Anything Goes Writing Contest ~ Hangout Mode

Coronavirus brought it back...

Poll Pimps = TEH SEX	31.9%	[ 30 ]
GGW XI Playoffs	8.5%	[ 8 ]
Due AUGUST 15	12.8%	[ 12 ]
PROMPT ROUND	17.0%	[ 16 ]
Woot panda!	29.8%	[ 28 ]
Total Votes:			[ 94 ]

[The Solarised Night]

phantomkitsune

With semi-colons, it depends on usage: I speak in enough vaguely connected fragmentary phrases that semi-colons would be a legit way to represent my speaking style. Such is possibly not true for everyone in every circumstance.

He's kind of silly on slitted. Cat pupils are technically elliptical in shape, but when they are in bright light it is common to refer to them as slitted. It's verbal shorthand for 'and the ellipse of the pupil was really narrow.' It's also common parlance in a lot of fantasy to refer to elliptical pupils as slitted - sometimes while drawing the comparison to a cat or snake at the first instance to illustrate it. That is a context drawn from genre, though. If he does not read or write much fantasy, that's a context he does not have, and your professors might not, either.

I really, really like 'said' as a dialogue tag. It's invisible. Actually, I really like skipping the verbs completely - "Kyle shook his head. '[what Kyle said.]'" - but said or asked are usually the ones I go for. Dialogue should be strong, and that is what the almighty comma is for if you want to add greater context - like "asked Alex, wanting to clarify the terminology." or "said Faina, clearly annoyed."

It is a stylistic thing, but there's an overwhelming school of thought behind sticking to 'said' as the dialogue tag of primary use.

Your tutor is, above all, showing you how to get through university writing courses.

Thanks PK. I know he is trying to help. I don't think he is necessarily wrong, but I wanted to know what you guys thought. He admitted that he might be wrong and I should talk to more people about it if I was unsure. He also said that he hasn't read much fantasy writing and wasn't quite sure how to mark two of the pieces that were in that genre.

[The Solarised Night]

Wing McCallister

My tutor marked me down for using semi colons in dialogue because they didn't look right. I guess they do look a little blocky but is it really an error? ---& Semi-colons are best used sparingly. It's hard to say if it is an error without the actual sentence. However, using them over and over again is generally considered a no-no.

He also didn't like the word " slitted " to describe pupils as it read as though they were cut with a blade. I thought it was a common description for one with thin oval pupils that resembled a cat's or snake's. Am I incorrect? ----& By the definition, it is something cut into long, narrow strips. Artistic license?

The third thing that I am unsure about is using descriptive dialogue tags, by which I mean instead of saying "he said" it could be "he growled" or "he moaned" or "he yelped" etc. The tutor insists that the tone of dialogue needs to be obvious enough that one could forever use 'he said' with no issue. I think that using 'said' in every instance would become tiresome and stale, but he is a tutor and has been doing it for years so I don't know what to think. ---& Your tutor is dull. lol You should use the verb that best describes the dialogue. If the character yelps, then he should yelp. lol

As for what to do about 'marking down' None of these seem worth arguing about. If the tutor doesn't like them, the tutor doesn't like 'em. You kind of have to play the game a bit with this one.

1. It was one sentence in a 500 word piece "No; just leave it alone," TLM told me that a comma is incorrect in cases like this one, but a period seems too long of a pause. I just agreed to avoid using them in dialogue in the future.

2. *shrugs* PK's suggestion of elliptical seems fitting. When asked what word he would suggest instead of 'slitted', he couldn't come up with anything.

3. Maybe I will just use verbs in dialogue tags sparingly. I tend to use them quite a lot because I wrote a piece where everything was 'said' and it was boring as ********. I kind of agree with PK in part though: 'said' is easily read over without much thought, whereas stronger verbs might lose their power if used too much. I don't just mean repetition of the same verb but if all verbs are strong, then there isn't any contrast or tension if/ when it is needed.

Thanks Wing.

[The Solarised Night]

Sharassein

The Solarised Night

The tutor insists that the tone of dialogue needs to be obvious enough that one could forever use 'he said' with no issue.

When I read this, my thinking was you can use them, but that there are words which will tell the reader the tone without having to read a tag.

Say I read the word hate. My first thought is anger, so I wouldn’t need a tag to tell me. Better example -

“I love you.” - I think happy.
“But I love you.” - I think sad.

One word changed the tone of what was being said.

*Nods*

[Sharassein]

The Solarised Night

*Nods*

I’m sure you knew all that. You wrote it like the tutor said to use only ‘he said’, but I really don’t think he meant it in that way. He probably meant ‘speak with dialogue, not with tags’ -- I‘ve heard that many times.

[The Solarised Night]

Sharassein

The Solarised Night

*Nods*

I’m sure you knew all that. You wrote it like the tutor said to use only ‘he said’, but I really don’t think he meant it in that way. He probably meant ‘speak with dialogue, not with tags’ -- I‘ve heard that many times.

I was just agreeing with you.
He was preferential to no dialogue tags at all which is an interesting concept but not something I want to write every piece with.

[ChristOurSavior-LovesUs]

The Solarised Night

ChristOurSavior-LovesUs

Hey, everyone! I know I can't enter the contest at the moment, but I just wanted to come talk. You all seem interesting.

What is stopping you from entering?

Says semi finals...I think and to lazy to check.

[The Solarised Night]

ChristOurSavior-LovesUs

The Solarised Night

ChristOurSavior-LovesUs

Hey, everyone! I know I can't enter the contest at the moment, but I just wanted to come talk. You all seem interesting.

What is stopping you from entering?

Says semi finals...I think and to lazy to check.

This is a monthly contest. GGW doesn't start until next month, and even then there are plenty of qualifying rounds to submit something.

[Wing McCallister]

The Solarised Night

Wing McCallister

My tutor marked me down for using semi colons in dialogue because they didn't look right. I guess they do look a little blocky but is it really an error? ---& Semi-colons are best used sparingly. It's hard to say if it is an error without the actual sentence. However, using them over and over again is generally considered a no-no.

He also didn't like the word " slitted " to describe pupils as it read as though they were cut with a blade. I thought it was a common description for one with thin oval pupils that resembled a cat's or snake's. Am I incorrect? ----& By the definition, it is something cut into long, narrow strips. Artistic license?

The third thing that I am unsure about is using descriptive dialogue tags, by which I mean instead of saying "he said" it could be "he growled" or "he moaned" or "he yelped" etc. The tutor insists that the tone of dialogue needs to be obvious enough that one could forever use 'he said' with no issue. I think that using 'said' in every instance would become tiresome and stale, but he is a tutor and has been doing it for years so I don't know what to think. ---& Your tutor is dull. lol You should use the verb that best describes the dialogue. If the character yelps, then he should yelp. lol

As for what to do about 'marking down' None of these seem worth arguing about. If the tutor doesn't like them, the tutor doesn't like 'em. You kind of have to play the game a bit with this one.

1. It was one sentence in a 500 word piece "No; just leave it alone," TLM told me that a comma is incorrect in cases like this one, but a period seems too long of a pause. I just agreed to avoid using them in dialogue in the future.

2. *shrugs* PK's suggestion of elliptical seems fitting. When asked what word he would suggest instead of 'slitted', he couldn't come up with anything.

3. Maybe I will just use verbs in dialogue tags sparingly. I tend to use them quite a lot because I wrote a piece where everything was 'said' and it was boring as ********. I kind of agree with PK in part though: 'said' is easily read over without much thought, whereas stronger verbs might lose their power if used too much. I don't just mean repetition of the same verb but if all verbs are strong, then there isn't any contrast or tension if/ when it is needed.

Thanks Wing.

The semi-colon does look awkward. I don't have a problem with a comma being used there, though. It's a weak interjection.

[The Solarised Night]

Wing McCallister

The semi-colon does look awkward. I don't have a problem with a comma being used there, though. It's a weak interjection.

Aye, I did admit that it looked kind of blocky. It is interesting that there are so many different opinions concerning style. It has been really helpful to hear a lot of different opinions from peers in the tutes.

[phantomkitsune]

Syle's a pretty individual thing, when it gets down to it. It's closely tied to voice and crap like that.

[The Solarised Night]

phantomkitsune

Syle's a pretty individual thing, when it gets down to it. It's closely tied to voice and crap like that.

Agreed, but it can't hurt to hear how others do it. I am analysing nearly everything I read or hear now unintentionally. For instance, my lecture slides in politics irritate me because the lecturer always forgets to use serial commas and commas to separate dependant clauses at the beginnings of sentences.

[Wing McCallister]

The Solarised Night

Wing McCallister

The semi-colon does look awkward. I don't have a problem with a comma being used there, though. It's a weak interjection.

Aye, I did admit that it looked kind of blocky. It is interesting that there are so many different opinions concerning style. It has been really helpful to hear a lot of different opinions from peers in the tutes.

To a large extent, I find grammar in general to be just a giant load of s**t. lol That must be strange to see coming from me, but there are a lot of rules that are just odd or ambiguous. The general purpose of it all is to make language understandable across large populations, but different people promote different little quirks.

For example, when I was young I was taught that 'so' was a demon conjunction and was not to be used in the same capacity as and or but. Blah blah blah, so blah blah blah = bastardization of the English language. Now, it's part of the FANBOYS mnemonic.

[The Solarised Night]

Wing McCallister

To a large extent, I find grammar in general to be just a giant load of s**t. lol That must be strange to see coming from me, but there are a lot of rules that are just odd or ambiguous. The general purpose of it all is to make language understandable across large populations, but different people promote different little quirks.

For example, when I was young I was taught that 'so' was a demon conjunction and was not to be used in the same capacity as and or but. Blah blah blah, so blah blah blah = bastardization of the English language. Now, it's part of the FANBOYS mnemonic.

That is funny coming from you rofl
I remember my 4th grade teacher yelling at everyone who used the word 'got' or 'had'. She had some kind of intense loathing of those words. She was a bit of a nutcase, though. She would also go apeshit if someone used red and green together on the same page and recite that shitty poem:
red and green must never be seen unless there is a colour in between.

[Wing McCallister]

The Solarised Night

Wing McCallister

To a large extent, I find grammar in general to be just a giant load of s**t. lol That must be strange to see coming from me, but there are a lot of rules that are just odd or ambiguous. The general purpose of it all is to make language understandable across large populations, but different people promote different little quirks.

For example, when I was young I was taught that 'so' was a demon conjunction and was not to be used in the same capacity as and or but. Blah blah blah, so blah blah blah = bastardization of the English language. Now, it's part of the FANBOYS mnemonic.

That is funny coming from you rofl
I remember my 4th grade teacher yelling at everyone who used the word 'got' or 'had'. She had some kind of intense loathing of those words. She was a bit of a nutcase, though. She would also go apeshit if someone used red and green together on the same page and recite that shitty poem:
red and green must never be seen unless there is a colour in between.

She must be a Christmas hater.

[The Love Mutt]

I GOT AN A IN MY CLASS.

******** yeah, starting grad school off with a 4.0. =] Life is ******** amazing right now!