TECH: Details, Details

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 13 March 2009

Details, details

Writers Digest, June 2006, Pages 18 and 19, in the Fiction Essentials column by James Scott Bell, talks about "Weaving Your Research." The point is to add details about setting so that they enrich the story but don't overload the reader. No info dumps here.

Bell starts with a little story about Dean Koontz, writing as Leigh Nichols, and the novel The Key to Midnight. It's set in Kyoto Japan, and people familiar with Kyoto have congratulated Koontz on how well he portrays things, asking when he visited. His reply? "I've never even been in the Pacific Ocean up to my neck."

How did he do it? Research. Books, maps, memoirs, other books. And then he boiled it down to details seamlessly woven into the narrative. So how can you do that? Two steps.

Step one -- do the research. Find sources and resources, and work with them. One author starts with his own research reading, writes first drafts, and then talks to experts about specific questions. You also want to give them a chance to talk to you, to tell you what they think is important.

Step two -- weave the details in. We all have a tendency to overdo settings and descriptions -- we got all that stuff, let me dump it on the reader. Frankly, readers don't care. They're interested in the characters. Setting and details are important as far as they help make the characters richer and more believable. So you need to integrate details into the story.

1. Place your details inside action. These details make the character's actions feel real.
2. Place details inside character's thoughts. Now the observations serve two purposes -- they show us the setting, and we learn little more about the character.

Balance detail and action. Bell doesn't mention it here, but the sandwich approach works pretty well. Give us a little taste of action -- a hook. Then spend some time on setting and detail. And cap it with more action. We're more happy with that sandwich than just a plain slab of details and description.

"Pay attention to the writing styles of your favorite authors and follow the tips above to interlace research into your characters' respective thoughts and journeys. Do it well and your readers will be swept away by your writing without even realizing it's the colorful details you've sewn in that make the story so good."

Sounds like fun! Here's an assignment. Go over to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page , and poke around a little. Maybe try out the random article link. Collect your research, then put it in a scene. Make sure you wrap those details in action or in character viewpoint.

Okay? Write!