 For Authors: March 26, 2008 Issue [#2298] |
  For Authors
This week: Edited by: Fyn  
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“Success in any endeavor requires single-minded attention to detail and total concentration.”~~~Willie Sutton
“Why can we remember the tiniest detail that has happened to us, and not remember how many times we have told it to the same person.”~~~François de la Rochefoucauld
“Your purpose is to make your audience see what you saw, hear what you heard, feel what you felt. Relevant detail, couched in concrete, colorful language, is the best way to recreate the incident as it happened and to picture it for the audience.”~~~Dale Carnegie
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Details. It is often all in the details: The little things that bring a visual clearly to the mind's eye. It is the details that make it real, give it substance and which allow the reader to be in the 'here and now' of the writing.
In the pictures below are a number of items from a shelf. In actuality, the first two pictures should be side by side, but we'll pretend it is a four shelf book case. Can you find the kiss? The Constitution? What about 1945 or a baseball cap? A butterfly? Susan B Anthony? A twenty? A baseball, an egg or a bird? A watermelon? How about a shamrock, a cow or a wishbone? A footprint? A T-bevel? A lighter? A backwards 'R'? A frog? A windmill? A wolf? A sand dollar. A hanging cat? Can you find the dragon's egg, the dirt from Tiger Stadium and parts of the deck of the USS Missouri? It's all there in plain sight. Yet some are difficult to see. And others depend on how you look!
 
 
Part of being able to infuse our writing with good details is the result of being a good observer. As a writer, it is a good skill to acquire: Being the Observer. Keeping that eagle eye out for the smallest of details in everyday life, training oneself to look for the details and remember them (or jot them down) can make as much difference in a writer's work as in, for example, the difference between a sharp photograph and one that is fuzzy and out of focus.
Here's hoping you had fun with this exercise in observation! We had fun creating it!
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Some detail oriented...some I just really liked. Others made me smile on a really weird day!
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Submitted April Sunday  ~~~Hey, Fyn -- from your side of the counter --comes an amazing slice of detail for the characters in this skit. As we know, of course, they (ourselves) range coast to coast. Which probably goes to show effects of fads & fashion even in manners. Good one!
Glad you enjoyed...It is amazing the variety of places we can pull bits and pieces from to use in our writing!
Submitted By: tailennion.~~~ooh, thanks for this newsletter. My sister made me start keeping a journal of story ideas last year and I love it. I think I'd better start one for character ideas.
Excellent idea! *smile*
Submitted By: StephBee  ~~~Ms. Fizz is the da' bomb. Great character sketches. Thanks for offering some colorful character sketches, Sweetie.
It was fun and i guess that's what happens when i have to write my newsletter at work!
Submitted by dmack ~~~I enjoyed this newsletter. It sounds like you station is in my neighborhood. I may even know some of these people. I'm sure one of them lives next door. I'm not saying which one.
LOL Too funny....oh wait....didn't I see you in there last week????? *grin*
Submitted by Duchess Laughing Lemurs ~~~Oh my goodness! That was quite a collection of amusing characters - my favorite, of course, the old couple. Though I would definitely remember the "alien". *haha*
We DO get a collection of assorted folks in there...but then, I was 'looking' for them.....
Submitted by: Rayne Forester ~~~Hey there! I am currently working on a novel called "In the Dead of Night" but I am having trouble describing characters. I don't know how to describe what they look like while still making the story flow nicely and not making it choppy. Help?
One idea is to become familiar with your characters. Are they 'real' to you? If not, it could be why the descriptions do not flow easily. The more in tune you are with your characters, the easier it is to fit things about them into your writing as it will seem very natural to comment on (for example) the way one's (copper, tawny, inky) hair moves in the breeze or the quirky way their eyes flash at some comment or another. Think about the fact that it is easier to describe a friend than it is to describe that total stranger because of the depth of observation from knowing someone better.
Submitted by PuppyTales ~~~I love it, Fyn!  I love odd characters... aren't we all? But these people... ah, they should get awards!
*wonders how she is viewed when a customer in a store* eeeek!
Submitted by: rbruce~~~Characters - This newsletter's collection is a little piece of everyday life. Our daily lives are full of these characters. Just slow down and look, they are always there to see.
amen.
Submitted by Sweet Musings ~~~Fyn loved your character studies. People always bear watching although sometimes you seriously wonder what is going through their heads. Great newsletter.
Thank you!
Submitted by maryelle~~~A gas station - how marvelous - I'll bet it would be a wonderful place to view the variety of humanity for everyone has to come through it at sometime. Even if it's just for air for tires -- do they really still have those? Very visual.
Yes they do...costs 50 cents these days...sigh...paying for air....argh! And thank you *smile*
Submitted by schipperke~~~I really enjoyed reading about your characters, I mean your customers! Great source of ideas!
*smiles*
Submitted by Anyea ~~~I just wanted to thank you for bringing your "characters" to us. I think I know that lady with the fuzzy ewes. Perhaps her clone? Thanks again.
She got some new ones recently...with big green and purple ladybugs on 'em!
Have a wonderful month everyone! And thanks again for all the feedback!!!!!! |
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