your characters begin to develop relationships with each other, be sure that they begin to consider the consequences of their actions in the long term, and not just in the short term (unless their character dictates otherwise).

3. Be sure your characters are honoring their commitments to one another, both large and small. If someone says to another character, “I’ll keep you safe,” be sure they show that they’re helping to keep that character safe in some way. 

4. Ensure that your characters are showing one another respect. Even if they don’t have respect for one another at first, this is something that can grow over time. Gimli and Legolas don’t respect each other’s mutual races at first, but getting to know one another allows them to gain a respect for each other’s heritage despite their initial heritages in LoTR.

Above all, remember that relationships are a constant work in progress. So as you’re building your plot, remember to also be building your relationships. You may even build a chart for each relationship that coincides with the plot, and scribble in notes that help you figure out what should happen with each relationship so you can be sure to write in certain details and moments to help with the development of their relationships as you go along. Ultimately, it’s all about remembering to let the relationships constantly grow, along with the characters. 

Whose Opinion Matters

metteivieharrison:

List of People Whose Opinion on Your Writing Doesn’t
Matter

1.      Your
mother, father, or any of your siblings.

2.      Your
spouse or your in-laws.

3.      Your
own children.

4.      Your
BFFs.

5.      Your
high school English teacher.

6.      Your
college English teacher.

7.      A
fancy writer who said once in a talk you remember not to write about fairies.

8.      All
the agents who have rejected you.

9.      Someone
offering to take your money to give you a blurb, review, or to fix your grammar
and “edit” your manuscript for submission.

10.  Your
writing group.

List of People Whose Opinion on Your Writing Does
Matter:

1.      You

2.      Possibly:
your agent or editor.

I DID IT… I just passed 37,500 words… my book is 50% done! 

Fishsticks is at 34,080 words now. I wrote 2,600 today. Trying to focus on it rather than how crappy I’m feeling, which is kind of working. Sort of. 

ugh

Yesterday I went through 80 manuscript pages, marked them all up, moved things around, and got it ready for novel section 3. 

Today, I spent my lunch break breaking section 3 down into scenes and putting them in chronological order. I worked up a revised outline for section 3.1 and 3.3, and began the write-up for 3.2 on the train ride home. 

3.2 is otherwise known as “the training montage” and I have resisted working on it the entire 8something years that this novel has been a thing. That’s because I have to give myself the authority to make executive decisions regarding the book’s mythology, and allow myself to roll with it. This is a scary thing to do. But after breaking THAT down into a 4 step, tangible process for my MC (I love lists okay), I think I’m ready.

The end result, I hope, is that people will read it and go “WTF why did this person figure all of this stuff out and write it down? who does this???” 

and I’ll nod and go “ikr?”

HOPEFULLY, in the end, they will laugh and say that it’s ridiculous but it was a fun ride. Because I’ll be honest, it’s way over the top but I am excited and that’s probably the best thing I can hope for this far along into the project. 

(I sometimes think about going back to the first novel I wrote and revising, but my eyes kind of just glaze over…) 

Tomorrow, I start the retyping/revising/gap-filling process. This is the turning point section. Once it’s done, the book is more than half-way finished. The set up to the climax, the climax, and the denouement will be all that’s left. 

Of course, I know that I have about 50 pages in section 4 that are just going to be straight up thrown in the trash, but shh let’s not think about that for now. 

I wonder if anyone will notice the subtle references to ninja turtles that I put into my books? 

Today, someone at work asked what my novel was about. I stared for a little while and then said the following:

A teenage boy asks a girl to homecoming but they get in a car accident on the way and she dies. Then she comes back to haunt him, leaving him to figure out the difference between survivor’s guilt and poltergeists. 

My co-workers stared at me. I stared at them some more. And then they said “huh okay!” 

…I really need to work on my elevator pitch. T~T

In other news, I’ve gone through 60 pages of the hard copy manuscript today for part three. Geez, it’s all over the place.