By: Jane
Friedman
(This post on Jane Friedman’s site is adapted from 5 Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of FictionWriting by C.S. Lakin, Linda S. Clare, Christy Distler, Robin
Patchen, and Rachel Starr Thomson.)
When
James Michener wrote Alaska, he spent the opening chapters
describing the geological formation of the North American continent, and
readers “watched” the gradual emergence of the Alaskan terrain—at just about
the speed of those glaciers moving across the earth’s surface.
That
style—broad, distant, and comprehensive—followed a long line of novelists from
Defoe to Hugo into the last century. But like most aspects of novel writing,
description has grown sharper over time.
More
than any other element of fiction writing, description creates immersion. It’s
important to get this one right.
In
modern writing at least, description is best understood as a function of point
of view. It needs to be personal. Another way to say this
might be “description must reveal character.”
A
common pitfall in visual description is giving a laundry list of physical
characteristics, ticking every box, so to speak. But it’s hard to pick out important details
from a multitude of unimportant ones—and readers will fill in a lot of gaps
themselves, so much so that they can find it annoying to have every feature of
someone’s face spelled out for them.
(Personally,
I never could picture noses the way nineteenth-century writers tried to
describe them. In my mind’s eye everyone just ended up with a nose
disproportionately affixed to their face.)
The
key with visual description, then, is to give just a few details—but run those
details through the “reveal character” filter.
Before
. . .
To
read the rest of the post, click here:
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
- The Fatal Flaw in Weak Descriptions | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/UNkJJ
- 3
Ways
You’re Sabotaging Your Chances with an Agent | Jane Friedman http://ow.ly/UNgxh - Twitter Etiquette: Newbie Guide on what WORKS on Twitter http://ow.ly/UNnov @TaylorTfulks20
- Anne R. Allen's Blog: Catherine Ryan Hyde on Rejection: Does Your Rejected Work Need a Rewrite? http://ow.ly/UNnDt
- 8 Reasons Why Editors Are Hot Dates (Infographic) http://ow.ly/UNpm5
- Creating 3-D Characters For Your Novel | Advanced Fiction Writing http://ow.ly/UNpxG
~*~
Last
Thursday, I showed up at the Lexington Surgery Center, decked out in my New York City Marathon gear, for toe surgery. A year ago, I had the joint in the left big
toe fused and now my right toe. I’ll be in a non-walking boot for five more weeks
and then a walking boot for six weeks. No running until February.
Are these running
injuries? No. Just years of wearing heels and a little bit of heredity. What cartilage
was left, though, I did run off!
Since
July, I have travelled to Europe, spent eight weeks in New York, finished a 150,000
word novel, and run a marathon. I was physically and mentally exhausted. Now, I
have no choice but to rest.
Yesterday,
I spent the entire day binging on the HBO show ‘Newsroom.’ I can’t remember ever
spending a day watching TV. Taking a break is good for mental health, but like vacations,
breaks have to end.
I’ve
been plotting two new stories. One a novella and the other ‘The Diamond Brooch.’
The novella, ‘The Montgomery Winery Murder’ will introduce two new characters that
will become part of Elliott’s inner circle and will join Jack Mallory on his adventure
to New York City in 1909.
A
reviewer mentioned that my last two books were about wars, and she wondered if I
was going to write about the Korean War or Vietnam next. No, I’m skipping those
and researching the gilded age—a period of glittering on the surface and corruption
underneath. I can’t wait to jump into the research.
Man-o-man,
I love my job!
Happy
writing and running, Kathy
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