On Fri, 21 Feb 1997, Joseph "Ashira" Kohle wrote:

Jang Won Choe wrote:

	For example...
	"Baka," Akane said.
	"Baka," she sighed rolling her eyes heavenward.
	"Baka," she said softly, brushing a stray lock from his brow.
	"Baka," she growled, advancing towards him with mallet and a one way 
ticket for Tenou Airlines.
	Each sentence is the same word, but each has an entirely different 
meaning... Can you honestly say that a writer shouldn't use "beats" to convey 
meaning.

	Well, to take a stand somewhere between the two, I'd say that, 
yes, beats are necessary, but, like he mentioned, in excess they get 
annoying.  The example he gave was slightly extreme, but I guess it got 
the point across.  Often, after the first few lines of dialogue are 
exchanged, I find it just easier to switch to straight dialogue:
	"So whaddya think?" he said.
	I shrugged.  "I dunno.  I'm just an idiot."
	"Really?  You're an idiot?"
	"Yeah - or at least, so people tell me."
	And so on...  'Beats' also do a great job of putting a pause in a 
string of dialogue.  I don't exactly know a rule for when one should or 
could be used; I just pop one in when it feels or sounds right.

All prose should be done in past tense unless you're writing in Second
person or if you're the master of prose.

	True, although I don't even think a master of prose could write in 
anything but past tense. If you know of any authors who do, tell me because I'd 
be very interested in how they did it.

	Ummm... 'kay, one book I'm covering in my American Lit. class: 
Rabbit, Run, by John Updike.  Modern author - and from the little I've 
read, excellent and smooth prose, written in present tense:
	"Luck," one of the kids says.
	"Skill," he answers, and asks, "Hey.  O.K. if I play?"
	There is no response, just puzzled silly looks swapped.
	(Random quote from Rabbit, Run, by John Updike)

	So, yeah, I guess it can be done, though I've seen few examples.  
And I seriously doubt I'm going to give it a try any time soon - I just 
know I'd mess it up.

	Anything extra?  Actually, I've always been a bit confused by 
fanfic formating... I write as I see it written in books: an indent at 
the beginning of each paragraph, and only a blank line between paragraphs 
that aren't connected (like in a change of POV).  However, lots of 
fanfics I see skip the indent, and skip a line between each and every 
paragraph.  Just curious as to why.

	-Mike