"TV writing"

This past Saturday I attended my first writing workshop (all about re-writing); it was taught by Timon's Esaias. I learned a very important phrase: "TV writing". It's like...writing scenes in a story as if you were watching them on a television; apparently it's not a good thing (for prose fiction) and unfortunately I have been doing it (...straight to jail). Timon's said something along the lines of, "We project a television screen in our mind's eye, describing how a person is moving on TV instead of being in the character's mind." And that was something I really needed to be told.

It got me thinking how much TV has probably changed writing. I wonder what the writing experience was like before its invention. More pure, maybe?

I actually moved to a new apartment this weekend and decided not to bring the TV with me. I wonder if watching less TV will "reset" my thinking and visualization patterns...change how I write. Interesting stuff.

What did you do last week?

• Yesterday, I had an amazing chat with Shannon Huffman, owner of the Authors Only Collective (a writing critique group), Flash Fiction Magazine (FFM), and 101 Words. FFM does an incredible job of fostering a supportive and personable writing community, and its evident by how Shannon takes time to get to know the writers.

• I posted my short story, The Last Jump for critique on the Authors Only Collective webpage. It sure is nerve wracking putting your work out there for other people to comment on. You can read The Last Jump here.

• I officially submitted my story, Even Monsters Must Be Born into the Writer's Digest Short Story competition! But I'm not holding my breath because they are announcing the winners (top 25) around February 2025. I have so much writing to do between now and then.

What are you doing this week?

• This week I'm going to be sending 3,500 words of my novella, The In-Between to Timons Esaias for an in-depth critique (it's included with the workshop). I have no clue what to expect.

• Next Saturday is Part 2 of the re-writing workshop. I want to have some questions ready.

• Ultimately, I'm still working on the re-write of The In-Between. I am currently on page 36 of 54 (more than halfway!). Although, I realize I'm going to have to go back to find and destroy all of the "TV writing", "he looked"/"she looked", "glances", and excessive descriptions of facial expressions. *face palm*