part fifteen

[kficanon]

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Comments

Re: itt: strengths and weaknesses

[(Anonymous)]

right now, my prose is very...lacking. it's not pretty or memorable. idk why, i used to think my prose was great in some places but it's a snoozefest lately.

but i'm very thoughtful about characters. i can create characters that people care about and are invested in, and i like to think they feel like real people.

Re: itt: strengths and weaknesses

[(Anonymous)]

hmmmm, re: the prose problem... maybe try looking at writers whose prose you find compelling and trying to figure out what they're doing that makes you sit up and pay attention. something that i've seen recommended to help your understanding of a writer's prose is to retype a story/scene/chapter, word for word -- for some people it helps them pay attention to the exact words that are being used and how, the tempo and pacing of the prose, etc.

my advice with prose is always to cut. cut cut cut: cut every single word that can be cut without losing meaning. i find that for a lot of amateur/hobbyist writers, just getting into the habit of looking very very closely at every single word in a sentence and being ruthless with your editing will help make their prose snappier and more crisp and fresh.

Re: itt: strengths and weaknesses

[(Anonymous)]

i've done that before! it's great. i think my prose is suffering because i haven't done as much reading as i usually do this month. :(

my worry right now is that my prose is too understated. i can't think of a single metaphor that doesn't suck, so my prose feels kind of...stark. like actions are happening but it's hard me to infuse meaning and emotion into those actions.

Re: itt: strengths and weaknesses

[(Anonymous)]

have you considered the possibility that it's the actions themselves, and not the way you're writing them, that are lacking meaning and emotion?

or perhaps the possibility that your prose is lacking emotion because you're writing too much of it, rather than too little?

Re: itt: strengths and weaknesses

[(Anonymous)]

i think it's too "little" in the sense that the sentences aren't doing enough of what they need to do. like how every sentence you write should serve more than one function, description should be setting scene but also developing character and providing exposition all at the same time. and really that's what great prose is, having one single line function on all different levels.

rn the actions in my fic are just...actions. it could be that they aren't the right actions, i suppose.

Re: itt: strengths and weaknesses

[(Anonymous)]

i've always kind of approached it with the idea that actions should speak for themselves. you shouldn't have to rely on descriptors or metaphor to convey emotion. which doesn't mean that there aren't right words and wrong words to use, or that you shouldn't try to do more with your sentences beyond laying out actions... just that good writing is as much about the what as it is about the how.

obviously.

but my prose is so icy it sometimes sounds like it was written like a robot, so my thoughts on the subject should probably be taken with a grain of salt.