tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post5783401846316101126..comments2023-10-20T07:44:27.722-07:00Comments on Brandon Barr: The process of polishing your storyBrandon Barrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-52368755896645431572009-07-13T16:50:55.856-07:002009-07-13T16:50:55.856-07:00Hi Lynnrush,
Glad to be a help. Thanks for stopp...Hi Lynnrush, <br />Glad to be a help. Thanks for stopping by :)Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-74053482848371117682009-07-13T10:49:04.089-07:002009-07-13T10:49:04.089-07:00Oh, very nice. Love to see the changes. I learn a ...Oh, very nice. Love to see the changes. I learn a lot that way. <br /><br />Thanks for sharing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-60656944963837334342009-07-12T21:55:58.516-07:002009-07-12T21:55:58.516-07:00Hello Duchess,
I'm pleased they are helpful! ...Hello Duchess,<br />I'm pleased they are helpful! I love seeing how other people edit their own work--it can be very insightful as a writer--so I thought I'd share these examples.Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-70722468299156145232009-07-12T07:17:34.999-07:002009-07-12T07:17:34.999-07:00Hey, Brandon! Thanks for sharing these before and ...Hey, Brandon! Thanks for sharing these before and after examples. They provide GREAT insight! :o)The Duchesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15350629644025950003noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-24322944813904253472009-07-09T19:52:39.653-07:002009-07-09T19:52:39.653-07:00Hi Taylor,
Thanks for your kind words! I stopped ...Hi Taylor,<br />Thanks for your kind words! I stopped by your website. Very nice. Maybe God bless your writing endeavors.Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-13948199675739849272009-07-09T08:56:24.280-07:002009-07-09T08:56:24.280-07:00Hi there! I was directed to your blog via http://c...Hi there! I was directed to your blog via http://csffblogtour.com/, and I just wanted to say congrats on your writing journey with your short stories! What a great accomplishment...and what a great writer you are! Awesome post, if you don't mind me saying. :)<br /><br />God bless,<br /><br />Taylor J. Beisler<br />www.taylorbeisler.com<br />http://www.eloquentbooks.com/ArintSaratir-WarriorsLight.html<br />www.impossiblewriter.wordpress.comAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-21372349367338243812009-07-08T21:40:34.972-07:002009-07-08T21:40:34.972-07:00Gzusfreek,
Brilliance...? Madness maybe :)Gzusfreek,<br />Brilliance...? Madness maybe :)Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-38394482925938744312009-07-08T20:53:31.604-07:002009-07-08T20:53:31.604-07:00Oh, stop it! I can't believe the transformatio...Oh, stop it! I can't believe the transformation. What a great window into you and Mike's brilliance. <br />I sure need all the help I can get in this department. I wish it came more natural for me :)<br />Great post, Brandon :)KM Wilsherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11250774015974420209noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-71165554795890064622009-07-07T10:44:11.221-07:002009-07-07T10:44:11.221-07:00Hi Robert,
I know you've been doing this polis...Hi Robert,<br />I know you've been doing this polishing thing for a long while now! <br /><br />Logan,<br />I never did get into the sentence diagram thing...kinda weird since I have a degree in English.<br /> Glad my examples are a help!Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-19877690966331137792009-07-07T08:43:01.691-07:002009-07-07T08:43:01.691-07:00Great examples, Brandon. I've always liked th...Great examples, Brandon. I've always liked the editing process. In high school I would diagram sentences unconsciously. This will help with my story I'm working on.logankstewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12269634215857320344noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-14752518627258640722009-07-07T06:43:21.086-07:002009-07-07T06:43:21.086-07:00Brandon,
These are really good examples.
I'...Brandon,<br /><br />These are really good examples. <br /><br />I've had to do a lot of cutting, and its amazing how many extra words can be found and removed from the text.<br /><br />-RobertRobert Treskillardhttp://robert.epictales.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-57980608671852971722009-07-06T21:49:42.600-07:002009-07-06T21:49:42.600-07:00Hi Ban :)
Don't worry about polishing until yo...Hi Ban :)<br />Don't worry about polishing until your finished. Like you said, write, write, write!!<br />Once you've got it all down, then you can turn to polishing.<br /><br />You make a good point about "writers voice". I wouldn't want to change my story so drastically that it changes my voice. But I think a writers voice will still stay intact after a good polish. If anything, it sharpens the writers voice, because during a polish, you're removing all the extraneous tidbits. And it's those extraneous tidbits that make us sound like everyone else. Overly descriptive, wordy, etc. <br /><br />Cut those things, and your voice can really stand out.Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-85542165743663636262009-07-06T19:58:12.175-07:002009-07-06T19:58:12.175-07:00speaking of voice - ignore the typo :Dspeaking of voice - ignore the typo :DBanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15450115293974960761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-76613636399648494542009-07-06T19:56:32.276-07:002009-07-06T19:56:32.276-07:00haven't gotten to the 'polishing' phas...haven't gotten to the 'polishing' phase yet - still trying to convince myself to just type/write !!! but YES, I enjoyed seeing the first and second drafts - it was indeed eye opening. part of my cringes at the thought of 'killing my darlings' after all, they distinguish one writer's voice from another's but I see the need to clean things up ... readers do not want or need the detail we crave in our own stories.Banhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15450115293974960761noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-92122473986113092232009-07-06T16:49:30.942-07:002009-07-06T16:49:30.942-07:00Hi Kat,
Yeah, I've hear that phrase, Killing ...Hi Kat,<br /><br />Yeah, I've hear that phrase, Killing your darlings". I actually find it enjoyable going through a manuscript and cutting off extraneous words.<br />Wow, 8000 words, that's really sweet! It's amazing how quickly they add up.<br /><br />Hi Joe,<br />Yeah, I hope polishing never goes out of fashion. Luckily I think the visual medium is very different than the written word...however, if you throw in the craze of texting, then maybe that would take novels in the area you fear.Brandon Barrhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03850891283015240498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-64313104223772662242009-07-06T14:14:50.660-07:002009-07-06T14:14:50.660-07:00Polishing is a huge task and I do it quite a lot a...Polishing is a huge task and I do it quite a lot as well. It's nice o see the improvements. However, I wonder if there will come a time when polishing will go out of fashion in favor of a more immediate one take reality TV influence. I hope not, but it wouldn't surprise me.Joe Chiappettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15738854036752666043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8325191.post-15453788934365179342009-07-06T13:28:37.025-07:002009-07-06T13:28:37.025-07:00I love how you highlighted the words you were cutt...I love how you highlighted the words you were cutting in the examples of cleaning up sentences. <br /><br />I had a wonderful reader who put parentheses around extraneous words and phrases in my first novel. It was eye-opening! I loved it--I could really see the difference between the "wordy" version and the clean version. She used to tell me, "Chop, chop. Kill your darlings." My manuscript shrunk by--get this--8,000 words because of her. <br /><br />The really cool thing is that now I see it sooner, and I'm not nearly as wordy as I'm writing the manuscript for my second novel. "Killing my darlings" has gotten much easier!Kat Heckenbachhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17690721679155795038noreply@blogger.com