Writing Woes and Musings

[imbecamiel]

"Writing is easy. All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until the drops of blood form on your forehead." - Gene Fowler

Heh. Indeed.

As I've been working on the longest thing I have ever written (yeah, not very long, really, but still), I've been thinking about some aspects of how I write, how I translate what's in my head into what's on the paper.

(Disclaimer: Today I've been watching three children under four years old, had a karate promotion test and a lesson back-to-back, run errands, and been packing things for the trip we're leaving on tomorrow. Not sure how much sense this'll make, but I'm gonna write it anyways. Read at your own risk. *g*)

When I think of a scene, I tend to have a quite vivid, detailed visual of it in my head. (Oddly, though, it's often as if someone's flipped the negative, where left and right are reversed, so for some things I have to deliberately stop and correct my mental image in order for things to make sense.) In theory, it sounds great - just describe what you see - and in some ways it is. But...

The trouble is, because I can see so clearly what's happening, often unless it's essential to the action I'll forget to do any describing at all, aside from the characters' actual interaction (their expressions, movements). Nada. Zilch. I'm constantly going back to try to add in more detail, bring things to life, give the scene some color. Obviously, I don't want to weigh the story down with a bunch of boring, unnecessary descriptions. But so often I realize that, though to me a scene is full of detail, as far as anyone reading is concerned, (aside from canon characters in fanfic) the people are just *insert random image of a man anywhere between 20 and 80, of any height, build, hair and eye color, etc.*. And the setting may as well be *insert stock outdoorsy image* or a uniform, white, windowless room... Yes, some of the time I do add in description as I go along, but often I have to deliberately stop and remind myself of it, or go back once I've finished a scene to add things in. In the end, I usually have no idea if my descriptions have ended up too detailed/complex/awkward, confusing the reader, or if I've managed to give them any kind of mental image at all of what's going on.

*sighs* Yes, the balance between giving enough to paint a picture, without boring the readers to death... Where to describe, and where to trust their imaginations to fill in?

Hmm, now I'm curious, though - how does it tend to work for you? Is what I go through pretty much your experience, or do you have a different way of working? I know Kelsi doesn't tend to have mental images of what she's writing, which is frankly a bit baffling to me, both since reading her writing tends to give me very clear pictures of what she describes, and because... well, it's kind of hard for me to figure out how that would work. *scratches head* Obviously it does, though...

Heh, also, maybe I'm the only one, but it seems that when I attempt to write stories, my brain just... freezes, on a lot of very common sense things. Commonplace expressions, turns of phrase that I could use effortlessly otherwise - nope. Suddenly I just... Can. Not. Remember. if it was this way, or that way. The most stupid, obvious things I'll be wracking my brain, trying to remember, "I've heard it phrased this way before... right?" Suddenly I become uncertain of things I've known as long as I can remember. And then I'll have trouble figuring out if a phrase I've used even makes sense, never mind whether it's the common way of putting it. I mean, yeah, I want to be original, not lean on cliches, but there are certain things where using a common expression/description is desirable.

Good grief, I'm an editor. And I think I have got a good memory and decent instincts when it comes to the written word. In anyone else's work, I could see it instantly. It often wouldn't even require a moment's effort to think about it, it would just be, "Nope, what you mean is this" or, "Hmm, that doesn't quite sound right/make sense - you should change ___ to ___" or "Huh, that's a neat, original way of putting it". But no, in my own writing... *stares blankly at computer screen before banging her head against the desk* Writing has a way of making me feel stupid, yes it does...

Alright, so enough whining, I'm goin' back to work, try to get some more writing done. I actually am making pretty good progress, things aren't so bleak as I might be making it sound. I'm just at one of those (frequent) points where I detest everything I've written. Heh, and at this point I'm so close to being done, I really have to make myself stop and think about things, make sure I'm including everything I need/want to, lest my eagerness to have it complete result in my either leaving important threads hanging, or forgetting to include elements that were half the reason behind the story in the first place. :P

Comments

[scarvenartist.livejournal.com]

There's an author who's blog I watch, who says she has much the same problem you're talking about.... She envisions scenes with such sensory details that she describes it as a kind of sensory explosion--seeing every knothole in a worn, weathered door, for instance. Yet, she forgets that just writing, "she came to the door" doesn't induce all of those sensory images...so she has to toil over it.

I guess the balance with description though comes somewhere with the realization that no matter how many words you use...the thing people see is probably still going to be different from how you describe it. Like you said, letting the imagination fill things in. It is weird...because for some books I read when I was little, I still have mental images that stage them in some place or house I know well, and really has nothing to do with the author's description. (Like, all of the Ramona books by Beverly Cleary take place in my Grandma's house. O.o)

I know Kelsi doesn't tend to have mental images of what she's writing, which is frankly a bit baffling to me, both since reading her writing tends to give me very clear pictures of what she describes, and because... well, it's kind of hard for me to figure out how that would work. *scratches head*

*laughs* Yeah, half the time, I don't know how it works either.... I guess I shouldn't say that I have NO mental images whatsoever. When I envision scenes, I tend to have a very clear idea of the characters involved, what they look like, what expressions they're making, how they're moving. Somehow, this always translates really *blandly* onto page though, and I have to tell myself that I don't need to, you know, mention it every time this character blinks or inhales. Because literally, I see it down to that degree of minutia when I'm writing dialogue, and it all seems vital at the time. But I never know how much to tag that dialogue with. :P

Scenery and such...that's a whole 'nother story. I tend to have a vague, almost black and white impression of an unfurnished "set." I have no idea of what is "in" a room, until I start making up things to furnish it with, and even then, when I try to force the "action" on that stage, I have to keep mentally replacing the props. :P It's really maddening...often, I see myself repeating the same details in the story, as if I'm refixing that "there's a chair here," or a "desk there," when probably the intelligent reader is quite aware of that already, thankyouverymuch, you didn't have to tell me half a dozen times. :P Anyway, it's hard for me to read back over my writing and see anything more than words on the page, and I get no sense of "atmosphere" whatsoever, no matter how much I labor over creating it. Ugh.

Ahaha, and I, too, get mental freeze on very commonplace expressions. (Sometimes, not just in writing.... *headdesk*) Thank goodness for Abi, who generally clues me in before I make a fool of myself. :D What would one do without proofreader sisters?

But yaaay, despite all of these woes, you are making progress! *cheers* Very much looking forward to seeing more! :D