Monthly Archives: May 2013

Mirror Mirror on the Wall

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Step one:  Stand in front of a mirror.  Any mirror will do.

Step two:  Look at yourself.  Be serious now, quit making that face.

Step three:  Ok now REALLY look at yourself.  Leave your hair alone it looks fine.

Step four:  Say to your reflection, “I am a writer.”

Step five:  Stop laughing

Step six: No really, stop laughing

Step seven: Say it again, but this time say it like you mean it, “I AM A WRITER.”

Step eight: Really it’s not that funny, stop laughing

Step nine: Try to remember which book you got this exercise in so you can throw it away.

What kind of girl do you think I am?

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In my current novel my female villain is about to be introduced into the story, but there is a dilemma.

I have no idea who she is. In my mind she is standing there with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot with a very frustrated look on her face. But the rest of her features keep morphing and changing while she looks at me with impatience.

Blond to brunette, skinny to plump, tall to petite, fit to fatigued. My female villain throws her arms up in the air in disgust, “Make up your mind already.”

But it’s difficult to commit (there goes those commitment issues again) after all, I will be spending a lot of time with her over what could be a year or more. This unknown villainess and I going to put my main character through some very hard times and I just want to make sure she is the right one for the job.

What I do know is this…I know exactly what horrible things my villain is going to do. I have master plan of destruction and mayhem all mapped out.

She is still standing there tapping her foot at me.

The question isn’t what “is” she going to do, it’s “how” is she going to do it. Is she deceptively sweet or just plan up front and evil? Does she swear in every sentence or hide behind soothing sweet words? Does she smile or just cross her arms and stare at people like their an idiot. What kind of villain is she and is she the right one for the job?

I close my eyes and picture her again…she is still tapping her foot and rolling her eyes at me.

A Guy Walks Into a Bar

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“A guy walks into a bar; he had a conversation with a strange woman and then left the bar.”

This is one of the reasons my writing lingers at the novice level.  Description, description, description….

Description and those pesky five senses will be the death of me.

What did the bar look like; sports bar, dive bar, strip bar?  What did the bar smell like; stale cigarettes, aged vomit, high school locker room?  Was the beer flat and the peanuts stale?  Was it loud with crowds or quiet and empty?  Did the jukebox play love songs or a thump’en dance mix?  Were the bar stools hard and leather booths comfortable?

Details that make the reader feel they are in the bar, not outside peering through a cloudy window, the ability to weave the perfect amount of description without being cliché or droning on page after page over every little speck of boring detail.

A perfect balance of detail is the goal and every day I write to achieve that goal.

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Fiction-Writing-Monica-Wood/dp/0898799082/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367861077&sr=8-1&keywords=elements+of+fiction+description