Writing is now becoming over complicated

By KellyA · Feb 17, 2017 · 801 · 2
  1. Whatever happened to just telling a story?

    After many hours of research, I find my head is spinning :-(

    So what if my character smiles one hundred times throughout my novel! Why over complicate a smile, searching for one hundred other ways to state that she is smiling. I have 86,000 other words that lose those one hundred smiles.

    I have spent the last four years of my life writing an emotionally gripping novel that I am so proud of. I feel that spending the rest of my life looking for ways to replace simple words that 'state the point' will hold me back from ever finishing it.

    My conclusion is that we will never please everyone. No matter what we do, there will always be someone to tear your hard work apart. There should be no rules in writing, paranoia will only ever hold you back!

    As a reader I look for captivation in a story, not at how many times the writer wrote the word 'she/he', 'smile' or 'laugh'

    It would be a shame to send good stories to the graveyard of unfinished books, all because the English language decided to over complicate it.
    Zoe Jackson and IHaveNoName like this.

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  1. 123456789
    It's not about rules. It's not about language. It's about conveying something more interesting than a common and generally insignificant facial expression.
    123456789, Feb 18, 2017
      OJB likes this.
  2. KellyA
    The point I am trying to make is that I see a lot of good writers work unfairly torn to pieces, all because (example), they used the word 'smile' x amount of times. They have made it more interesting x amount of times throughout the rest of the story by making that "insignificant facial expression" appear more interesting.
    There are only so many ways you can convey something before you over complicate it.
    KellyA, Feb 18, 2017
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