Naked

Still on the writing blogs in honor of NaNoWriMo...

Naked.

Such a naughty word.

But how do you describe YOUR characters.

Do you go in depth in the first paragraph telling your reader that she has long, curving locks of a gold that reminds one of autumn leaves? Tell us about the scar on her hand from a cat scratch when she was 12? And how her eyes are an ever changing shade of blue? Etc.

Stop it.

Description is good. We want to have the tactile experience with you, writer. The reader wants to feel like they are there...

But if you spend three pages telling us what they look like-- You removed all the mystery.

What mystery?

Have you ever read a book and felt like you were the character? Rather than feeling like an outside reader, you felt like you were her/him experiencing everything?

These authors have mastered the smoke and mirror act that is really good storytelling.

So they tricked me?

Yes! In the most delicious way possible! Like a good street magician, they drew you in and made you believe the impossible! They weren't just words typed on a page, they were emotions triggered in your brain! You laughed out loud! You shed a tear. You smiled softly as he closed his arms around you.

You probably knew that the heroine had black hair. And yours isn't. But it wasn't shoved down your throat at length so you could become her, if only for 350 pages.

This is the magic.

But it happens in your head. Remember that you are painting a picture and yes, they have to see the colors. But don't walk the dog. You have probably heard this phrase before, 'walking the dog.'

You can write three pages of description. But then take them, save them to your harddrive for your own reference and never let them see the light of day again.

Your reader doesn't need to know all the world building/character building you did to create Marcy the time traveling vampire. They don't need to know that Jason once fell out of a tree when he was nine and that is why he has a bit of a limp.

Only tell them what they NEED to know to move the story forward. Only write that which they really MUST know to understand your world.

Their imagination will fill in the blanks.

Remember, you are creating a world and their own experience will color their journey there. Allow room for them to play. Allow space for them to immerse themselves in your characters.

And have fun with it!

15 Year Anniversary

A long distance friend pointed out that today is our fifteen year anniversary. Fifteen years ago today I was a kid who knew everything and was going to change the world. Okay, so I have changed pieces of my corner of it, but at the time my goals were considerably more lofty. There was talk of being great. There was talk of huge great.

I have been small great, which turns out to be just fine, but lets get back to that scrawny kid who bears little resemblance to me today.

She answered the phone at her mothers house on that long ago New Years Day to a Canadian boy who she had heard of because her friend Tammy was dating him and had met him through Model U.N. and now he was calling.

Greetings were exchanged. Happy New Year. I am yada de yada. Then I asked out of the box, "Do you think trees have souls?"

This may seem an odd question to ask a stranger in another country. But I was thinking of it because at the time I walked home from school in Jefferson, Ohio. Here the trees are twisted things with funny lumps, almost tumors on the sides. When I had commented to someone (Bobbi? Maybe?) that they looked like tree tumors I had found out that trees indeed did get cancer. If trees could get cancer...

It had started my brain whirring. I had looked at the trees and wondered at their silent watch. They, some of them, had been there for hundreds of years. How many people had sat in their shade? How much tragedy, life had each tree seen?

So it was on my mind and I asked.

This conversation evolved into an engagement and multiple criminal charges ranging from runaway to stolen cars in Jason (call me Jayden)'s and my relationship. We were some kids. We were going to change the world and nothing was going to stop us. Not distance. Not time. Not space.

Today I got a text. "Happy fifteen year anniversary"

I smiled. Wow. Those kids were a long time ago and so far from where we are today. I answered, "Trees have souls! Fifteen years... yeesh."

He came back this morning with, "2010: Do trees have hangovers?"

I smiled again. Well, probably I know someone who does. "Too wise, trees. They wouldn't intentionally poison themselves for social lubrication. Their sex sucks, too. Metaphysical sex is not as fun as real."

I figured that if trees pollinate and have souls perhaps it is some beautiful metaphysical thing... and I thought of real sex. I think I would rather the slide of skin on skin and...

"They come all at once into the air hoping the wind will help them come on an appropriate mate. That's kinky."

I read it and cringed. "Or just messy. Depends on whether you are a male or a female tree. Standing in a shower of... oh, so not kinky."

Well. We aren't the kids who are going to save your world on the upside. We are still talking about trees...

But the conversation has gone down a somewhat different road for quality...

Happy Anniversary Jason James Never Failes.

Love Virg