Joseph Hunt's Blog, page 29

Critique Etiquette

Where are the men? 
I have been asked in the past, 'how do you critique a person's writing?' I will always reply with, 'honestly'.



Remember this: a critique is not a negative thing. I once feared critiques, (that might be more to do with it having the letter 'q' making it look evil) but seriously, the mere thought of receiving or asking for one sent my stomach awry.



I know that not all critiques come from writers, but as I'm posting this for indie writers/authors then I'm sure you'll be working or wanting to work with other writers, especially for those who have a tight lifestyle budget, because this type of critique will come free--an exchange of critiques between writers.



Politeness Principals

Well, be polite. Remember that whatever you're critiquing, it has come from a person who poured their very being into it, their raw essence into that novel.  So treat it with respect, like you'd expect people to treat yours. Also, never make direct criticism to the author, this can be avoided if you don't use the word "you". I'm guessing you're a writer, so just think of how it would feel if you saw your writing being handed back to you dripping with red ink, commenting about you as a writer. The red ink should be used to make suggestions, never make direct changes, and tell them why you are suggesting it--tighter syntax? cliche? etc.



Also, these people might be the ones to help your promote your writing when you self-publish. So treat them with respect, please.



Selecting A Partner

Unless you're self-critiquing, then there are some steps and some questions for you to ask a potential critique partner. I would recommend finding someone who is writing in the same genre as you are. And then when you've found them, there are a few questions that you're going to want to ask, like how long have they been writing for? Are the published? Any relevant experiences? I know that we can't be picky, but if you're going to be working closely with a person on something like a critique then I suppose you want to know what kind of person they are, for instance, they might have a weird sense of humour, or their sarcasm is not portrayed as well as they think.

Going It Alone

Of course you must be silly to go it alone, but the skills you've earned whilst critiquing your partner/buddy's work will be put to the same use here. Some authors, in fact a majority of authors leave their work at least a month before going to do edits--this recreates the feeling of giving someone else a critique. However, I do strongly recommend having a critique partner before being your own. Even though you are your own worst enemy, a fresh pair of eyes may pick up on something your self-loathing personality skipped.

Talking Points

Another question I'm asked, is what exactly goes into a critique and how can you give a good one.

Before I sit down to do a critique I usually ask the writer what they want me to look out for, but I do have my own list of point which can be discussed.Opening
Dialogue
Characterization
Point of View (POV)
Setting
Show vs Tell
Tenses
Grammar
Style
Syntax (Sentences)
Clichés
Over Used Words
These are all points which can be discussed. Don't be afraid to praise the writer, especially if they're doing something right, not everything in a critique has to be negative (although I thought this, relating back to my initial feelings at the top of the page). I''m sure that many of you are already knowledgeable in the above areas, if not, don't fear, I have a repertoire of tips to help writers in my #Writer's Tools section.

If you have more to your list, because I know that there are so many things people look for and ask for people to find, then that's great, I can think of other things which might be on this list, like use of adverbs, do they have the desired impact? etc. 

It's All About Opinion

Be Objective! Not Subjective! I touched on this in Politeness Principles, but you shouldn't give the writer an opinion based on emotion or your own thoughts from experience, they must be objective with facts behind them. Like making a point and being able to back them up, you'll lose credibility if you're subjective and flounder around for an explanation. A writer will want to know what facts you're basing your suggestion on, it will also inform the writer and they will learn from it.



Site Seeing

There are a lot of websites on the internet where writers can communicate.



I'm a part of the Writer's Cafe, and it's a good place to find other writers. There are plenty of groups for you to join, and you can also sign yourself up for some online courses in creative writing, or grammar, it's a very useful site to join and bookmark. Some groups include finding a critique partners, they list themselves with a little bio of who they are and what they write.

Writer's Cafe



I've been a part of InkPop, but I never really got into it. However, I do know that this is a critique site, and at the end of every month the editorial board at HarperCollins takes the top "picked" piece of fiction, short story and poem to give their own critique. It's a nice community to be a part of and fun, you're awarded statuses for how often you post critiques and if you critique, you will normally receive a critique in return. It's also a nice way of getting noticed.

InkPop



Facebook! It isn't just for friends, you can join writers there too, and become a part of a community full of support. All you need to do is search writer or writing in the bar at the top, that's all I did my first go. So I might see you around.



IMPORTANT

Critique circles, groups, partners are important!

If you take your writing directly to a reader they will not shoot you down. They will always say something along the lines of, "that's good", "great work", or "can't wait for more", and I often see this and yeah sure, the writer will be smiling to themselves, when really they should be working on their writing.

Happy Writing & Happy ReadingI also wish you well in finding a compatible partner.

~Joseph Eastwood

My Cover Art!

Okay, so I ranted a day or so ago about cover art and how people shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. I still totally stand by that, but I do my own cover art and it's a really nice feeling when someone looks at it and gives me feedback.



I know what you're going to say when you see the beaut that is my front cover, was it necessary to have it that size? I shall answer that one for you right now; YES! Okay, so it isn't a masterpiece, but it's an accomplishment and this is my blog, so what I say, kind of like goes ;) and with it that big you do get to take it WHOLE and also because I'm a guy--nothing is ever big enough!



The novel isn't set for release until September as I am still doing edits, and as I am an extremely excitable person I really wanted to share it with you. This is the final cover--there might be a slight title nudge, but that's it. Right there!



I shall keep you posted with the novel, and I've already started to fully outlining Noctem (#2), and I should be starting that next week. I'm also writing another series, completely different to the Luminary Blood Novels, but still fantasy, and I think I'm going to let you in on the series name because I really like it!! The Night Falls Novels, I have roughly planned them, getting all the basics for a few novels, all without titles, but I can feel something brewing on the cusp of my brain; the edge between that and paper.

I hope you're all having a great day! I've also posted this on FB so go there and comment!! (FB Page)

~Joseph Eastwood

Self-Publishing: Your Options

[image error] Let's start this by giving you some confidence in me. I'm not a publishing expert and I haven't published yet. BUT! (always a but) I have done lots of research on self-publishing, and I've had people come to me in the past with questions about self-publishing.



You shouldn't have to spend a penny to self-publish. Unless you're paying for an editor, cover artist, formatting professional etc.

The following sites are FREE to publish your writing through.



eBooks

Everyone who self-publishes needs to publish their writing as an eBook, it's the only way to actually have readers these days. Here are a few sites that I would recommend.

Smashwords: I've used Smashwords to publish two poetry collections, and they've both made it to the Premium Catalog. The Premium Catalog allows your eBook to hit several high distribution channels: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Sony, Apple, Diesel and Scrollmotion. And they are also working something out with Amazon. I would recommend this to anyone who wanted to self-publish. You can set your own price, the minimum is $0.99 and you get over half that for each book you sell. And they have their own FREE formatting guide, so you shouldn't have to worry about paying people to format for you.(Smashwords -- Upload)

Pub It! Barnes & Noble: I have yet to use this, but because of it being a part of Smashwords I don't want to use it, that and I'm from the UK which means that there's all this finance faff that needs to be done, and it's all too complicated for me to do. However, indie authors have self-published like this and through Smashwords. They also have their own Formatting Guides and software so that you can look at what your Nook, eBook etc. is going to look like, and it does seem fairly easy to use!(Pub It! -- Barnes & Noble)

Kindle Direct: Here, you can sign in with your Amazon account, it's great if you have a Kindle, and because Kindles are very popular eReading mediums there will be lots of Kindle users on Amazon Kindle Store looking for eBooks. Your book will be on sale at • Amazon.com • Amazon.co.uk • Amazon.de. The formatting for this seems a lot more complicated as there is a lot of HTML coding, however there is a lot of easy to read, no jargon, step by step process information. There is also 70% royalty scheme in play, similar to it's sibling CreateSpace.

(Kindle Direct -- Sign In)

I would do all three! Smashwords would be a priority and Kindle direct would be my next in line.

Paperbacks

The first thing you need to know about publishing paperbacks is that you're publishing-on-demand, this is when you don't have to buy it yourself, but if you did then you'd pay them and they would publish however many you wanted. However, there is something you must keep your eye out for, and that's vanity publishing, this is when someone will publish your book, but you must buy 500, 1,000 etc. copies of it, and sell it of your own back.

CreateSpace: I've played around with CreateSpace, and it's totally free, they're not going to pressure you into buying things, except a PRO pack, which is totally worth it as a one off fee, fees decrease when ordering your own books, and your royalty goes up. It's also very useful if you plan on self-publishing more than one book with them. They will sell your books through Amazon (I can't find fault with this) all you need to do is put it to market.(CreateSpace)

Lulu.com: I've also had a go at playing around with this. Every page you turn to (more or less) is trying to sell you something, they have a lot of packages, and they look great, but you don't have to be fooled into buying them because you could probably piece the cover art and editor yourself (probably costs less). The plus for me, is they charge and pay in any currency here, including £. And formatting seems very easy also!(Book Publishing -- Lulu)

Lightning Source: I have not seen this in action but an independent publishing house I've been talking to do use this, apparently they have their own distribution channels. If you are going to use these I would recommend more research, there website looks very professional so there is no worry on the scam front. They do have a lot information as they work with independent publishing companies, going through the advantages of being a small company through to big. So, if anyone is deciding on becoming and indie publishing co. then check that out.(Lightning Source)

I do will recommend CreateSpace as I have yet to see anyone publish through Lulu or heard of an indie author self-publishing through Lightning Source.

Happy Writing & Happy Reading!And hopefully, if you do, Happy Publishing!

~Joseph Eastwood

Breaking Down via Book Covers!

I've often heard indie authors / writers talk about their cover art and images etc. and yes I've seen some beautiful covers, but what really matters, the cover or the book content?



I know what you're going to say, well a cover draws the reader in, and you should judge a book by the cover. Okay, well we shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but we do it anyway. I've heard people talk about cover art as a main selling point, and okay that might be so, but I can't stress how we shouldn't judge. It often starts with something topical like book covers, but before you know it you'll be judging people. (Digressing a little.)



And the other day I heard a comment about books not needing such a vibrant cover with a character, or scene. I agree, like the classics, they don't need proper covers, just black and white. But then again, they are classics and it goes without saying, people will actively search for said classic instead of finding it from the cover art. Another reason why I'm against it is because I'm an indie author (18 and unemployed), so I don't have money to buy fancy designers. I do everything on my own--except edit, I have a friend who helps with that.



Tacky!

I mentioned above about people forking out hundreds for cover art, and as I can't do that I have to design my own covers, and not to boast but my covers are pretty decent--totally subject to personal opinion. I've also seen some pretty shocking cover art, and yes, it's put me off clicking on it, but the one time I have, I read the description,and the book has been a pretty good read.

The publishing industry has now become like any other in the entertainment industry. The people with money, the people who can afford the fancy prints are going to be making more--but they might argue that anyone can save money to spend it on their hobby, or career prospect--"if you put money in, you get money out", how that saying never tires out, but it's true. 

The Standard

Can you write as well as your cover says you can? Going from my earlier point about reading a book with a Paint cover, to a book cover that's amazing, and when you read you, you're asking yourself why bother. Several occasions this has happened, and I'm pretty sure that this has happened to you as well, but we never learn--we're suckered into books by fancy covers, swirly designs and bright colours.

However, there are some that do have really good covers and are really well written, but these tend to remain with the traditionally published folk. So if you're traditionally published then well done and congratulations, because you've been through a publishing house and sometimes an agency, but also because you haven't had to design your cover or paid for someone else to do it for you, and you haven't had to promote yourself as hard because publishers tend to have public relation people.

Yeah, so that was a little rant that came out from nowhere. I hope I expressed my points fully, and I hope that there are no major errors which stopped you reading to think: WTF!? I don't understand.

Happy Writing & Happy Reading!

~Joseph Eastwood

"Um. Er. Argh." #Writer's Tool

This post is all about DIALOGUE, a huge and important part of writing fiction in fact.

The first thing you should know already is that when you're introducing a new speaker, they start on a new indented line. If you don't show the readers that a different person is speaking they're not going to know until you get to the identifier.



An Ear For It

People say listen to conversations, don't eavesdrop with malicious intent but make notes on how natural they speak. I disagree slightly with that comment because natural speech is full of filler: 'um', 'er' and 'erm' there's also a lot of topic changing and speaking over each other.

Good dialogue needs to be precise and to the point, it's no good floundering, not unless it's stylistic and helps grasp a better hold of your character, but even then you'd need to practice.

Keeping It Natural

Stutters? Accents? Speech impediments? Well, not everyone will or can speak enunciating their words--it's just unrealistic, but some people try and perhaps one of your characters does. What I'm trying to get it as that even though all words are spelled the same way (apart from if you live in America and possibly Australia) they don't always sound the same.

Some techniques of giving dialogue realism is how it SOUNDS-- I always say what my characters are going to out loud before I write it. That way, I can determine how I write it as people with accents tend to contract their words, such as 'morning' becoming 'mornin'' -- I know that after reading a lot of Stephen King this is somewhat normal and one of the aspects that gives his writing it's rich and realistic feeling.

Speech isn't always long, there are pauses and breaks, sometimes these breaks are due to the speaker's actions or being interrupted. Conversely, if there is two much description between dialogue breaks and interruptions, the scene could drag and frustrate your readers.

Another thing about natural speech is there's a lot of greetings and everyday dialogue. So ask yourself, is this absolutely essential? As a writer you're constantly under scrutiny for you writing (heck, I've probably got so many mistakes in this post) that you need to always ask yourself questions like is this essential? Does it aide the plot? Will the readers really be missing out on anything if it's cut?

Identifies / Attributives

I'm not big on the whole 'he whispered', 'he stammered' etc. however, I haven't always been like that. There was a time when I was about 16 (2 years ago) when I received a critique about how many of these tags I'd used and how it meant they had to read everything--similar to being told everything. The critique went on to say how tags such as 'said', 'asked', 'answered' and 'replied' went unnoticed and I totally agreed, because thinking back on it and going through books looking for tags, I noticed that they didn't use them at the end of every piece of dialogue. However, when they did use them they did it sparingly.

Also, in the critique, he told me good dialogue speaks for itself, the only thing that should go after it is action to add realism and making sure that characters weren't stiff. He said let the action compliment the dialogue, give it depth, show they were angry instead of saying "he said angrily" instead try "he said slamming his fist against the table". (I will go deeper into Show Vs. Tell in a later planned blog post).

Repetition of names is also important because if the dialogue is trying to flow and you keep adding "Jeremy said" and "Marie said" at the end of everything it can seem unnecessary and monotonous, similarly if you're using 'he' and 'she' and they are the only two people involved in the conversation you can probably just cut it and allow the reader to move through the piece faster. 

Thought Bubbles

Are you ever struck trying to think of how you want to phrase a thought? Well I was when I was starting out writing, and I'm sure there are some who have the niggling as well. This isn't a problem if you're writing in first person (Me, He, You, We. WHAT? - Viewpoint and Narrative post). However, it is a problem if you're writing in third person, do you go for italics? Do you use the same format for speech but use the tag "he thought" instead? --Okay I wouldn't recommend the second suggestion because of the stylistics, so you might you quote marks instead. There is no right answer to thought "bubbles" except if you do use them then stick to the same format and don't mix it up!

Punctuation!

I should have put this some place a little higher.

The first would be that the comma, exclamation mark, full stop or question mark be used at the end of dialogue and before the tag. EX. "But I don't feel like dancing," she said pulling her hand out of his. I used a comma, and a little note about full stops is that a tag like "he said" isn't used, because like a full stop ends a sentence, it does the same for dialogue. Action may follow, but a full stop is normally used because the person speaking is already in the scene and the dialogue is perhaps between two people.

I used to fall prey to not punctuating my dialogue and notice some novice writers still make these mistakes.

There's also punctuating dialogue. No, dialogue does not have to be grammatically correct, are you always formal and grammatically anal around your friends (okay, some people will be, but there will be a majority who just want to relax around friends). Think of the characters, think of the innocent lives you'll be ruining and turning 2D--oh, the horror!!

Happy Writing & Happy Reading!I hope you enjoyed my blog post!

~Joseph Eastwood

Breaking A Sweat! #Writer's Tool

All about verbs, and the most basic level of verb knowing is that a verb is a doing word and often ends in '-ing'.



First off, let's start by stripping verbs down--here they're called infinitives, they normally follow after 'to -' EX. 'to be', 'to go', 'to feel', 'to think' etc.



Splitting infinitives is just placing a word between 'to' and the verb. Some people think it's okay and some people will chastise you. At the end of the day, it's your writing and you might be doing it for stylistic effect. A very famous example of a split infinitive is from Star Trek - 'to boldly go...' however going back to my previous post on Adverbs (Finicky Adverbs) where I address how to pack a tight punch with using them correctly.



Some other verb terms you might need to know if ever asked to point them out say for an analytical piece in an exam or critique--it's always nice to be in the know.



Main Verb--this guy here identifies the action of the sentence.

EX. 'He GAVE me a chocolate bar.' or 'She VISITS me daily.'

And also know that the most common sentence is SVO: Subject Verb Object--more on that in another blog post.



Auxiliary Verbs

These verbs go before the main verb in a sentence, giving extra information.



Primary Auxiliaries: There are three of these--do, have, and be.



Model Auxiliaries: These can only occur when in reference to a main verb and there are nine of these--can, could, will, would, must, may, might, shall, and should.



Conjugating Your Verb

Conjugate: "Give the different forms of (a verb in an inflected language) as they vary according to voice, mood, tense, number, and person."



I remember having to do this in French lessons--copying down all the French verbs and changing their tenses. It's just like that for the English language, except a little less complex considering it isn't foreign.



You always start with the infinitive. EX. to write

Then you can work out the past, present and future tenses of this word.

You get these five forms: write, writes, written, writing, and wrote.

(past, present, future, past participle)



Often used with an auxiliary verb, EX. I am writing a book (am is the first person singular present form of to be and writing the present of to write)



It's All About the Voice



Verbs are said to be of either voice, ACTIVE or PASSIVE.



Active EX. "Jeff mailed the parcel."

Jeff (subject) is doing the mailing (verb).



Passive EX. "The parcel was mailed by Jeff"

The parcel (subject) was being mailed (verb).



If you spot passive voice and can change it then do so because it will strengthen your syntax and gives it more of a kick.



I hope this blog post was educational!



~Joseph Eastwood

Me, He, You, We. WHAT? #Writer's Tool

I know I should be a little bit more obvious in my post titles, anyway, this is about viewpoint and narration (but if you found this here; #Writer's Tools then I'm guessing you already knew that)



Before pen touches paper or fingers to keys, you need to decide and be really clear on who's telling the story and what type of narrator (1st, 2nd, 3rd) you're going to be using. Although you might not think it at first, I certainly never, but viewpoint writing takes a lot of skill and time to be able to master it, and I'll tell you why, because you have to be consistent while weaving the story, if you're break it once, even the slightest knock.

Because I want to use an analogy--think of writing fiction as if you were crafting the shell of an egg for something glorious to hatch (fiction), now if you knock it just a little bit you can smash the shell and it has that kind of ripple effect and all that does is ruin the shell (the finished piece).

So we know that we mustn't knock the thin shells of viewpoint writing, and what better way to be assured than to remind yourself about pronouns -- Repeat Me Instead!. A little recap about your choice of narrator, 1st person is 'I', and is used to give a piece of fiction a more personal feel. 2nd person is 'You', and it is very rare that you will come across something as many people can barely keep it up, it is very stylistic. 3rd person is 'He' / 'She', and is used for both detached and personal story telling.

Choosing your viewpoint character. So you'll have a list of people, you might have even come up with the story centered around that character, which is even better. However, if you are stuck, ask yourself which character is more compelling, who offers the better perspective to your piece of fiction.



Some signs you should look out for:



Switching Narrators

I know that multiple narrators and viewpoints can be used to the advantage of the reader of knowing all sides of a story etc. but what I'm addressing here is switching narrators in the middle of a paragraph or middle of a scene, they should be easy enough to spot. I recommend not changing so frequently as it will only leave you with disgruntled readers. If you are changing narrators and viewpoints in your novel I strongly suggest doing it at a scene break or start of a new chapter.



Knowing Too Much

Characters shouldn't know something another character is knows, especially without being told it. One of the advantages of using the first person narrator 'I' is being inside your characters head, and not being inside anyone else, that is unless your character is telepathic.



Finding Their Voice

I have addressed characterization in a previous post (Three-Dimensions Please). And some extra points, if your readers don't feel strongly about your character, it doesn't matter if he's good or bad, but YOU the writer must care for that character, if you care then the reader will care--it's when they don't care that they'll stop reading.





Happy Writing & Happy Reading!I hope you enjoyed my blog post!

~Joseph Eastwood

Repeat Me Instead! #Writer's Tool

Pronouns take place of a noun, that is when a noun has become repetitive and boring. They are sometimes called the antecedent because they refer back to something through either 'it' or 'them'.



There are various categories of pronoun and are labelled according to their function in a sentence.

(Would love to use a grid right about now.)



The SUBJECT of a sentence: 

Alice waved at Mona.She waved at Mona.--Alice is doing the action.

Singular / Plural1st - I / We2nd - You / You3rd - He, She, It / They

The OBJECT of a sentence:



Alice waved at Mona.Alice waved at her.--Mona is the one receiving the action.



Singular / Plural

1st - Me / Us2nd - You / You3rd - Him, Her, It / Them



Other classifications of pronouns include, relative, reflexive, reciprocal, possessive, indefinite and demonstrative. (This to me is kind of advanced stuff, but I learnt them and got an A on an English exam-- disclaimer, just because you learn these does not mean you'll get an A on your exam, I learnt a whole lot of grammar and word class stuff, I also put in a lot of work and effort into practice papers.)



Relative

This consists of 6 words who, what, whose, that, whom and which, and they are used to tell the reader more about the noun before it.



Ex. The sandwiches THAT I made did not have any butter on them.

--'sandwiches' is the noun, and everything after 'that' is extra information about the sandwiches.



Reflexive

This type of pronoun is formed by adding the suffix 'self' or 'selves' to the pronoun-- myself, himself, herself, yourself, oneself, itself, ourselves, themselves, yourselves. These words are used when the subject and object are the same, either person or thing.



Ex. 'I can speak for myself.' & 'You can't look after yourself.'





Reciprocal

Consists of each other and one another. Each other is exclusive of just two people while one another is more than two people. So, if you're ever in doubt of which one to use, think of how many people are involved.





Possessive

They are my, mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, its. These words are used after the noun in which is  referred to as belonging to them.





Indefinite

Another pronoun class that we use when we can't say what definitely is, hence being an indefinite pronoun. all, anyone, nobody, everybody, everyone, one, several, few, somebody, some, no one, many, another, anything, everything, nothing, someone, each, none, any. I think that's all of them, if not feel free to add some in the comments.





Demonstrative

They are this, that, these and those. They are also called demonstrative determiners and exophoric references (the last term is commonly used when examining speech, meaning something which has been referred to out of the text) they refer to something in the story space, and has perhaps been mentioned before in the same scene.





I hope this blog post was educational!



~Joseph Eastwood

Three-Dimensions Please #Writer's Tool

There's nothing worse than when you're reading a book and it's full of Mary Sue's, stock, cliché, 2D characters. 



The Naming Process

Okay so I'll already been through this on another blog post (Suits You Sir) but I'll give a little recap. Names are indefinitely influenced by place and era, for instance you wouldn't see a Dex or a Megan in the 17th Century would you, so don't do it -- unless you're writing a piece of fiction on time travelling children. Likewise, you wouldn't see Giovanna's and Augustine's in the present day, unless they were in fact old people. The name is easily fixed, so don't worry too much -- but like I say in my post, an ill suited name will itch like a nasty suit.



Personality

It is important to know what type of person your character and how to convey that through speech and other actions. I was going to list all the different personality traits that I've collected but where would the fun in that be.



Exercise: how easy is it to go searching the internet for words, pretty easy -- so what I'm going to ask you guys to do is grab a piece of paper and a pen, and write all the different personality types you can, I'll get you started: Aggressive, Keen, Friendly. Now you continue and try not using the internet!



So hopefully now you have a list as a long as your arm to go from. Hopefully some of them apply to your characters, if not, then your character is FLAT and you need to pump some life into it, give it room to breathe and speak for itself. I always find that writing a scenario involving that particular character is helpful, sometimes I write these out like interviews and document their movement and how they answer my questions.



The interview technique is helpful, you set up a generic line of questions, sometimes they divulge in what the plot is about. You can really get a feel for your characters this way-- documenting their movements: folded arms, scowls, snarls, rolled eyes, sitting at the end of the chair, hands on lap, back straight, eyes wide, huge smile etc.



Description

Generic character description needs to be avoided at ALL costs, and why I hear you ask yourself, and I'll reply -- because it's boring to read a person being introduced like so, the woman was in her late thirties, of small height and large weight, with black hair and green eyes. What was in there that was completely essential, none of it, I have a rule that unless the description is unique or strange to the character's POV then don't put it.

And a definite no-no, is describing characters who are not essential at all, someone who we'll never meet again, someone who we'll hate the writer for because of handing us some description about a girl in the grocery store when she doesn't have any significance to ANYTHING.

Some questions to ask yourself about description, other than is it necessary -- 

Is that character a key character? Because it will become severely mundane if you start listing the appearance of every stock character in your writing...hopefully, if it did get to this you would figure out how annoying it was writing it all down.

Will this description aide the plot? If it's passed the above question then this is the next question you need to ask, and not only is it to aide the plot but the setting, a character wouldn't wear three-quarter khakis and a t-shirt in the snow, unless they were a cold blooded being, in which case that point could be made, but if not and the character is completely fine in the cold then I'll be disappointed with the writer's concept of "cold" and how a character should react.

That's it for questions, but you keep asking away until your descriptions are down to a T.

Faces - Description

So I thought that this might need to come under a different section, the above was after all getting a little crowded.

Like I stressed above, don't list off features like "he had a nose, a mouth, and a pair of eyes, coincidentally, everyone else had those same features." (that might have come across a little condescending, but I'm making a point) and my point is that unless their faces are different, such as being on a different planet etc. then I assume they all have those features.

Again, only put something down in the description if it will aide the plot and not because it's something you want to write, because every word and every sentence needs to be there on purpose and for a reason (I'll get more into that on another post).

Similes and metaphors -- semantics. She had a hooked nose like a beak. His eyes gleamed like a polished gem. Her dark blue eyes reflected the ocean. Her auburn hair billowed like crazed flames. His eyes were glowing coals. These are just a few from the top of my head, and they can help with developing an image for a character, if someone had eyes like glowing coals, you wouldn't think they were the nicest of people.

Happy Writing & Happy Reading!I hope you enjoyed my blog--it was fun writing it!

~Joseph Eastwood