After trying and trying unsuccessfully to make myself expand on the fight scene at the end of the gnome book, I finally decided to print it out and start the editing/proofing process. I’m hoping by the time I’m at the end of the book, I’ll be fired up about the final fight scene. 🙂
Anya is working on the cover for the Libby Fox trilogy. I think I’m just going to call it Vampires’ Curse, as suggested by Michael Hubbard. It’s in two of the titles and it’s simple. Some people are mentioning that they think the apostrophe is in the wrong place. But it’s after the “s” on purpose. This is a curse for all vampires, not just one.
One thing that bugs me is when I go to a blog that’s all nice and pretty, and obviously a lot of work has gone into it to make it look great, but then I can’t read it. Sometimes it’s the fancy fonts that make a blog hard to read. Most of the time it’s the contrast between the background and the text. I went to the blog of a traditionally published author yesterday and the background was black. I’m not sure what the text color even was because I was out of there in seconds. Not only could I not read it, but it actually hurt my eyes! The contrast between background and text was horrible.
Here’s something that bothers me in some writing. Using big words to sound impressive. I know we need to expand our vocabulary and, as writers, we should find different words to use rather than the same old words all the time. But it really irks me when an author uses some off the wall words that most people would have no clue about. Sometimes the words don’t even sound natural in the story. They come off awkward and a little pretentious. Yes, stretch your vocabulary…but not to the point where it completely distracts the reader. Use the obscure words sparingly. A reader shouldn’t have to go to the dictionary more than once or twice. 🙂
lauralynnelliott.com 
Certain fonts and colors bother me as well. I’ve even had my eyes water at a few contrasts! But, then, reading on the computer generally hurts my eyes. Lol.
I love fight scenes, but you’re right, Lauralynn; you have to be in the mood to write them. I have to envision it to describe it properly, too. All that movement…
Big words or obscure vocabulary don’t usually bother me, but I like it more when I can get the ‘feel’ for the word from the surrounding text. If there are too many words I don’t know…I feel ‘left-out’ of the story. That just happened to me in a few chapters in the second half of ‘Lolita’, by V. Nabokov. It was disheartening and def stole my enjoyment for awhile. Luckily, it settled down again and I picked up with the storyline.
I hate not knowing what a word means, but I usually am not near a dictionary when I’m reading on my Kindle. So it drives me crazy. I can usually tell if an author plugged in the word because it was impressive rather than using the word because it worked best.
I have those same gripes. Especially pretentious prose. I have a pretty decent vocabulary (at least, according to the SATs and the Word Dynamo challenge) but I read for pleasure, not to show how smart I am by deciphering complex sentences and complexier words. Save it for the literary crowd, thanks.
The worst blogs are the ones with photos or textures under a partially transparent textbox. Why? Why?
I definitely read for pleasure. Obscure words pull me out of a story.
I don’t know why. I really don’t.
I hate it when a scene won’t come together for me. I think a fight scene (just like a sex scene) is one you have to be in the mood for. All other scenes tend to work even if the words aren’t flowing easily.
Ditto on the things that bug you. I have trouble reading on a black background, and when I look away from the computer, I can still see lines where the words were (hope that makes sense). As for the big words, I say keep it simple. I like getting lost in the story and forgetting I’m even reading the words, and if I stumble upon the big ones, I get pulled out of it and have to hope i can jump back in.
BTW, I’m looking forward to the gnome book!
Ruth, I don’t have a lot of trouble with love scenes, but fight scenes are hard for me. So if I’m not in the mood, it makes it so much worse. Maybe when I give the whole book a read through, I’ll be more in the mood. 🙂
I don’t particularly like black backgrounds, but a lot of people use them when they write darker stories. The big problem for me is when the text doesn’t contrast enough and I can’t even see what the words are. And I wonder why the blogger can’t see the problem. Maybe they are younger and have better eyes. LOL
I have so many people wanting to read the gnome book that I’m so afraid I’m going to disappoint them. But all I can do is the best I can. I may have to stick with paranormal romance if this book doesn’t live up to expectations. Or who knows, I might try something totally different. I’m not really afraid to try new things.
I’m glad you brought this up! I’ve been thinking about changing my theme, but I wasn’t sure if I should or not. I was one of the ones with a black background. 😉 This post pushed me to go ahead and “just do it!” LOL The new theme isn’t as dark or mysterious, but I think it is easier to read. We shall see. I have a difficult time seeing black letters on a white background without my glasses on. Everything kind of smears to gray, if that makes any sense. Oh well! I only need my glasses for seeing…and sometimes hearing. LOL
Hi Juli. My beef wasn’t so much with black backgrounds, but with the text not contrasting enough with the background. Although, I do have trouble reading many of the blogs with black backgrounds. I’m surprised you have trouble seeing black text on white, especially since that’s what you see when you read books. I guess we’re all different. Of course, now that I’m older, I can’t see much of anything up close without my reading glasses. LOL. I wear contacts because I can’t see far off, then have to wear reading glasses to see up close. *sigh*
I do the starting over thing as well. It usually helps. Doesn’t hurt, anyway! 🙂
And I hear ya on the vocab. Sometimes it works, but a lot of the time it can be pretty jarring. Depends on the story. I read fiction purely for entertainment though. I’m extremely lowbrow. 😉
Hi Claire. I’ve started reading the gnome story again and am already making some changes, many of them where I was telling instead of showing.I started the story last year and didn’t come back to it until this year, so a lot of what I’m reading is kind of like new again.
I have no problem with writers using their expansive vocabulary. It’s when it’s the words that are so obscure that I have no clue what they mean that it really gets me. Especially when it doesn’t fit the story. For instance, if you’re writing a story with a lot of technical stuff in it, there are going to be some words not everyone will know. That’s not what I’m talking about. It’s where someone chooses an “impressive” word when a more common word would have worked better. I hope that makes sense.