Posted by Bethanne Strasser on Sep 18, 2010 in
Writing Our newspaper featured an article this past weekend. Of course, it caught our eye–and our neighbor's eye–because it referred to the blind.
Woman Reads Playboy for Blind Radio Audience
Strange topic, I know. And I'm not advocating Playboy…
But I just have to comment on the way she uses description. It's very simple, concise. Not superfluous at all. She doesn't exaggerate the obvious. For example, "She is a 'Latina, brunette with dark chocolate brown eyes. She has long curly brown hair. She is in the first photo sitting in the ocean. Behind her shoulder, down past her arm, you can see her breast peeking out. … There are no tan lines at all. She is not wearing any nail polish or jewelry or bathing suit or anything." That almost sounds like a police write up. Maybe some young, immature thing might get a kick out of the word breast… but don't worry, he'll grow out of that…and she'll probably grow out of hers! LOL 
*cough* anyhoo. *whistle*
I think there's something to be said for keeping it simple. As a fiction reader, and particularly one who reads romance, sometimes the effort to describe something that is at its core pretty darn basic can get tedious.
Next time you're tempted to flower your manuscript with purple prose [passages, or sometimes entire literary works, written in prose so overly extravagant, ornate, or flowery as to break the flow and draw attention to itself. Purple prose is sensually evocative beyond the requirements of its context. It also refers to writing that employs certain rhetorical effects such as exaggerated sentiment or pathos in an attempt to manipulate a reader's response], remember the playboy reader, and how, even without innuendo, she could draw the attention of thousands of blind listeners with every broadcast.
Mother of FIVE smarty-pants and married to her Love for twelve years, Bethanne spends her time writing stories that always--without a doubt--end happy.
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Tags: description, purple prose, Writing
Posted by admin on May 17, 2009 in
Writing Learning the craft, I’ve spent so many hours focused on fine-tuning the areas I’m weak in, such as description and emotions. Hours upon hours I’d write then edit and go over every word, every minute detail. I’d layer in physical descriptions, the five senses, emotions, worrying over every choice.
My conversations with other writers were heavily about what I had difficulty with. It was after all mostly what I thought about. But isn’t that the way of life for some people? We concentrate on what needs improvement and take for granted the rest. I knew I was good at dialogue, so I didn’t need to think about it. Did I?
The ironic thing is I’m usually a pretty positive person. In my every day life, I refuse to focus on the negative. I believe what you put out into the universe in terms of actions and thoughts, comes back to you. And I certainly don’t need to bring any negativity upon myself. So then why am I this way with my writing? While trying to learn and improve, I forgot to be grateful. I forgot to smell those virtual roses. I forgot to remember the good…the great.
I write awesome dialogue. My voice is incredible. My characters have unique sounds/voices. And I have a talent for plotting that makes my pacing flow smoothly and my plots believable. These are not insignificant and surely shouldn’t be overlooked. It is these attributes that will help pull me out of a mental funk after a crushing critique or a rejection. I won’t forget to smell those roses now.
So tell me…
What are you good at?
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Tags: characters, description, dialogue, emotions, Jennifer Bianco, Pacing, plotting, roses, Writing
