Thursday, November 3, 2005

First admonishment

Nothing so gives away the overeager novice, and annoys seasoned writers more, than talking about your fictional characters as if they're real people. This is particularly bad anywhere outside the confines of the classroom. I took a pair of students to a roadhouse after Tuesday's class, and one girl said, upon entering, "Callie and Hoss would love this kind of place...they met in a bar, you know, though I haven't written that scene yet..."

She's a decent writer, but that moronic comment has just cost her a whole letter grade.

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