Words, words, and more words
The topic of the week at one of my favourite web haunts, an online forum (a neat idea to get folks talking, and one Rachel’s considering borrowing for her forum), is whether the very detailed descriptions of the natural environment in a particular piece of literature is needed, whether it’s superfluous, or whether it’s just added words that don’t really mean that much, and don’t add anything to the story.
My own reaction was that it’s an integral part of the story, and quite apart from adding the detail of a sense of place, and at times mood and emotion to the story, as well as giving the reader a rich array of sensory stimuli encompassing visual, auditory, sensory (in terms of touch), and olfactory cues that all add to the whole experience and the world the reader conjours up in their mind, that those descriptions are essential to the whole story. So far the weight of opinion seems to be firmly, infact unanimously that these detailed descriptions are an important part of the whole thing.
This raises an interesting point though, because how much description is too much description? I’m not a huge fan of “how to write” books, preferring the getting in their and getting on with it and writing by instinct approach myself. I do own a few of these type of books though, and one in particular has a chapter entitled “show, don’t tell”, and it’s very good advice that I’ve always tried to keep in mind. Showing a reader an image, whether that’s created by visual description, auditory, sensory, or olfactory cues, whether a gesture, an action, or a snippet of dialogue, is nine times out ten preferable to a bald description of the fact.
How much is too much though? Presently, ‘Fallen Angel’ is again resting, due to my head being gatecrashed by a couple of newcomers who have been demanding louder and more vociferously than Kerry and co. that I write about them. Unable to ignore them, I’ve been doing just that (although this week I’ve gotten sidetracked somewhat by the demands of my OU courses as I have three assignments to get in before the end of the month), but aside from struggling with the opening line – damned opening lines are always hard work, and in general I tend to start writing a couple of sentences in, and come back to the first line when I’m further into it and have a better idea of the feel of the piece and where things are headed – I’ve been struggling a little with the whole issue of how much description is needed.
In this case it’s not helping that the writing’s not strictly my usual genre, and I’m trying to make sure that I’m getting geographical and historical references right, but as always with something new, at first it’s a struggle to get a measure of how much description’s needed and how much should be left to the reader’s imagination. I don’t want to spoon-feed them (I’m talking in the plural in the hope that maybe more than one person will want to read it) and overwhealm them, stifling a reader’s natural tendancy to form their own version of the world it’s set in, but at the same time I don’t want to make picturing the place too much like hard work. It doesn’t help that in the opening scene there’s only one character, so no chance for any dialogue, and I’m very conscious of not over-doing the whole thought-processes thing.
These are the first couple of opening paragraphs of Before Dreams Die, the working title I’ve given this new venture…
The truck crunched across a little gravel before rolling to a standstill on the scrubby grassy area at the foot of a stand of pines. He pulled on the parking brake and killed the engine. There was scarcely a sound to be heard in the serenity of Willow Creek except for the slow ticking of the engine as it cooled. He closed his eyes and rested his head back with a sigh, letting out the breath he’d been holding for it felt like the whole of the drive. So near and yet so far.
For a moment he let his mind go blank, simply savouring the heat of the summer sun through the windshield, and the slight breath of the breeze on his arm through the open window, the nature quiet hush of the morning, a whole blissful week of freedom stretching before him.
~~Before Dreams Die: Bliss Carrington
I’m still not sure. Like I said, I’m very conscious of not over-doing the description, but on the other hand not skimping on it either. I’m also very conscious other the other little handy bit of advice remembered from my “how to write” book, and that’s to start with the motor running. Starting with the motor running’s about not starting the action too soon and boring the reader to tears before the action starts, but not leaving it so late that they’re thrust into the middle of a situation with no clue as to what’s going on (although at times that can have it’s advantages).
I guess what I really need to do’s to stop obsessing about getting every single word right and get on with the story. I can always come back to the opening paragraphs again later, and of course the quicker I get on and get the damned thing written, the sooner I can get back to Kerry and co. before they start bitching again that I’m not writing about them! 
