{"id":5255,"date":"2007-08-08T08:00:49","date_gmt":"2007-08-08T08:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/shilohwalker.wordpress.com\/2007\/08\/08\/description\/"},"modified":"2007-08-08T08:00:49","modified_gmt":"2007-08-08T08:00:49","slug":"description","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/2007\/08\/description\/","title":{"rendered":"Description"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the authors I spoke with when I was getting info together for the Heat with Heart workshop was Alison Kent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

She gave such a good explanation, I’m going to focus on just that today… description…<\/p>\n

Alison:<\/p>\n

I don’t think emotion is accomplished with adverbs or even with lush description.\u00a0 I think emotion is accomplished solely through a character’s thoughts.\u00a0 And those thoughts need to be believable.\u00a0 We don’t think in adverbs and lush description.\u00a0 We think in sharp moments — “I canNOT believe I did that.” = Self-deprecation or humiliton, for example.\u00a0 “What was I thinking?” = Embarrassment, or some such. \u00a0 “God, what is he doing . . . what oh, my . . . yes, please, please.” = Pleasure, joy, etc.\u00a0 We must be in a character’s head – not in their body – in order to get emotion into any scene.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So how do you get inside a character’s head?\u00a0 Think about how you<\/em> would feel in a given situation.\u00a0 Say you just escaped death and you’re reading to celebrate life *G* with your special someone.\u00a0 How do you think you would feel?<\/p>\n

Excited?\u00a0 She was excited, scared and aroused.<\/em>\u00a0 Yeah, you can do it that way.<\/p>\n

But…<\/p>\n

Her heart was pounding as she stared at him.\u00a0 She heard the rush of blood pounding in her ears and her hands itched to touch.\u00a0 She’d been so scared, so certain they would die.\u00a0 But they hadn’t.\u00a0 Still, she couldn’t keep from reaching out to him.\u00a0 She had to touch him, had to.\u00a0 Then, maybe, she’d be convinced they’d lived through it.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s more interesting to read, yes?\u00a0 You need to make the reader feel the pounding of their heart, squirm with restlessness and gasp with shock with something surprising happens.\u00a0 You do that by showing-not be telling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the authors I spoke with when I was getting info together for the Heat with Heart workshop was Alison Kent. 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