Love this behind the scenes sneak peek at your writing and worldbuilding Johnathan. Sitting here snug having had the pleasure of reading the finished article
Obviously I've read most of these. When you put these passages like this in a sort of list it's much easier to see how you could decide to remove them, because at least half of them are pure exposition. So in that sense, it's perhaps not a case of killing your darlings. That's not to say theses passages are not well written - which they are - but I wouldn't call them necessary darlings.
I had a lot more trouble cutting things because it wasn't really exposition. Fun dialogue usually. I was a bit miffed to have to lose the bit of banter between Evelyn and Patel when they were having a philosophical discussion about whether they'd prefer to face off a terminator or a xenomorph. Still, the knife must.
I appreciated the quips about amuse bouches and no wordplays intended. v funny.
And absolutely, you're totally right about the reader having to do a fair amount of work - otherwise they're not engaged. So I do try and do exposition on the sly (e.g. dialogue), unless I'm feeling mean and the narrator/me expresses an opinion whilst they're doing the exposition. I guess this might be another reason why I find it harder to cut stuff out, because I tend to write in my head first, so the world is quite clear before I actually start writing anything, meaning my first drafts don't have much (traditional) exposition anyway.
I am quite excited about this anthology though. Of course I haven't read all the stories yet, but the ones in our section are super.
Ah - that was another thing. Can't remember if I said there were definitely hints of 28 weeks later in your story (the background, I mean). But because there's no excessive exposition, that would be the reader 'projecting' something with which they're familiar. Intriguingly, Sophie's story (in our section as well) has hints of 28 days later (in terms of what happens before the movie proper starts, I mean). Which is one reason why I thought hers would work before yours in the order.
I think your psychoanalysis of how humans would behave in an End-type situation is correct. Same as in a nuclear war. They'd suddenly realise how dependent they had been, and they have no survival skills. And they'd easily fall victim to bands of roving marauders. That would kill more of the population than the war itself would.
Although it's also good that you don't specify what the End actually is.
Actually I had another thought which is that maybe it's just that I'm so intimately familiar with the story that it simply *seems* like I've read them all before. I can go with that one.
Love this behind the scenes sneak peek at your writing and worldbuilding Johnathan. Sitting here snug having had the pleasure of reading the finished article
Felt I should do my part to advertise all the effort being made – and what better way than some tasty teasers!
Obviously I've read most of these. When you put these passages like this in a sort of list it's much easier to see how you could decide to remove them, because at least half of them are pure exposition. So in that sense, it's perhaps not a case of killing your darlings. That's not to say theses passages are not well written - which they are - but I wouldn't call them necessary darlings.
I had a lot more trouble cutting things because it wasn't really exposition. Fun dialogue usually. I was a bit miffed to have to lose the bit of banter between Evelyn and Patel when they were having a philosophical discussion about whether they'd prefer to face off a terminator or a xenomorph. Still, the knife must.
I appreciated the quips about amuse bouches and no wordplays intended. v funny.
And absolutely, you're totally right about the reader having to do a fair amount of work - otherwise they're not engaged. So I do try and do exposition on the sly (e.g. dialogue), unless I'm feeling mean and the narrator/me expresses an opinion whilst they're doing the exposition. I guess this might be another reason why I find it harder to cut stuff out, because I tend to write in my head first, so the world is quite clear before I actually start writing anything, meaning my first drafts don't have much (traditional) exposition anyway.
I am quite excited about this anthology though. Of course I haven't read all the stories yet, but the ones in our section are super.
Ah - that was another thing. Can't remember if I said there were definitely hints of 28 weeks later in your story (the background, I mean). But because there's no excessive exposition, that would be the reader 'projecting' something with which they're familiar. Intriguingly, Sophie's story (in our section as well) has hints of 28 days later (in terms of what happens before the movie proper starts, I mean). Which is one reason why I thought hers would work before yours in the order.
I think your psychoanalysis of how humans would behave in an End-type situation is correct. Same as in a nuclear war. They'd suddenly realise how dependent they had been, and they have no survival skills. And they'd easily fall victim to bands of roving marauders. That would kill more of the population than the war itself would.
Although it's also good that you don't specify what the End actually is.
I don't think you have read them, Evie. Pretty sure my first beta reader draft didn't include these snippets!
Hmm. Some of them are familiar though. Maybe I confused how many. Let's say 5 out of 10.
You've a better memory than me. Some might be similar to my premise build note in Discord.
Actually I had another thought which is that maybe it's just that I'm so intimately familiar with the story that it simply *seems* like I've read them all before. I can go with that one.