I read the entire ‘Rules for Writers’ thing in the newspaper supplement itself over the weekend. Fascinating stuff, although it’s interesting to note how many of them flat-out contradicted each other.
As for character description, it can be really jarring if it’s just dumped in there for no good reason. Then again, I find any writing jarring if it describes things from a disembodied viewpoint. If I had one rule of writing, at least in terms of style, it would be this: stay behind the eyes of your viewpoint character, and don’t come out again until you change character or finish the book.
Removing all description can be equally unsettling, though. It’s one thing to assume the reader will make up their own descriptions, but not everyone can or wants to. Sometimes all you need is a word or two, but unless there’s some kind of visual anchor, it can leave the reader feeling adrift.
It’s a tough balance to get right. I’ve not even come close to doing it right yet… But as one of the rules said: “Only bad writers ever think their work is good enough.”
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-02-22 02:00 pm (UTC)As for character description, it can be really jarring if it’s just dumped in there for no good reason. Then again, I find any writing jarring if it describes things from a disembodied viewpoint. If I had one rule of writing, at least in terms of style, it would be this: stay behind the eyes of your viewpoint character, and don’t come out again until you change character or finish the book.
Removing all description can be equally unsettling, though. It’s one thing to assume the reader will make up their own descriptions, but not everyone can or wants to. Sometimes all you need is a word or two, but unless there’s some kind of visual anchor, it can leave the reader feeling adrift.
It’s a tough balance to get right. I’ve not even come close to doing it right yet… But as one of the rules said: “Only bad writers ever think their work is good enough.”