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Need detail
- Thread starter openup4christ
- Start date
Blessed-one
a long journey ahead
I don't know what exactly you're looking for, but do you have a draft ready?
try looking over it again and see where you can add more sensory (the five senses) and background details. What's the character doing in between dialogues? gestures? body language? if he's in the middle of a meal, what does the food taste like? is there a lot of background noise from the people around? or is his mind distracted?
try looking over it again and see where you can add more sensory (the five senses) and background details. What's the character doing in between dialogues? gestures? body language? if he's in the middle of a meal, what does the food taste like? is there a lot of background noise from the people around? or is his mind distracted?
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- Jun 7, 2004
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openup4christ said:
Think about the ways in which the people do things. Lets take an example.
John cooks and eats the soup.
Eating soup could take several moments, and it only takes a second to read this sentence. In the case of the cooking, it could take hours. Now, naturally, we don't want the reader to have to read for hours just to see that John cooks and eats soup. So we have to condense hours of action into a few sentences. But it needs to be more than one sentence to give it detail.
The other thing you need to realize about detail, is that every detail must be well placed. Every detail that you do add should say something important about the Characters or the situations in which they find themselves in.
Lets take, for instance, John from the first example. Lets say I want to portray John as someone who is hap-hazard and doesn't really take a lot of pride in his work. I might write it like this.
John pulled several turnips out of his pack and began sawing them into rough pieces with his knife before tossing them into the pot of boiling water. Then he reached down and picked up the last remains of the smoked beef that he had bought last week from a nearby village. He tore off a few chunks of it and lumped them in with the turnips, giving it a quick stir with a stick and then kicked back and began to sing catch-phrases from an old drinking song under his breath.
Or if I want to make John someone who is orderly and clean.
John pulled several carrots out of his pack and set them down on a flat rock than he had washed off. With his knife he began to carefully cut them into thin, even slices before spilling them into the pot of boiling broth. When he was done he pulled out a small wooden spoon and began to meticulously stir the pot, adding in small cubes of smoked beef that he had bought last week.
Always keep that in mind, everything your characters do should reflect the way in which they act, or see the world around them.
Also, don't forget that there are times when you don't want detail. Your characters might be traveling over 500 miles on foot, and over that course they could travel through hundreds of villages. You don't need to let the reader know about each one in detail. It is equally important knowing when to leave the details out as when to put them in.
Peace,
Windlord.
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Tariel
Reader-Writer-Editor
My first question would be, "What kind of story are you writing?" Just because I'm curious.
Now, you say you already have a draft done. That's good. Now read it to yourself, and while you are reading, ask yourself where you think the story REALLY needs more detail. Get a highlighter and highlight those spots.
Look at the parts you highlighted. What kind of things need more detail? Does the plot need more detail? Do your characters need more description? Is you action boring? Are you locations vauge? Read through your draft again, this time thinking through these questions. Highlight anything else that seems to need more detail (I hope you don't mind writing all over your draft
).
Now take another look at your draft. (Are you sick of reading it yet? That's what revision is all about.) It might help to write seperate backstories about certain things, just so you have a better idea of what's going on. (This is especially helpful for fantasy stories, but is good for any story). Write about a character, a place, a past event, whatever. This might sound like a waste of time, but you'll probably be surprised how much knowing the background will help. It will saturate your story.
Windlord game some great advice for making the action more interesting But really, it's all up to you.
good luck and happy writing
Now, you say you already have a draft done. That's good. Now read it to yourself, and while you are reading, ask yourself where you think the story REALLY needs more detail. Get a highlighter and highlight those spots.
Look at the parts you highlighted. What kind of things need more detail? Does the plot need more detail? Do your characters need more description? Is you action boring? Are you locations vauge? Read through your draft again, this time thinking through these questions. Highlight anything else that seems to need more detail (I hope you don't mind writing all over your draft
).Now take another look at your draft. (Are you sick of reading it yet? That's what revision is all about.) It might help to write seperate backstories about certain things, just so you have a better idea of what's going on. (This is especially helpful for fantasy stories, but is good for any story). Write about a character, a place, a past event, whatever. This might sound like a waste of time, but you'll probably be surprised how much knowing the background will help. It will saturate your story.
Windlord game some great advice for making the action more interesting
But really, it's all up to you. good luck and happy writing
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