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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

An Abundance of Eyebrows

Okay, so I am totally dreading reading the book I finished writing at the end of August. Revision scares me. Well, the first revision anyway. The fling with the first draft is over. The first read...yikes! (So I am putting it off a little longer.)

Except I already know there is a problem. There seems to be an abundance of eyebrows in my manuscript. I mean, I guess I describe eyebrows a lot. Eyebrows going up. Eyebrows quirkily being raised. Eyebrows that are bushy, hairy or thin. Eyebrows lowered menacingly......too much with the eyebrow already! I remember writing about the eyebrows, and thinking at the time that I'd get rid of the eyebrows later.

But what does one replace an abundance of eyebrows with?

Does anyone else have strange, random things that seem to appear too frequently in your manuscripts from time to time?


hrh

16 comments:

lisa and laura said...

Um...yeah, our characters are always fidgeting and rolling their eyes. It's sort of a mess.

Good luck with your first read! I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised by your awesomeness.

Renee Collins said...

hahaha, oh yes, I do. My characters are constantly looking at each other, passing glances, staring, peering at, and turning their gazes to each other, etc. etc. etc. :)

Susan R. Mills said...

Eyes, eyes, eyes, and more eyes! I can't seem to stay away from that feature. I think anything to do with the eyes is a weakness for most writers because the eyes do tend to tell what a person is feeling more than any other body part.

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Abundance of eyebrows! The visual is priceless. Could be a hilarious storybook, Ms Storyqueen.
Anyway, back to being Serious Writerly Blogger, when I started the first draft I noticed I was putting too many meals in. I have decided to starve my characters for a bit. :)

MG Higgins said...

I'm an eye roller, too. BTW, if your book is ABOUT eyebrows, then you can't possibly have too many! :)

Dawn Simon said...

I'm with Lazy Writer: eyes. I did find an eyebrow section in my ms a few days ago, though, so your timing with this post cracks me up. When I saw the title I thought, Maybe I'm not the only one. And I'm not! (This discovery, of course, made me raise my eyebrows.)

I totally get the revision thing. Good luck with it, and I agree with the first comment--I bet you'll be surprised at how good it is. You recently made a comment about revision on my blog that was so right on: give me a blank page to start a new draft! There IS so much at stake with that revision. Good luck!

storyqueen said...

L and L-ooooh, fidgeting. I like that. And thanks for the luck. Going to need it big time.

Renee- I dig the passing glances...sounds illicit....probably wouldn't work in the ole middle grade,though!

Lazy- I bet you are right about the eyes. I never thought of it that way....but yes, they are the window to the soul.

Tricia-Heck, I love to read about food!! Don't starve your characters for too long. And if I named a picture book "an Abundance of Eyebrows" I think John Green (author of An Abundance of Katherines) might get a little tweaked.)

M.C.- nope, not about eyebrows....no reason to have so many eyebrow references (she said whilst raising her eyebrows, nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

Dawn- Thanks. I am just dreading it. I have convinced myself that's it's pretty cruddy and am afraid to read it and confirm my suspicions.

storyqueen said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Michelle D. Argyle said...

This post is so great! I use eyebrows a lot, too. It's so weird. I think it's because eyebrows are where most of the emotion is. That, and the eyes. I did a post about eyes awhile ago, right here

Just like Lazy Writer, eyes are one of my biggest problems. And it's definitely hard to get around.

Try focusing on other things like hand gestures or posture. That helps a little.

Jessie Oliveros said...

I focus on my characters' breathing and heartrates (usually when they are nervous or especially in love). Maybe because I'm a nurse. Have to get away from that. The reader probably doesn't need to know their vital signs.

By the way, I saw your book at the library the other day (Take Care, Good Knight...that one). It is our nighttime book this week. Excited to read the others.

storyqueen said...

Lady G- Wow. The famous Lady Glam stopped by my blog! You are a legend in the blogverse, I hear.
I'll think about using hands...when I'm brave enough to sneak a peek, that is.

Jessie-Thanks for checking out the book. I love them all, but Take Care, Good Knight is a particular favorite amongst the kids at my school.

Stephanie Faris said...

The eyes are the window to the soul. So maybe have their eyes do some of the expressing? Or a smirk? I think I need to infuse my ms. with a little eyebrow action, actually.

Clementine said...

YES!!!! And I wonder what the psychology is behind that. This post made me laugh out loud. Last year, my critique group pointed out how many times my characters glared and how many times my main character, Henry, patted his horse's neck. It was hysterical.

JennyMac said...

Good luck with the first read! How exciting.

I apparently have too many characters in my manuscript...seems like an easy thing to fix but apparently, it isnt. LOL.

PJ Hoover said...

LOL! I notice eyebrows in published works all the time. Arching of them. Raising of them. Scowling with them.
And I'm guilty of all!

Paige Keiser said...

I have too much "he said," or "she said," - it gets hard mixing it up when there's a lot of conversation going on. Although I always try to. He chuckled, he shouted....he yawned?