I'm re-reading On Writing right now. Catching so much stuff I didn't notice the first time. I'm very particular about how I write. I'm adamant that you start with the situation, then the characters that will be in that situation, and then you let them run wild in your head. I know I'm onto something when my own characters surprise me. That is the magic of writing and I can't function without it. Still, people like Chris Nolan do exactly the opposite. They start from the plot and work back. And it drives me up the fucking wall. Stephen King does it my way and he lays it out in a couple paragraphs.You don’t want to leave them in despair, which is why it’s such a horrible idea to try teaching Moby-Dick or Dubliners to high school juniors. Even the bright ones lose heart. But it’s good to make them reach a little. They’ve got to see there are brighter literary worlds than Twilight.
I am going to re-read it as well. Everything (in terms of books) I am reading right now is trash. I don't usually know how a poem will end when I begin it. I often don't know how the second line will go. I take it and let it develop as I write. I've said before that sometimes when I write poems I discover how I feel about things; I think this process allows that kind of discovery. I think some poets plan more. I mean, life's a spectrum, so they must, but personally I feel I lose a lot of "art" when I try to force something to a certain point. Sometimes I know where it's going, but that's not the same. When I wrote wild fantasy novels as a kid I always just started with a thing, a person or event, and let it carry me from there. Mostly it worked out although I do remember one novel I got frustrated writing and what was supposed to be a series of 7 or 14 contests wound down very quickly. I think I had the villain change her mind on the participants mid-way. Like "Yeah I know I told you you'd have to go through all these trials. Fuck that, I changed my mind, this is boring." Maybe the good guys were winning or something. Stephen King is somewhat of an idol (?) of mine. I have a prepublication galley of Bag of Bones, the dream is that one day I will get it signed. My second cousin or someone babysat for him way back in the way back, unfortunately too way back to attempt to plunder that connection. I am very particular about editing. But I also like editing. I believe in laying down the crap, not looking back til you finish, and cleaning it all up after. King may be verbose but you know what he's a damn good read. Rose Madder and the Eye of the Dragon are two of my personal favorites of his although, also Nightmares and Dreamscapes. Edit: That's me. I basically only read, and voraciously, as a child. (No video games.) I know y'all are like "She's a freak at grammar!" and yeah, pretty good at spelling too, but 90% of it just came from reading, and reading, and reading. (10% of it came from my mom.) You spend all your time reading proper English and you learn how it sounds, or looks.“One either absorbs the grammatical principles of one’s native language in conversation and in reading or one does not.
Yep. And yet my elementary school teachers used to take away my books when I read during class... I got a pretty good sight gag out of it once, though, when I anticipated her and brought seven books. Kept pulling out new ones when her back was turned. Class dug it.You spend all your time reading proper English and you learn how it sounds, or looks.
I'm practically the first generation who grew up with the Internet (nerdy kid, got a dial-up connection when I was 10). So even though English is my second language, I've been reading, gaming and writing in English for over a decade now in part because of the Internet. English grammar is something I never really think about - I just intuitively know how it's supposed to be, without actually knowing the rules, simply because I've been exposed to it so much.You spend all your time reading proper English and you learn how it sounds, or looks.
I enjoy learning the rusty old rules. For instance I am quite convinced that there are some instances in which it is technically wrong to use an adverb, although most people seem to flout this rule. I am convinced that this is a rule because when I see the usage it strikes me as wrong. However, I haven't been able to track it down quite yet, and I know that most people wouldn't care anyway... I think it may be this rule: People seem happy to make things adverbs that do not, or should not, be adverbs. I try not to get pedantic about these rules as I know most no one cares except for me but I enjoy them and enjoy knowing them and enjoy knowing I am using language "correctly" - although I also love my ain't, my jargon, and my slang in casual speech. I think language is fun.Rule 2. Adverbs that answer the question how sometimes cause grammatical problems