Details

Details?

Try this site http://hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/visualization.html
It's really good help, and there's heaps more things there other that visulisation help.

You like editing? Well, better you than me!

I have a fear of description. I believe this is derived from reading books like LOTR where I fell asleep a lot in what should be exciting chapters (Helm's Deep, finally getting The Ring into the damn mountain, the battle at Minas Tirith, etc.) Also from reading other books that have such dragging parts like that.

Everyone says I need more description. but when I try, I end up removing it because I feel it's dragging the story down and me with it. Any ideas for getting rid of this ridiculous fear?

Description is one of those occasionally reviled writing skills. It gets a bad reputation from books that include pages of turgid, extraneous detail; no book has ever been rendered unreadable by virtue of too little description. Unpublishable, maybe, but not unreadable. Whereas a couple of hundred-word descriptions jammed into a three-page paragraph can not only kill your book, but maybe even your editor or first reader. Bad.

So you don’t want to do that. But you don’t want to walk away from description entirely, either. It gives you powerful tools for bringing worlds and characters to life. Used judiciously, it can make your readers believe, and that is a wonderful thing.

see here http://hollylisle.com/fm/Workshops/description.html.

Same site as the one Éloeré posted. It's a great site.

That is an EXCELLENT site! I want to try some of those exercises right now lol! I've actually thought about doing something like that.. I just haven't had the time. When I was in Utah, however, I was in the snow (which is a rare event for me) and I took note of what the snow looked like in different areas, how it felt when standing in it, the way it looked around footprints, stuff like that. It was really great.

Éloeré wrote:It's really good help, and there's heaps more thongs there other that visulisation help.

Thongs? Tee hee.

Matt-The finder of slightly amusing typos.

Matt Bellamy wrote:

Éloeré wrote:It's really good help, and there's heaps more thongs there other that visulisation help.

Thongs? Tee hee.

Matt-The finder of slightly amusing typos.

TYPO!!! Should have been "things"!

Anyway, that word means a type of sandle here in Australia.

here's what you do. Picture the scene in your mind, and write down everything. I mean everything, down to the fly in the corner. Just write exactly what you see.

Here's a suggestion. If the weather permits, go outside or drive somewhere that has many beautiful images. Just sit there and absorb it in. After about 5 minutes, write down all the adjectives that describe things areound you. Or, you could write down the object and then list adjectives that describe it under it.
For example:
Leaf (okay, okay not that interesting but still )
-veiny
-silky
-painted like the sunset
-fresh-smelling
etc.

Make sure you have at least 10 objects. I would do this for a max of 30 min. Then, pick at least 3 of those objects and write a paragraph that describes each of them. You can include what position it's in, synonyms, comparisons, anything really. Just make sure you describe it.

For example:

Freshly fallen from the oak tree, the red/orange leaf lies in the grass. Its thin stem arches outwardly, like a bow holding an arrow taut. The spiky fingers are covered in veins, like a miniature tree with branches is implanted on each section of the leaf. The wind teases it, slowly blowing it into the air, and then gently nestling it into the open arms of the grass. There it stays until the next puff of air carries it away on a windy chariot.

Overdescripted? Yes. But if it helps you get in the groove with describing things, especially your characters and situations,which is essential, then go for it!

Hope I helped and good luck!

Wiggy

P.S. It's kind of ironic-my mom tells me sometimes that I describe too much.