Fiction Writing Lessons Better Late than Never

Is everyone ready for the Super Bowl? In this house of sports, we are. Our favorite teams are not playing but we like both the Broncos and the Panthers. We are just hoping for an exciting games and the commercials. We have friends who are having parties, but they are in Illinois and Pennsylvania and it would be too expensive to fly out there for only a day. We'll just watch it from our couch.

Good news is I'm somewhat back to normal. The boot came off Wednesday and the doctor said the bone has healed as it should. I have to ease my way back into my exercise routine; no power walking outside, but at a reasonable pace. As far as the treadmill, nothing higher than one. The biggest hurdle to overcome is my core. For the last three months, I've relied on my left leg and now my right leg is available. It will come.

I drove for the first time yesterday and now I understand what the doctor meant by the reaction time. At first, I felt I had a brick attached to my foot each time I'd go from the accelerator to the brake pedal. But being the experienced driver I am, I adjusted. I just drove around the neighborhood at fifteen miles an hour. Didn't knock out any parked cars are houses, so we're good.

Setback with The Sin Bin. Back to the drawing board. I didn't realize the extent I overuse adverbs. When I write, it's my voice, the way I talk. I talk from what I read. After this was pointed out to me, I paged through fictions books written by best selling authors and lo and behold, their stories are filled with adverbs. How come they can get away with it? Life is not fair!

After a mild attitude adjustment, I did some research. Writer's Digest had a great article about how to overcome using too many adverbs. It's the verb. A good example is the verb, knock. He knocked softly. The better verb to use is tap. You know a tap is a light knock. He tapped on her door.

Another tip from a great editor is in fiction, you show, not tell.

There is also software you can use to help you clean up your manuscript. It's expensive though, but in the long run, it might be worth it. I feel, as an author, I am concerned with my character development, the plot and making sure the reader knows where I'm headed with the story. I have had people read through my manuscripts looking for errors. I, myself, have poured over it time after time, but I don't catch everything.

I felt with six published books under my belt, I could work with anyone. I'm willing to revise and revamp my manuscript to make it a better story. Welcome to the real world. Not everyone is willing to do so.