Beginnings Nearly Done
I made some improvements in Beginnings today. I jazzed the font for the cover text — hopefully others can read it. Is anyone familiar with Harlow Solid Italic or Viner Hand ITC?
Rosina Lippi had to mention the need to ruthlessly cut prepositions today, so I became apprehensive. I slashed a few. I tend to cut “that” ruthlessly, but prepositional phrases roll off my fingers like the springtime Mighty Mississippi gobbles up farmland.
Finally, I added more internal dialog with Nikki, replacing a more distant third person when I was in Nikki’s head. I’m done with revisions and am waiting for polishing before I do my final .pdf conversion and post the project. The project is tracking well.
I believe that prepositions and other such bits are a stylistic choice that must be utilized properly. (Gak! I sound brainy, Ug! Stop that!!)
Anyway, take your ‘that’s for example. Dubric uses them, and I use them in the narrative from his POV. I do not, however, use them in Lars’s POV except maybe in special situations. To me, they’re a stylistic choice for more stilted and proper speech. The same thing goes for prepositional prases and words. Sometimes they’re effective, sometimes they’re not.
It’s all about knowing how to use the tools. There are no absolutes in crafting fiction. Does the sentence/paragraph/scene have more resonance or power with or without it? That’s my litmus test. 🙂