Post on 05-Apr-2018
transcript
7/31/2019 Deviling the Details - The Art of the Detail in Memorable Writing
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SHERLOCK: A STUDYIN PINK
Movie Clip (2:41)
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WHYSHERLOCK?
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WHYSHERLOCK? Every story is
something of a
mystery to its
reader.
Authors use details
as clues.
Its Friday; our
attention spans are
shot.
Who doesnt want tolook at Benedict
Cumberbatch?
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DEVILINGTHE DETAILS
What is a good detail?
What can a good detail
accomplish?
Where do I find mydetails?
How can I practice my
use of detail?
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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?
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A GOOD DETAILDEALSIN:
People rather than problems.
The texture of existence rather than questions
and issues.
Concrete, sensory details rather than casehistories and sociology.
Specifics rather thanAbstractions.
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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?
ABSTRACTIONS SPECIFICS
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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?
Concept
Generality
Theory/Assumption
Vague
Questions/Issues
ABSTRACTIONS SPECIFICS
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WHATISAGOOD DETAIL?
Concept
Generality
Theory/Assumption
Vague
Questions/Issues
ABSTRACTIONS SPECIFICS
Sensory
Concrete/Real
Unique
Applicable
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The best writing includes BOTH.
Specifics ground the reader in the text.
Abstractionsinspire the readers philosophicalimagination.
REMEMBER
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THE STARS, THE SNOW, THE FIREJOHN HAINES
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THE STARS, THE SNOW, THE FIREJOHN HAINES
There was something grand and barbaric in
that essential, repeated act. To stand there in
the snow and cold air toward the end of the
year, with a long hook poised above the ice-
filled river, was to feel oneself part of
something so old that its origin was lost in the
sundown of many winters: a feeling intensified,
made rich by the smell of ice and cold fish-
slime, by the steely color of the winter sky, andthe snow stained with the redness of the
salmon: the color of death and the color of
winter.
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THE STARS, THE SNOW, THE FIREJOHN HAINES
There was something grand and barbaric in
that essential, repeated act. To stand there in
the snow and cold air toward the end of the
year, with a long hook poised above the ice-
filled river, was to feel oneself part of
something so old that its origin was lost in the
sundown of many winters: a feeling intensified,
made rich by the smell of ice and cold fish-
slime, by the steely color of the winter sky, andthe snow stained with the redness of the
salmon: the color of death and the color of
winter.
Sensory Details
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THE STARS, THE SNOW, THE FIREJOHN HAINES
There was something grand and barbaric in
that essential, repeated act. To stand there in
the snow and cold air toward the end of the
year, with a long hook poised above the ice-
filled river, was to feel oneself part of
something so old that its origin was lost in the
sundown of many winters: a feeling intensified,
made rich by the smell of ice and cold fish-
slime, by the steely color of the winter sky, andthe snow stained with the redness of the
salmon: the color of death and the color of
winter.
Abstractions
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WHAT CANAGOOD DETAIL
ACCOMPLISH?
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Now of course this is something that some
people learn only to abuse. This is onereason that strict naturalism is a dead end
in fiction. In a strictly naturalistic work the
detail is there because it is natural to life,
not because it is natural to the work. In a
work of art we can be extremely literal,without being in the least naturalistic.Art
is selective, and its truthfulness is the
truthfulness of the essential that creates
movement.
-- Flannery OConnor
The Nature and Aim of Fiction
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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?
Context
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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?
Location
Time
Device
Symbolism
Context
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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?
Character/Narrator
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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?
Age
Economic Standing
Values & Priorities
Appearance
Relationships
Reliability
Character/Narrator
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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?
Reader Relationship
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WHATCANAGOODDETAILACCOMPLISH?
Reader Relationship
Trust
Recognition/Nostalgia
Education
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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY
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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY
I had never seen so many people on Coorain
before, and I never tired of watching the
throbbing bustle of the woolshedoperating at
full speed, the shearers blades powered by animpressive black engine. Everyones
movements were so stylized that they might
have been the work of a choreographer. A
really good shearer knew just how to touch a
sheep so that it relaxed and didnt kick. Bodies
bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down the
sides of the animal in long graceful strokes to
the floor, the shearers looked like participants
in a rite Everyones hands looked fresh and
pink because of the lanolin in the wool. The
shed was permeated by the smell of engine oil,from the engine which powered the shearersblades and by the smell of lanolin.
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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY
I had never seen so many people on Coorain
before, and I never tired of watching the
throbbing bustle ofthe woolshed operating at
full speed, the shearers blades powered by animpressive black engine. Everyones
movements were so stylized that they might
have been the work of a choreographer. A
really good shearer knew just how to touch a
sheep so that it relaxed and didnt kick. Bodies
bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down the
sides of the animal in long graceful strokes to
the floor, the shearers looked like participants
in a rite Everyones hands looked fresh and
pink because of the lanolin in the wool. The
shed was permeated by the smell of engine oil,from the engine which powered the shearersblades and by the smell of lanolin.
ContextLocation
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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY
I had never seen so many people on Coorain
before, and I never tired of watching the
throbbing bustle of the woolshed operating at
full speed, the shearers blades powered by animpressive black engine. Everyones
movements were so stylized that they might
have been the work of a choreographer. A
really good shearer knew just how to touch a
sheep so that it relaxed and didnt kick. Bodies
bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down the
sides of the animal in long graceful strokes to
the floor, the shearers looked like participants
in a rite Everyones hands looked fresh and
pink because of the lanolin in the wool. The
shed was permeated by the smell of engine oil,from the engine which powered the shearersblades and by the smell of lanolin.
ContextPlacementin Time
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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY
I had never seen so many people on Coorain
before, and I never tired of watching the
throbbing bustle of the woolshed operating at
full speed, the shearers blades powered by animpressive black engine. Everyones
movements were so stylized that they might
have been the work of a choreographer. A
really good shearer knew just how to touch a
sheep so that it relaxed and didnt kick. Bodies
bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down the
sides of the animal in long graceful strokes to
the floor, the shearers looked like participants
in a rite Everyones hands looked fresh and
pink because of the lanolin in the wool. The
shed was permeated by the smell of engine oil,from the engine which powered the shearersblades and by the smell of lanolin.
CharacterAge/Economic
standing
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THE ROADFROM COORAINJILL KER CONWAY
I had never seen so many people on Coorain
before, and I never tired of watching the
throbbing bustle of the woolshed operating at
full speed, the shearers blades powered by animpressive black engine. Everyones
movements were so stylized that they might
have been the work of a choreographer.A
really good shearer knew just how to touch a
sheep so that it relaxed and didnt kick. Bodies
bent over the sheep, arms sweeping down thesides of the animal in long graceful strokes to
the floor, the shearers looked like participants
in a rite Everyones hands looked fresh and
pink because of the lanolin in the wool. The
shed was permeated by the smell of engine oil,from the engine which powered the shearersblades and by the smell of lanolin.
ReaderRelation-ship
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WHEREDO I FINDMYDETAILS?
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THE FIVE SENSES
What does your character See, Touch/Feel, Smell,
Taste and/or Hear?
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CONTENTS MAYHAVE SHIFTEDPAM HOUSTON
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CONTENTS MAYHAVE SHIFTEDPAM HOUSTON
The cave goes dark and above our heads
thousands of glow-worms hang like
constellations, tiny globes of light dangling on
invisible strings of their own making. We are
struck dumb by the sight; the only sound for
many minutes is the water sloshing against
the sides of the cave. The depth of the cave
ceiling changes, from as little as six feet to as
much as sixty, and when we pass under one ofthose tall chambers its like we have turned in
to face the center of the galaxy, the lights areso dense, so thick and deep.
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CONTENTS MAYHAVE SHIFTEDPAM HOUSTON
The cave goes dark and above our heads
thousands of glow-worms hang like
constellations, tiny globes of light dangling on
invisible strings of their own making. We are
struck dumb by the sight; the only sound for
many minutes is the water sloshing against
the sides of the cave. The depth of the cave
ceiling changes, from as little as six feet to as
much as sixty, and when we pass under one ofthose tall chambers its like we have turned in
to face the center of the galaxy, the lights areso dense, so thick and deep.
The Five
Senses
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TRANSPLANTING REALITY
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TRANSPLANTING REALITY
A memory of your own (nonfiction/fiction)
A photos/videos from the time period
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TRUSTYOUR GUT
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TRUSTYOUR GUT
If you observe a connection between two things
it IS a connection.
Unique connections avoid the clich.
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TRUSTYOUR GUT
If you observe a connection between two things
it IS a connection.
Unique connections avoid the clich.
Original details are very ordinary, except to the
mind that sees their extraordinariness.
-- Natalie Goldberg
Writing Down the Bones
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BE SPECIFIC
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BE SPECIFIC
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BE SPECIFIC
BIRD
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BE SPECIFIC
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BE SPECIFIC
WESTERN TANAGER
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BE SPECIFIC
Precise picture. Good communication.
Earn trust. You are an authority.
Use colors. Even a simple splash of a primary
color like red or blue evokes something specific in
the mind of your reader.
Its okay if these specifics arent apparent in a
first draft. Do research. Revise.
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HOWCAN I PRACTICEMYUSEOF
DETAIL?
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Any discipline can help your writing:
logic, mathematics, theology, and of
course and particularly drawing.
Anything that helps you to see,anything that makes you look.
-- Flannery OConnor
The Nature and Aim of Fiction
A
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ANEXERC
ISE
A
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ANEXERC
ISE
A
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ANOTHER
EXERCISE
AT k 5
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ANOTHER
EXERCISE
Take 5
Minutes
to write
this scene
from the
Point of
View of
your
character.
AT k 5
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ANOTHER
EXERCISE
Take 5
Minutes
to write
this scene
from the
Point of
View of
that
character.
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THANKS!audrey.camp@gmail.com
audreycamp.com
thegirlbehindthereddoor.com
Twitter: @RedDoorReviews