(no subject)
I've been frustrated by the story I've been writing. I feel like there's this bottleneck from my brain to the page. I feel that way right now, too, trying to write this entry. So many ideas and no words to express them adequately. One issue I've been having is how to convey pain.
I used to think that the description had to be colorful and unique enough that your reader couldn't just skip over it. I thought the description had to suck the reader in and be so compelling, they had to imagine it. Now I've come to realize that the character has to be the most compelling thing. If you are invested in the character, have grown to love him, then you care if he gets hurt. When he wakes up with a headache, you sympathize, even if the page just says, "Character A woke up with a headache." Writing about pain is one of the more difficult states to write about. No one likes to imagine pain or remember it. Why would we go through that for someone we didn't like? But if your reader loves your character, she'll feel concern for him whether your description is flowery or not.
I'm almost embarrassed that I haven't really thought of this in this much depth before now. Seems like writing-101 stuff to me now that I've thought it all through. :-/ Don't even know if it warrants a post, but since writing anything at all has been so difficult lately, I'm letting it stay.
I used to think that the description had to be colorful and unique enough that your reader couldn't just skip over it. I thought the description had to suck the reader in and be so compelling, they had to imagine it. Now I've come to realize that the character has to be the most compelling thing. If you are invested in the character, have grown to love him, then you care if he gets hurt. When he wakes up with a headache, you sympathize, even if the page just says, "Character A woke up with a headache." Writing about pain is one of the more difficult states to write about. No one likes to imagine pain or remember it. Why would we go through that for someone we didn't like? But if your reader loves your character, she'll feel concern for him whether your description is flowery or not.
I'm almost embarrassed that I haven't really thought of this in this much depth before now. Seems like writing-101 stuff to me now that I've thought it all through. :-/ Don't even know if it warrants a post, but since writing anything at all has been so difficult lately, I'm letting it stay.