Ink Wednesday

This week, I have only one link to bring you. But, as long as it helps, that's all that matters, right?

I discovered this blog about two months ago. I don't remember how I stumbled across it, but I'm very glad for whatever it was that pointed me in this direction.

You see, when you're writing a novel, it's easy to get into a mode (or we hope it is) where you have a feeling for your novel's point and the drive to take it there. And then, quite suddenly, you have a book (or part of one, anyway) sitting in front of you and you've written it! That's a pretty nice experience, if you ask me. 

But that book isn't done, yet. You still have lots of revisions to do and when you start reading what you've written, you will most likely find that a character uses the same expression whenever they're mad/happy about something. All of your characters are furrowing their eyebrows whenever they're perplexed. Several of your characters have the nervous habit of biting their lip. Whenever a character is around their crush, their heart flutters. That's okay. Real people have these kinds of feelings and express themselves in these sorts of ways. However, people also vary the way that they express themselves and, more importantly, not everyone does the same thing when they're upset, or joyful, or exhausted.

It's easy to repeat expressions when you're in the zone, or even when you're just writing a bit at a time. Sometimes, it's difficult to think of another way for a character to express a certain emotion, so (for the time being) we just stick them with the usual signals. But when you're revising or feeling motivated enough to look up or contemplate a new form of expression, it's nice to have somewhere to start.

• The Bookshelf Muse: A blog providing a nice set of weblog thesauruses for writers and, I suppose, other people who might be searching for such things. I haven't actually explored enough of this blog to tell you for sure, but there's a chance there's other neat stuff on here, too.

Anyway, this blog comes highly recommended from me. So, check it out!