11-20-2007, 12:39 AM
I tend to dislike dialect. It slows down the reader, and unless it's important to establish a particular character as distinct or different-sounding (Hagrid's dialect is far more distinct than just a regular guy on the street), I use it very sparingly, if at all. It is very, very hard to do dialect right and have it be worth the effort. It's very easy to do it wrong.
Combat, to me, is incredibly dull, and I tend to avoid it. The pressure in spars/fights/whatever is to pump out volume, but as writers, we are only supposed to bother with what is important, and there is very little in a physical fight that is important. It's the outcome. The emotions before, during, and after. Not the actual, physical blows. That's one of my main beefs with RPGs as a writing system.
Combat, to me, is incredibly dull, and I tend to avoid it. The pressure in spars/fights/whatever is to pump out volume, but as writers, we are only supposed to bother with what is important, and there is very little in a physical fight that is important. It's the outcome. The emotions before, during, and after. Not the actual, physical blows. That's one of my main beefs with RPGs as a writing system.