Back in my student days, I studied the works of the great 17th/18th Century English writer Jane Austen and recall one scholar praising the way she worked like a fine artist painting on porcelain.
I know what he meant and so does the author of a story which came into the Global Short Story Competition today. Its use of details, sparingly but effectively, is terrific.
I have always believed that what differentiates good writing from less effective writing is detail; a look here, a colour there, an observation, a vivid phrase, they all lift the story of the page.
How do you do it? Well, for a start:
* Create details about character. Ask questions about your character. What does your character look like? How does he walk or talk? Does she part her hair? What kind of clothes does he wear? What nasty habits etc? And which facts are relevant? What matters, what does not?
* Create details about your settings. What does your character's living room look like? Is it messy or is it tidy? Are there paintings on the wall etc etc? Create details that bring the settings to life. A story comes alive when the reader can see, smell, taste, hear, and touch the world you’ve created. But if it does not matter that a certain painting is on the wall, don’t mention it.
* Observe and recount - tell the reader what a character is doing, what the weather is doing, if it’s getting dark.
Writing may have changed dramatically since Jane Austen’s day but details made the story then and, used judiciously, they do now.
Plenty of time to enter the October competition at www.inscribemedia.co.uk (still a quiet one, a good time to go for the £100 first prize).
John Dean
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