The Byrchen Twigges

If I was going to beta read your story, here's what I'd tell you

Tue, 15 Jan 2019 08:03:19 GMT

I love you writers, each and every one of you. I love you when you’re starting out and I love you when you’ve been doing it for years.

I’ve done my share of beta reading over the years. It’s been my honor to have new writers trust me with their stories, and to have old writing warhorses share their tales.

And there are some small, practical things I find myself telling everybody. These are things that make your fic smoother to read. This, in turn, helps the reader get into your world. They’ve got more goodwill to buy into your crazy crossover, your rare pairing, or your point-of-view original character.

Here are three that apply to any fiction of any kind.

Keep your paragraphs no more than 10 sentences long

When paragraphs are longer than 10 sentences, it’s hard to keep your reader’s attention. Honestly, I should say six – seven long sentences or 10 shorter sentences for fiction.

A terrible thing happens when your paragraphs are too long: readers stop reading. This is especially marked when people are reading on a phone instead of a tablet or bigger screen. A long paragraph looks REALLY long on a phone. My eyes just slide away.

Each paragraph can have its own narrative point or goal. With this in mind, you'll see that long paragraphs often have a natural ‘split point’ in there.

Keep your sentences 15 – 20 words long

Your readers prefer shorter sentences. A 20 word sentence is surprisingly long. Even if you’re waxing lyrical or descriptive, it’s enough to say or describe one main thing. If you find you’re using lots of semicolons or parentheses, it may be time to start some new sentences. It’s also good to mix up long sentences with shorter ones. This creates a rhythm for your reader.

I find some fandoms tend naturally to short, crisp writing. Others – Tolkien fandom, I’m looking at you – run long. In those fandoms, readers have more of a tolerance-to-fondness for our verbosity. But it’s good to have a handle on it.

Sometimes longer sections are OK, here’s when

Sometimes I’ll go hog wild and have a long paragraph or some really luxurious writing. When is this okay? I think it’s okay for a:

Major plot point
Major reveal or introduction
Very emotional moment

Frame it well – again, look for a balance between long and short content.

Two different pronouns? Use names as well as the character pronouns

I love a great het pairing fic. A great pairing between new and exciting genders. A genfic that sets off two people being friends. Yet I note that, when characters are two different genders, writers often don’t use character names, relying instead on those pronouns.

When I ask why, they say ‘I feel shy/awkward’ or ‘the reader knows, right?’ In theory, yes. For me, using nothing but she/he, or she/them for example, makes the story sound generic. I like a reminder of which she and which them are in my narrative.

Try and bring in the character’s names every other paragraph, or every second/third dialogue callout. It keeps your action and dialogue pinned to your characters. The reader has an easier time joining you in what you were picturing in your head.

And...that's it. That's the three points for this post. If you try these on your own writing, let me know how they worked for you.

a repost from my Pillowfort

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My New Career: Nanny Ogg Parties

Sun, 16 Dec 2018 10:14:49 GMT

Hot take: it's like a princess party, but not. Instead of an Ice Princess_tmor the like coming over to be beautiful and sing songs with the Disney serial numbers filed off, it's from Terry Pratchett's Discworld. And your party host, to guarantee a magical time, is Nanny Ogg. Here's what you can expect:

Your Witch's Arrival

Nanny Ogg reels up in a cabbage cart pulled by goats and greets the Birthday Victim with "Wotcher! Where's the grub!" She proceeds to look over the Birthday Victim and ask some embarrasin' personal questions.

Story Time

Nanny Ogg will treat you to the story of how she became a witch, the doings behind the lace curtains in the cottage across from her, and seventy-four daguerrotypes of her stickiest grandchild, Pewsley. You may make requests. Nanny will not take them, but you can ask.

Special Witches Brew!

Based on the Birthday Victim's age, body-fat ratio, and how often they're seen down at 't local, Nanny will make a special Witches' Brew from what you have in your cellar and garden. Each brew is different - perhaps there's mushrooms or banananananas for an extra bit of magic! Bottles with XXX on the label guarantee magic.

Sing Along

Once the Birthday Victim and other guests are nicely stimulated, Nanny Ogg will lead them in rousing renditions of Discworld favorites, like "A Hedgehog Can Never Be Buggered At All" and "A Wizard's Staff Has a Knob on the End." There may be further embarrasin' personal questions, at a louder volume.

Cake

Nanny Ogg assumes that the Birthday Victim is providing cake. Be advised that Nanny Ogg's favorite type of cake is Lots.

Advice

Oh, sure, your princess type comes along with sparkle and some lippy to pat on the littlies' faces and make 'em princessy too for a day. Which, Nanny admits, is about all that there is to a certain kind of princessin'. But once Nanny is ballasted with cake and most of the guests are in an int'resting state, Nanny will go sit in a quiet corner and answer your embarrasin' personal questions. Discreet, like. You won't be a witch by the time you've got your advice, but you will know how to make things happen. Which, Nanny knows, is its own type of witchery.

The Magical Finale

Perhaps there'll be a shindy between some guests with a long-standing argument, better to get these things over with Nanny always says. Or perhaps some other guests will take Nanny's advice right away and indiscreetly. Jason Ogg might come by to pick up his mum. If he's got his shirt off that's a treat and a half for anyone so inclined.

Nanny guarantees that someone will be seeing stars by the end of the party, maybe even the Birthday Victim. They will definitely will come away from their party with a shiner or a tattoo or some new house goblins as a memento of their lovely time with Nanny Ogg.

Whatever happens, your magical Nanny Ogg party will leave behind memories that will last a lifetime! Maybe longer, if a good solid feud gets started.
Make the magic happen and schedule your party today. Nanny hasn't had a good cake since last Octeday.

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I am glad you are here with me. Here at the end of all things

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 08:14:54 GMT

-stumbles out of the flaming wreckage of 2018-

Hi there new and old followers! Welcome to one of the long-term online ports of this user, Tyellas aka Byrch. I feel like I'm in a bunker I assembled ten years ago, looking around at the dusty linens and long-term MREs, going "Well, this'll do."

Since my last post here in 2015, what's happened? Personally, I'm...still sorting out Dreamwidth privacy settings. So more on that soon.

Fandom-wise, I got very involved in two new fandoms. The medium-sized Mad Max fandom and the tiny, scattered, talented Shape of Water fandom. Those fics are at my AO3 profile here. I'll be boring you with a masterpost for each soon.

It's on Archive of our Own that I've been posting for both those fandoms, and I moved my Tolkien fics over there, too. But I am still keeping the ansereg.com site and URL live as long as I possibly can. The Tolkien stories and essays are all there - I've had surprisingly recent feedback from readers saying they prefer reading it there. So much so they went to the trouble of sending me old-school e-mail feedback.

And there's never been a better moment to have one's own fandom bolthole.

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