McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
Given Penny's post, here is another pet peeve of mine...
LizW65:
I'm only guessing here, but it may be another "show, don't tell" thing, as in:
"Roger seemed anxious."
"Roger figeted and drummed his fingers on the table."
Both convey basically the same message, but the second one uses actions to describe Roger's state of mind, and is therefore considered "stronger" writing. I could be dead wrong, though--Meg?
(And I agree, if you need to convey a character's uncertainty, you need less-than-definite terminology to do so, so "seems" should be okay in that instance.)
Starbeam:
--- Quote from: LizW65 on December 06, 2011, 02:21:35 PM ---I'm only guessing here, but it may be another "show, don't tell" thing, as in:
"Roger seemed anxious."
"Roger figeted and drummed his fingers on the table."
Both convey basically the same message, but the second one uses actions to describe Roger's state of mind, and is therefore considered "stronger" writing. I could be dead wrong, though--Meg?
(And I agree, if you need to convey a character's uncertainty, you need less-than-definite terminology to do so, so "seems" should be okay in that instance.)
--- End quote ---
That's how I've heard it described--that it's usually more telling than anything. Using "seemed" was mentioned in a Writing Excuses podcast, though I forget which one, and because of having recently listened to that, I'm a bit hyper-aware of using the word. Except the couple times I've noticed it, it's in a way that I can't reword it and keep the same meaning using anything but seem.
Shecky:
Precision of usage would eliminate that "weakness" of the word; Aminar is on the right track for that aspect. On the other hand, sometimes shorthanding a description advances the action more satisfactorily than "showing" would do.
There's a delicate balance in all of this; coming down firmly on one side would do a disservice to the process.
Starbeam:
--- Quote from: Shecky on December 06, 2011, 07:42:52 PM ---Precision of usage would eliminate that "weakness" of the word; Aminar is on the right track for that aspect. On the other hand, sometimes shorthanding a description advances the action more satisfactorily than "showing" would do.
There's a delicate balance in all of this; coming down firmly on one side would do a disservice to the process.
--- End quote ---
Which pretty much goes back to you have to know the rules before you can break them.
Shecky:
--- Quote from: Starbeam on December 06, 2011, 11:26:20 PM ---Which pretty much goes back to you have to know the rules before you can break them.
--- End quote ---
Bingo. The key to good writing.
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