One thing I learned from reading Stephen King's memoir is not to overuse adverbs or "fancy" verbs. I write anime fan-fiction, and I have a mild case of this disease. Since third grade, I don't think I've ever written "said" in a story, just the word said by itself.He pleaded. He screeched loudly. He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Never just said. It is just how King says on page 121 (of my copy of the book); I am afraid of the readers not being smart enough to understand what I mean. Therefore, I must explain exactly how a character says something to be sure my point comes across.
But King is correct; my reader's are not complete idiots. They know exactly how the character is saying a line from the other things happening in the scene. I'm going to watch if I'm over-describing, to the point of annoyance, from now on in my work.
Quote from King's memoir of what I'm referring to: "Believe that when you use he sai
d, the reader will know how he said it--fast or slowly, happily or sadly. Your man may be floundering in a swamp, and by all means throw him a rope if he is... but there is no need to knock him unconscious with ninety feet of steel cable." (121)
Well, it seems like you've gathered something positive from the King excerpts. Though, that's not to suggest that they didn't have their useful moments.
ReplyDeleteIt's also not the first time I've been told to use adverbs sparingly, particularly with said.
Good luck with your future writing. :)
I agree with you. Readers don't like reading "fancy" verbs throughout the whole piece of writing. I think that it's good you don't use "said" in your anime, because readers don't need to see that to know when the characters a speaking.
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