Spoonerisms

In an attempt to get my brain to relax in the middle of an horrendously busy day, I allowed it to wander whither it willed.

It happened upon my knack of creating accidental Spoonerisms.

It then took to wondering how it creates those wonderful, sometimes embarassing, often hilarious word-wibbles.

I rarely spoonerise at work, presumably because I take extra care over what I say to clients over the phone and also because I don't want to look like a complete prat in front of my colleagues. These amusing episodes appear to happen mainly when I am relaxed - at home, with Hubby or close friends, for example.

I am adept at this art having started very young with Par Carks and Cine Pones. I then graduated to swapping whole syllabubs. My interest in alcoholic cream desserts aside, I can now produce some cracking tongue-twisters with apparent ease.

I've spent an enjoyable half hour reading about why this happens and the different types of speech errors, such as blending two words (usually of similar meaning) into one nonsense one. I then turned to explain this to Hubby and, you guessed it, spoonered like a good'un!

Jappy Hourneys.

Thank you!

Big thanks go to Zinnia and Clare of Boob Pencil fame for their very helpful (and substantial) comments to my previous post.

I would like to respond to their comments. Everyone else can listen in, I'm sure Zinnia and Clare won't mind. :o)

Firstly Zinnia. Nope, this wasn't the NaNoWriMo effort. That's securely filed away to be looked at in about a year for me to laugh at! This is a story idea that first came to me whilst I was invigilating an exam about four years ago. Exams are sooooo boring and I'd done all the work that I had taken in with me. My mind wandered and a seed of an idea started to grow.
I started this as a first person, then swapped to third person and have finally come back to the protagonist's POV. This has limitations but, as you say, adds immediate action and tension.
Great idea to read random passages of my favourite authors. I guess I have to take off my "reader" hat and try to analyse them a bit to see why I like them so much.
Thank you, Zinnia.

Now onto Clare's comments. Firstly, welcome to my humble abode!
I love the idea of messing around with the time line. Thinking about it, most if not all of the story is written in strict chronological style. I will definately have to have a play around with that. I like the 'exposition to ammunition' idea. I can already think of a few incidents where I can use that.
I'm working hard to get inside my characters' heads at present. Then hopefully through their individual personalities I can show the reader what they are like whilst providing information from their own unique perspectives.
Thank you for the Robert McKee recommendation - a copy is on it's way to me.

And finally, I would like to end with a question for readers:
If it's not relevant to the story, how important is it that you are show in some way what the character looks like (unless, of course, their appearance influences their actions)?
When you're reading, do you want to know exactly what the main characters look like or are you happy to create an image in your mind?

Can I pick your brain?

I am honoured to count among my readers some very talented writers and this post is for you.

I've brushed the dust and biscuit crumbs off a 16,000 word draft that I was working on last year. When I'd laughed myself hoarse and questioned my sanity after a few particularly dubious sections, I decided I liked the basic plot but it needed some serious work.

To pigeon hole the story, it is a quest based fantasy, i.e. something important and powerful is stolen from the rightful guardians by the bad guys for their own nefarious plans. Good guys have to get it back before the end of the world as we know it. :o)

I have two issues at the moment that I am struggling with.

First, I have in mind a handful of dramatic events to which the protagonist has to react beginning with the thingie being stolen and ending in the 11th hour show down. Can anyone please suggest any tips or methods that will ensure that the story does not end up feeling like " ... and then ... and then ... and then ...".

Second, I know that I should be showing and not telling but sometimes I'm finding this easier said than done, hence episodes of exposition. Any thoughts, please?