writerly ways

[cornerofmadness]

Description. You'd think I'd be all over this with the added word count that it would give me for my nano. Last night I typed the words 'much plainer room' which is telling not showing. That aside, it made me aware that the last time I put in anything resembling description was on the train last chapter.

I do not know why I have such issues with description. It wasn't always this way. You'd think I'd just phase into script writing at this point (tried it,hated it) How about you all? Does description come easily? Or are you like me, adding it in on the second draft and it's still like pulling teeth. Or worse you notice you're doing the same actions/descriptions again and again.

Ever read a book that helps you get pass this block? Or do you like writing description and how do you handle it. I'm sure we'd all be interested.

Comments

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

I love description. I want to see it. I want my stories to drip with it, whether I'm writing or reading.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

yeah well i do too but it ain't working out that way

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well.

[hierath.livejournal.com]

I somehow never do enough. Especially with people! Landscapes I can describe, people, not so much... I usually have to add a chunk in the second draft, or at least substitute the crap I've written in the first draft with something decent...

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

ditto. It helps to know I'm not alone in doing this. Doesn't help you any but yeah this is very much what I do.

[sp23.livejournal.com]

I was always sure that if I ever wrote fiction, I would have a terrible time writing dialog. Imagine my surprise when I started writing fanfiction I discovered that dialog pretty much flowed. Descriptive passages, however? Like pulling hen's teeth. I think for me it may be because I don't have a very visual mind, and though I knew what I wanted, I had a hard time actually describing. it.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

that's very much where I am now

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

Description happens when I can clearly picture the sight/sound/smell/feel of the scene and give it texture. When I stop describing, this usually means I'm getting bogged down in plot mechanics and am losing the feel of the world I'm writing about. I generally try to solve this by putting myself imaginatively in the place I'm writing about and trying to get a real feel for it. Have you tried writing exercises along these lines?

I agree with ELD, I like prose to be very sensory and sensual. My two favourite authors, Dickens and Chandler, tend to be very rich with their description.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I used to be able to do this. Several years with a particular writers group stripped that away from me. I'm not sure if it's laziness or the speed/volume at which I write that keeps me from redeveloping it but it is a problem.

I too like description, the alpha idiot of that writers group was a Hemmingway fan, hated description and was utterly merciless (which did ultimately lead to me leaving the group)

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

Yes, I remember you saying this before. I think speed/volume might plausibly be hindering you from getting back into the habit of textural description (and I think it is probably a question of getting yourself back into the habit). When I crank stuff out super-fast for a deadline, sometimes my prose comes out too plain and I have to go back and add that colour and texture.

I can't stand Hemingway. People who worship Hemingway are also often annoying, I find. (Gross generalisation)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I know the speed plays a role. It has to logically. I wish going back and fixing it would seen less heinous. I'm not looking forward to getting those edits even though i KNOW they'll absolutely help. Sigh.

I'm with you there and yes that gross generalization has been my experience. So glad I shall never be forced to read his work again.

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

Well, after nano edits, maybe you could try slowing your writing pace as an experiment - or doing some descriptive exercises before you write a scene so you get a feel for it and it's easier to weave this stuff in?

Yes, it's nice being a grown-up and not being forced to read stuff. Except when I co-teach courses and have to read annoying stuff someone else set?

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i could try but with that month earlier deadline on big bang slowing down probably won't happen until after that.

don't get me started on co-teaching. why is this never as good an idea as it sounds

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

We have some big classes here where co-teaching for seminar classes at least is inevitable. Today (indeed I'm sitting in my colleagues' lecture) I'm teaching a couple of angry, grumpy Marxist theorists my students are sure to hate. Yay.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

oh boy. Enjoy.

[bay115.livejournal.com]

Haha, Hemingway is one of my favorite authors but I won't be merciless over anyone who doesn't like him. I understand his writing is not everyone's cup of tea.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

And that's fine. The guy in question used Hemmingway like a sword, as if that was the only style writing worthy of anything

[bob_fish.livejournal.com]

This is the problem with gross generalisations, you end up being really rude to someone nice. I'm really sorry, that was my bad!

[bay115.livejournal.com]

Nah, that's fine. Like I said before, I know people that aren't fans of Hemingway and that's totally cool. Everyone's taste in writing is different.

[silvrethorn.livejournal.com]

Description is why I spend so much time roaming around Google Images. If you're going to describe something, you'd better have a good picture of it in your mind. It has taken me years, literally, to build up a visual database of late-Edo-period Japan, and I add to that database daily. It has allowed me to not just write effective descriptive passages but to interweave description into the ongoing narrative. I think that's the difference between a story reading like the author spit up a page from Encyclopedia Britannica onto the manuscript and having the setting actually come alive. I've read enough encyclopedia-puke to last me a lifetime (yes, Author, it's nice that you researched Victorian soap-making methods, but we don't need a lesson on it in the middle of the murder, thank you). Research info-dump is the absolute bane of historical fiction writing. It was the number-one thing I had earmarked to _not_ do in my own writing, and lazy periods of word-padding aside, I think I've managed.

That said, most of my description comes in the second draft. The first draft is a mad scramble to establish the actual story, as in plot, characters and resolution. All the artistic niceties tend to go by the wayside, and that is why effective follow-up editing is SO IMPORTANT (and a good topic for the first post-NaNo Writerly Ways).

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

you're right that would be a good topic. You and I do things a like in that way. I do have visual data bases. well i DID. I don't think I have a single back up of ANY of my photos. Whee. dumbass.

Even for that one paragraph of train description I have 6 pictures of the orient express which was closest to what I had in mind. I do worst in my fantasy stories because this is all coming from me.

Info dump is an issue. points to ch 1 of my nano. I Think I got most of that out of there but i'm sure there is still dumpage. gah.

[seta-suzume.livejournal.com]

I enjoy writing dialogue best. I'm not sure how good I am at writing descriptions, but I don't seem to have a problem getting in some.

I don't feel like I put in too much description, but I don't desire too much for the books I read so maybe I'm breaking even there. ^^;

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I also enjoy writing dialogue best. I've not found your work starving for description nor being top heavy with it for what that's worth

[seta-suzume.livejournal.com]

Thanks, it's nice to hear what someone else thinks.

[masqthephlsphr.livejournal.com]

My description used to be thin, thin, almost non-existent. Then I used my last novel as a sort of workshop to learn description and completely overdid it. Why is that novel 185,000 words? It's me writing pages and pages of description trying to teach myself how.

Trying to strike a balance this time around, although I haven't quite gotten to the description in the parts I've written for NaNo.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I was on the too much side once and now I'm on the too thin side. this is a rough point I think

[halighfataliter.livejournal.com]

Descriptions are what comes the most easily to me and what I enjoy writing the most. Which is why I (unfortunately) always end up writing in the same, reflective, dreamy-like atmosphere... I think I'm not too bad at them although what I write sometimes feels a bit common (shadow comparisons and stuff like that).
In my opinion, it is also very technical. It requires a mastery of the language to be sufficiently thorough and precise and to convey sensations without boring the reader or giving a passive feel to the writing. So obviously, I think I'm better at it in French than in English...

In my case, inspiration is mostly a question of listening to my senses. I try to imagine myself in the situation, not unlike an actor and try to put the sensations I feel as the character down on paper. I think then your personality, your life then makes easier or harder depending on how sensitive to colors, feelings, textures, tastes, you are in real life. So if it has once been easy for you to write, it shouldn't be too hard to master once again...

In term of books, the best source of inspiration I think is poetry. It's the genre that emphasizes the more feelings, sensations and perceptions. Tons of poets spring up in my mind -because some poems can also be very narrative- but they're mostly in french and translating poems is...well, don't get me started on this!

Anyway, let me just tell you that if you have trouble writing descriptions, it isn't really perceptible for the reader (at least for you fma stuff)

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

well thanks for saying so (re: my fma stuff) I like how you get to your descriptions that is a really neat way of doing it. I think that's why I like writing about places I've been or things i've done since I'm not sure I can imagine things well otherwise.

[helliongoddess.livejournal.com]

Description is the easy part for me - it's constructing reasonable, believable plot arcs (i.e. P-L-A-N-N-I-N-G ) that I have a hard time with. But I do love descriptive writing, and when I am asked to provide beta input beyond just catching typos and construction problems, I usually end up poking here and there for lots more description. I love the richness and depth it gives to writing.

What she said in the comment just above me is pretty much the same thing I do - imagine myself in the situation and what my senses would be experiencing. That's it exactly. Plus, I try (hopefully without getting carried away) to sometimes describe it with some imagination, too - metaphors or similes for what kind of blue the sky was can do so much more for the reader than just saying it was blue that day.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

my beta just whines at me about it. whines a lot. She is right to do so. I wish description came more naturally. I can plot like breathing

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i think i need to learn how to do this

[helliongoddess.livejournal.com]

*lol* and you need to teach me how to plot! Can we trade?

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

i'd love to

[bay115.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I tend to just write out the story and get the plot over with in the first draft and then try to add some sensory description here and there in the second drafts. I'm still trying to find a balance where my stories don't have thin descriptions but at the same time not be bogged down with ones that are unneeded. Sometimes reading a couple of my favorite authors helps me give an idea how I'll approach description.

[cornerofmadness.livejournal.com]

I like how ELD describes but i've yet to be able to mimic it, except when we're writing together.

but yes this is about how i do it