Thursday, December 1, 2011

HELP! I'VE GOT WADD!

While at a social event recently…
Polite conversation was required of me…
Oh, I was and am always polite…
But a conversationalist I’m not...
And being that I wasn’t intrigued with the topic…
I had to feign interest...
“Mm hm”, I mumbled, smiling, “Oh really?” (boring!)
Some people, I’ve noticed…
Have the gift of gab…
And can talk (blather) on, and on, and on, and on
About anything!
And that got me thinking about my writing…
I write like I speak—short.  
It’s difficult for me to write exposition…
Because I get bored with too many details—in my own story!
How can that be?
Perhaps I have WADD—Writer’s Attention Deficit Disorder?
Consequently, I’ve been told I need to set my scenes more.
And I do. I go back an edit them in.
But it's not just details in my writing...
Details also plague me when reading a book…
If an author gives too many—I skim.
I guess it’s a fine line between too much and not enough.
What about you?
Do your characters have the same speech pattern as you?
Have you found that fine line in details...
Between too much and not enough?
Does it come naturally?
Or do you hone?
And if you hone...
How did you learn?

Always, Em-Musing

5 comments:

Jessica Bell said...

Oh my god you're going to HATE my book! lolol :)

Karen Baldwin said...

No, no...no I won't!

Unknown said...

I hate books with lots of boring detail. My first drafts are mainly dialogue so I have to work hard on the second draft putting all the boring bits in so the reader knows where they are, etc. :)

Jill Kemerer said...

I skimp on details too, so revising is all about adding them! And I like reading details as long as the plot is moving forward. When they slow the pace, I skip them!

farawayeyes said...

Editor told me the same thing. I need to flesh out my characters more, give each scene more details.

You read my blog,so you're going, You? You like nothing better than the sound of your own voice. You go on forever. I thought the same thing, but it's about going on about the important things. Painting the picture, filling in the cracks. Making your characters real and letting the reader feel their emotions.Things like that. Apparently,it's not enough if I know/feel/see those things in my head. (HA HA HA, that's a joke)

Now my problem is writing and keeping it within a manageable word count. I hope I'm getting better.

Something I learned this past month doing NaNo is just write. Get all of your ideas and details out there. Then you slash and burn.

We'll see what happens.