The Place For My Writers Notes

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!

Writer's Digest, May 2005, pages 38 to 41, has an article by I. J. Schecter with the title, "The Right Look," discussing physical descriptions of characters. Portraits in words, so to speak.

"It's hard for readers to connect with someone they can't picture. That's why it's your job to ensure that if characters in your story were to jump off the page and walk down the street, they'd be instantly recognizable. Painting a character's portrait can be accomplished in just a paragraph or two as long as it's done right."

Schecter points out that there are two reasons that a good physical portrait helps your story. "First, it teaches the reader something about the character's background, habits or lifestyle." We're used to interpreting physical features as signs of background. So go ahead and use it. "The second major benefit of solid physical description is that it provides a window into the character's physical or emotional world." Again, we all know or like to think we know how to interpret various physical features.

Some of the key techniques to show us the physical identity of a character include:

1. Make your description entertaining and relevant. Be careful to fit things into the context of the story -- adding a peg leg just so that you can tell us about it isn't a good idea -- but idiosyncratic characteristics described in suitable ways can be very good.

2. Use indirect description. Instead of directly describing things, use viewpoints and actions of others to suggest. Don't be afraid to hint at something, and then let us as readers wonder about it for a while before we find out just what it is.

3. Resist over-describing. "As in all writing, when it comes to physical description, less is more. Seldom do you need more than a few details, judiciously placed." Make them potent, distinctive, and don't waste words.

4. Avoid vague or muddled imagery. You want the reader to read the passage once and immediately know the character. You need a strong definitive picture.

"The difference between unfocused writing and thoughtful, engaging character description is the difference between accepting your first effort and pushing yourself to keep at it until it's exact. Be the kind of writer who accepts only exactness."

The article comes with a useful checklist for your character descriptions:

1. Reading this, do I get an immediate, distinct impression of this person's appearance?
2. Is there anything cliched or generic about the description? Could the words I'm using be applied to lots of different people?
3. Is the description excessive? Would readers be more intrigued if they didn't know as much about this person's appearance right away?

And, just for fun, they even have exercises! I'm going to summarize it rather than quoting it.

1. Pick a random character.
2. Put them in a new setting.
3. Write three paragraphs. In each one, physically describe this character in this setting. Paragraph 1 is from the point of view of an omniscient narrator. Paragraph 2 is a description from the point of view of a friend of the character. Paragraph 3 is a description from the point of view of an enemy.
4. Read your three paragraphs, evaluating the power, precision, and consistency. Revise them to be more specific, and more evocative.

Repeat this same exercise with someone from the real world. Put them in the opening scene of a novel. Make sure that an anonymous stranger reading the novel would recognize the person.

Feel free to repeat as desired with characters from fiction and from the real world. Use settings both real and fictional.

Think of it as quick sketches for the word artist.
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