Writer Senses

Image courtesy of Pixabay.com. Writer: 1. Do you describe the surroundings only when they drive the plot/story forward? Or [do] you like to describe them to give the reader a sense of the mood/setting/atmosphere? 2. How long are your descriptions? How do you decide the length? Dear Writer, Questions of craft are tethered to context. That said: I often want the reader to be oriented to the immediate setting, even if the immediate setting isn't the most significant setting. In such cases, I choose a handful—usually no more than three—orienting details that engage some of the five senses and establish in broad terms where the characters are and what it's like to be there. Even in a film or television shot of a detailed setting, the camera often doesn't linger on the setting's details unless it is to draw attention to something significant (Chekhov's Gun). More often, the cinematographer will use wide shots to broadly establish the setting and then cut to c...

How much research do you do for a story and how faithful are you to said research? Are there times when you knowingly take a creative liberty for the sake of your story or do you stick to the research for the sake of authenticity? With fairy tales I tend to go either way. As long as I keep the rules internally consistent, I'm not too concerned with hardcore research. When I'm writing mystery, I am married to the research. But having a bit of world knowledge allows me to find reasonable loopholes that others might consider a Critical Research Failure. For example, without the amount of required hours and training a civilian cannot be a private investigator. But a consultant or paid informant can assist the police in an investigation, which is how I got away with having a stage combat trainer as an amateur sleuth. ******** Dear Writer, You've essentially answered your own question in paragraphs two and three. To a large extent, genre determines the degree to whic...

As I explore this new world of writing, I come across some “rules” that can be amusing, if one recognizes them for the holy mantras they are, or confusing, if one doesn’t. Recently, the “no adverbs” religious utterance came to my attention. Why should a writer exclude those incredibly beautiful words? (Please don’t start your answer with the words “Stephen King”.) ******** Dear Writer, Two things on this. First, on the concept of "rules" in writing. "Rules" are usually overcorrections. The fundamental principle of art is: "Do what is effective." Sometimes adverbs are "what is effective." Often, they are not. Second, on what those who parrot such rules are getting at: Adverbs are often redundant. Certain verbs are neutral and will require an adverb to bring out nuance. "I walked to the store" implies something different than "I ran to the store." Both of those sentences are fine. It's also fine to write, ...

"Poppy Field" by Claude Monet. Image courtesy of Pixabay.com. To dialogue or not to dialogue? What does dialogue do for fiction? Is it necessary? Generally recommended? Vital? Or is it completely optional and its absence has no bearing on the quality or palatability of the writing? ******** Dear Writer, Nonfiction writers regularly do not include dialogue in their work. In many cases, we would find it strange to do so. The core question, as with any craft-related issue, is what is necessary for a given work to succeed. This is largely dependent upon the goals, skill, and style of the author. In fiction, it behooves most writers to include dialogue since stories are told from the perspectives of sentient characters or through anthropomorphized, otherwise inanimate, characters. (For a great example of this, see the old Animaniacs episode, " A Gift of Gold .”) Failure to do so for avant-garde reasons will likely isolate a large portion of your potential au...

I've read that prologues are acceptable if written well and are not blatant info dumps. But I've also heard they are a death knell in the minds of agents and editors who might be considering a work and think they are amateurish. ******** Dear Writer, If you are still in the process of writing, my recommendation would be to just write the story and ignore professional sensibilities. You need to finish the story and have fun doing it. Maintain your artistic integrity as long as possible, and understand what your goals for the story are. If, however, you are looking at a second or above draft and desire professional publication, consider the following: Prologues are frowned at by contemporary professionals because they are often unnecessary. To the gatekeepers in the traditional publishing world, a prologue should be relevant to the main plot of the story but should have significant thematic, perspectival, or chronological differentiation. If your prologue star...