Don Alesi: The image I chose is of myself exiting a Mausoleum crypt after preparing it for an interment. It's a dirty job that I take pride in because it's the last thing I can do for a family and in some way the departed. It is also my cover picture for my book. |
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Don Alesi: I have recently joined this group and enjoy it very much. I'm having a problem writing reviews for other peoples work. I want to be objective yet I also want to encourage the writer. I am in no way a professional writer. I barely got out of high school. I just enjoy writing for fun and publishing my own book was high light of my life. |
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Don Alesi: I have started working on my second book. The first one was on my work at the Cemetery. This book will be about my flying adventures in my vintage Cessna.The audience will be for pilots and those who like to travel. My questions is how much detail should I give about the places I have been to verses the actual flying part of my trips. A large part of the book will be on how to travel in a small plane and what to expect along the way. I also want to write about all the wonderful people I have met. John Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley" has always been on of my favorite books. Thanks for any advise. As you can tell I'm just starting out to write on a regular basis. |
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Don Alesi: What do writers think about writing as exactly as a person talks? For instance. I have only a year of College. I have written many things and have had some stories published. Sometimes when an editor cleans up my work my personality dose not come through my work and I'm disappointed. When I published my book, I edited it myself. The only real complaint I received was that there were several grammatical errors. I explained that I do not talk in perfect English and I wanted my book to be as if the reader and I were having a long conversation. I would read the manuscript to myself looking at a mirror and ask myself, "Would I would really say that?" Should I write as I wish or change my style to please everyone. Any thoughts would be welcome. Thanks. Don Alesi |
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If your dialogue ventures into the mundane of conversation, it can lose a reader's interest. If your dialogue is keeping the reader engaged, then it isn't a problem, if they can't read it, or it starts looking and sounding like bla, bla, bla ... then there's a problem. - | ||
The bigger the target audience, the harder it is to please everyone, but on the other hand, if you want others to read the work, you might need to consider making it appealing to them too. A tricky balance of writing how you want, and getting others to read. - | ||
Yes, Shakespeare and Stephen King do not always use proper grammar - but until you're as famous as them - follow the rules of grammar. - | ||
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Cliches are fine in dialogue if not overdone, and so are grammatical errors and sentence fragments. It's the way we speak. I try to base the way characters speak on their educational level as well. Dialogue is fun to do. And, has been said, its purpose is to move the story along. It approximates, but shouldn't mimic the way we actually talk to one another. Leave out the chit-chat and the 'ya know' and similar phrases, or at least keep them to a minimum lest you slow your story too much. - | ||
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