Note the Details
By Bobbie Chukran
It’s all in the details, man…
Writing experts say that good books are made in the details. Sure, you could say that “the man drove a red car.” But wouldn’t it be better to say “the pointy-nosed man screamed around the corner in an old, rusty Chevy the color of dried blood”??? LOL! Well, maybe a bit dramatic, but I hope you get the point.
When you go out in the world, observe the details around you. Take notes, describe what you see using all of your senses. What do you hear? What do you smell? Do you taste anything in the air? (Yes, sometimes the air tastes metallic to me.) What do you see, REALLY see?
And please, include the weather! Is it windy, cold, damp, muggy, hot as hell, steamy, is the sun blazing or overcast, is it foggy or crystal clear?
Good books are made up of details like all of the above.
Go write something, and include the details!
Bobbi A. Chukran
May 11th, 2007 at 11:03 am
you’re right, details do make a book. cell any foments authors have great scenes. In my writing, I storied for authenticity.
May 11th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
[...] In Note the Details she writes: “Writing experts say that good books are made in the details. Sure, you could say that “the man drove a red car.â€? But wouldn’t it be better to say “the pointy-nosed man screamed around the corner in an old, rusty Chevy the color of dried bloodâ€???? [...]
May 12th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
[...] Bobbi Chukran, guest writer at FictionScribe, points out that for writers the details are what counts ( say this regularly on my other blog - every now and again I rant about ‘telling details’ and their use in world building - this is why I chose Bobbi’s post). This is just as true for foodways as for fiction - it’s the detail that creates the sense of the familiar and help us identify with a food. The exotic is partly exotic because we don’t have that familiarity and link to the details. If you sample a dish and can say exactly where the cook has gone wrong, you know the dish is part of your foodways and is no longer exotic. [...]
May 19th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
[...] BSG Fan Fiction May 19th, 2007 by Margie Fan fiction seems especially popular among fans of science fiction television shows, and while I am not much of a fan fiction kinda gal myself I understand the struggle of getting something readable to travel from your mind to the blank computer screen. If you are a fanfic writer, or just thinking about wading in to the fanfic ocean, head over to fictionscribe.com for posts about the importance of paragraphs or reminders that details make a good story even better, but redundant details are just silly. [...]