Dominic Leung’s Reviews > The Book You Need to Read to Write the Book You Want to Write > Status Update
Dominic Leung
is on page 167 of 283
Finished chapter 8 - Beginnings and endings - A good enough beginning
The crucial thing in your own writing is to check that your opening does actually have a function - that it's doing a necessary job. A description of weather that has no real bearing on the narrative, an account of a place which is not substantially important to the story, the introduction of a character who plays no significant part -
— Dec 26, 2025 07:46AM
The crucial thing in your own writing is to check that your opening does actually have a function - that it's doing a necessary job. A description of weather that has no real bearing on the narrative, an account of a place which is not substantially important to the story, the introduction of a character who plays no significant part -
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Dominic’s Previous Updates
Dominic Leung
is on page 190 of 283
Chapter 10 - Description - Metaphors and similes
Also, metaphors and similes can be particularly useful when you want to pin down and illuminate vague or abstract matters.
— 2 minutes ago
Also, metaphors and similes can be particularly useful when you want to pin down and illuminate vague or abstract matters.
Dominic Leung
is on page 190 of 283
Chapter 10 - Description - Metaphors and similes
Whenever a simile or a metaphor presents itself, stop and search it at the door. If it seems comfortable and familiar send it packing and look for somehing more interesting. Ideally, a metaphor or simile should be both apt and surprising, enhancing your reader's understanding of its primary subject by showing it in a new and interesting light.
— 3 minutes ago
Whenever a simile or a metaphor presents itself, stop and search it at the door. If it seems comfortable and familiar send it packing and look for somehing more interesting. Ideally, a metaphor or simile should be both apt and surprising, enhancing your reader's understanding of its primary subject by showing it in a new and interesting light.
Dominic Leung
is on page 190 of 283
Chapter 10 - Description - Metaphors and similes
Metaphors are, by definition, not to be taken literally, but they don't exist independently of the literal. It's important to keep in view the literal meaning of your metaphors, examining each detail in relation to the others and thinking carefully about the overall effect.
— 5 minutes ago
Metaphors are, by definition, not to be taken literally, but they don't exist independently of the literal. It's important to keep in view the literal meaning of your metaphors, examining each detail in relation to the others and thinking carefully about the overall effect.
Dominic Leung
is on page 187 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Cliches
If we don't, we need to develop what Hemingway called 'the writer's radar.' 'The most essential gift for a writer,' he maintained, 'is a built-in, shockproof shit detector.'
— 21 minutes ago
If we don't, we need to develop what Hemingway called 'the writer's radar.' 'The most essential gift for a writer,' he maintained, 'is a built-in, shockproof shit detector.'
Dominic Leung
is on page 187 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Cliches
So we have to steer a careful path between the fancy formulations that obscure our meaning and the convenient expressions that render our meaning in ways too obvious and familiar to be interesting. We should know when our descriptions are tired and worn, and we should know when they're unhelpfully elaborate.
— 22 minutes ago
So we have to steer a careful path between the fancy formulations that obscure our meaning and the convenient expressions that render our meaning in ways too obvious and familiar to be interesting. We should know when our descriptions are tired and worn, and we should know when they're unhelpfully elaborate.
Dominic Leung
is on page 187 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Cliches
One has to respect cliches: they are sturdy so-and-sos. They endure because they are true and because they work; they are useful little devices that we all understand. Yet the term is deroatory, and no serious writer wishes to be accused of cliched writing. There's often something depressing about a cliche, preecisely because it's not saying anything new.
— 25 minutes ago
One has to respect cliches: they are sturdy so-and-sos. They endure because they are true and because they work; they are useful little devices that we all understand. Yet the term is deroatory, and no serious writer wishes to be accused of cliched writing. There's often something depressing about a cliche, preecisely because it's not saying anything new.
Dominic Leung
is on page 186 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Preconceptions about style
We should learn to recognise when we've written something that has no function in the text other than to show off what good or clever writers we think we are: we have at this point stopped communicating with the reader (which is our job) and started to indulge ourselves (which is a weakness).
— 43 minutes ago
We should learn to recognise when we've written something that has no function in the text other than to show off what good or clever writers we think we are: we have at this point stopped communicating with the reader (which is our job) and started to indulge ourselves (which is a weakness).
Dominic Leung
is on page 186 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Preconceptions about style
Literary language for most writers is - everyday speech, but a shapened and intensified version of it; it may also be necessarily difficult at times because what it has to convey is itself inherently difficult. As in all matters related to writing we're looking for balance, we need to be on our guard against dull plain-speaking as aginst over-ingenuity.
— 45 minutes ago
Literary language for most writers is - everyday speech, but a shapened and intensified version of it; it may also be necessarily difficult at times because what it has to convey is itself inherently difficult. As in all matters related to writing we're looking for balance, we need to be on our guard against dull plain-speaking as aginst over-ingenuity.
Dominic Leung
is on page 186 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Preconceptions about style
The more difficult phrase isn't merely unnecessary, it actually reduces the impact of the sentence. If your writing will send your readers on a detour before they get your meaning, or even prevent them getting your meaning at all, having put the book down in bafflement or to consult a dictionary, they may not return to it.
— 48 minutes ago
The more difficult phrase isn't merely unnecessary, it actually reduces the impact of the sentence. If your writing will send your readers on a detour before they get your meaning, or even prevent them getting your meaning at all, having put the book down in bafflement or to consult a dictionary, they may not return to it.
Dominic Leung
is on page 186 of 283
Finished chapter 10 - Description - Preconceptions about style
Early-stage writers often seem to mistrust their own voice, perhaps imagining that there must be a voice more appropriate to literature: when they think of what they want to say they try and find some more elaborate way of saying it. But there's no reason to make something more complicated than it needs to be.
— 50 minutes ago
Early-stage writers often seem to mistrust their own voice, perhaps imagining that there must be a voice more appropriate to literature: when they think of what they want to say they try and find some more elaborate way of saying it. But there's no reason to make something more complicated than it needs to be.
