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“The devil is in the details.”~~Hyman George Rickover
"You can observe a lot just by watching."~~Yogi Berra
"The observation of nature is part of an artist's life, it enlarges his form [and] knowledge, keeps him fresh and from working only by formula, and feeds inspiration."~~Henry Moore
"All of us are watchers--of television, of time clocks, of traffic on the freeway--but few are observers. Everyone is looking, not many are seeing."~~Peter M. Leschak
"I keep six honest serving-men they taught me all I know; their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who."~~Rudyard Kipling
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Attention to detail stands at the center of the best writing. Details connect readers with the physical world. Details are the fingerprints of prose, the particulars that distinguish one person, one day, one event, from another.
"If those who have studied the art of writing are in accord on one point it is on this: The surest way to arouse and hold the reader is to be specific, definite, and concrete," say William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White in "Elements of Style," the writer's bible. "The greatest writers," the authors argue, "...are effective largely because they deal in particulars and report the details that matter." 1
Without all the details that make it a classic, Moby Dick is pared down to: Ahab hates whale, Ahab fights whale, Whale wins. Details make the story. The whys and wherefores give the reader the grit and salt, the emotions and the pathos; indeed it is the details that give birth to the story and bring the reader deep within the words on the page such that we feel the roar of the surf and see emotions locked within a man's heart..
Good writing is a symphony of visuals. Each note or chord gives life to what the character is experiencing.
I write a lot of newsletters based upon observations of one thing or another. It is my attempt to underscore the use of details in writing. Day to day observations drawn from seeing verses merely looking are what give rise to authenticity which is by way of making the imagined (in our writing) real and concrete. Real as in believable whether or not what one is writing about is fiction or reality.
It is also my feeble attempt to get folks to realize the plethora of moments, scenes, and conversations that can be inspired by focusing on what whirls around us. How people react in any given situation is gleaned by observing people. What makes one person react in anger may cause another to merely laugh and walk away. We need to be observers of the human animal--a fly on the wall as people interact on a day to day basis. We need to take the moment (or lifetime) to observe the flower in the thunderstorm, the drenched collie lying under the hedge, the cranky child confined in a shopping cart for two hours and the third cousin twice removed at the funeral.
I carry a camera and a notebook with me. If I haven't the time to write out what an object or event is or can be, I'll take a picture of that moment to refer back to later. Writing is, in essence, a series of photographic moments strung together to show the story we are telling.
When I was teaching writing at the University of Windsor, I warned my students on the first day of class that we would often be out of the classroom doing oddball things. They spent time on their hands and knees crawling around the university library at six in the morning. They played in huge leaf piles. They carved pumpkins and tasted unusual fruits like blood oranges. My hugely popular classes of pharmaceutical majors, who hated to write but had to take the required course, became observers, mental photographers and eventually, writers. Professors knew when their students had taken my course because even dry pharmaceutical term papers had life, and at 1 am it would, as one professor said, "Wake me up after hours of reading hundreds of term papers on the same subject."
I write about observations because it helps people to realize how much goes on around them when they take a moment to look, record and remember. I hope that it inspires them to do the same or that it may spark a memory or three. When I spritz some of my mother's favorite perfume it is as if she is suddenly there, in the room, with me. To me, the smell of burning leaves means Christmas is coming, hiding just around the next tree. To my husband, it means hunting season. To my daughter it conjures up leaf fights and rolling around in humongous leaf piles. We need to be able to take a moment of a life and interpret it in myriad ways.
I challenge you. An everyday occurrence. Something you see, hear, taste and drink everyday. Water. Describe what water tastes like. It is harder than you think and will require creativity to make it real.
The best ones will be featured here in my next newsletter. Merit badges to the ones I think are deserving. But the real reward will be your rising to the occasion.
1--The Power of Detail by Chip Scanlan |
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Happy Birthday to WDC, my home, my inspiration, my joy.
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Quick-Quill  writes:Was this a newsletter or a blog? sorry I missed something here. I am glad you had a great vacation.
Yes, it was a newsletter. I often write about various observations. But I thank you for your query as it sparked this week's newsletter! *grin*
Jaye P. Marshall  writes:Terrific description of your trip and surroundings, Fyn. It sounds marvelous - in spite of all the rain.
It was, and yes, it is all in the descriptions!
Zeke  As a former Michigander myself, I can sure identify with your vacation experiences. During my high school years, I worked two summers on a commercial fishing boat based in Grand Marias in the Upper. Nice work.
Thanks *smile* Sounds like the experience would be good fodder for some writing!
mystic_writer says:Wow - great timing for this newsletter. We are leaving on a four-day trip through the mountains and to the coast on Friday. Twelve hour drive each way. I have my camera and notebooks (plus lots of pens) ready and raring to go.
Hopefully, you wrote down lots of moments, capturing them so they may surface again in your writing!!!!
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For Authors: September 09, 2009 Issue [#3269]
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