Mary Jaksch has some interesting things to say on the art of dynamic description, which is well worth a look for any aspiring fiction writer. WordPress won’t let me reblog it, but it’s on her Write to Done blog.
Blog Archives
Introducing Characters with George and Lennie
Characters must be introduced with very few details. In Of Mice and Men, of George and Lennie’s introduction tells us what is important without a word of description. Putting contrasting characters together brings out the salient points of their personalities.…
Tagged with: beginning, Characters, Description, Introduction, John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men, Opening, Plot
Posted in Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Posted in Wednesday Pontification, Writing
Describing Characters
Decide whether to take a descriptive or minimalist approach to describing the viewpoint. Pick a detail of physical description that sums up each character. Get any physical description in soon after a character is introduced so the reader incorporates it…
Brocken Spectre
My boots carried me up the hill where I came face to face with myself. They sprinkled the dust of three continents up the Welsh hillside where I waited for myself. The sun did no more than warm my back…
Solitary Search
It was the sheer beauty of the dawn that nearly drove me to despair. I’d fallen asleep inside a cloud as it faded from dark to light grey. If the dawn had been the reverse of the dusk, I’d have…
Stirling Rain
I flew through the dark beneath the Wallace Monument, my feet unmoving on the pedals while the wind at my back drove me forth. Stirling was behind the hill so the Victorian monstrosity of the monument hovered in electric light,…
Islands
Islands haunt my sleep. Sometimes they come during the day, so I can’t be sure if I live on the island beneath my feet or the ones in my dreams, nor whether my dreams are memories. Perhaps I imagined them…
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