Pimping Gabe

[marguerite_26]

I don’t usually talk about writing and style – frankly, my flist is filled with far better writers than I will ever be – but I wanted to point you to a bigger brain than mine because gabe_speaks has these incredible ‘tutorial’ posts that make me understand writing and flow better than anything I’ve seen.

The first is Blending Action and Dialog Dynamically.
I adore the flow of the writing when this style is used.

Example:
"Look—" Marlene tugged her long fringe, pulling them behind her ears, "—she didn't mean what she said to you."

"Listen"—Gabe grabbed Marco by the shoulders, flung him around—"to me! I'm talking to you!"

Isn’t that pretty? I’ve been trying to incorporate Gabe’s hints in my writing for a couple months now and I’m very pleased with the result. It gives much better pacing to the fic than having an explanation before or after the dialogue to say ‘btw-while he was talking this is what happened’.

Personally, spelling, grammar and sentence structure rules don’t stick in my head. If it weren’t for Spell Check and glorious beta readers my work would look like it was written by a twelve yr old. And rather under-educated, kinky twelve year old.

The last thing I do before posting or submitting a fic is do a search for quotation marks, pull up this lesson and make sure I followed the rules. It sounds neurotic, maybe but it’s the only way I know I managed to get it right.

Recently Gabe posted another little gem about avoiding over-writing and providing clarity with punctuation: Letting Punctuation Do Its Job: The Dash, The Ellipse, and a Bit on the Semi-Colon

Take a look (if you haven’t found and worshipped this already). I think, as reader, it’s these little things that make a fic have a polished feel. And as a writer, it takes a little of the mystery away from how to take your writing to the next level.

Comments

[libby-drew.livejournal.com]

Awesome, maggie! The timing of your post is so perfect. I was thinking of posting links to my fave writing meta later today. We're so lucky to have people like Gabe here in fandom. It would be impossible to quantify how much I've learned from posts like his over the years.

Thanks for passing these along. *hugs*

[winnett.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thanks for the links, I'll go check them out. :)

[shoeboxer4life.livejournal.com]

"an uneducated, kinky twelve year old." [smirks]

Oh, and good morning. :)

Anna

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Oooo! Very cool!

I can remember grammar rules, but they purge the personality from everything. When I write without pictures, it has all the charm of furniture assembly instructions. So, that first link is golden, even for comics people! :)

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

I was thinking of posting links to my fave writing meta later today. ::jumps up and down:: Yes, Please!!!!

::sniffle::

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

They are made of awesome. enjoy.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

hee! that's me!

I type most of my posts in Word so that I have auto-correct on my side, then copy over to lj. trufax!

good mornin' sweetie! how're you and the fam? we're the house of mucus this week.

[potteresque_ire]

Ooooh. That's AWESOME... I've never seen these writing techniques being explained before; I just have a gut feeling of how it works *pats gut* :D. I can't believe I am actually learning how to write!! *beams*

Thanks Rita *blows kisses*

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

When I write without pictures, it has all the charm of furniture assembly instructions.

I don't believe that for a second! *g*

I'm thrilled that these are helpful to you from a comic POV. I haven't the foggiest idea what goes into comic work. For me it's all "YAY!!!FUNNY!!!"

but how it how it got to that point? clueless.

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

pir8fancier pointed to that first link after the World Cup stating that this is what she followed for On One's Knees. (gabe's her beta) And I was all (!!!) there are rules that we can follow? We don't have to read and re-read On One's Knees to try to figure out how she got the flow just right... Cool!!! (not that I minded the re-reads but the tears always made the sentence structure all blurry).

I'm so glad these interest you. Learning with p0rn is FuN!! :D

[gabe-speaks.livejournal.com]

I can remember grammar rules, but they purge the personality from everything.

Balderdash! ;)

So, that first link is golden, even for comics people! :)

Coincidentally, my first foray into wanting to write came from wanting to be a comic book writer/artist, a la John Byrne and/or Neal Adams [at the time, the two premiere story tellers, aside from Claremont--tho' he never drew]. Unfortunately, I stopped drawing. I can still draw people, but architecture? Meh... not so much. Not at all, really.

I do think more visual artists should be writers, tho'...

[gabe-speaks.livejournal.com]

awww, thank you for the kind words.

:blushes:

[gabe-speaks.livejournal.com]

Oh my!

Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to read my ramblings, and for pimping them with more elegance and eloquence than that which you are pimping! In this case, the old ghetto adage, "the pimp has outshone the ho'", rings ever-so true!

...

okay, so there's no such adage. but if there were such a thing, you'd be proof of it. thanks again, luv!

[marguerite-26.livejournal.com]

your ramblings are golden!! seriously. I wasn't kidding about double checking every bit of dialogue before I post.
You are fabulous. *smooches*

btw - I love that adage! Completely not true in this case, but it's a great adage. ::pulls out Lucius' pimp cane::