Writing tips - visualisation

Time and again, in writers’ early drafts I encounter a lack of visualisation. They don’t see the scene, so can’t accurately convey what is happening to the reader.

Some writers prefer dialogue, which admittedly moves the story along. Yet, while people are speaking, they’re usually moving from one room to another, or using props of some kind, otherwise it’s a very static story. I’ve read about characters chatting over a meal, yet from the POV of the main character it would be difficult to know what they ate or drank! If the meal is of no consequence, then why is it in the story? It’s a prop? Well, it should be used as a specific entity, not as a vague ‘thing’. Characters might comment on the quality of the food, or reminisce about a grand meal they had in the past, even if merely asides pertinent to the conversation – and direction of the story. No, we don’t want flab inserted for the sake of word-count, but we do want to feel we’re there, and one sure-fire way of doing that is to indulge in specifics.

An entire book could be written about setting the scene, about showing the reader your characters’ world and how they fit into it.

The following is an extract, so a few points above are made here also:

Visualization

Remember, a book is a movie inside a reader’s head. Setting the scene means seeing it in your mind’s eye. This might entail zooming in on details or even panning around a street scene, particularly when you’re writing in omniscient mode.

Visualization is often neglected, especially in a first draft. If you can’t ‘see’ it, then your readers most certainly can’t.

People don’t exist in a vacuum – they’re standing, sitting, lounging, and walking in a solid world of your making. Let the readers see it – but let them see through your characters’ eyes.

This applies for every scene, to varying degrees, depending on the importance of the dramatic incident.

Use all the senses when possible – sight, touch, smell, sound and taste.

‘Well, come in.’ She stood aside, swept the slight train of her dress behind her and gestured for him to enter the hallway. She shut the door. ‘You’ve come to the right place, to be sure. Hang your hat, Mister.’

         He hung the slouch on a mahogany hook by the door.

         Turning on her heel with a swishing sound of satin, she said, ‘Follow me, sir.’

         He did so, trailing behind her swaying red bustle as it swept over the narrow strip of hall carpet. Even though it was still day, wall sconces were lit, projecting a warm ruddy glow everywhere Corbin looked. There was a sickly-sweet smell of cheap perfume, which he surmised probably served to keep at bay the pungent aroma of body odour and tobacco smoke. He heard murmuring up ahead.

Once he had passed through an arched doorway, a heavy brocade curtain fell behind him and all sound ceased. They were in a large room, each wall lined with two or three chaises longue, the walls papered in a crimson flock design. Seats were either occupied by young women with painted faces or anxious-looking men of all ages. The women wore white dimity wide skirts and soft ringlets of hair cascaded over bare shoulders; some fluttered lace fans in front of dark coquettish eyes. Most of the men only gave him a cursory look then returned to studying their boots or chatting to each other; the women too resumed their conversation, ignoring him. It was as if they were all congregated in a railway station waiting room. Only here the tickets were to Paradise, even if it was ephemeral. (The $300 Man, p 15)

      You need to personalise the visualization, too.

      Using an earlier sequence where Corbin meets   Jean after many years, I’ll give an example:

Her smile hadn’t been that way before, he realised. Something had altered her face – her nose still turned up at the tip, but it had been broken and was now slightly askew. The freckles were barely noticeable under the powder. Her thin lips usually offered the promise of a winsome smile but now they were dark red and unnatural. At one time her hazel eyes sent his heart soaring when she looked at him, but now she was hardly focussing on him or her world. Her mind was in some dark and distant place. Life once brimmed from her, now it was little more than a flickering candle in a gale.

She’d offered him a lopsided smile, which set off his memory of a younger, more innocent Jean. We see how she is now and how she was, in stark contrast. It’s visual description, but combined with Corbin’s emotion-filled memories and the maturity he’d gained since last seeing her.

- Write a Western in 30 Days, (pp131-133)

 

Amazon.co.uk here

Amazon.com here

 

 

Amazon.co.uk here

Book depository post-free worldwide here

Robert Hale (UK) here

The First WWW – 1890-style

Tim Berners-Lee was inspired to invent the World Wide Web after seeing a copy of Enquire Within Upon Everything – 1890. In fact, he named the early versions of the web ‘Enquire’ after it.

Published by Old House Books, who produce facsimile copies of long out of print maps and books that they believe deserve a second innings (British cricket term). Their reprints of Victorian and Edwardian maps and guidebooks are of interest to genealogists and local historians, and writers of historical fiction. Other titles have been chosen to explore the character of life in years gone by and are helpful to anyone who wishes to know a bit more about the lives of their ancestors, whether they were respectable gentlewomen or cunning poachers.

This 1890 version was the eighty-second edition of this popular handbook, which was revised annually. By 1890 an astonishing 1,91,000 copies had already been sold. The facsimile hardback edition was published in 2003, reprinted 2005, 2007 and 2009.

 

There are 2775 entries ranging from ‘Choice of Articles of Food’ to a ‘Reader Reckoning or Marketing Table’ in old English pence. As the original editor began, ‘If there be any among my Readers who, having turned over the pages of this book have hastily pronounced them to be confused and ill-arranged, let them at once refer to the Index at page 389, and for ever hold their peace.’

At the top of each page is a pithy saying, such as ‘Bottles of brandy are followed by bottles of physic’, ‘Be temperate in all things’, ‘Morning is welcome to the industrious’.

Some of the old sayings still apply today, such as, ‘474. Hints for Home Comfort: Eat slowly and you will not over-eat.’ Many others reflect the mind-set of the period, of course, such as medicines should be diluted by one third when being administered to the fair sex, as compared to the male of the species.

I purchased this to add to my collection of books on the Victorian period in preparation for a crime series I've begun set in the late 1800s.

There’s a wealth of interest and information on beverages, bird keeping, bee-keeping, the rearing and management of children, choice of clothing for certain occasions, hints upon etiquette, indoor games, legal information and advice, the treatment for poisoning, recipes (receipts), and so on.

‘1329. Violent shocks will sometimes stun a person, and he will remain unconscious. Untie strings, collars, etc; loosen anything that is tight, and interferes with breathing; raise the head; see if there is bleeding from any part; apply smelling-salts to the nose, and hot bottles to the feet.’

‘1689. Eyelashes. To increase the length and strength of the eyelashes, simply clip the ends with a pair of scissors about once a month. In eastern countries mothers perform the operation on their children, both male and female, when they are mere infants, watching the opportunity whilst they sleep. The practice never fails to produce the desired effect.’ Sounds a little unsafe to me, but then it may have been the norm!

‘2246. To render shoes waterproof. Warm a little bees’ wax and mutton suet until it is liquid, and rub some of it slightly over the edges of the sole, where the stitches are.’

‘2630. Wine should be taken after the first course; and it will be found more convenient to let the waiter serve it, than to hand the decanters round, or to allow the guests to fill for themselves.’

If you have an interest in the Victorian or Edwardian age, or plan to write a story or novel set in these periods, this compendium is a must-have book.