Have you visited JamiGold.com yet? If not, head over there now! Jami Gold is an author of Paranormal Romance and Contemporary Romance, but not only that, she’s got a great blog with tons of writing tips for authors! I was thrilled to guest blog on her site about something that used to be very near and dear to me: Overwriting. Thankfully, I’ve found my way out and now, you can too!
Here’s a snippet of my post for Jami and a link to read more!
I used to belong to a select group of writers who loved words. Not just loved, but lurved. We loved words so much, we used them in redundant plethora, searching through the thesaurus to find the right word to fit tone and genre and our all-important voice. We emphasized this word, expanding on it with mountainous detail and lyrical setting, adding drama at every turn, and over-reactions to every conflict, no matter how small. In short, we were a club of overwriters. Once I began to learn more about writing craft, I realized the Overwriter’s Club was less of a club and more of a curse.
What is Overwriting?
Overwriting happens when an author steps into the story, bulldozing characters out of the way like a bully at recess. The author cares more about writing the most beautiful, heart-stopping line, than letting the story unfold and characters play. Otherwise known as purple prose, writing too many details, or getting too deep in the weeds of your story, overwriting is something we’ve probably all done at some point. If you overwrite a line or two, then revise and trim during edits, don’t worry. You’re probably safe from the curse. But if you’ve self-trained that every word you write matters and more is always better than less…it’s time to face the truth. You’ve been cursed.