Comments for Jfhilborne's Blog

Comment on Don’t insult your reader… by jfhilborne

jfhilborne — Wed, 08 May 2013 18:07:35 +0000

I read and review for a professional organization, hence I stay with some books I’d prefer to give up on. Fortunately, most I review are of high standard, but the odd doozie slips in from time to time.

I’m with you on the info dump, and long words are fine if they fit. Big words where the author had used them in the wrong context are a different matter.

Thanks for commenting.

Comment on Don’t insult your reader… by Andrew Peters

Andrew Peters — Wed, 08 May 2013 17:38:37 +0000

Well….maybe. Personally I don’t invest a lot of my time in novels. If there’s no spark to the writing, if the main character sounds like some management consultant, If I´m wading through a mass of backstory and description then I’m done by chapter 2.
As for the “long words” thing…well. how does the writer know? What’s a long word to some readers he may use without a second thought, There’s no possibility he can tailor his vocabulary to each individual reader.
I find I rarely finish a self-published novel…the main problem for me is that the authors aren’t engaging at sentence level, their characters are mostly themselves and they have very little idea of what constitutes good construction. It’s hard to explain but there’s a clunkiness to the whole thing.
I’m not as resentful as you because I’m much more ruthless. I don’t write reviews of the books I give up on…let their friends churn out the 5* stuff for them.

Comment on Is talking to yourself a bad thing? by jfhilborne

jfhilborne — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:46:03 +0000

Judith, thanks for stopping by and leaving such a thoughtful comment. Narcotic is a great way to describe the style of an author you find compelling. As I continued to work through these scenes, I added new and frightening encounters for my poor main character to face, which allowed for snippets of dialogue. It’s a great exercise for us writers when we come up against a challening situation we haven’t yet handled.

Comment on Is talking to yourself a bad thing? by Judith Sears

Judith Sears — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 20:24:20 +0000

Hi – coming very late to this conversation. I was just going mention Kate Atkinson, author of Case Histories and other Jackson Brodie mysteries (reviewed by Stephen King as best mystery of the decade in 2008). I noticed her style right away because, in general, it’s light on dialogue. The first chapter of Case Histories has about 5 instances of dialogue and, of these five, there is only one statement-reply pairing – everything else is a brief snatch or comment by one character that no one replies to, like, “Olivia,” she said and this time her voice came out as a whisper.

I love dialogue and Elmore Leonard is, of course, a demigod to me. However, I find Atkinson’s style positively narcotic – and very hard to put down. It wouldn’t work for everyone or even very many. But, it can work.

From what you describe – lots of action and a guy making snap decisions under great pressure – sounds interesting and the kind of thing that would keep a reader interested without a lot of dialogue.

The whole “descriptive passage,” “show not tell,” points are all valid, but you may have an exception to those “rules.”

Comment on Inside the “nick” by jfhilborne

jfhilborne — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:09:59 +0000

Indeed. They can see so much more than we realize.

Comment on Inside the “nick” by HARRY STEINMAN

HARRY STEINMAN — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 20:43:10 +0000

Yikes. Remind me to stay out of trouble.

Comment on Fifteen minutes by Nissie

Nissie — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 09:57:40 +0000

Congratulations, Jen! What a thrill that must have been for you. You deserve the recognition and I’d say you should probably get used to it.

I’ve never had a real moment of fame, but I do live in a small town, and like the song says, everybody dies famous in a small town.

Comment on Is talking to yourself a bad thing? by Jenny Hilborne

Jenny Hilborne — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 13:15:03 +0000

Good comments and suggestions. Thanks both for stopping by. I did add another (non-essential) character to both bring in a bit of dialogue and allow the MC to react to the murder scene while he flees. There’s plenty of action, and plenty of time for re-writes

Comment on Is talking to yourself a bad thing? by HARRY STEINMAN

HARRY STEINMAN — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 10:00:46 +0000

Do the chapters work as written? Maybe they’re just fine.

Your post brought to mind a few novels with some interesting technique:
Stephen King’s, “Dolores Claiborne” is a one-character novel with plenty of, well, monologue. In other words, the story includes conversations, interrogation, etc., but with only one character’s voice.

Haruki Murukami’s “1Q84″ (dynamite!) manages long passages without dialog. In the 1st chapter, the MC rides in a taxi and the driver provides some dialog. The driver functions as a herald character and isn’t essential to the story, just to provide information that might have been narrative. You might look at the excerpt on Amazon.

John Irving’s latest, “In One Person” manages the first couple chapters as narrative with a bit of remembered dialog between the MC and another important character that is introduced later in the book.

If the story does not require the dialog, and you’ve written some darn good narrative, well, that’s okay too.

Can’t wait to read!

Comment on Is talking to yourself a bad thing? by Candace Gauger

Candace Gauger — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 04:47:32 +0000

As a reader, I don’t have to have dialog, even if it is the MC talking to himself or we’re hearing his thoughts as they plan the next step while running away from something.

As an author, I think there should be a little dialog, but only if it is needed in each chapter. I’ve read plenty of books which had chaoters that were whole conversations and descriptive verser for the rest that turned out interesting, and the odd one or two which were the inverse and held my attention. Both are equally difficult to write.

If anything, do have your MC plot out their next step as they escape from the murder scene and, when allowed, let the weight of what they had just done fall on them at once have those outbursts any sane (or insane) would give when the adrenaline subsides. Just a suggestion that could work.