Rick Homan
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Con Man's Son
    • Dark Mural
    • Dark Exhibit
    • Dark Picasso
    • Dark Portrait
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Con Man's Son
    • Dark Mural
    • Dark Exhibit
    • Dark Picasso
    • Dark Portrait
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact

D is for Description.

3/22/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
I tend to leave out description. When I'm in a first draft, I'll write, "the Nightlight was a dark, smoky club," and go straight to dialogue. I really have to make an effort to write, "A wall of smoke and noise assaulted his senses when he walked into the Nightlight. He hadn't smoked in years, so the reek of cigarettes and pot grated on his sinuses and brought tears to his eyes. He looked across the room to make sure the sound he heard really was a guitar solo, and not someone running a garden rake over chalkboard." 

​I think I do this because I spent most of my adult life reading, acting, and directing stage plays, in which there is no description. Instead, you get "Scene 1: Nightclub. Andy: Can we go outside? I am about to heave, and I can't hear myself think." Cut to the chase, as they say in Hollywood, or so I'm told.

Still, if I'm going to write fiction, I have to write description. The questions are when to include it and how much. There is no rule about this, although Stephen King lays down some good rules of thumb, (On Writing, pp. 173-180).  I've decided to answer this question by reading books I like and noticing how those authors have answered these questions.

The Brown Bag Mystery Readers at The Mechanics Institute Library recently discussed D is for Deadbeat​ by Sue Grafton. In the discussion, one reader said she likes K is for Killer. Grafton's conversational voice makes the reading a pleasure, and she's not afraid to take a few paragraphs or pages to let her sleuth, Kinsey Milhone, describe the scenery. It feels leisurely, but I'm with her all the way.  
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Dark Stories

    by
    ​Rick Homan

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Books On Writing
    Movies
    Movies & TV Index
    Nicole's World
    Noir
    Novels
    Novels Index
    Presidio
    Publishing
    San Francisco
    San Francisco Index
    Writing

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly