Reviews for Description: The hows, whens, and whys

Reviews For: Description: The hows, whens, and whys - Reviews: Page 1 of 2

chreia 2008-07-02 ch 2,	abuseI think all three of your example sentences have their flaws, but there is no reason why they can't be used if the tone/narrative/anything requires it. As usual. I think the first example is the best, though. It has a certain laconic charm. When it comes to style I don't see that there is any inherent problem with 'purple prose' (although I do dislike stories that are little more than a regurgitation of someone's thesaurus). For one thing, the term purple is fundamentally subjective in application. There is also the matter of the intent of the writer. Who are we writing for, and why are we writing? Personally, I do not care very much for writing stories, I simply enjoy the process of arranging letters in an order that I happen to find pleasing, and I suppose that tends to be how I approach reading, too. For most people, (if you'll excuse the slightly patronising tone) your advice is probably broadly correct, but I can't help but feel that any rule or guideline can never be absolute, and in fact is so contextually bound and correspondingly general, that it becomes difficult to really agree with anything other than the vague principal of 'write what you like as long as you write it well'. But that's not really all that helpful I suppose. Just an opinion, of course.
chreia 2008-06-20 ch 1,	abuseOK, I'll leave a review on my way out. "Firstly, I would like to say that I will not write your book for you." - Words cannot express my profound disappointment. "Thirdly, yes, I do know that ‘Firstly’, ‘Secondly’ and ‘Thirdly’ are not real words." - Do you? I don't. "I saw a guy. I really liked him. I followed him around all day. He told me to go away. I did." - I would contend that this sentence is actually very descriptive. It says a lot about the narrator. And the style can be effective when used appropriately. Like practically anything writing-related, really. "It’s always a good idea to describe your character as soon as he (default male) is introduced" - Do you think so? I generally find it intensely irritating when people do that. Description should surely defer to necessity. "Yes, the old man may be balding, but his loving daughter won’t see that. The business executive whose bumper he just rear-ended will." - This is a good point. "than omnipotent third-person" - Don't you mean 'omniscient' third-person? "if you tell it once from a POV other than the main character’s, tell it from a different POV at least one more time or the story will seem asymmetrical" - Shouldn't that simply be dependent on the requirements of the story (i.e. use as many POVs as you need) rather than some kind of weird aspiration to symmetry? "These tie in closely with POV. Why? Because you should never, never, NEVER use a simile without a POV to use it from" - How can you not have a point of view? Even 3rd person is still a point of view. There is always a narrator. And anyway, why should a third person narrative not use similes? It would be useful if you could provide a little more explanation here. "call someone’s hair a river, and it will flow over their shoulders in cataracts with swirls and eddies where the comb failed…" - Oh God. "Two-for-one deals are fine when shopping, but not with similes" - Personally I think it's relative to the context. "How does a person’s voice sound like a violin, anyway?" - If it's high-pitched, melodic, and has multiple strings that are played with a bow. "If you find another word for ‘synonym’, call me or something." - OK. Like-word. There. Everyone loves kennings. "So keep in mind: what’s important to you, what’s important to the POV character, what’s important to the reader, and what’s important about the person being described." - Too many writers neglect to take into account this very important point. "Don’t have a medieval knight crying ‘Where’s the beef?’" - Wait... that's a cliché? Also, if the narrator (or any other character) is the kind of person who talks or thinks or writes in clichés then it is presumably entirely appropriate to use them. "or all your male readers will be superimposing their girlfriend (or something like that)" - To some extent we all do that anyway. "To really be realistic, you could (I can’t believe I’m saying this) try an honest self-insertion for a minor character." - Gasp! Surely you're not implying that there is something inherently wrong with self-insertion? So, basically, I liked this essay. It was interesting, entertainingly-written, and you made some good points. Oh, and I only just noticed how long ago this was written. I guess I'll probably review the second part some time soon. And finally, on a not-altogether-unrelated note, I noticed that you are registered as a beta reader, so I'm wondering if you wouldn't mind beta-ing some of my writing. Have a nice day or night.
painted.music 2008-06-17 ch 2,	abusekonnichi wa wide smile I don't remember what level I've gotten to in Free Rice (somewhere in the thirties), but my biggest contribution at one time is ten thousand-something grains of rice. Yay. :) Last year, my history teacher gave us this little tidbit of advice for our joint English-history term paper. Told us he might take off points. Everyone found reasons to complain about that ("He's a history teacher; he can't take off for English!"). I was just glad he taught it to me. :) Ha det -Shan-
Elkica 2008-05-22 ch 1,	abuseYou manage to write a fresh, funny survey on description; (have giggled at the Two-for-one deals are fine when shopping, but not with similes). Enlightening and entertaining. Thank you for writing it.
anon 2008-05-20 ch 1, anon.	abuseI loved it. There are many great tips in here, and I learned things that I hadn't realized I didn't know before. You're a very talented writer and you have a great way of explaining things, and I love the rest of your essays on writing too. You should publish something! I want to have all of your knowledge in one handy-dandy take-everywhere chunk. Book. Thing. This essay was written a while ago but since no one else has mentioned it in a review I'll go ahead and do it. I don't usually correct grammar or spelling or whatever but it'd be cruel to leave a how-to essay on writing knowing that there are mistakes. Anyway... - Thesaurus : In the first two paragraphs you use "or something" three times. - Thesaurus : When you need a "word", not "work". - The Muse : "description", not "descriptor". I think? I only saw three, so hooray! The Pacing and Physical Sensations are my favorite sections. It's easy to tell that you put yourself into this and that you actually enjoyed writing it. That's rare in 'how-to's. It's a refreshing oasis in the middle of a hot desert, that quenches your thirst like you've never been thirsty before. Thanks to you, Readers are able to take the first steps back into the desert with their heads held high, having gained something. Thank you, kind soul! [/drama] A cliche, a simile, and an extended metaphor. Hopefully I've saved your friend's fingers. I can't even tell. Those sentences are a mess and I'm not the best at describing with similies and metaphors. Ha. Long review is LONG. Bye.
Marie Silver 2008-05-16 ch 1,	abuseGreat advice with a smattering of humour. Loved it. ~Marie Silver~
painted.music 2007-09-23 ch 1,	abusekonnichi wa I had a real laugh for this one; thanks a million for posting it, LoL. I used - like most people - skip over descriptions in books because they were boring. Until I started writing... and realized that I had zero to no descriptions. :( So I started reading (and continue to do so) every single little word in every single book I pick up. And now my writing's better, thank God. Not good -- no, I wouldn't go that far -- but better. "Thesaurus: Friend or Ally?" -- Hah! That was cute! I was sitting there for a couple of seconds (my mind seems to be on the fritz today), thinking, "Wait... Ally? And friend? Aren't they... Oh!" LoL. "the Tooth Bunny, and the Easter Fairy" -- cute, cute, cute. :) "How does a person’s voice sound like a violin" You see, that's weird because this sentence makes perfect sentence to me. I can totally hear someone's voice "sounding like a violin." It would be sort of nasally and forlorn and... never mind. I'm rambling. This is what comes with playing piano for so long (and still sucking, LoL). See, I always felt weird because I NEVER used metaphors. I would try, but it would sound like it was REAL. So I stopped... thank you for clarifying: it sounded real because I write fantasy!! Oops... LoL, thanks for clarifying that. :) Zaijen -Shan- P.S: Love your website! :D
Queen Galadriel 2007-05-27 ch 1,	abuseAn informative essay and a few good laughs! Way to go! :) Actually, I thought this was written more like a speech. I always admire those who do description really well. I feel like I repeat the same things over and over again...:( I'm putting this one on my favorites, too! Thanks, Sage! God bless, Galadriel P.S. And forgive the short review; I'm kind of hurrying so I have time for one more before I get off here. I have to get some writing done tonight...
echo-of-a-tear 2007-02-15 ch 1,	abuseI cannot describe to you my utter delight at knowing that somewhere, somehow, a struggling writer may read this, understand it, and something in their brain just might respond! Ridiculous netspeak and shameless anachronism are plaguing the online writing world, as are short, non-descriptive and jumbled sentences that make no sense. What's more, these people often get charming and praise-filled reviews from their young and equally untalented peers who, like them, have no writing experience and subsequently think that it's quite wonderful! Perhaps this will knock some word-sense into their brains. We can only hope. Bravo. ~Echo
marinawings 2006-11-07 ch 1,	abusethis is some excellent writing advice! i wish i had read this before i posted some of my earlier stories on this site, haha. i'm actually thinking of going back and completely rewriting them because of all the writing errors. anyway, thanks a lot for writing this. anyone who reads this should tell you the same!
Siyaa 2006-09-16 ch 1,	abuseVery useful information. I am by no means a great writer or even a decent...deceant...deacent...aw, heck with it, FAIRLY GOOD one, so this was very helpful. Lol, I've already written something today that went against most of this.
xForeverAndAlwaysx 2006-08-29 ch 1,	abuseHey Therese! It's Kate - I finally got myself a fictionpress account!! Anyway I have to say that I love your writing, and this essay is really good. It's informative and still manages to be fun, which is awesome. Great job, and by the way, i'll see you soon.
Fiore Chnudth 2006-08-16 ch 1,	abuseAs so often the case with these "how to" essays, its fun and in part interesting to read. I say in part interesting, because I personally will have little use for it, as I do not use POV but the all-knowing-all-seeing-all-understand third person. But this will not keep me from getting something from it. The thoughts on the use of metaphors and similes I can agree with. Although I don't think they have to be banned altogether from stories with no POV. But all in all, fun to read. KH KHL
MadFearow 2006-06-24 ch 1,	abuseI thought it was a very helpful essay. I learned a lot. Very good advice!
Himura-Dumbledore 2006-05-17 ch 1,	abuseGood essay, I'll try to apply what I've learnt...

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