Deviling the Details - The Art of the Detail in Memorable Writing

7/31/2019 Deviling the Details - The Art of the Detail in Memorable Writing

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SHERLOCK: A STUDYIN PINK

Movie Clip (2:41)


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WHYSHERLOCK?


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WHYSHERLOCK? Every story is

something of a

mystery to its

reader.

Authors use details

as clues.

Its Friday; our

attention spans are

shot.

Who doesnt want tolook at Benedict

Cumberbatch?


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DEVILINGTHE DETAILS

What is a good detail?

What can a good detail

accomplish?

Where do I find mydetails?

How can I practice my

use of detail?


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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?


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A GOOD DETAILDEALSIN:

People rather than problems.

The texture of existence rather than questions

and issues.

Concrete, sensory details rather than casehistories and sociology.

Specifics rather thanAbstractions.


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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?

ABSTRACTIONS SPECIFICS


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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?

Concept

Generality

Theory/Assumption

Vague

Questions/Issues



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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?

Concept

Generality

Theory/Assumption

Vague

Questions/Issues


Sensory

Concrete/Real

Unique

Applicable


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The best writing includes BOTH.

Specifics ground the reader in the text.

Abstractionsinspire the readers philosophicalimagination.

REMEMBER


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THE STARS, THE SNOW, THE FIREJOHN HAINES


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There was something grand and barbaric in

that essential, repeated act. To stand there in

the snow and cold air toward the end of the

year, with a long hook poised above the ice-

filled river, was to feel oneself part of

something so old that its origin was lost in the

sundown of many winters: a feeling intensified,

made rich by the smell of ice and cold fish-

slime, by the steely color of the winter sky, andthe snow stained with the redness of the

salmon: the color of death and the color of

winter.


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winter.

Sensory Details


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winter.

Abstractions


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WHAT CANAGOOD DETAIL

ACCOMPLISH?


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Now of course this is something that some

people learn only to abuse. This is onereason that strict naturalism is a dead end

in fiction. In a strictly naturalistic work the

detail is there because it is natural to life,

not because it is natural to the work. In a

work of art we can be extremely literal,without being in the least naturalistic.Art

is selective, and its truthfulness is the

truthfulness of the essential that creates

movement.

-- Flannery OConnor

The Nature and Aim of Fiction


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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?

Context


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Location

Time

Device

Symbolism

Context


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Character/Narrator


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Age

Economic Standing

Values & Priorities

Appearance

Relationships

Reliability

Character/Narrator


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Reader Relationship


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Reader Relationship

Trust

Recognition/Nostalgia

Education


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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY


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I had never seen so many people on Coorain

before, and I never tired of watching the

throbbing bustle of the woolshedoperating at

full speed, the shearers blades powered by animpressive black engine. Everyones

movements were so stylized that they might

have been the work of a choreographer. A

really good shearer knew just how to touch a

sheep so that it relaxed and didnt kick. Bodies

bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down the

sides of the animal in long graceful strokes to

the floor, the shearers looked like participants

in a rite Everyones hands looked fresh and

pink because of the lanolin in the wool. The

shed was permeated by the smell of engine oil,from the engine which powered the shearersblades and by the smell of lanolin.


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throbbing bustle ofthe woolshed operating at












ContextLocation


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throbbing bustle of the woolshed operating at












ContextPlacementin Time


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CharacterAge/Economic

standing


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have been the work of a choreographer.A



bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down thesides of the animal in long graceful strokes to





ReaderRelation-ship


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WHEREDO I FINDMYDETAILS?


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THE FIVE SENSES

What does your character See, Touch/Feel, Smell,

Taste and/or Hear?


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CONTENTS MAYHAVE SHIFTEDPAM HOUSTON


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The cave goes dark and above our heads

thousands of glow-worms hang like

constellations, tiny globes of light dangling on

invisible strings of their own making. We are

struck dumb by the sight; the only sound for

many minutes is the water sloshing against

the sides of the cave. The depth of the cave

ceiling changes, from as little as six feet to as

much as sixty, and when we pass under one ofthose tall chambers its like we have turned in

to face the center of the galaxy, the lights areso dense, so thick and deep.


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The cave goes dark and above our heads

thousands of glow-worms hang like

constellations, tiny globes of light dangling on

invisible strings of their own making. We are

struck dumb by the sight; the only sound for

many minutes is the water sloshing against

the sides of the cave. The depth of the cave

ceiling changes, from as little as six feet to as

much as sixty, and when we pass under one ofthose tall chambers its like we have turned in

to face the center of the galaxy, the lights areso dense, so thick and deep.

The Five

Senses


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TRANSPLANTING REALITY


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TRANSPLANTING REALITY

A memory of your own (nonfiction/fiction)

A photos/videos from the time period


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TRUSTYOUR GUT


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TRUSTYOUR GUT

If you observe a connection between two things

it IS a connection.

Unique connections avoid the clich.


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TRUSTYOUR GUT

If you observe a connection between two things

it IS a connection.

Unique connections avoid the clich.

Original details are very ordinary, except to the

mind that sees their extraordinariness.

-- Natalie Goldberg

Writing Down the Bones


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BE SPECIFIC


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BE SPECIFIC


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BE SPECIFIC

BIRD


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BE SPECIFIC


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BE SPECIFIC

WESTERN TANAGER


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BE SPECIFIC

Precise picture. Good communication.

Earn trust. You are an authority.

Use colors. Even a simple splash of a primary

color like red or blue evokes something specific in

the mind of your reader.

Its okay if these specifics arent apparent in a

first draft. Do research. Revise.


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HOWCAN I PRACTICEMYUSEOF

DETAIL?


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Any discipline can help your writing:

logic, mathematics, theology, and of

course and particularly drawing.

Anything that helps you to see,anything that makes you look.

-- Flannery OConnor

The Nature and Aim of Fiction

A


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ANEXERC

ISE

A


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ANEXERC

ISE

A


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ANOTHER

EXERCISE

AT k 5


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ANOTHER

EXERCISE

Take 5

Minutes

to write

this scene

from the

Point of

View of

your

character.

AT k 5


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ANOTHER

EXERCISE

Take 5

Minutes

to write

this scene

from the

Point of

View of

that

character.


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Deviling the Details - The Art of the Detail in Memorable Writing

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