 Noticing Newbies: July 24, 2024 Issue [#12657] |
This week: Pulling Focus Edited by: Jeff  
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"You never know what you can do until you try,
and very few try unless they have to."
-- C.S. Lewis
About The Editor: Greetings! My name is Jeff and I'm one of your regular editors for the Noticing Newbies Official Newsletter! I've been a member of Writing.com since 2003, and have edited more than 400 newsletters across the site during that time. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email or the handy feedback field at the bottom of this newsletter! 
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Pulling Focus
Continuing last month's theme of taking a concept from the world of filmmaking and applying it to the writing domain, let's talk a little bit about pulling focus. On a film set, the First Assistant Camera is responsible for keeping the subject in focus throughout a scene. For example, if an actor is shooting a scene where they're walking toward the camera, the actor would eventually go out of focus if the First Assistant Camera wasn't adjusting the focus ring on the camera to keep the actor clearly in focus as the distance between the camera and its subject changes. For that reason the First Assistant Camera is sometimes informally referred to as a "focus puller," and it's one of the most important and demanding jobs on a film set. Their job is essentially to keep the most important elements of a scene in focus for the audience.
So what does this have to do with our writing?
As writers, our job is also to pull focus and keep the important elements of our story front and center for our reader. There are so many aspects of a story that can be focused on. Depending on the type of story you're telling and the narrative devices you use, you have so many elements at your disposal to play with: setting, story, characterization, dialogue, maybe even a character's inner thoughts or emotions. If you to try to include all of those details all of the time, your reader can easily become distracted or confused because they're not sure what elements are important and which ones aren't. Similarly, if you focus on the wrong details, it can significantly affect your reader's experience with the story.
Let's look at this in practice.
When you're first starting a story, it's highly likely that you're going to spend a considerable amount of time describing the setting. You need to convey context and background to your reader, and the types of surroundings your characters find themselves in can make a big difference. For example, a story that starts in a city rather than on a tropical island will have a different feel to it. A character waking up in a tiny, decrepit apartment communicates something different than a character who wakes up in the high-roller suite of a hotel. The things that a character surrounds themselves with (the decor in their home, the things they interact with, etc.) tells you something about the character, so it's not uncommon to spend the early part of a story "setting the stage" by spending a little extra time detailing the environment.
As the dramatic tension in the story builds, though, there will necessarily be parts of the narrative where detailing every location with the same level of description is a hindrance, because it draws the reader's attention away from the urgency of the plot or the importance of an important story point by highlighting the mundane aspects of the character's surroundings. By continuing to accentuate the details of the setting later in the story, you might be "pulling focus" of the reader away from your story and characters and highlighting details of the setting that aren't actually relevant. It's like a First Assistant Camera who never adjusts the focus ring of the camera, so as the characters walk toward the camera, the background remains sharply in focus while the characters become blurry and ill-defined.
Writers have the ability to guide the reader's experience throughout the course of telling a story. Where a lot of writers go wrong is when the choices they make pull the reader's focus in a direction that's not engaging or, in some cases, actively detrimental to the story they're trying to tell. You've probably experienced this with books, movies, or other media that you haven't enjoyed:
 A story that bores you because it's taking too long to get started and spending too much time delving into seemingly needless details.
A story where the twist ending seems to come out of nowhere because the story didn't do a good enough job laying out the clues ahead of time.
A character that's hard to empathize with or understand because there isn't enough backstory or context to understand their motivations.
A setting that feels ill-defined or generic because there isn't enough unique detail or description to make it feel realistic.
The best way to ensure you're getting your intentions across as a writer is to make sure you're pulling the reader's focus toward what you want them to pay attention to, and to deprioritize the other elements of the story. The most eloquent, vibrant, detailed description of a setting will be lost on a reader that's at the very climax of the story and wondering how the plot will shake out. A character's major revelation and completion of their story arc is less impactful if the reader hasn't first learned to care for the character.
Whenever you're writing a chapter, a scene, or even just a sentence, make sure you're always clear with yourself on what your intentions are and what you want your reader to be focusing on. Pull their focus toward the things that best serve your narrative and its characters.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"New & Noteworthy Things" | "Blogocentric Formulations"
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This month's official Writing.com writing contest is:
I also encourage you to check out the following items:
EXCERPT: Once upon a time, in a quiet village nestled between rolling hills and sparkling streams, there lived a boy named Ethan. Ethan was known for his bright smile and kind heart, but deep inside, he carried a heavy sorrow. He had lost his best friend, Sam, in a tragic accident, and the pain of that loss weighed heavily on him.
EXCERPT: Before the existence of time, there were two divine brothers in the early universe. The older brother, named Illuminous, was the deity of Light and all things, while his younger brother, Noxithar, was the deity of darkness. It was Illuminous who brought the entire universe, including Earth and the other planets, into existence. Noxithar, perpetually consumed by jealousy and envy, sought to seize the chance to overthrow his brother and establish darkness as the dominant force across the Omniverse and beyond.
EXCERPT: One dark and gloomy day a group of teenagers from a small town in a place called Journey's Texas, were walking a long side a long narrow road in the middle of nowhere. It was a long and stressful day for these kids as they were struggling in school and there parents were always getting on to them due to there bad grades. Because of this feeling of distress they sought out to be a little risky, therefore when walking down this long road that seemed as if it was going on forever, they decided to stop and take a break.
EXCERPT: “No, please!” Brenda dropped to the cold, moss-covered ground. “Just... please. Think about how much this means to me!” Her voice trembled. Outside the Tower of London, the street lamps were turned off, allowing the stars to twinkle in the night sky, shining their light onto the courtyard below. Brenda raised her head to meet Hadeon’s eyes, hoping for sympathy, only to find them unchanged—dark as a black hole, as if you could fall inside and never resurface.
EXCERPT: “Greyson, stop it.” Milo begged, his unease breathing followed by his staggering footsteps kicking up the sand.
“Why should I?” He laughed, a dumb, smug smirk laying across his features.
“It’s all an act, isn’t it? Come on man, just admit it. Admit it to everyone right here, right now. Say it!” Greyson egged him on, holding his inhaler high in the air out of reach.
“Greyson, he doesn’t look too well, maybe you should give it back.” Richard chimed in, his hands defensively up at chest, picking at the cuticles of his fingers, nervously glancing at Milo’s ever paling face.
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Feedback from "Noticing Newbies Newsletter (June 26, 2024)" about anti-Auteur Theory:
Finding collaborators who give detailed feedback that is truthful but not hurtful is a slow process, but it's so worth it when you find that person or those people.
Interesting perspective on multiple points of view in the creating process of writing. I have often wondered about the dynamic of writers on TV series. I've noticed how episodes are written by different members of a team. It must be chore to maintain the continuity for a series that last for many years.
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