Show, don’t tell.
A frustrating order
for writers, backed up by countless, tired quotes that all say the same thing
but in a more artistic way. Most of them show examples of what the
original statement is telling you to do (delightful irony). They sound
lovely and grand the first or second time you hear them, but if anyone ever
tells me that they want to hear the raindrops on the window again, I might just
throw them out the window.
This seemingly basic
technique can be difficult for writers in situations where they have to
describe something in a physical way when they have never experienced it
before. Any writer who has been stuck inside on a rainy day has the ability to
describe what that feels like, sounds like, smells like. You just have to pause
and remember. And you can’t be lazy. If you catch yourself being lazy (the wind
howled outside – nyah!), be honest with yourself and rewrite it.
But what about those
instances when you are illustrating something you have never experienced
before? In today’s culture with the world at our fingertips, we are blessed
with the gift of being able to see and hear just about any setting with the
touch of a button – thank you National Geographic. We can easily find resources
that help us stretch our imagination and twist modern day reality into
something a little more fantastical. Our world and the many places, peoples,
and cultures within is so vibrant and beautiful. It’s the perfect springboard
for some truly incredible ideas, with just the right combination of reality and
imagination.
Listening to the “Jungle
Noise” blend from myNoise.net, all I had to do was close my eyes and I could easily
envision the setting for my most recent short story – a mountain-top forest
filled with vibrant life by day and raucous dread by night. It was easier for
me to describe this jungle that I was creating because I could interpret what I
heard in realistic ways, and it in turn inspired my imagination to come up with
unique visuals to accompany the sounds. I believe my descriptions were much
more realistic with the soundscape supporting my efforts, as opposed to what I
might have come up with listening to the air conditioning hiss in my fluorescent-flooded
office space.
Using specific noise
sets to help your writing is one of the many faces of a technique called “Immersive
Writing.” Some people use music (my personal favorite). Some people surround themselves
in visuals that match what they are attempting to accomplish. Some people – if they
have the resources for such luxury – create personal retreats where their muses
are inspired by every aspect of their surroundings.
Don’t forget,
however, that Immersive Writing isn't some technique that only the rich and well-traveled
can practice. The farthest any person can ever travel is within their own mind
after all. Don’t forget that you have experiences, sites, and sounds that you
can mine every day for your writing. Just because we take them for granted does
not mean they aren't special.
Just the other day I
stood with my brother and my sister-in-law in the parking lot behind a cute,
little-known local attraction: a cherry red caboose, topped in mounds of fake
whipped cream and sprinkles, that perches on the side of the road in a nearby
Antique district. It serves as one of the most unique ice cream stops in
Atlanta (and frankly the ice cream can’t be beat either). We stood there eating
monstrous amounts of Oreo and birthday-cake and watched the summer storm clouds
passing over the city in the distance. For some reason we got around to picking
out one particular cloud that was towering in the sunlight, discussing how we
were going to redesign it into a house complete with a water slide.
This sort of
experience is writing gold – I can just imagine it serving as a perfect little
scene in a young adult novel, or a children’s book. And it’s also the kind of
memory that fades away with enough time, unless you document it somehow. I’m
not necessarily advocating that you use real people to populate your fiction. But if you open your eyes just
right, you can find interesting scenarios and beautiful scenery as you go about
your daily business.
Remember it – jot it
down – dress it up to match your genre. Don’t get so lost in the effort to be completely
unique that you forget how beautiful the outside world is. It’s not as mundane
as we make it out to be sometimes.
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