Bookwormed
Bookwormed-Tagged by Laughing Wolf
Bookworm Award rules:
1) Open the closest book- not a favorite or most intellectual book- but the book closest at the moment, to page 56
2) Write out the fifth sentence, as well as two to five sentences following
3) tag five innocents [or more]
Now, actually, the closest book to my hand was Paladin in a three-ring binder, but I assumed the rules referred to published books. However, this got me to thinking, which I like to do. What would happen if we take a look at our manuscripts the same way? I thought the excerpt from GAME OF THRONES was fascinating, even taken completely out of context. This is interesting since I am one of those people who read random pages before I buy a book. I hadn’t ever applied the random reading test to Paladin.
So, let’s take the exercise a step further. Go to page 56 of your manuscript and do the same thing.
From GAME OF THRONES by George R.R. Martin
“Might I have a closer look at your wolf?”
Jon hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Can you climb down, or shall I bring a ladder?”
“Oh, bleed that,” the little man said. He pushed himself off the edge into empty air. Jon gasped, then watched with awe as Tyrion Lannister spun around in a tight ball, landed lightly on his hands, then vaulted backward onto his legs.
From Paladin’s Pride
She could feel her cheeks burning. “Maybe I’m not so innocent.”
He howled with laughter. “Of course you are. I doubt you’ve even been kissed. I had planned on kissing you once I caught you, but those damned pebbles on my poor naked body erased all thoughts of anything but escape.”
She gasped. “Ugh. You were naked?” The shudder that went through her made Martin laugh again. “I almost felt around to make sure the pebbles would roll out right. You’re just–“
“Disgusting?”
“Very.”
*JES
“Bleed that” = great line.
I’m curious about the pebbles… >:)
Jill, that is from a scene where she pours frozen pebbles in his bunk while he is sleeping. It’s revenge for him setting her hair on fire.
Isn’t that a great snippet from Game of Thrones? It started me to thinking about how we must make sure all our scenes are interesting.
Um…your link to me goes to a link saying that I’ve moved the blog. Try:
http://www.deleyna.com/lisas-blog.html
And I’ll see what I can come up with…
“It started me to thinking about how we must make sure all our scenes are interesting.”
Tough but true. It’s hardest when you only need X number of words to complete a chapter or the manuscript.
“I’ll just throw in a little background here, a few more adverbs there.”
Danger!
Tough but true. It’s hardest when you only need X number of words to complete a chapter or the manuscript.
Exactly and I’ve been fighting that with Paladin. Forty-six was a tough chapter. It not only was the next to the last chapter, but it was told from a completely new pov. I kept wanting to just race through it to get it done. We simply have to stay on track and make each scene shine.
Julie, I loved the excerpt from Paladin.
And I did my assignment, but I’ve forgotten how to make links in the comment boxes for people I’ve tagged. What’s the html for that?
This comment has been removed by the author.
I can’t get it to post the html without it being complete. I just edit my main post and add them, then copy and past to a comment.
I feel guilty about tagging people for this, but it was too interesting to pass up.
I feel guilty about tagging people for this, but it was too interesting to pass up.
Oh, and thank you for the sweet comment about Paladin. I have to say I really enjoy this book. The characters gave me so many interesting trails to go down.
George R.R. Martin is still on my TBR list. As it happens, the excerpt you landed on piques my interest even further. “Might I have a closer look at your wolf?”, indeed!
The PALADIN excerpt shows great skill at managing character relationships without getting all describe-y. Would love to have that gift myself.
…And by “feel guilty about tagging people,” I hope you’re not referring to tagging ME!
John, I don’t normally do the tag thing, but as I said, it was too intriguing to pass up. My mind just went spinning off into the nethers as I wondered if our writing would hold up to this random test. Plus, I admit I crave snippets from other people. I love to see what’s happening in others works.
Martin is really in a class of his own. As far as I’m concerned, he is Tolkien’s literary heir.
And I noticed I doubled up a sentence in one post. I was trying to get a link to work.
John, thank you for your kind words about Paladin. I do love this story. I abandoned it for a long time because it just seemed so flat to me. Then, when it bloomed, it captured me.
Isn’t it funny that you admire a skill I apparently have and I slip over to your blog and wander around, wishing I could write like that.