Comments on: Key Conditions for Suspense: Part 9 – character draws 9-10

By: John Brown

John Brown — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 18:33:19 +0000

SKent,

Glad to hear that! And keep writing!

By: SKent

SKent — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 19:52:40 +0000

I’m trying to get ahead in the craft by writing to the best of my ability. I find posts like your own very helpful to a novice like myself. Please keep them coming.

By: S Graves

S Graves — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 07:01:37 +0000

Ah, John… Your jovial stab fell into the eyes of the offended. How unfortunate. And how common these days. And how I do yearn for someone to turn back the clock to a time when people simply shrugged off the mildly sexist observation. All the color is gone, all the skies are now grey, a once brilliant Sun blocked by the flag waving activists of victimhood and diluted perceptions. Bad craftsmanship? Hardly. More like poor choice of venue. Remember… Thou shalt not speak the honest utterings of the mind to the ones who cry `freedom’ as they seek to repress the perceptions of others. BTW, is Salma still hot or what?!

By: John Brown

John Brown — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:58:35 +0000

BTW, just to be clear. Of course, it’s not accurate to say all women would oogle those farm boys. It’s the Arabian types that are universally desired.

Seriously, it would have indeed been much more accurate, and probably more effective for the tounge-in-cheeck, to have written “I know, I know, *some* of you women . . .”

So we’ll chalk it up to poor craftsmanship. The right four-letter words are never around when I need them.

By: John Brown

John Brown — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 21:07:20 +0000

EMoon, it’s a joke.

By: EMoon

EMoon — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:57:43 +0000

If you’re going to hold forth on the art of characterization and talk about variety, you might want to avoid this sort of thing:

“I know, I know, you women are probably saying the tall blond farm boys might not be all that bad. But after you finish ogling them, think of this: your readers might not all be farm boy types.”

After you finish lumping “you women” into your rather limited and cliched conception of 50+% of the world’s population, think of this: your readers might not be the “you women” you think they are.