Activity

Alrighty y’all, I’ve had several questions and thoughts piling up, and I thought I might as well put them all in one post. So here we go.

Replacements for look: I’m not referring to the context ‘he looked at the barn,’ I’m referring to the phrase ‘he gave her a flat look.’ Any replacement for that come to mind? I feel like a use it a lot. Stare  is an obvious one, but in most contexts that doesn’t work.

Thoughts on ‘said’ replacements: In a lot of books I’ve been reading recently, the authors have replaced said  with so many different words that I start to get irritated. It is especially annoying when they replace nearly every said  with something like ‘offered’ or ‘asserted’ or ‘replied’ or ‘noted’ or ‘commented.’ I personally try to do this rarely, and I never used any of the words listed above. I used things such as ‘growled’ ‘roared’ or ‘hissed,’ but seeing that ‘said’ is usually invisible to the reader, I prefer that in most cases. What are y’all’s thoughts?

Facial Features: To what extent to y’all usually describe facial features? Any tips for doing so?

Parents: When having a character refer to their parent in introspection, do you use ‘his father’ or the father’s actually name? I tend to use both.

She said vs said she: I much prefer the former (the latter sounds like passive voice to me for some reason), but it also has a unique sound and sometimes I do like it. I noticed that older writing uses the latter much more often than newer writings, but what are y’all’s thoughts? Some of my cousins say they like a mix of both.

He gave a tight smile vs he smiled tightly: I tend to use the former due to the fact that I avoid adverbs, but which do y’all prefer? Does the former sound strange?

Chapter Names: Are these a thing of the past? I personally don’t use them, but I was just curious.

Inches, feet, meters, etc.. in medieval fiction: Do y’all use these terms in fantasy or use the more medieval sounding ‘pace’ or ‘span?’

Voice Description: I have a habit of describing voice a lot (telling, I know), but just saying ‘said’ instead of ‘he said in a rough voice’ doesn’t carry the intended purpose. Thoughts?

Direct (italicized with I’s and me’s) vs indirect thought: I was recently watching a lecture by an incredibly famous author, and he says that he likes to use direct/italicized thought that used I’s and me’s to not only make sure the reader is grounded in the introspection, but also to add flavor. I tend to not use it, but now I’m uncertain. Thoughts?

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