Author Topic: How do you like to write?  (Read 2146 times)

guest1291

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How do you like to write?
« on: April 05, 2019, 07:56:13 AM »
Specifically thinking about explicit vs. implicit where your writing is concerned. My preference is always to write fiction in a way that implies more than it spells out. The latter typically results in writing that is wordier than the former, and I prefer sparseness, so that might explain my bias. I prefer it in the fiction I read as well as in what I write.

Do you tend towards maximal writing or minimal? Somewhere in between? 70/30? 60/40?

Regardless, I admit I struggle at times to keep from spelling things out for the reader. It's a bad habit. Well...it's "bad" in my view.

I don't like this compulsion I sometimes feel to drill something into the reader's mind. The need to have the reader "see" the table in the corner of the room, it's fine wood grain, to know exactly how the room is situated, where all of the furniture is, etc etc. I'd much rather, in the ideal, present something in a way that lets the reader in on the game.

I wish I was better at it.

My preference is to keep the reader engaged by having them do a significant portion of the heavy lifting. Often times I'm not successful and I wind up devoting a lot of time to minimizing in revision. When I read back what I'd previously written I often wind up shaking my head. That's when my tendency towards explaining - or over-explaining - frustrates me.

How about you? What's your preference? How do you like to write?

EDIT - When I say "see the table", I mean my annoying tendency to try and over-explain to the point where I must have the reader "see" the table or the setting EXACTLY as I see it instead of allowing them to engage their own imagination. Hope that clarifies. See? I'm doing it right now. LOL
 

Rosie Scott

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2019, 08:52:35 AM »
My main goal with writing is to immerse, and one way I get immersed as a reader is by details that excite the sensorium. I want to know what things look like, taste like, smell like, feel like, etc. This sounds like a lot, but throwing details into text like flash bombs doesn't take much time and just makes things more exciting for me. For example, while many people write action scenes to be quick, I tend to linger in the reasoning for strategy of both sides and the detail of viscera. When I'm reading action, I want to taste the blood spray, hear the tearing of tissue and cries of agony, feel the pain of a wound or the reverberations of the blade ripping through flesh. So that's how I write. Readers who like short action scenes wouldn't like my books, but if I didn't write this way I wouldn't like my books.

Explicit vs. implicit writing is like any other fine line authors have to tread. No matter what side you're on, you aren't alone in enjoying it and there are plenty of people out there who claim the opposite is better. There will always be readers who understand what you're trying to say if something's implicit, while there are others who won't comprehend even if you spell things out by the letter. I don't worry about them and just write what I love to read because I know I'm not alone regardless. I like my action/gore, environmental, and character detail to be explicit. I like more ambiguous things (like loyalties, secrets, foreshadowing) to be implicit unless logic dictates otherwise.

Fantasy/sci-fi. Writer of bloody warfare & witty banter. Provoker of questions.
Rosie Scott | Website | Release Mailing List
 
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idontknowyet

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2019, 09:39:46 AM »
I think I write a combo of implicit and explicit. I'm not really big on describing the setting. I'll say a living room, office etc, but I don't spend much time describing what they look like. We've all seen a living room within reason they are very similar. If there is something unique about the situation then i'll take the time to describe it. With emotions I am extremely explicit. I want you to be able to feel what the characters feel.
 

notthatamanda

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2019, 10:27:06 AM »
It's definitely a balance.  My first book had very little detail.  Readers commented on it, but not in a bad way.  Admittedly I didn't know what I was doing but the genre (psychological thriller) seemed to tolerate it.  Now I'm writing historical fiction, so the detail is important.  It's probably half, if not more, the reason that the reader is there.
For my romances, I've had compliments on the amount of my detail (it was like watching a movie instead of reading) and complaints (so much unnecessary, boring detail).
I try to work it in from the character's perspective.  Just wrote a chapter where the guy landed in the Sicily invasion.  He is in a DUKW boat.  In the water it feels too low.  Once they get out onto the beach and start moving, it feels really high up.
I remember a book I had to quit on (don't remember the name) that went on for pages describing the outside of a house.  It was too much for me and I DNF the book.  Other people loved it, I'm sure. 
 

Jeff Tanyard

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2019, 01:05:27 PM »
My opinion: Instead of focusing on "how much scene description," focus on "setting the mood" or "showing some aspect of character."  In other words, setting description should serve some larger purpose.

If describing the wood grain of the table helps set the mood, then leave it in.  If it doesn't serve much purpose other than description for description's sake, though, then you can probably improve the manuscript by cutting that part out.

Personally, I'd probably leave the wood-grain part out.  Without any further significance, it simply doesn't add much to the story.

However, if the wood is from some rare tree that only grows on a small island on a certain planet in the Altair system, and having just a little bit of it is a signal of wealth and status, then describing an entire table made of such wood would impress upon the reader that the character is some rich big shot.

Or, if the wood has some ancient dark stains from where virgins were once sacrificed upon the table in primitive cult ceremonies, then that helps set the scene, too, as well as revealing something about the owner's character.

The point is that as long as you focus on what serves the story in some way, rather than including description just for its own sake, then you'll probably do okay.  You probably won't have to worry about putting in too much or too little of it.

Like I said, just my opinion.  Hope it helps.  :)
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Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy (some day) | Author Website
 
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PJ Post

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2019, 02:07:05 AM »
What Jeff said.

 :tup3b

In all things: description, character, pacing, mood, plot, rhythm and prose - serve the story.
 

Edward M. Grant

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2019, 07:10:09 AM »
I don't like this compulsion I sometimes feel to drill something into the reader's mind. The need to have the reader "see" the table in the corner of the room, it's fine wood grain, to know exactly how the room is situated, where all of the furniture is, etc etc. I'd much rather, in the ideal, present something in a way that lets the reader in on the game.

What (and why) does the reader need to know about the table? Answering that question should tell you how much detail is required.

The big problem I see as a reader is when a writer mentions 'the table' in passing and I think of it as an ordinary kitchen table, but later in the scene it turns out that it's a huge, circular oak table with thirty knights sitting around it. You don't want to force the reader out of the story by giving their imagination too much play and then shocking them when the image in their head turns out to be nothing like the image in your head.
 
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She-la-te-da

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2019, 10:40:48 PM »
Some things need more description than others. The trick is knowing which is required. I read books that basically have no description, just the characters jolting from one "action" to another. Then there are the ones with repetitive description, like milSF. Describe once how sound travels through space (;) ), and be done with it. Or how a whatever-class star ship works. {And yes, I know fans of these sorts of books love this kind of thing, over and over, and over, and ....}

I try to hit a balance, only describe as much as needed to set the character in the scene. I'm sure i could do better, and I catch myself going over emotions or some details too often, but that's how it goes right now. Always striving to do better, but still give the readers what they seem to enjoy if I can.
I write various flavors of speculative fiction. This is my main pen name.

 

Hopscotch

Re: How do you like to write?
« Reply #8 on: May 14, 2019, 12:10:22 AM »
Might add to Jeff and PJ's :littleclap remarks that, a year after reading a book, a reader likely won't remember much about it except the character of the protagonist and his/her apocalypse.  Eg, they'll remember Poirot's rigid moral focus producing his bitterness at the decision he must make ending "Murder on the Orient Express."  But who remembers the set dressing around him (well, except his fussy mustache)?     
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