Day: February 15, 2010

An ugly draft is still a draft

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I buried myself for an hour or two in the basement today and finished a first draft of my End of the Rainbow story.  It took some wild diversions from the original outline and feels a bit disjoint now, but it’s finished.  I’ll set it aside until the weekend and rework it then.   really need to trim it down.  It’s a pretty simple storyline.  I also need to do more with one of the important characters.

This is probably the sloppiest story I’ve written in quite a while.  Maybe that’s why it went so fast.  It still took the better part of two weeks.

No school tomorrow for me.  I stuck a rake in the snow out front; it sunk in eight inches.  I think I hit a deep spot, but still, that’s a lot of snow.  It’s enough that it’s over my miniature dachshund’s back.  I may be out all week.  We Tennesseans don’t cope well with snow.  No chains, no snow tires, few plows.  We stockpile salt, but that only does so much.  They usually clear the main roads pretty quickly, but it’s a backroad world here.

I’m going to scrounge up the notes I made at Starbucks the other day and see if I can grind out a flash story inside 24 hours.  (That reminds me, Jack Bauer’s on tonight!)  We’ll see if I can make those kinds of schedule holes.  After that I’ll target one of the two stories I have up at OWW.  Neither have gotten many comments, but enough that I have some direction to wander.  A character to cut out of the comedy; a transition summary to add to the tragedy, as well as a more defined character arc.

So much to do, so little time.  Oh, I have lots of time if you add up the three minute blocks my daughter gives me.  She summons again.  I must fetch a Fruit Roll-Up.  Bye for now.

Similes. Not to be confused with Smilies.

~ Scott W. Baker ~ Leave a comment

I was rereading some writing advice at Nathan Bransford’s blog and stumbled across the old adage, “Don’t use too many similes.”  I can tell you now, don’t use too many anything.  But I suspect I am guilty of the “too many” similes offense.

I like comparisons.  I teach math by metaphor, using something as common as a stop sign to get across the importance of the order of operations.  (Dying to know?  Running that stop sign may be okay nineteen out of twenty times, but there’ll be that one time when a three-year-old rides her tricycle into the intersection and things aren’t all right any more.  Graphic but effective.)  So when I describe things, I tend toward metaphor and simile.

But I write speculative fiction.  If I say that Janine has a horse face, I may mean she has elongated features and large teeth or I might mean the front of her head is actually equine.  A simile is much safer and less confusing in this context; “her face was long like a horse’s with teeth that made me want to feed her an apple.”  In either case, the cliche is unforgivable.

I try to stay conscious of my similes.  Often a good simile is being used to make an unnecessary description.  But when it fits, it fits.  Sometimes I do have stories that require reworking to avoid sounding like a valley girl (like…like…like), an offense best discovered through reading aloud.

The best advice, though, is never to use a simile where it doesn’t feel necessary.  Similes do not spice up language, they don’t enhance imagery.  They actually do the opposite in my hands, giving abstract or tough to explain actions or images a very concrete and concise description through comparison.

A good simile subtracts words rather than adds them.  If he ran fast, don’t say he ran like a cheetah; more words.  If he ran with his arms flailing, elbows out, head bobbing, steps without cadence or consistency, maybe you just say he ran like a hyper kindergartener; fewer words.  And if the simile doesn’t quite describe it, axe it.  Better undescribed than ill-described.

That’s my expert treatise on similes.  They’re like donuts; I love them, but too many will cause bloating.  Oh, and unless you’re after the comedic effect, don’t use a simile that requires explanation.  (What made me think of that?)  Now go forth and compare cautiously.