Showing posts with label novelists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novelists. Show all posts

Friday, January 31, 2025

HE SMILED


FOUND IN A NOVEL: "Moreover," he smiled, "we may get a chance to trap the old boy himself."

I hate it when novelists have a character smiling instead of talking. He didn't smile it; he said it.

"Moreover," he said with a smile, "we may get a chance to trap the old boy himself."

This was from Louis L'Amour's novel Hondo. BTW, L'Amour wasn't the only writer to do this.

From the same novel, I found the word saturnine, which means gloomy.

Also, The charge ended, the rush was gone, the hillside was a barren and empty thing, alive with death.

It's a run-on sentence, but I love the imagery -- alive with death after a massacre.

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ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
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Tuesday, June 22, 2021

DON'T TELL ME; SHOW ME

Years ago, a friend of mine wanted to write a novel — basically an autobiography — to explain his relationship with his father. I told him then that he was telling me that his father was a bad man; instead, he needed to show me. He had to include the harsh words, the raised hand or whatever. I'm not sure he understood what I meant; he was surprised I knew so much about writing.

That was 44 years ago.

Another friend of mine proudly gave me a copy of his novel to read. It, too, was biographical, and he was certain it'd be a bestseller.

Maybe it will be; I don't know. The story line was interesting, but I noticed that he kept telling me that the lady was beautiful. He never once talked about how her brown hair dipped over an eye enticingly or how her short skirts showed off her legs. Worst of all, there was no conversation, no dialogue. It was all from his point of view.

It's bad when a book is mostly dialogue and no action, but it's a killer to write a novel with no dialogue.

I can't complain, though. I've tried my hand at novel writing, and I find that I'm a better newspaper or magazine or non-fiction writer. I'm good at editing novels; I just haven't been able to write them.

So far, neither have my friends.

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ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL
(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)
(the book of great NASCAR stories)
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,
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