Mike > Recent Status Updates

So far the narrative is charming, characters believable, and the foreshadowing piercing.

In this section the most poignant part for me is the following: Choose a few descriptions about a person that will work as a symbol for the rest of them, i.e. designer clothing rather than a list of what they're wearing. I gave too much description in my first draft, but that's an easy fix, especially after listen to Mr. King's examples :)

I'm rereading this bad boy to soak in more Stephen King knowledge like sponge. It's fascinating how you can read the same book at different times of your life and take different lessons from it. This time Mr. King feels like a prophet screaming from the mountain tops, "adverbs are the enemy! Passive voice is the enemy!"

The Valley of Fear is a more interesting read than The Return of Sherlock Holmes was for me. Doyle is less rushed and paints a more intricate picture with his narrative. The characters are written stronger and the plot is more interesting as well. The first chapter finds Watson & Holmes breaking a cypher. Within the next few chapters a corpse is found with a brand in his flesh and his wedding ring missing.