Showing posts with label Descriptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Descriptions. Show all posts

Saturday, November 16, 2013

NaNoWriMo Day 16 - Creating places and buildings

How you word things shall greatly impact how those things are perceived by your readers. Perhaps I told you there was a tall building, made of stone, and sitting in the middle of a green field, atop a knoll, what is the mental picture you have? I don't think you and I are thinking of the same thing…let me explain once more. There is a magnificent castle, presenting an imposing demeanor from it's seat upon a knoll over the green field, it's structor was composed of all white stone. Hmmm, there, now we should have similar mental images of this structure.

Now that we have established that how we write will influence our readers perception, we must now guide them through our novel's world.

Readers have incredible imaginations, never underestimate their mental  picture abilities. Give them incredible details, and let their mind's have the space to roam free through the world you have created.

Keep continuity, maybe write note cards for each place, like a home, or country, and stick with it. Readers like knowing that you care that the places are 'real', and not random. If you say a tree is leaning north, don't randomly straighten it out. Don't mess with your readers, you'll lose their respect.

Give your readers something to PLAY with. Remember that imagination I spoke of? Create a world that is so rich and brilliant that your readers can imagine themselves in, and can roam about in it freely as if they were there, sitting beneath the trees, listening to the wind rustle through the leaves. They need the details that allow them to create more world than you wrote for them.

The color of stone…matters.
The fury of the storm…matters.
The blueness of the sky…matters.

Because it matters to your reader.

Whether you are writing a love story, poetry, fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, or your autobiography, you are painting a picture for your writer to see. You're making them feel at home, or out of their comfort zone, or you are making them anticipate something, or feel fear, but you are guiding them. Your attention to that fact will enhance how you write, because you will be writing with not only your plot in your mind, but now also how your audience will read a chapter, process the story, and react to the situations.

If a situation is lovely, give your readers warm and fuzzies.
If a situation is tense, make your readers feel the tension.
If a situation is exciting, get the reader's adrenaline pumping.



I Kings 6

"In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the LORD.The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house. And he made for the house windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around. The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house.

When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third.So he built the house and finished it, and he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. He built the structure against the whole house, five cubits high, and it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar.

Now the word of the LORD came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

So Solomon built the house and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen. The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the LORD. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also overlaid an altar of cedar. And Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure gold, and he drew chains of gold across, in front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold.

In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olivewood, each ten cubits high. Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub; it was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. The other cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same measure and the same form. The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house. And the wings of the cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms.

For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olivewood; the lintel and the doorposts were five-sided. He covered the two doors of olivewood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees.

So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olivewood, in the form of a square, and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. On them he carved cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied on the carved work. He built the inner court with three courses of cut stone and one course of cedar beams.

In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it."

Monday, November 11, 2013

NaNoWriMo Day 11 - Imagination...more words

How to write more words:

Be descriptive!!

"Carol drove past him."

Yes, that gets the point across, but it is not beautiful, it is not detailed, and it is not using words. Try again.

"Carol smoked the worn tires, as she recklessly swerved past him."

That is good, but don't over do it, or it's boring and distracting.

"With a mix of anger and bitterness, the tearful but not sorrowful Carol slammed on the gas, causing the old balding tires to smoke and squeal as she narrowly missed hitting him by mere inches, carelessly swerving recklessly through the red, yellow, brown, and stick covered black asphalt."

That is not a good rendition, but it could easily be salvaged.

Stay simple. One idea = One sentence

Be creative, test your vocabulary. Maybe even invent a new word!

Be descriptive, your readers create a world based off of your words. It's up to you, by how you use your words, or lack thereof, to give them the same pictures in your mind. So, be colorful, imaginative, and take time for details.

If you don't know what details to write...

WHERE is your character? Pretend that I am your reader, I want to know what is happening around the people! Is he outside, is it cloudy, is the grass brown, is their noise, is anything happening?

WHAT is your character doing? Maybe Carl is walking across the yard...oh that's cute....but tells me so very little. Do his shoes make noise? Is he crunching through snow or gravel? Do his hands swing at his sides or are they balled into fists, shoved in his pockets with his shoulders hunched against the wind?

WHEN is it in the timeline? It's TOTALLY okay to jump around in your timeline. In NaNoWriMo 2012 I did that, I had my main character do "flash backs", thus I accomplished two things at once. Writing more words down, and also flushing out my character. So, be sure to let us know where your character is from. 1930s? 1870s?

Give your reader every detail they need, and every detail that you want them to have that they might see a more vivid picture in their mind.


I hope you have a lot of fun writing all the details, that was always my favorite part.



Isaiah 40:12

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?"

Saturday, November 9, 2013

NaNoWriMo Day 9 - Writers Block

Hola NaNos,

So, we all get cases of writer's block now and then, and how you handle it varies, but it is important to deal with it quickly while under such time constraint as NaNoWriMo pressures you under.

How can you avoid losing critical hours to this debilitating disorder?

Firstly, take a break.
Because you can't really force through this part of writing, so take a break and do something else. Even getting up to get a drink can be helpful in alleviating this problem.

Secondly, breath.
It's okay not knowing what is about to happen in your story. If you have an outline, it's okay to not know how to create the bridge to the next point in your plot!

Thirdly, read a bit.
It's always nice to change your pace, and read something. Maybe even re-read your last chapter, or go read a book that gives you inspiration.

Lastly, relax and work through it.
You are free to write ANYTHING you want in this challenge.

So, go write something, just anything. Maybe try describing something you haven't talked about, maybe WHY your character is or is not doing something, or HOW their surroundings look, maybe try telling your audience some piece of information that will only make sense when they read the rest of your book!

If all else fails - word war.

I have to admit, I actually had writers block when I started this post. Oh, the irony, I know.

But my beloved NaNo group did a word war, and suddenly...words flowed, and I actually won the word war! 167 words in 5 minutes!

So, if you still can't write anything, go take a walk, a shower, go for a drive, a run, make dinner, pet your dog or dragon, do something that is totally different, and something that is creative and either rests your mind or engages your creativity. Knitting? Meditating? Nap?

I hope it doesn't last too long, but I do know one thing for sure, you do not need to panic.

For all my Grammar Nazis out there who are panicking over their work's errors...

theirye're.
Problem solved



Mark 9:2-8
"And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only."

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Simplicity

The sky is a hue of blue, a radiant rich blue that fades into the distance to a creamy soft blue, like sea foam. No hint of clouds to interrupt the blue ceiling above me, so the brilliant sun seems close. It's much too bright to even attempt looking directly into the fiery intensity. I slowly close my eyes, and take in the heat that bakes the earth as an oven. The feeling from the intense light warms my skin as I grin up at the enormous sky.

With a gentle sigh, my eyes are brought to rest on the surrounding landscape.

The evergreen trees are a dark blue green. Their presence makes me think of Christmas and of Winter's white snow. The vast forest of leafy trees has started to look like an open crayon box left in the sun too long. The greens, browns, yellows, reds, all mixing together into a beautiful miriad of color. The beauty before me was enough to fill the soul with awe.

Each breath of the air brought in new fragrances of the panoramic beauty about me. The crisp smell of cedar's, and the smooth smell of the beginnings of autumn, mixed in was a touch of the smell of a stream's bubbling waters, over all was the presence of the freshness of the breeze from the plain's grasses.

The leaves on the ground leap about like acrobats in the gentle breeze. Doing flips they hurl themselves from their branches and gracefully land upon the grassy knoll. Some travel from their lowly place by doing cartwheels, others leap and bound to a new destination. Each taking care to be tender upon the blades of grass that they touch.

Flying so gracefully free high above was a small sparrow, she dove down and snatched several long blades of grass, as she came up she landed in a tree. Her nest was well under construction. The care and patience she put into it was obvious as she wove the grass with all sensitivity to it's design.

Just below her, on the ground, was a red ground squirrel. He moved with small quick motions as he gathered his acorns together. His ability to climb the bark of the tree with such ease stuck me with curiosity.

Gentle clouds began to drift across the sky's blue canvas. My soul filled with wonder as I watched the Master paint yet one more sunset. The silver lining on the clouds gave way to gold as vibrant pinks and oranges lit up the world about me. So bright was the sun's final glow, from purest white till a bloody red and finally the purple sky began to dim as stars conquered the night sky.

The ordered constellations dancing through the clouds and brightening the night's darkness.




Psalm 19:1-2
"The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge."