The topic this week is the five worst writer questions. I
had a hard time thinking of these, and of course, as the Saturday person,
whenever I do think of something, my evil cohorts have already written about
it in fun and entertaining ways!!
However, I am a writer, and I have five questions. I have
five questions for other writers as well as readers. These are my worst
questions, because I had them all this week and I don’t know the answers.
Readers and writers, please answer the following annoying
questions. Or, at least they are annoying to me. This week.
1. How do you feel about “gaze shuttered” or “eyes
shuttered” as a way to describe somebody who kind of closes off and shuts down?
I used to think it was a cheat, but I just used it today. It was convenient. Cheat or not?
2. When I have a character say something like, “Jesus, that’s
hot!” Or “God, is it really eight already?” do you take that as at all
religious? Either in the mind of the character saying it, or your mind? Or do you see the use of Jesus or God here as interchangeable with,
say, Wowee. (But, less dorky?)
3. Do you like the lengths of points of view
sections to be roughly the same when switching points of view between two or three characters? How do you feel about decreasing the length spent in
a character’s point of view as a book progresses? What if your average time
spent in one character’s point of view is 6000 words, and then you throw in a
2000-word point of view section from the other character? Problem? Readers, do
you notice that kind of thing?
4. Cliffhanger chapter endings. I don’t like them as a reader, because I like a stopping point, so I don't use them as a writer. But I know many people insist on moving a
reader forward by using them. In fact, I just read a book that advised this
technique. Am I old fashioned to want each chapter to be wrapped in a nice
little bow? Do readers like them? Or is this a thing writers like? If the point is to not let the reader stop, why have chapters at all? Let me know your thoughts, please!
5. Semi-colons and colons in dialogue: yay or nay? Some say this is high punctuation and has no place in dialogue, others feel it is fine.
Thank you in advance, my friends, for answering. You are all fabulous. Happy Holidays!!!
xox
Carolyn Crane
