It’s different for every writer.
Some writers struggle with dialogue. It’s easy for me,
because I hear the characters talk, and I often have to tell them it’s time to
be quiet.
I’ve had writing friends who said it’s the scenes that are the
most wrenching for their characters. For some reason, these flow for me. Maybe
because I feel the internal urge to plow through and get the characters out and
away from the pickle barrels I threw them into.
For me, it’s the quiet descriptive passages I have the
hardest time putting into words. Almost every editor I have worked with has suggested
I add more to expand and enrich these quiet moments of physical observations.
I’ve had dialogue cuts suggested and whole scenes
eliminated. But I have yet to have feedback that said “cut description.”
Could it be because I began with picture book writing, where
description should be left to the art? Maybe, but no matter. I know this is
where my storytelling needs help.
And this is the point. It’s important to know one’s Achilles
heel.
5 comments:
Another interesting post, Mirka. Thanks for sharing. And best wishes on your descriptions.
Ditto on the description difficulty. I don't like reading it and I don't like writing it.
So interesting--it's good to know both our strengths and our weaknesses. The emotionally wrenching scenes are the hardest for me to write. The trick for me was to go at it sideways--with less emotion. In my historical, there are still 2 scenes that are nothing but a blank. Oy.
I had to write a fight scene for A HARE IN THE ELEPHANT'S TRUNK, two boys in South Sudan walking to save their lives - this was definitely the hardest scene I've written, never having been in a physical fight before. It's short, and I labored over it until I was satisfied with it, but boy, oh, boy! Since I read so much MG and YA, I find I get really impatient with the amount of detail used in adult novels - three pages to see the protagonist walk across the floor? Give me a break... And yes, with PBs, so important to remember the parts of the story that will be told by the art. Cheers!
I struggle with going deep into emotions in my writing.
Post a Comment