I’m writing this post from the pool (again.) Yes, it’s either the pool, movies,or the skating rink when it’s this hot and my daughter is looking for something to do.
There are plenty of people here, joining me in escaping the heat. The conversations that I’ve overheard have been repetitive and boring (I really can’t help but eavesdrop. Really.) :)
“Jonathan! I said to get out of the pool, young man. It’s time for us to go. Where are your goggles? What?! You’ve lost another pair?”
People are also moving very slowwwwly in the heat. They’re really just milling around. I can’t say much because I’ve been here 3 1/2 hours, myself. But I’ll spare you the play by play of my afternoon here. It would drag on and on ad nauseum.
The conversations I’ve overheard definitely aren’t good examples of sparkling dialogue. And a play-by-play of a boring afternoon isn’t something to stick in a manuscript, either. We don’t have to spend every second with our protagonist. My afternoon, for instance, could be summed up by: “Elizabeth spent several hours at the pool, keeping an eye on her daughter and penciling revisions in the margins of her soggy manuscript.”
My slow-mo afternoon got me thinking about all the boring things we should spare our readers in our manuscripts. Yesterday was more about things that just jar us from a smooth reading experience…today I’m thinking about the boring stuff that just drags the story’s pace down to a crawl :
Backstory in one big dump.
Too much setting description.
Too much character description.
Rambling scenes where the plot isn’t advanced in any way.
Boring transitions between scenes instead of snappy summations.
Dialogue patterned after real conversations.
Can you think of other boring elements that we should try avoiding as writers? How do you revise for pace?
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I will never cease to be amazed how you are able to write wherever, whenever. I guess that is the key to success when it comes to getting the writing done!
As for boring stuff – I agree – it needs to go. The problem is that it often is a lot harder to be aware what is boring and not in your own text. I’m thinking that I need to get a rough draft written first, but when I get to the cut-the-boring-stuff phase (aka editing), I will definitely take a look at that list of yours to get hints what the readers might find boring (even if I don’t).
If there’s one thing I don’t want my writing to be is boring. I love- love- love this list and will put it on my own list of what to check.
Stay cool! It’s a struggle here.
Teresa
I just finished a book that was overall very good, but in the middle it was filled with a few useless chapters of introspection. ‘I wonder what would happen if I…’ kind of thing. I think it needed to go.
Elizabeth – I am so impressed with the way you use your own real life to inspire your posts. I think it’s wonderful. And I agree completely; there’s so much detail we can spare our readers in order to avoid being boring. I think sub-plots can be boring, too, if they’re not related to the main plot and if they’re described in too much detail.
LOL – we’re back on the same wavelength, I think! Although I snipped the ‘be with your character 24/7 thread in today’s post thinking I’d cover it tomorrow. Today I’m talking transitions, which is the lead-in to “what needs to be there”. But you’ve done it so well, maybe I’ll take tomorrow off!
I’m judging a contest for unpublished writers, and this is a lesson some need to learn. I know I sure did. Hardest words for me to write were, “An hour later.” Imagine the struggle to write, “by the next week”!
I try to look at every scene and ask “what happens that moves the plot or the characters forward?” If the answer is “nothing, really” then rewriting is in order.
Try to keep cool in all the heat that North Carolina seems to be getting!
Other boring elements? I’m not a fan of when characters take time out of actually doing things to reflect on things. If they’re sitting around thinking or considering, I’m bored already. They could at least be doing something while they’re ruminating, like when I’m mowing the lawn and thinking about what to do next in my WIP, right? Right.
It’s all about the action, baby. (You don’t mind if I call you baby, do you?)
I just shaved 10,000 words off my MS these past two weeks. Went from 140,000 to 130,000 words and didn’t lose a thing. Lost the dta dump and redundancies.
Stephen Tremp
Great list…and use that sunscreen!
How about listing the mundane things going on in the character’s life, unless there’s a purpose in doing so.
You continue to amaze me with your thoughtful, instructive posts you do day after day.
Yes, I really hate reading books where writers just put in filler to fill word count! Even bestselling authors do it – Elizabeth George is a great example. So much of her book, in my opinion, is filler. I bet she could write that 200,000 word book in 90,000 without all the extra characters that do nothing and scenes that don’t really add anything to the story.
Keep it simple.
Plot only. Not three side stories the reader has no interest in.
CD
I get so tempted to follow the protagonists chronology exactly and put in WAY too much–too much mundane dialog, too many movement details… then he went HERE, then he went HERE… Hopefully I’ve learned to get it OUT again in the rewrite, but yeah… Jonathan’s goggles would have made my first draft *snort*
That’s a great list. It’s always helpful to have a checklist of “what to avoid” to make sure you haven’t missed something. The only thing I could add would be “cliches” because those can drag you down as well. Have a fun summer!
Cruella–First readers are probably good for finding boring stuff, too. Oh, something else I find boring–when the writers show off all the research they did. Ack. Especially if it’s not a subject I’m interested in…seen that happen a few times lately.
Journaling Woman–Good luck with it!
Jemi–Makes me wonder if it was the author wondering what to write about!
Margot–Subplots CAN be boring. I love subplots, but only if they either tie into the main plot or give us a window into the protagonist’s head or heart that we’re not getting any other way.
Simon–Definitely. That’s why I’ve got sidekicks…I can’t stand having this internal monologue stuff going on for too long. Very boring.
Oh, ‘baby’ is fine. I’ve been called worse… :)
Terry–We’re the synchronicity duo! I’ll ck out your transitions post.
Time passes quickly in novel land, doesn’t it? :) But much better than trailing those characters through all the boring bits of their day.
Stephen–Isn’t that amazing? That’s a lot of stuff you got rid of–and I bet your slimmer ms is all the better for it.
Helen–Oh I’m a freckled mess. Ugh. Saw myself in the mirror this morning and winced.
I agree–if I see one more book with the character brushing his/her teeth…argh!
And you’re just as hard-working, Helen–putting out great articles on the industry so we know what’s going on!
Clarissa–Oh, it pains me, but I’ve got to agree w/ you. I’m a big George fan, but she has gotten wordy lately…we DO love the characters, but we don’t need to have bloated subplots about them. None of the rest of us would be able to get away with that kind of writing–but she sells so well that she seems to be able to make up her own rules. But yeah…I’m with you on that.
Hart–I think maybe it’s because we ARE following them around to see what they’re doing next? But we just have to stop ourselves from reporting what we’re seeing!
Lisa Gail–Good point! We can always reword and rework cliches to make them seem new and fun.
Elspeth–That’s a good idea. Because if we’re just shuffling people around in a scene then there’s no reason for it.
And thanks abt the heat–today is 98F. Ugh. I’m heading back to the pool this afternoon with my daughter and her friend.
Whenever I’m obsessing about rules of writing on a certain science fiction forum, Lawrence Watt-Evans always tells me that there is only one rule – the Golden Rule of Writing:
Thou Shalt Not Bore The Reader.
Sometimes the “boring stuff” can be interesting if it’s interesting to the writer. For instance Philip Craig’s wonderful descriptions of a lazy day on Martha’s Vineyard can be like spending a day there yourself.
However, it’s best to skip things you are including just because you think you ought to. Especially things like connections and bridges between scenes, or explanations. Just write the good stuff and backfill if you need to.
Avoiding excessive description was easy for me, as I just don’t write a lot of details.
And summers in the south suck. I have to mow tonight, too!
Great points–including the unintended suggestion that I really need to go to the pool soon :)
Cruella–I’ve been struggling with that lately, too–I have to really get outside my own head to decide if something is interesting or not. And then ask someone else to read it for good measure!
I was reading a book recently and just kept getting so bored with some of the scenes…but then realized that those kinds of scenes make it my own writing too. Whoops! It was a really welcome wake-up call!
I need to give my reader credit for being intelligent. I don’t have to tell every single thing.
Alex–Riding lawnmower! Definitely.
Rowenna–The pool is calling you! :)
I love reading bad books sometimes–it’s almost like a writing course of what NOT to do!
Daring Novelist–And you’re right–some writers make things that *could* have seemed boring very interesting, instead.
And an editor can always say ADD transitions. That’s easy. Working on boring transitions isn’t as much fun.
Cassandra–And I think readers can tell if the author is treating them like they can’t connect the dots. Good point!