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ILONA ANDREWS
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
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ILONA ANDREWS
#1 New York Times Bestselling Author
Click on a little square in the right lower corner to enlarge the video and see the typing.
Gah!
Nestled between the arms of a curving double grand staircase an ornamental fountain rose …
So funny! Wonderful way to turn lemons into lemonade! How about, “in the middle of the space.” No, “grand space”, No, “immense room” Is that how you spell immense? Aargh, now you have ME doing it!
maybe flanked by twin grand staircases? Wow, this is one reason I do not write books, I go though enough just trying to explain things to my customers. Thank you for struggling through this sort of thing, the end results are always awesome! I love your books.
Well… I take some comfort that I’m not the only person who goes through this. This is me everytime I sit down to write. So much googling… x.x
I have read, googled, puzzled over descriptions of regency era and later London homes.
Some are narrow five story homes. I cannot picture where the second floor landing and adjacent rooms were/are placed.
Some sound like one room deep. Some stair in middle, some on each side.
I say, stick with the disneyesque, Spanish colonials and giant ranch homes!!
Descriptions have to paint a picture, but some days we feel color blind, other days like we have a 48 pack of crayolas, when we need the 212 pack one. Words are tricksy. Keep fighting the good fight. We love you writing. May House Andrews always rock and rule.
I loved the “argh”… I mean, sorry for your pain, but it reminded me of that scene from the Holy Grail…Castle “Arrhgghhhh” is carved in the rock… “Well he wouldn’t have carved ahhhhhhhh if he were dying …”
You have already established that it is a three storey foyer in the first sentace so… “An ornamental fountain rose in the center of the room, cradled by a double grand staircase.”
Sometimes the simplist solutions escape us.
Apologies if input was unwanted.
“space”.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
I know what that’s like! Usually it’s a common phrase or idiom that I can’t remember right when I need it, so I end up restructuring the whole sentence to avoid it.
Maybe replace foyer with atrium and go from there.
For some reason this made me think of Evan and Katelyn. They have a YouTube channel. They sometimes say “Words are hard.” Too true. They are fun to watch.
This was such a relief for me. I do this all the time when I write. I’m happy to know it’s a universal issue and not just me! If my favorite writers struggle, then maybe I can finish my novel. Thanks for sharing. ( Just because zero of the commenters above can’t stop themselves from correcting or “helping’ you, I’d have stopped at middle and just put a period after nothing worked!) Love to see your writing in any form!
This is why I admire good writers who strive for quality and really craft their writing.
Ok, being a visual person, this is now the equivalent of an ear worm that I could not get this out of my head unless I gave it a try… Apologies – just to clear my brain and back to work
….an ornamental fountain set like a jewel between the arms of twin grand staircases arching up to the floor above.
Not up to any standard that matters but at least I can get back to work now….
How about “in the middle, cradled by a”? We know where you have us (in the foyer), so we know the fountain is in the middle of where we are.
You are not alone lol. XO
I wonder if someone made a ressearch about variety of words in texts before and after google became popular… Maybe I do something like that, going to look into it. Is not my area but I can always try to put the word health somewere 🙂
How about the old, “Ditch the noun and go with a pronoun” trick?
“In its midst, a fountain lay cradled between two arms of a grand staircase.”
Cool trick! I’ll be borrowing that ?
I’m uncultured swine so I have no idea what most of the stuff you guys describe (flower types, plants, trees, architectural… thingies etc) but it’s interesting to see your writing process. Thanks for sharing!
I was rooting for “room” and “atrium” … 😀
Thanks for the peek. I love all your writingz.
A lot of people were offering up suggestions on phrasing + word usage, I’m sitting here trying to figure out where this comes from – Innkeepers, Hidden Legacy, unknown project. I wanna say related to Hidden Legacy..
It’s a fun guessing game 😀
I love your books. How nice to know that you struggle, too! Sometimes, it seems as though the words must just pour through your fingers, onto the keyboard, in this raging torrent. The Innkeeper Series definitely felt like that. Fantastic plot construction, wonderful characters! For weeks after I read (and re-read) the series, I kept thinking that I was going to meet one of your characters on the street. Please keep writing!
Judith