AuthorsDen.com   Join | Login    
Where Authors and Readers come together!

SIGNED BOOKS    AUTHORS    BOOKS    SAMPLE CHAPTERS    AUDIOBOOKS    eBOOKS    STORIES    ARTICLES    POETRY    BLOGS    NEWS    VIDEOS    SUCCESS    TESTIMONIALS

Featured Authors:  Shannon MacLeod, iOdin odin@aflx.com, iSusan Smith, iAnn Marie Hannon, iDonald Beaulieu, iStephen Murray, iD.E.Z. Butler, iLeanne Bright Cloudman, iWilliam Cottringer, iEva Pasco, i

  Home > Language > Articles Popular: Books, Stories, Articles, Poetry      Authors: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z     

Guy Hogan

 Follow Me  

· Contact Me
· Books
· Articles
· Poetry
· News
· Stories
· 79 Titles
· 279 Reviews
· Save to My Library
· Share with Friends!
·
Member Since: Dec, 2006

Guy Hogan, click here to update your pages on AuthorsDen.


Description Is Exposition
by Guy Hogan   
Not "rated" by the Author.
     
Recent articles by
Guy Hogan

• An Observation
• Steeler Sunday
• 9/11 Revisited
• Drama
• Should You Keep A Journal?
           >> View all

Flash Fiction / Pittsburgh / Blogging

If you're writing a 600-1,500-word story the scene is one of your most powerful tools to make the story come alive for the reader. In the scene there is conflict and action and dialogue. You are showing and not telling.

But to break up this blur of movement you may want to throw in some description: let the reader know where the story is taking place, what your characters are wearing and what they look like. Excellent. Just keep in mind that the locale of your story, what your characters are wearing and what they look like should be "intentional." Description must have a purpose.

Don't mention a character's blue eyes simply because you think blue eyes are pretty. Don't mention that the color of a woman's dress is red because it's the color that popped into your head at the time. You want to be in more control of your craft than that. What pops into your head during that rush to get words down on paper during the writing of the first draft is fine; but during revision ask yourself, does the color of his eyes move the story forward? Does the color of her dress explain something about her?

In other words, description must do at least two things. It must ground the reader in the physical world of the story and it must tell the reader something more about the story than the reader's senses can detect. So that in the world of your story a kitchen is more than just a kitchen. A river is more than just a river. And a color is more than just a color.

When you get a pattern of these signifers going your story will begin to echo with an undercurrent of meaning, an undercurrent of meaning that you are in some conscious control over. You won't have total control over your signifiers because your subconscious will have something to say about that. The control that you do have will make your story deeper. And the shorter a story is the deeper it should be. 
           


Want to review or comment on this article?


Need a FREE Reader Membership?
Reviewed by Randall Barfield
Reviewed on January 15, 2007
very good and useful advice/i will try to put it into practice though planning and succeeding are 2 different things, as you probably know...also, go change "then the reader's senses" to than and "fellow" the prompts to follow. i surely know you are not stupid, it's like you said, after you type something you are blind the next moments, etc. much luck with this one

Reviewed by Jennifer Butler (Reader)
Reviewed on January 15, 2007
Great suggestions. Thank you.

Popular Language Articles
  1.  Flash Fiction Fun
  2.  The Art of Poetic Prose...
  3.  Direct Characterization
  4.  LOVE
  5.  Idioms and Cliches - where did they co
  6.  Stream of Consciousness
  7.  EUPHEMISMS
  8.  How cool is cool?
  9.  Alliteration
  10.  CONJUGATION OF VERBS
  11.  Places That End in 'A'
  12.  Creative Flexibility and Annihilated L
  13.  Talk About Talk
  14.  EPITAPH
  15.  Miscellaneous 'Stuff'
  16.  English, Literature, and Musings
  17.  NO HABLO ESPANOL !
  18.  The Goddess of Speech
  19.  Language and the Law
  20.  The Rise of the Poet Most Likely to Be
  21.  The Day the Word Nigger Entered My Lif
  22.  ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM
  23.  Why I May Confuse You
  24.  CARS with a U
  25.  Language?

Free Book Review Program
Select a book to read and review today!

Bridging the Gap: Police - Japanese (Paperback only) by Robert Wood

Nonverbal Japanese language communicator primarily for English speakers. Easy to use reference. Proven and effective tool. (Print only.)  
Member BookAds

Bridging the Gap: Police - Japanese (Paperback only) by Robert Wood

Nonverbal Japanese language communicator primarily for English speakers. Easy to use reference. Proven and effective tool. (Print only.)  
Member BookAds

Guide to Learning Japanese by Robert Wood

Practical guide for learning to speak basic Japanese; lessons to get you started and guide you into using and learning the Japanese language in a natural environment; to include an introduction into Japanese culture to help you understand the languag  
Member BookAds