Improvements to Prologue

Got a few comments from the Writers' Groups on Facebook about the first 500+ words of the Prologue and made several amendments to the first page of the Prologue. There have been several inputs on change in points-of-view, repetitive adjectives and descriptions, and names of characters. I suppose when the genesis of the novel stemmed from the fact that it was written as a screenplay originally, where the scriptwriter has to 'describe' what is happening from a visual point-of-view, it is hard to move away from a visual style of writing. Not only that, you need to also get into the details a little bit more (defining character features, flaws, tics) and smells (we always lose that in a screenplay, but not in a novel).

​In adapting the script into a book, there has to be additional measures made such as:

• Establish a point-of-view from a character and stay with it for the scene to end at least
• Re-examine names and ensure they fit the setting of the world you've created (if they trigger a guffaw from your fellow readers, change it)
• Try not to repeat descriptions (either for emphasis or reminder), as they can become extremely ponderous to the reader. The reader is smart enough to fill in the blanks most of the time. Don't over-describe, just infer through emotionally-tinged items around the character (eg. shattered glass reflecting something, ripples on the surface of the pond, etc.)

---

LATEST WRITER MUSINGS: