Scribbles & Munch

      Extra points to anybody who knows where that quote comes from.

      As of late, the most consistent feedback I get on my manuscripts is that I write too much dialogue/lack exposition. Which (once I finished scratching my head and going, "Really?") is good feedback. It was also very surprising, because I honestly thought I had the opposite problem--or at least I did three novel manuscripts ago. But I went back over my ghost story and my current zombie project and realized it was absolutely true.
      I also went back to some of my work from just a handful of years ago and realized that was not a problem back then.
      So I was struck by two questions: first, what the heck happened to me that my writing style changed so much? Second, which is actually my writing style?

      As to the First.... I won't bore you with the entirety of my thought process, because it took a few weeks and more than likely is really only of interest to myself (I'm not sure if it's a good or a bad thing that I can be amused by my own mental processes, but at least I won't die of boredom!). I'll just skip to the end and say I decided the change took place for several reasons. One of them was likely rooted in my psychology background; much of analysis, assessment, therapy, and research is done via dialogue, and so my brain seems to have decided that's where the action happens. To me, dialogue and body language reveal more about a character than anything else. The lack of exposition is rooted in the ever-present dilemma of length. Especially for a first-time novelist, a manuscript that is o'er lengthy (something I've struggled with in the past) is a hard sell. So when I write, I think I tend to focus on hitting the crucial points, moving the story along with a vague idea that I'll fill in the rest later...only that doesn't seem to be happening.
      Also, to be perfectly honest, I love reading a good snippet of juicy, character-rich dialogue; it's just like a good curry, all spice and zing and satisfaction! So...you know...Golden Rule.

      As to the Second.... Before I could reach a satisfactory answer, I found myself pondering a more philosophical question: what is style? What's the difference between a "writer's style" and "bad writing?" Is it merely the preference of the reader, sort of like beauty being in the eye of the beholder?* Probably the vast majority of published fiction for adults has a very similar writing style, a flow to the sentences and paragraph structure, a pacing to the development of the tale. But you get people who break those patterns. I'm guessing most of them never get published. Some of them, however, become famous. Ever read James Joyce? How about Kurt Vonnegut? One of my favorite novels, The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt,** has a writing style that confused the heck out of me for the first few pages, before I got into the swing of it. And don't even get me started on the unique nature of House of Leaves by Danielewski. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with degrees in English and Journalism or the like who could very easily school me on what makes one person a visionary and another an unpolished writer. But let's be honest: at least some of this has to do with taste.
      So is my dialogue-heavy writing shoddy, unpolished writing? Or is it simply my style, which is not everyone's taste? I think the answer has to be somewhere in between, because as long as I see things in my writing that I want to change because I feel it enhances the writing (and therefore the story), clearly my style is not fully expressed. Maybe that's all it means to be a polished writer: fewer drafts between the original and the finished work. As it is, I have a fair ways to go.

      And what about the PIE!?!!? Yes yes, you've all been very patient. And 2014 is STILL the Year of the Pie. There will be one later this week, the crust is maturing in the fridge as I type. But I have more tasty treats in store for you throughout October...oh yes...pie will be the least of your culinary concerns...as All Hallow's Eve draws near....



*And let me tell you, for a cliché, there is nothing more true! Go to any modern art museum with more than three people, and stand back and watch them debate. Is that solid yellow rectangle on a canvas "art?" Or is it a way to sucker snobs out of their cash?

**Absolutely NOTHING to do with the Tom Cruise movie, people--nothing!!!