I have been going over some notes for a class I will be teaching later this month. One of the points I will stress is something I don't think I have ever stressed with all you Warpies, so for whatever good it is I will do so now.
I know I have talked about how important descriptives' are in a book. The analogy that a book is like a movie and without describing people, places and things clearly, the book is like a movie with sound but no picture.
Failing to describe is the biggest flaw in new writers but I have seen many writers overcompensate when giving their vision of their story and that is almost as bad as leaving descriptions out. Over describing can bog a book down quicker than anything and make the reader become distracted and then disinterested in your work.
I like to again use the analogy of a movie when explaining what needs to be described and what can be left up to a reader's imagination.
Of course central characters, the scenery and the era all need explanation. But a writer can go too far with describing details.
As an example, let's say we have a moment where a good guy is chasing down on foot a bad guy in modern Manhattan.
Now we can say that the chase was during the busiest part of the working day and the streets were filled with businessmen and women going to and from work. That is enough. With those comments the reader will determine how that scene looks and our adding too much detail not important to the story will just slow it down.
We all see movies where there are extras all over the place. Many move by quickly and not much time is spent filming them because only their numbers are central to the chase scene and not what each and every one of them looks like or is doing.
If, during your chase a person or two gets knocked down, you should spend a moment describing that instance: just like the moment is spent in the movie.
Every author sees their entire story explicitly and clearly and it is important to make sure everything important is described for readers. But the readers should be left to fill in the inconsequential blanks for themselves. That is what makes a book enjoyable to the reader. In effect you have allowed them to some degree to see the story the way they would picture it and not exactly how you see it.
It is this difference is visual structure through words left out that makes every person see your work their way.That's why every person who reads a book sees the story a little differently. It also is what makes a book a better seller than another which spends too little time or too much time showing the picture.
Freelance writer, columnist, author and writing coach, ex-Chicagoan Mike Fak presently resides in Central Illinois. More information about Mike's services are available at his home website www.mikefak.com
Mike currently writes primarily humor columns for searchwarp bi-weekly and is the managing editor of www.lincolndailynews.com
Mike now offers a 26,000 word e-book on making money as a freelance writer for only $10.00 at this page. http://www.mikefak.com/id45.html
Thanks so much for the advice. It makes total sense to me. I'll have to take a look at what I've written so far and see how well it moves or doesn't move.
I love going to readers' clubs to talk about books then you get other peoples perspective.
Also when I used to have to write critical essays on books I would always collate notes with others doing the same book. The best example of a book that people have so very different ideas of is the Great Gatsby by F. Scot Fitzgerald (great book in my opinion).
Anyway thanks for the great read - I always like your stuff.
What excellent advice. This makes so much sense. I do have a question for you. In a soft-boiled-who-done-it I write many years ago, an editor did not like my word grudgingly in the following sentence:
"...as the tires grudgingly hit numerous potholes in the dirt road, carelessly bouncing its two passenger from one side to the other."
Is grudgingly too much? (Personally, I love that word there! But from what you are saying -- and that other editor -- I am not leaving anything for the readers to envision on their own. Is that correct?)
Thanks Nancy. Grudgingly is a word but I would probably have written this ""...as the tires reluctantly hit the numerous potholes in the dirt road, the two passenegers were bounced from side to side." Mike
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