Each
post for the A to Z Challenge is the challenge I set for myself.
 |
| Becoming a page was the first stage on the path to becoming a knight |
 |
| F is for FINISHING. |
When it comes to writing, I think F is for Finishing and not letting your focus fizzle out
in the face of the shiny, new idea.
HAL LONGLEAT AND THE TROUBLE WITH TRUTH
Hal shook his head. He’d seen pages
around. The ones at Brockley Castle served at Lord Courtney’s table, they
learned to read with the priest and trained to fight on foot and on horseback
too. Usually, pages arrived to begin training when they were seven years-old.
He was already ten.
Hal frowned again. People were either servants or masters. Pages were the sons of knights and lords. He was a
servant. That was his place in the world.
Could YOU have been gifted with the ability to identify
and eliminate weak and brittle phrases from your work? To the uninitiated,
these interlopers look like quality imagery.
CLICHÉ RAIDERS: REWRITE!
• fast and
furious
• fate
worse than death
• fighting
fit
• fish out
of water
• flog a
dead horse
• forlorn
hope
• fraught
with danger/peril
• frenzy
of activity
• from the
sublime to the ridiculous
• fullness
of time, in the
FOR F, I CHOSE FINISHING. WHAT IS THE SUBJECT OF YOUR F POST?
I can't tell you how many writers I know who have difficulty with this! Excellent topic! :)
ReplyDeleteHi DL
DeleteI know! It's terrible... I never plan to not finish, it's odd how that happens ;)
I think it is one of the hardest things to do, especially finishing properly and not endlessly tinkering around. Sorry I'm too tired to rewrite your cliches!
ReplyDeleteI don't plan anyone to re-write them here ;) They're only pointers for any writing, they are slippery critters that tend to turn up all over the place.
DeleteLOL - I am stuck on starting, finishing is a long time away for me. My F - follow your dreams.
ReplyDeleteThanks for checking out my AtoZ.
Rhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com
AtoZ #42
Hi Rhonda
DeleteStarting is an exciting time - that's part of finishing's problem ;)
Oh, cliches. Fine in a first draft, then time to kill them off in editing.
ReplyDeleteIt's tough though.
Hi Steph
DeleteThey are so insidious. Finding a different phrasing is easy in the narrative. In dialogue, to convey ironic humour between characters, the old ones can be the best.
Finishing is definitely hard. I could tweak and polish forever if I didn't put my foot down and say "enough".
ReplyDeleteHi Kellie
DeleteWasn't it Leonardo de Vinci who said no piece of art was ever truly finished?
Finishing is easy for me with writing is easy. It's starting that gets me down LOL. I'm posting about Flan today.
ReplyDeleteHi Karen
DeleteI find starting very easy. I love the idea of posting about Flan. Over on your blog, I've been reading lots of tasty recipes this month.
I love your choice of "Finishing" for F. What would a beginning be without a finish? My F is for Friends.
ReplyDeleteKathy @ Swagger Writers
Hi Kathy
DeleteI love the idea of posting about Friends, they play an important part in real life and in fiction too ;)
Great post! And I loved the F-list of cliches. Writing strong is something I struggle with. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteMy F is Farai, a character in my novel.
Hi Sangita
DeleteThe clichés are only the ones I thought were most likely to slip into my novel - there is a master list containing MANY more clichés to look out for - *eep!