The devil's in the details

The dragon’s head alone was as large as a cow.  It was covered in thick layers of sharp horns, its eyes were golden globes of fire set back in the deep shadows of its face.  Jagged points lined its spine as its sinuous neck emerged from the hidden cavern like a giant snake.

I've been struggling through writing descriptions.  I've noticed I glossed over or completely ignored the physical descriptions of some of my characters as well as the landscapes.  It looks like I've found a weak spot.  In a scene I've been working on, I'm trying to describe an enormous red dragon as it emerges from its lair.  I had to look up pictures of the dragon and try my best to describe what I saw.  It still felt weak.  I looked up people's descriptions of dragons in poetry and in stories and it helped somewhat.  I thought, why didn't I think of that?

I'm definitely going to need to work on this and I have a feeling that my second draft will be about adding more description.  I'm not going to worry about it too much for now.  It's overwhelming enough to just write the first draft.  Get it on paper and then fill in the details later.  

Here's some exercises I found online to help develop your description skills (I'm going to work on describing everything I see from now on):

Something you can do to be more descriptive is to give "life" to inanimate objects, abstracts, or animals in your story or essay. Give them human characteristics. Onomatopoetic words come in handy. These are words whose sounds imitate the sound they describe. Examples are buzz, whir, sigh, bang, and murmur.

Use fresh words in your descriptions. 

Forget about writing something vague like: "They walked slowly to the park." 

Just how slowly did they walk?
Did they trudge?
Did they slog along through mud washed out by a recent rain?
Did they drag along with chins drooping and eyes moping hopelessly?

Remember, if you want your reader to experience the same thing you've experienced - or experience something you've imagined - write and describe it well.

Now it's your turn.

Turn these bland sentences into sentences that ooze with description people can see, hear and touch. Make your descriptions so vivid your reader see, feel, taste, hear or smell them just by reading what you write.

1. The song began.
2. A police car went by.
3. The pie was tart.
4. A little boy stood still.
5. Her hands were rough.

Now try writing a paragraph or two using these prompts to guide you. Remember, Be descriptive.

1. Look out your window. What do you see?
2. Describe yourself when you were between 5 and 8 years old.
3. Close your eyes and imagine you're in a room full of people. You're the only blind person there.
Describe the room and the people in your mind.
4. You've gone to a carnival before, right? Write what it looks like. Imagine you'll read your description to a blind child.
5. Choose 12 small objects in your house. Put them all in a box. Without looking into the box, touch each object one by one. Hold each object for 3-5 minutes, then describe what that object is.

Copyright 2003 Shery Ma Belle Arrieta

Write it even if it sucks

One of the problems I have with writing is my perfectionism.  Sometimes I get stuck figuring out what to write because I can't think of a perfect way to express myself or a perfect plot twist or a perfect scene or a perfect whatever.

To help me with this, in my word document in which I'm writing my story I add a header so that this phrase shows up on the top of every single page:  "Write it even if it sucks.  A sucky book is better than no book at all."

20,000 words!

I have reached 20,000 words and it feels great!  I really have the snowflake method to thank for this progress as it has kept me on track.

There were times during my writing when I became lost or bored and I didn't want to keep writing.  Because I knew where my plot was basically going, I skipped ahead to a scene that was more interesting and could come back to the other scene when I had some inspiration to finish it.

It's really made the whole experience way more enjoyable then it has ever been before when I attempted to write a book (attempted and failed because I was bored with it).  It feels like I've been playing a video game.  Do you remember those old infocom games where it was all text and you had to type in commands?  That's what the writing process has been like.  I feel excited when I write (most of the time-and if I don't feel excited, I go and do something else or write a different scene).  I keep wondering what's going to happen next.  It's not that I don't know the plot of my story, I had 25 pages worth of notes written before I even started, but how that plot plays out, what the little details are, and the unexpected changes in the plot keep it exciting.  For example, with all the outlining and character development I've done, the main character has slipped into the background and a different character that I never even planned has clawed his way to the forefront.  The same major events are still occurring, but there's many unexpected twists and turns.

I look forward to writing because I want to know the end of the story!  Is it going to be what I had in mind or will the characters hijack it as this new character has done?  It's a mystery.

Am I a pantser?

I'm having a hard time sticking to the snowflake method.  Originally, it was very helpful.  Now I'm kindof bored.  I'm going to jump into writing and see how it goes.  If I get stuck, I'll go back to the snowflake method.

There are two extremes of writing, from what I understand.  One is the pantser who just writes whatever comes to her as she goes along-by the seat of her pants.  This type of author has no set idea and fumbles around until the story writes itself.  The other extreme is the ultra outliner who has everything set in stone before she starts writing.  I think I'm somewhere in between.  I like having an outline and an idea of what's going to happen, but I want some creative freedom.  Anyhow, we'll see how it goes.