Monday, October 19, 2009

Work Work Work

I was called in to work an overtime shift tonight, one of my coworkers is sick. I never call in sick. It's just not my style. But I'm happy to work her shift as long as I can get a babysitter (and wonderful S. said yes!!) We seriously need the money. M was mad at me though. She really doesn't like changes in her routine. Mommy doesn't work on Mondays, dammit! (Spelling incorrect, but allowed because it is for VOICE.)

M asked me why I had to go in to work. I said it was because my coworker was sick. She asked why. I said it was because my coworker hadn't washed her hands good enough, and then she stuck her fingers in her mouth. Is that true? Hmmm...maybe, maybe not. I suppose it could be. But maybe it will convince M to stop sticking her entire hand in her mouth. She's pretty darn good at washing her hands, her preschool teacher comments on it routinely, so I know we're doing something right. But your hands just can't be clean enough if you stick the whole thing in there 40 or 50 times a day. Perhaps this will stop that habit. Nothing else seems to be doing the trick.

I critiqued a chapter in my new crit group, and it was really fun. It helped me to realize things about my own manuscript that maybe I need to change. Passive versus active, verbs versus gerunds, showing versus telling. I loved the dialogue in the chapter. I am a dialogue person though. Some people are description people. Stephen King is a big description person, and I do enjoy his work, but I think I would probably be happy with a book that was entirely dialogue. I probably wouldn't even notice. I hear Asimov moves his stories with mostly dialogue, but I don't know, I've only read one book by him, and it was co-authored with someone I don't remember who. I could google it, but I really don't care enough. The book was called Nightfall though, I remember that, and while it wasn't like the best book I ever read or anything, the story still totally sticks with me, I remember all the major plot points. I can't remember if it was dialogue driven or not.

So when I'm critiquing, I think I am going to be inclined to cut cut cut descriptions and ask for more dialogue. I wonder if that's just a personal preference though. I guess with everything you have to take a grain of salt. One of my chapters was critiqued, and I loved my feedback, I can't wait to start doing some revisions!

3 comments:

  1. Hi, I am the opposite to you, I am much more of a descriptive peron, dialogue actually scares me at times. For instance recently I had to do a piece of personal writing which had to contain some dialogue - 2 lines in the whole passage had to suffice, it just didnt seem natural. would you mind having a read and see what you think? any advice/feedback would be appreciated immensely as I can see you are more experienced than I am in this field. http://nothingtodeclarebutmygenius.blogspot.com/search/label/short%20stories

    ReplyDelete
  2. *grins* That's the beauty of critique groups. You really start to spot your own mistakes so much more than before. It helps everyone grow, and I'm glad you're excited. I am, too. It feels good to get feedback and no which direction you want to take with something to fix it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If you haven't, check out "Hills Like White Elephants." It's super short, and I love it because there's no exposition. It's like eavesdropping. Regarding dialogue, I've become extremely sensitive to exposition lately, esp. in TV/movies... "You have to believe me... I'm your sister!" Who talks like that?

    ReplyDelete