{"id":266,"date":"2014-03-10T15:54:20","date_gmt":"2014-03-10T20:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/?p=266"},"modified":"2015-01-04T10:34:28","modified_gmt":"2015-01-04T15:34:28","slug":"bad-at-imagery-your-characters-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/bad-at-imagery-your-characters-can-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad At Imagery? Your Characters Can Help!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/466744183?et=66i6UbVoKkKGTu567RyXOQ&amp;sig=WfB0zzoLtU08PiXLBUnoe5WfAR5cHE5Tdfdl_WWd3p8=\" width=\"507\" height=\"407\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Ah, the unearthly blue lakes of the Swiss Alps.\u00a0 What a great setting to include in your story!\u00a0 Problem is, how do you describe it in words and achieve the same breathtaking effect?<\/p>\n<p>Trick question.\u00a0 <em>You<\/em> shouldn&#8217;t be describing anything.\u00a0 Your point-of-view character, or your narrator, communicates with the reader.\u00a0 The first step toward good imagery is describing the scene the way s\/he would describe it.\u00a0 This is invaluable early in the story for establishing the world <em>and<\/em> revealing insight about the character, even before anything has happened.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It was cold.&#8221;\u00a0 Yawn.\u00a0 This could come out of <em>anyone&#8217;s<\/em> mouth. Hell, a robot could output that with one line of code.\u00a0 Here are better ways of saying the same thing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The crisp wind cutting across Tara&#8217;s face made her feel alive.<\/li>\n<li><em>It feels like the morgue freezer in here<\/em>, Dr. Tanaway thought.<\/li>\n<li>As usual, even with fifteen layers on, I was freezing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Observations like these differentiate characters, and make them easier to relate to- or <em>not<\/em>, if you&#8217;re setting up characters the reader should root against.<\/p>\n<p>OK, so you have a better idea of how.\u00a0 Now, <em>what<\/em> to describe?\u00a0 Think about each of the senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, taste, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.todayifoundout.com\/index.php\/2010\/07\/humans-have-a-lot-more-than-five-senses\/\" target=\"_blank\">and more<\/a> if so inclined.\u00a0 What&#8217;s your POV character gathering from each?\u00a0 How does each one make him\/her feel?\u00a0 What does s\/he do in response?\u00a0 Focus on the two or three senses that provide the best understanding of the setting and how the POV character responds to it.<\/p>\n<p>For example, let&#8217;s return to the Alps.\u00a0 Suppose two characters come upon that lake.\u00a0 <em>Sight<\/em> is the most obvious thing to start with: sweeping mountains, clear sky, pristine water.\u00a0 Set up some <em>feeling<\/em> too: warm sun, stirring breeze.\u00a0 One of the characters takes in the fresh air (<em>smell<\/em>), stretches, and basks in the sun.\u00a0 The other character grumbles, takes off his backpack, and rummages around for sunblock.<\/p>\n<p>You can have a lot of fun with this.\u00a0 In a first draft, throw down as many senses and reactions as you want. \u00a0The more imaginative you are, the better you &#8220;know&#8221; the setting and describe it for readers.\u00a0 However, be prepared to trim weaker, less relevant bits of imagery when you return for revisions.\u00a0 You don&#8217;t want to get so deep into descriptions that you leave the plot behind.<\/p>\n<p>When editing, keep pacing in mind too.\u00a0 Imagery breathes life into your story, but it also slows things down.\u00a0 In a super-important or tense scene, you <em>want<\/em> this.\u00a0 Pull the literary equivalent of a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=J0BrdMi-oyc\" target=\"_blank\">Sergio Leone shootout<\/a>: make the reader agonize over every square inch of the moment.\u00a0 In a fast-paced scene, where the POV character is in trouble or agitated, s\/he won&#8217;t notice as much background detail.\u00a0 Think about how you process your environment when you&#8217;re stressed, rushed, or addressing a problem.\u00a0 Usually, you fixate on the immediate issue(s) and barely register anything else.<\/p>\n<p>Though you don&#8217;t necessarily want your voice leaking into the imagery POV characters provide, your own experiences can absolutely inform theirs.\u00a0 If your character&#8217;s doing something you&#8217;ve done before, remember what it felt like, what sort of thoughts you had, what you focused on and what you didn&#8217;t.\u00a0 Lucky me, I&#8217;ve been to a few of those Swiss lakes.\u00a0 Fifteen years later, I still can&#8217;t get over how magical they looked.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have any suggestions for good imagery?\u00a0 Feel free to comment and let me know!<\/p>\n<p><!-- Place this tag in your head or just before your close body tag. --><br \/>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/apis.google.com\/js\/plusone.js\" type=\"text\/javascript\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><!-- Place this tag where you want the widget to render. --><\/p>\n<div class=\"g-post\" data-href=\"https:\/\/plus.google.com\/106756336697302613382\/posts\/SkR2FmgPzNu\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ah, the unearthly blue lakes of the Swiss Alps.\u00a0 What a great setting to include in your story!\u00a0 Problem is, how do you describe it in words and achieve the same breathtaking effect? Trick question.\u00a0 You shouldn&#8217;t be describing anything.\u00a0 Your point-of-view character, or your narrator, communicates with the reader.\u00a0 The first step toward good imagery is describing the scene the way s\/he would describe it.\u00a0 This is invaluable early in the story for establishing the world and revealing insight&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/2014\/03\/bad-at-imagery-your-characters-can-help\/\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2,20,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advice","category-characters","category-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":995,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266\/revisions\/995"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ellismorning.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}