Jessica Bell! Also CampNaNo, ROW80, More A to Z Reflections, E L Konigsburg, Deanna Durbin...

nd now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

A to Z was amazing!


Thank you to Arlee, to Alex, to Matthew, to everyone who made it possible.

I thought, naively, that scheduling my posts would mean more free time for editing. Of course it didn't work that way, both because I didn't schedule as many posts in advance as I should have, and because commenting on others' posts was so much fun.

And I've reached 400 followers! Thanks so much to all of you, new and old. Makes me giddy just thinking that so many people are reading!

Despite ROW80 and having signed up for CampNaNo, I barely got any editing done in the past couple of weeks. I'm at the point where I keep revising the first chapter or two of Druid's Moon, and can't seem to move beyond that. So much tweaking. But I'm also rereading Book 6 of the History of Middle-earth, which includes many of Tolkien's drafts for the first few chapters of The Lord of the Rings - not only did they take him nearly a year to write (and this is just the drafting!) but they're so... well, basic, that it gives me hope, knowing the tightly-woven masterpieces he achieved in the end, with diligent and careful editing.

I also feel a little less guilty because I wrote a short story in one sitting last week! I was reading the third book in the collected Sandman series (Neil Gaiman strikes again!) and there was a throwaway line of a story idea: inheriting a library card from the library at Alexandria.
So I wrote the story!

I have other exciting news but first, two notices of passing... In the past couple of weeks, author E. L. Konigsburg and actress Deanna Durbin have passed away. I had no idea Deanna Durbin was still alive, in fact. She's been retired from the public eye for years, apparently, living in the French countryside. I wouldn't even have known who she was, if it hadn't been for Beatrice Thurman Hunter's wonderful Booky trilogy, about growing up in Toronto during the Depression.

There's probably no need to say anything about E. L. Konigsburg. Every single one of her books is genius. When I heard that she'd passed away, I went and splurged on Amazon, buying the five books I hadn't read yet. So far I've read the two short story collections Throwing Shadows and Altogether One At A Time. Like I said, genius. She nails point of view and voice and plot twist in ways I aspire to.

Speaking of editing and writerly aspirations, I'm pleased to feature Jessica Bell today!

Too many adverbs and clichés in your writing? I've got just the fix for you.
by Jessica Bell

Writers constantly have rules thrown at them left, right, and center. Show, don't tell! Stop using so many dialogue tags! More sensory detail! More tension! Speed up the pace! Yada yada yada ... it can become overwhelming, yes? I used to feel overwhelmed by it all too. In fact, I still do sometimes. It's hard enough to get the words on the page, let alone consider how to put them there.

In Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird, she says that in order not to be overwhelmed, a writer needs to focus on short assignments. She refers to the one-inch picture frame on her desk and how that little picture frame reminds her to focus on bite-sized pieces of the whole story. Basically, if you focus on one small thing at a time, the story will eventually come together to create a whole. I believe the same applies to learning the craft of writing. If writers focus on one aspect of the craft at a time, the process will seem less daunting and piece by piece it will come together.

My name's Jessica Bell, and my own struggles with feeling overwhelmed inspired me to write the Writing in a Nutshell Series of pocket-sized writing guides. So you can learn to hone your craft in bite-sized, manageable pieces. In the first book of the series, I focused on demonstrating how to transition "telling" into "showing." In Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions of Adverbs & Clichés into Gourmet Imagery, I deal with another of the most common criticisms aspiring writers face: to absolutely avoid adverbs and clichés like the plague. But see, right now, I just used one of each. I also used a couple in the first two paragraphs of this post because they come naturally, and we utilize them frequently in everyday speech. But in fiction, too many adverbs and clichés weaken your prose. It's considered "lazy writing", because it means we don’t have to show what’s happening.

If your manuscript has too many adverbs and clichés, it most likely means that the emotion you felt while writing it is not going to translate to the reader in the same way. So how exactly can we approach the subversion of adverbs and clichés? For starters, play around with simile and metaphor when you’re trying to convey emotion, and for action, use strong verbs to show it happening in real time.

The key? Think smaller details rather than the bigger picture.

Need some help and inspiration?

In Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell: Demonstrated Subversions of Adverbs & Clichés into Gourmet Imagery, you will find thirty-four examples of prose which clearly demonstrate how to turn those pesky adverbs and clichés into vivid and unique imagery. Dispersed throughout are blank pages to craft your own unique examples. Extra writing prompts are also provided at the back of the book.

“Jessica Bell's latest pocket guide, Adverbs & Clichés in a Nutshell, will inspire you to leave bland behind and pursue your creative best. With force and clarity, she demonstrates how adverbs and clichés hobble vibrant writing. She then marks a course toward unique expression and provides workouts that will help writers at every level develop a distinctive voice.” ~Laurel Garver, freelance editor, author of Never Gone and Muddy-Fingered Midnights

Purchase links:
Amazon US | Amazon UK | Amazon Ca | Kobo

Australian-native contemporary fiction author and poet, Jessica Bell, also makes a living as an editor and writer for global ELT publishers (English Language Teaching), such as Pearson Education, HarperCollins, Macmillan Education, Education First and Cengage Learning.

She is the co-publishing editor of Vine Leaves Literary Journal, and the director of the Homeric Writers’ Retreat & Workshop on the Greek island of Ithaca.

For more information about Jessica please visit:
Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook