  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Puditat  
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Life without action is static, and by necessity, it would therefore be dead. Action writing takes the normal and shares it for all to live vicriously.
Adventure is the spice: the exciting, adrenalin-pumping, thrill that makes one feel so alive. Everyone has an adventuresome spirit. Maybe dreams of excavating some long-lost treasure, visiting a new country, or trying a new flavour of potato chip.  Some of us prefer our adventures to come between the pages of a book, and many of us like to write that adventure.
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**Deja vu**
Deja vu - the experience of perceiving a new situation as if it had occurred before.
Bear with me as I indulge in a little personal ranting...
I had a full day to spend in the city earlier this week. As I was in transit to my brother's place to spend the afternoon, I realised I forgot to bring along the book I was reading. What was I to do for the three hours before my brother was due home from work?
I went to a store and purchased a book on sale.
Now I was careful in my choice of book - I read all the blurbs, checked out the publishing history of each author and any other information I could glean from the book blurbs and inside bios. The book I chose was the latest book written by an author with 34 titles to his name. And the storyline of the novel interested me also.
I settled down to read as I waited, and within just a few pages, I became infested by a feeling of deja vu.
There is a good kind of deja vu - the mood and suspense carefully created to build the mystery or thrill of an intense crime novel. Or the deja vu experienced by a character within a story.
Then there is the bad type of deja vu, the type I experienced in this historical action/adventure novel.
...repeated phrasing.
Every few paragraphs I read a sentence, which was a complete copy of an earlier sentence. I became very confused as I kept thinking I had lost my place and accidentally re-read a portion. That's when I discovered this author's propensity for repetition.
Some information needs to be repeated. It may be a clue, and the reasons will all fall into place closer to the conclusion. Some repetition helps to build mood or an idea. However, unless it is for a specifically designed purpose, I believe it is much more effective to rephrase any information requiring reinforcing.
I will not give the book title or author's name, for my purpose is not to flame an author. My purpose is to point out that even successful writers make blatant mistakes. Acclaimed novelists seem to get away with more than a little lazy writing - if taking this one, lone example.
I was shocked to see so much distracting phrasing, and a few pages on I found sentence fragments that made no sense whatsoever. They took some interpretation even when read in context of the preceding and following text.
I wanted a good Action/Adventure read to get me involved and lost in a world of the author's making...not to be bogged down in a swamp of stagnant writing and clunky editing.
I hope, in a hundred pages or so, I may be able to look past the flaws and enjoy the story - that is, if I can stop getting lost in the feeling of deja vu.
Puditat
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Excellent newsletter, Pudi!And great analogy with the goo and diamonds!
schipperke
Thank you! 
Nice NL! I think you did great in comparing editing to a diamond. Keep it up!
Maimai J Saves for Upgrade
 I appreciate the feedback.
What a wonderful analogy, Puditat! I hate the editing/re-writing process and until recently, never really tried it... which is exactly why my writing never went anywhere.
But your stone-to-diamond analogy put the whole thing in a different light. From now on, I'll just look at it that way, instead of "Oh man... not this part of the process!"
Sometimes, it's little things that put you on a different track!
Thanks!
khalovr
I'm glad to help you put a different spin onto the process of editing. I wish you much success in your endeavours.
Hi, Puditat! Thanks so, so much for linking my story. This was an awesome newsletter, and a well-thought out analogy. I really thought the process of changing diamonds from the filthy and unpolished stones they are into the beautiful thing most people like to see was awesome, and the way you related it to editing was really cool.
concrete_angel
Thank you! 
I like the diamond analogy for the editing process. I don't usually feel like I'm telling the story that was in my mind until I start editing. I also wanted to say thanks for including my story this week... so, Thanks!
karabu
You're most welcome, and thank you.
Thanks for the newsletter. I really enjoyed the diamond analogy. I seem to find as much trash as i do diamond these days when I edit, but every so often i fdind a diamond in the form of a scene or a character that just needs to be polished a bit, perhaps fitting in the right setting and bam.....
Justice
Yes, I have no doubt that many share your experiences, as I have. It makes me wonder how much goo is left on the floor of some of my favourite authors...
I really enjoyed the compareson between stories and diamonds. And made me look at them in a whole new way. Thank you.
scribbler
I'm glad it helped. |
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Action/Adventure: February 15, 2006 Issue [#879]
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