Tuesday, April 2, 2013

King's Speech: B is for BOREDOM

Regular readers of The Shellshank Redemption know how much I enjoy a good quote (see Motivational Mondays) and that I’m a huge fan of Stephen King (see the King of All Days Part I and Part II.) So, for the 2013 A-Z Challenge, I decided to combine the two, using some of my favorite King quotes about reading, writing and life in general. Enjoy!

*****

In many cases when a reader puts a story aside because it ‘got boring,’ 
the BOREDOM arose because the writer grew enchanted with his powers of description and lost sight of his priority, which is to keep the ball rolling.
(Stephen King)

I admit it – I overdo the similes and metaphors in my writing. I put in as many as I want in the first draft, then try to weed out as many as I can after that. That’s when my great beta readers and critique partners come in and point out all the similes etc. that add no value to the scene, and they champion the ones that do, the ones that enhance and strengthen the story in that particular moment.  

20 comments:

  1. I love Stephen King! This is a great quote, and so true.

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  2. I think that's probably one of the trickiest parts of writing...keeping the pace going while maintaining as many of your augmenting-parts as possible.

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  3. Ah, but I'm sure they are lovely similes, all the same.

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  4. Miranda - I'm glad you enjoyed it! I hope you come back and check out the rest of the posts.

    OE - it really is. I struggle a lot with pacing.

    Melanie - I wish I could agree but believe me, some of them really do stink. :)

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  5. The day I become enchanted with my descriptions just might be a sign of the apocalypse.

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  6. Very good advice. I like to go by the rule 'never say the same thing twice' when it comes to description because sometimes I'm terrible. I say it one way then I say it another and I have to weed it all out on the edit :).

    Of course it's easy to go the other way as well - I have had an editor tell me they have no idea what a place looks like because I've been too enthusiastic with the action :). Balance to rule out boredom ::g::

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  7. I love this quote. Too much description is one of the main reasons I give up on a book. And since I struggle with writing descriptions, I think these are definitely words to live by. :D

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  8. Natasha - hmm, maybe "balance" would've been a better "B". :)

    Julie - if there's too much description in a book I'm reading, I tend to skim those parts. I like some detail, not pages worth.

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  9. I had never thought about description being a deterent, but I will think about it the next time I'm reading a book. Visiting from A to Z.

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  10. Wendy - maybe you never hit a too long swatch of description in your reading? Good description is wonderful for setting a scene and depicting characters, etc but too much can be dulling.

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  11. It's a fine line between bare bones writing and overdoing all the extra bits. Another thing to try and get right!

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  12. Hi Madeleine. Great quote.
    I've learned to skim long descriptive passages, especially if it's chunky and just filling up space... though there are instances where descriptive passage helps to move the plot forward... it depends...
    I'm popping in from the A to Z Challenge!

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  13. What a great quote. I love reading things from people I am not as familiar with.

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  14. Sounds like you have some good CP's! It's nice to be able to do that.

    Shannon at The Warrior Muse

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  15. Nick - it's always something. :)

    Michelle - thanks for visiting!

    Andrea - thanks!

    Shannon - I am lucky. :)

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  16. Good luck with the challenge! I participated last year and had a blast!

    Donna L Martin
    www.donasdays.blogspot.com

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  17. Great quote!

    I wonder if this could mean more than just physical description.

    I'm usually on the leaner side of describing, but when I'm writing, I take too much time trying to find the right word. Hopefully, that all gets smoothed out in the next draft.

    Barbara
    Blogging A to Z at my website/blog

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  18. Donna - thanks! I did it last year, too, and enjoyed it so much.

    Barbara - I'm learning that when we use stronger, more powerful words, we need less of them.

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  19. Madeline - that's so true! Am learning that myself, sometimes the hard way. ;)

    But all writing involves learning in some way or another.

    Barbara
    C is for: Chocolate (and other things)
    www.barbarawhitedaille.com/blog

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