Eureka!

Just goes to show, you can always learn something, even when you think you know everything about something.

I've been struggling with stylistic concerns, lately. You may remember a previous post about conjunctions (or that might have been an LJ post, or even an email... it doesn't matter. Someone feel free to correct me, and I'll repost here for your benefit, if you're all that interested).

I've been struggling with the flow of my prose, how things sound. Since I've been doing the latest pages in Nightblade's Fury by hand, in a notebook, I noticed that hasn't been bothering me as much.

I figured out why.

I'm thinking too much about it. I'm concentrating so much on the technical aspects, that I'm losing my style. It doesn't MATTER if it's technically correct, what matters is that it flows. I need to focus on the story, and worry about the technical stuff.

What I may be perceiving as a problem may not actually be one at all; it will depend on what others feel about it.

Check out Orson Scott Card's writing class on style... this is what really got me thinking. He speaks of people so choked by their obsession with "correct style" that they couldn't write at all! You get so caught up in not using too many adverbs, or obsessing over showing-not-telling that you get away from what matters... the writing. It doesn't matter if it's technically correct by MLA standards if people like your storytelling ability.

I'm feeling more up to tackling Hacker Dragon, now. I was thoroughly intimidated, because that story was begun in a feverish haze of emotion and character, and I wasn't sure I could recreate the tone and intensity. Now I know that I can... I just have to stop worrying about HOW, and just write!