Writing Meaningful Description To the reader? The world of your book is a black box. Devoid of all sensation—no sights, sounds, tastes, smells, or aural pleasantries beyond dialogue. It is up to you and your prowess of description to fill that world out—to let the reader experience it as you would have it experienced. Such power! If you do it right, you can grant readers the ultimate experience: the immersive feeling of actually being in another world. So—what goes into writing evocative descriptions? Show Don’t Tell I know, I know! For example: “The evil trees were scary and dumb looking.” While certainly opinionated, this description of trees somehow manages to avoid telling us anything about how the trees actually looked—it fails to paint even the smallest picture. So, what does one do? For example, “The trees were the dead white of bloodless flesh, with bark that cracked and split, like skin pulled tight over too much meat.” Metaphors, Similes, and Other Comparisons The trees were white as snow. Be Specific
Themes & Things To Keep In Mind When Writing Fantasy Stories and Adventures » Daily Encounter This list is far from complete. It’s not even trying to be complete. It knows better than that. It just wants to be helpful and provide some inspiration here and there; you know, offer little suggestions that might lead to bigger ideas. (Especially by using the words offered as Wikipedia searches!) Feel free to make suggestions in the comments! Weather Natural: sunlight, rain, snow, hail, fog, humidity, moonlight, wind, smoke, clouds, shadows, overcast skies, clear skies, lightning, hurricanes, tornadoes, moon in sky during daytimeFantastic: summoned weather, unnatural coloration (eg. green fog) Terrain Changes Landmarks Natural: stone outcropping, lightening struck trees, large boulders, waterfallsArtificial: lone buildings (eg. towers, houses, barns), statues, signs/markers, border wallsFantastic: large skeletons (eg. dragons, giants) After-Effects of Events Tricks Cultures Mysticism Events Unfolding Harsh Situations fatigue, hunger, thirst, extreme temperaturesenemy territories (invading?
60 insane cloud formations from around the world [PICs] Cloud varieties go way beyond the cumulus, stratus, and cirrus we learn about in elementary school. Check out these wild natural phenomena. STANDING IN A CORNFIELD IN INDIANA, I once saw a fat roll cloud (like #4 below) float directly over my head. It’s a 12-year-old memory that remains fresh. There was a moment of mild panic just as the cloud reached me — Is this what a tornado looks like right before it hits? I imagine a lot of these photographers having similar hesitations as they set up for the shots below.
25 Things You Should Know About Character - StumbleUpon Previous iterations of the “25 Things” series: 25 Things Every Writer Should Know 25 Things You Should Know About Storytelling And now… Here you’ll find the many things I believe — at this moment! 1. Without character, you have nothing. 2. A great character can be the line between narrative life and story death. 3. Don’t believe that all those other aspects are separate from the character. 4. The audience will do anything to spend time with a great character. 5. It is critical to know what a character wants from the start. 6. It doesn’t matter if we “like” your character, or in the parlance of junior high whether we even “like-like” your character. 7. It is critical to smack the audience in the crotchal region with an undeniable reason to give a fuck. 8. You must prove this thesis: “This character is worth the audience’s time.” 9. Don’t let the character be a dingleberry stuck to the ass of a toad as he floats downriver on a bumpy log. 10. 11. 12. 13. The law of threes. 15. 16. 17. 18.
5 Ways To Add Sparkle To Your Writing Would You Like To Add Sparkle To Your Writing? Does your writing sometimes fall flat? You can’t figure out exactly why, but you know when it happens. There’s no chemistry, no sparkle to lift your writing and give it wings. There are practical ways to put that ‘je ne sais quoi’ back into your writing. All you have to do is to recognize and fix the five common errors that dull the sparkle of your writing. 1. They might not look like each other, but they often mimic one another’s movements and reactions. What do your characters do when they’re nervous? If you find it hard to come up with different, memorable gestures, create a database of them. If you see a quarrel at a cashier’s counter, watch the customers carefully. 2. If you read like a reader, you’ll see how important pacing is. Varying the length of your sentences gives the writing its own rhythm. “According to the current master of Roseland and everyone who worked for him, the source of the disturbing cry was a loon. 3. 4. 5.
Twenty Rules of Thumb for Creativity Twenty Rules of Thumb for Creativity 1. The best way to get great ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. If you have some other rules of thumb for creativity, Send them to me e-mail Return to Tools Page here. Howstuffworks "How Knights Work" When you think of knights, you might envision King Arthur, Sir Lancelot or the Black Knight. We often think of heroic knights in shining armor fighting each other with swords or riding their horses on noble quests. Our images of knights have been influenced over centuries by romance authors (like T.H. White and Sir Walter Scott) and by movies like "Ivanhoe," "Excalibur," "A Knight's Tale," "Camelot" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." But what were knights really like? Medieval knights were, first and foremost, warriors. Knights were most noted for fighting on horseback, but they also battled on foot. In this article, we'll examine the lives of knights.
25 Things Every Writer Should Know An alternate title for this post might be, “Things I Think About Writing,” which is to say, these are random snidbits (snippets + tidbits) of beliefs I hold about what it takes to be a writer. I hesitate to say that any of this is exactly Zen (oh how often we as a culture misuse the term “Zen” — like, “Whoa, that tapestry is so cool, it’s really Zen“), but it certainly favors a sharper, shorter style than the blathering wordsplosions I tend to rely on in my day-to-day writing posts. Anyway. Peruse these. Feel free to disagree with any of these; these are not immutable laws. Buckle up. 1. The Internet is 55% porn, and 45% writers. 2. A lot of writers try to skip over the basics and leap fully-formed out of their own head-wombs. 3. Some writers do what they do and are who they are because they were born with some magical storytelling gland that they can flex like their pubococcygeus, ejaculating brilliant storytelling and powerful linguistic voodoo with but a twitch of their taint. 4. 5.