I've found that a lot of writers will go into great detail and say something like: "the tree, about ten meters tall, stood in the center of a lush green field, sheltering the old man with a beard of gray spindles that resembled straw." when they could say: "the haggard old man scratched his spindly beard as he arose from his resting place beside the tree. How strange, he thought when he saw the great commotion, that I should choose THIS day to rest in the field." I know, it's not very good, but it's just an example. What I'm trying to say, is that description should (almost) always be action. And a lot of things can be IMPLIED rather than said. If you wanted to imply that someone was a bad person, you wouldn't say: "He was a very bad man." you would say: "After the initial shock of seeing the man, the children ran sobbing to their mothers. The man cackled." OR "the blade gleamed in the dim light. 'you know,' he sang gently to his victim, 'I've always wanted to use this on...someone.'"
IMPLY!
Huzzah! Yes, Thank you! I hate overdone descriptions (*couch Christopher Paolini cough*).
ReplyDeleteI'd also like to add that humans don't take in EVERY bit of detail at one glance. We take in the essentials, then fill in the blanks as are needed. (For instance, you don't realize someone has rotten teeth till they are six inches from your face and breathing on you, or you don't notice a diamond-studded door knob till you reach for it.
Paolini IS a couch, isn't he? And yes, I HATE books with long, boring descriptions. Call me innattentive and short sighted (which I am) but there needs to be something happening in a story! I really don't care that an author can come up with 47 synonyms for green, just say your characters are in a forest and tell me what happens! I'm very impatient when it comes to books. This goes for monotonous plot lines as well- HOW long are gonna stay in the stupid dinky elven village and do you HAVE to describe every single fricken day?
ReplyDeleteI'm very impatient with books. But I correct because I love. Even my favorite books get prodded and pieced apart, and analyzed till it's black and blue. But even when I find pitifully weak characters, that does not keep me from loving the story any less. There comes a point when I must overlook the glaringly obvious plot holes and see the beauty of a story despite the author's drawbacks. In my opnion, a story can only be manifest in the imaginations of the audience (e.g. J.K. Rowling does NOT have the right to make a character gay or not). Stories are to be told.
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