And, even though you know it to be bad, don’t be afraid to show your work around to people you feel you can trust to give you a true accounting of it. A third party can see the good and bad in a work that the creator of said work can’t.

Also, don’t hesitate to see and take pride in the small successes in your work. I know the stuff I’m writing now is poo, but it is the best I’ve ever written and I’m excited about that. It is inspiring me to continue on and work harder to improve.

I guess I should look at writing blogs that discuss the dos and do nots. Thank you both, you have gone a long way in allowing me make connections with writing and what I do know with some fluency, visual arts.

Red flags seem to be “trite but true” options that a writer’s mind fist goes to. The dream scene, the prologue, those are the sort of things that occur first as they are simple and easily come to mind as a way to get content into the story. A novice writer will stop there, thinking that will be a good option for them. But a good writer would probably continue asking the question of “what is the best way to say what I want,” or, “how can I take the thought farther.”

I have to say I made the mistake of settling on one of the “trite but true” options. Okay, Okay, I had three red flags going on in my story, a Prolog, a dream sequence and two points-of-views. I know laugh all you want, I’m used to it.

What you two said to me made me tear my story down, and start building it back up, and right now, it is the stronger for it. I am still having two points of view however. I don’t think I can get around that, as it is a story of two people and what they do and sacrifice for each other, all under a back drop of civil war, duty, revenge and betrayal.

And hey, I use the mirror thing myself in my second book, so just as guilty of it as anybody else. Though I suppose since this is the sequel, it's a little better since it's not the first time the reader gets to find out what Nathan looks like.

There are always exceptions. I guess it might be said that the hard and fast rule is to never include something in your story for the ease of it? I'm sure the mirror thing is an easy way to get a character's physical description into the story, but one that --unless mandated by the circumstances-- is ultimately lacking in feeling and individuality, two things you don't want a story to have.     

Thank you for the feed back Gatordave and The Deposed King.
I was doing something like you stated Dave, throwing in some stuff when it related to the character’s state of mind or interaction with environment. For example I started off by describing her posture and bearing as she stalked her prey with bow at the ready and arrow nocked. I then put in a two word description of her fingers when she moved the leaf to uncover an animal track. After I described the track and what information she concludes from it  I describe the color of her eyes when she scans the woodland for other signs of her quarry’s passing. After that it is largely describing her state of mind, history and then her patients as she sneaks up to within bow range of her target. I then tell the readers about her athletic prowess when her target bolts and she gives chase, so I’m sure the reader will come to the correct conclusion that the heroine is rather athletic in appearance, even if I don’t spell it out for them. I describe her clothing and it’s practically during the chase, but don’t allude to the shape of her body.

I wasn’t planning to give the reader a full accounting of the character’s physical aspect till the scene after the hunt when she is washing up. That way we get her physical description from her point of view. And, as I was typing this post, I though it might be fun to give her description again, but through the eyes as another, so the reader gets a bit of a contrast between how she sees herself and how others see her.

Even though I’m telling the story in 3rd person omniscient, the beginning is very much from the main character’s perspective and it just seemed, in my mind, to be a more intimate way to go about revealing the character to the reader, rather then the typical laundry list of things one types up to tell the reader what the character looks like.


But as you said, Deposed King, it might be best to rush the physical description. Maybe I can find a happy medium between getting the description done in a timely manner while still keeping the delivery a more intimate feel for the reader. Lots to think about, thank you.

I’m not much of a writer --though I am trying to remedy that of late-- but being someone with a strong background in the visual arts I would say don’t bother asking such a question as to whether a style is good or bad. It is much better to develop the style you want to work with rather then feel you need to conform to what others want or think is good. Imagine if someone came up to Picasso and said, “Interesting, but I think you should paint in the Bob Ross method, it is more traditional,” and he stopped cubism to grow a fro and beard and started painting with a brush one normally uses to slather paint onto a picket fence.

It might not be everyone’s cup-of-tea, but it will be your distinct voice. And if you do it skillfully, people will enjoy it even if it is not the kind of thing they usually go for. Case in point, like Galvatron, I too like books with a smaller number of POVs, but I thoroughly enjoyed a book where the author wrote from 5 or 6 1st person points of view. The author made the experience fun and engaging and it more then made up for the fact that it wasn’t something I usually enjoy reading.

In short, write what you want to write. And if you do it well, people will read.

Just my thoughts on the matter.