“Description begins in the writer’s imagination but should finish in the reader’s.” ― Stephen King I’m sure that by now you’re tired of hearing the word ‘detail’. At some point it becomes one of those words that you start to say too many times in your head and then start to wonder if it even is a […]
“If you tell the reader that Bull Beezley is a brutal-faced, loose-lipped bully, with snake’s blood in his veins, the reader’s reaction may be, ‘Oh, yeah!’ But if you show the reader Bull Beezley raking the bloodied flanks of his weary, sweat-encrusted pony, and flogging the tottering, red-eyed animal with a quirt, or have him
Physical Details and Body Details Read More »
“You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying in the road.” ― Richard Price As we discussed in the last post, so much of writing comes down to details. Which details, where, why now, how to work them in. So let’s talk about “The Warehouse Test”, and if
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“My thoughts are spirographs;think intricate patterns of loops,think waves that never break.” ― Sabrina Benaim I know that all of us, at some point, have been sitting on our bed watching TV and suddenly thought, ‘OH NO, MY UNCLE REALLY WAS CREEPY BACK THEN’, and then moved on with our lives, only mildly wondering where those thoughts
Your Character’s Intrusive Thoughts Read More »
“I write, “Jane came into the room and sat down on the blue couch,” read that, wince, cross out “came into the room” and “down” and “blue” (Why does she have to come into the room? Can someone sit UP on a couch? Why do we care if it’s blue?) and the sentence becomes “Jane
“The most important things to remember about backstory are that (a) everyone has a history and (b) most of it isn’t very interesting. Stick to the parts that are, and don’t get carried away with the rest.”Stephen King Imagine a reader in the middle of your book. They’re invested in the characters and the
“One should use common words to say uncommon things.”Arthur Schopenhauer Should the characters always say things? What if they’ve said things for pages and pages and you feel like you need to start making them exclaim, vocalize, announce, proclaim, imagine, or even ejaculate? There are always two pitfalls to fall into here. The first is
I Said, They Said, He Said, She Said Read More »
“If you say in the first chapter that there is a rifle hanging on the wall, in the second or third chapter it absolutely must go off. If it’s not going to be fired, it shouldn’t be hanging there.”-Anton Chekhov Every writer knows they need details. They’re what flesh out the story and make the
Details, Details, Details Read More »