How to Get Rid of the Habit of Listing

Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by aimi_aiko, May 29, 2011.

  1. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    The antidote to listing is to stand up straight.
     
  2. Lord Malum

    Lord Malum New Member

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    Har har har.

    @OP: I've had the same problem in my writing. I tend to fix it all in rewriting. My first draft is dreadful due to listing, but once I go back over it I can fix my bad habit. The first time through is just pouring out the story anyways.
     
  3. Tesoro

    Tesoro Contributor Contributor

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    I think my first draft is horrible too, when it comes to both listing and 'telling' but for the second one I can forgive myself when I think of it as my way of getting the story down on paper, everything is fixable in the later drafts. I just realised just yesterday how much 'telling' I actually do and now Im trying to start 'showing' instead as I think it's the biggest problem with this story. I think it's one of the hardest things for me to do, but when I put my mind to it it comes out a lot better, So there's still hope. :) Regarding listing, the 'cure' in my case isn't as easy as in english because in my language you don't build sentences like in english, so using the same way of correcting it (the examples people have given you, which I took a lot of inspiration from) would sound really strange, it would be a huge swenglish mess, LOL.
     

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