As a writer, you have to keep your edits straight. I'm getting ready to release a few of my short stories for sale outside of anthologies when I realized I had three different versions of one story. Nothing too major, one was an edit by the publisher and another was an edit from a friend, while the third was the original submitted version. It is a little interesting to see the differences in the edited versions.
Another thing I am trying to improve upon, besides organizing, is using action verbs in my writing. Just need more writing practice methinks. I found a great example, even almost an over-use of action words in my opinion, while I was re-reading On A Pale Horse, by Piers Anthony. Great great book and the first book in a wonderful series (Incarnations of Immortality).
Here are the first two sentences of the paragraph that caught my eye:
"The Doe quarterback snatched the skin and faded back for a throw. She heaved it forward just as two Ewes stampeded toward her."
As you can see from the first two sentences from the book, action verbs are everywhere: "snatched", "faded", "heaved", "stampeded".
Without action verbs, it would read like so: "The Doe caught the skin and stepped back for a throw. She threw it forward just as two Ewes ran toward her."
Reads fine like that, but not great. Action.
If you don't have the book, you can read more of it here: Page 26
And then you better fix your library and go get a copy! [On A Pale Horse Kindle edition] For those of you still on the fence, here's the back copy:
“Shooting Death was a mistake, as Zane soon discovered. For the man who killed the Incarnation of Death was immediately forced to assume the vacant position! Thereafter, he must speed over the world, riding his pale horse, and ending the lives of others.”
Very interesting proposition.
The rest of the series focuses on a different Incarnation. One of my other favorites is Chronos, the Incarnation of Time. Evil is pretty interesting too. That's a true author right there, who can write about the root of all evil in a way that makes you want to read it.
Fair warning though, the books do cover some very controversial topics, to include why God doesn't do enough to prevent evil from taking over the world. Very hard stuff to read for believers, even if it is set in a fantasy setting. I reread And Eternity, the last book in the series, and was taken aback by some of the passages.
Picture for today:
The cover of my paperback copy of On A Pale Horse has a wonderful piece of work by Michael Whelan, titled "Thanatos." Thanatos is the Greek word for Death. He was the son of Nyx (goddess of night) and the brother of Hypnos, the god of sleep. Interesting set of relationships there.
Link is to the image on the author's website: Michael Whelan
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