Early 'spam, then I'm calling it a day

[cleolinda]

So I finally caught up and watched the two episodes of True Blood and I kind of loved it. Like, not even ironically--genuinely loved it although there was kind of some snarky love in there as well. Put on some pants, Anna Paquin. Part of me wants to write up an in-depth thing about it, and part of me, mostly the part centered around my sinuses,

Comments

[cleolinda]

The descriptive thing was a huge problem for me, to the point where I actually started writing Black Ribbon under a self-imposed deadline (one chapter a week, five weeks total, in October 2003) just to make myself throw it out there and not worry about the fancy detailing. I would say definitely write the story first and then go back and look for good places to put in "anchor" details. I actually try not to describe the main characters' appearances on the first go, for example. Like, just write the story without even dealing with that, then put details here and there later. It helps me avoid the "flowing locks and crystal-blue eyes" infodumps. With minor characters, I feel like it's more important to anchor them with a few key details right there, because that's the essence of who they are and you might not see them very much, or again, even. Mostly the anchor detail thing I'm thinking of is for location--rather than just stop dead and describe a room from wall to wall, mention that the carpet was frayed and the floor creaked and move on--some kind of detail that you can imply a lot with, unless there's a reason you need the reader to have a grasp of the actual space. I don't know--I think a lot of it needs to come down to a writer asking herself, "Does the reader NEED to know this? Do these details create any kind of effect, or am I just transcribing what's in my head?" It's like, you have to learn to trust your reader to get it without you telling them every little thing, or allow them to imagine their own version of the scene without you painting it for them by numbers. I don't know.

[the_rainbow_jen]

You know, that's possibly the best writing advice I've ever read, and I wish more people could just read stuff that was left to their imagination instead of demanding details. That's why its literature, not a photograph, or video.

[cleolinda]

Well, I think you need to make sure that the details you do include are really, really good. It's just that if you include too many, the story just stops absolutely dead. And I can't remember who said this, but a costume designer doing a movie fairly recently said that she was really glad that the book in question didn't give many details on the clothing, because she had a lot more latitude to create. God! I wish I could remember who it was. It couldn't have been anyone working on Twilight, because the clothes are a bit too specific.

[the_rainbow_jen]

The Duchess, maybe. Or Atonement. Twilight is an example I'd point to where detail tries to overwhelm story. Not that the story's great, but you get what I mean.

[cleolinda]

Well, and Twilight is an example of how a badly-chosen detail just capsizes the story. Here we are, the Meadow of Great Sparkle, and Edward's wearing... a sleeveless white button-down shirt. Uh huh. I was talking about it with someone else who was like, "So... a blouse, right? He was wearing a blouse?" And this is not even getting into his penchant for beige.

[the_rainbow_jen]

But you have to admit, it's great when the filmmakers just run with it. "They're playing baseball? Give em uniforms!"

What sometimes bothers me in the use of details is I get caught up try to visualize the specifics, and I stop following the action or emotion. I'll wonder, "Is it physically possible for his arm to be there?" over whether or not the action suits the moment.

[cleolinda]

I will admit, I've done a lot of costume research so I can mentally have in my head what my characters are wearing in each scene. It's just that the reader doesn't necessarily need to know, you know? Or even if I mention something, I don't need to stop dead and describe the entire outfit from head to toe. For me, it's more a matter of knowing the character well enough to know what she would wear, and then if mentioning it becomes useful, I can.

[the_rainbow_jen]

Exactly. Its like writing a character bio, for whatever purpose, before the story begins. Unless you're trying to go for satirically ironic exposition, you can let the details drib and drab out over time. No need to chuck it in the reader's face. That's part of the adventure of reading, the discovery. How can we discover if the storytelling gives us no room to think as we go?

Of course, if you were looking for a book to make you think, you looked the wrong place with Twilight, snerk.

[greyduck]

That makes a lot of sense, actually. Thank you!

I'm still debating this "autumn writing project" idea. (And no, I'm NOT doing NaNo, not even for its anniversary year. I did it once, I'm proud, I'm not going through that hell again.) What I have in mind is a fairly simple story done in a kind of old-school "serial" way, a weekly installment on my journal, Dickensian if you like. Er, while trying very hard not to be as dreary as Dickens. I'll have the bulk of the thing done up ahead of time and polish before each week's installment goes live.

We'll see. I know that I ought to do this thing, but twice a day I panic about it... and I'm six weeks away from the launch.

[cleolinda]

Yeah, I was very much doing the old-school serial thing myself. Except that I punked out after three weeks--I forget why; it may have had to do with classwork.