[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by M T McGuire

Still impressed you retained them... I lay bets I do exactly what you do but when the solutions to my literary problems present themselves I've no clue where they come from!

Well, I don't mean to suggest that I specifically remembered a line from, say, I, Robot and used it in my novel here. Just that certain turns of a phrase or description of an action have become part of my personal lexicon, and I use them where appropriate. If you singled one out, chances are I couldn't quote you where I retained it (though there are a select few that I'm sure I could).

It's like anything else that you seek to do by finding the best way to do it. In Worldfarm One, I describe a woman who chose the last name of Mazaña when she immigatred to Brasil, but because of being well-endowed, unfortunately became known as "Manzanas." (Look it up.) The description I just provided was rather dry. But in the book, I gave a description that was much more interesting and funny, and based on descriptive styles I picked up largely from Lester Dent, but seasoned with a bit of Arthur C. Clarke:

It was commonly said around Worldfarm One that when she came to Brasil, Linda Mazaña probably couldn’t speak Portuguese or Spanish well, if at all; and when she decided to change her name, as many immigrating Anglos did, she must have chosen a surname that sounded Spanish to her. The twist on her last name became inevitable, then, due in large part (pun intended) to her impressively ample upper body measurements. When men referred to her as “Manzanas,” they often held their hands chest-high and palms-up in that load-supporting pantomime that was universally understood by men... though they generally did it only when other women, especially Linda, weren’t around. Add to that the fact that the rest of her was as beautiful as her breasts were ample, and it meant that wherever she went, Linda usually had a small entourage of hopeful suitors nearby.