This post was originally published on this site.
The Snarky Editor comes out to play when she discovers egregious and often hilarious errors in published books. But The Snarky Editor has a softer and more helpful side as well, the side that’s known as Leigh Michaels.
Have you ever read a story where you just can’t see what’s going on?
A technique that helps some authors is to think of the story as a play that’s going on right in front of them. That way, instead of laboriously creating the action and dialogue, we’re just sitting there, watching what’s happening and reporting it. Doing this helps us to let the characters act as THEY would. It lessens the “I’d never do that / I’m embarrassed someone might think I did that” reaction. And it keeps the action and the dialogue more logical and believable.
(Have you ever read a scene where the characters got themselves into a tangled position that’s simply physically impossible? Or where the hero has three hands, because the author lost count of the actions?)
It’s worth taking a stab at this visualization technique. Sit back, take a deep breath, close your eyes, imagine your characters — and then write down what they say and do.
As you watch and report, it sometimes helps to pretend that there’s a sight-impaired friend sitting next to you in the front row of that darkened theater. That friend can hear the words, but she can’t see who’s there if they’re not talking. If they’re talking quickly or softly, she may not be able to tell who’s speaking. And she can’t see what’s happening. So you — as the good friend sitting next to her and interpreting for her — have to identify the speaker, tell her what expression is on his face, tell her what he’s doing while he’s talking (is he shaking his fist? petting the cat? big difference there) so she will know.
The reader is like that sight-impaired friend. YOU know where everyone is and what they’re doing, because you can picture them in your own head. But your reader can’t see that unless you tell her. We have to tell the reader who’s present, and who’s speaking, and whether they look happy or angry or sad, and what they’re doing while they talk.
Sometimes it’s tough to judge whether we’ve actually done that, because when we reread what we’ve written, we not only see the words on the page but we hear the voices, and we understand the feelings (because we’ve created that character). We know how they sound and what they look like. But the reader can only know what’s on the page.
It’s up to you to put it there — so the reader can see and hear what you’ve imagined.
What do you think? Share your thoughts, your experience, your examples, your questions. Is there a topic you’d like to see addressed?
The Snarky Editor’s Softer Side is represented by author / editor / teacher / writing coach Leigh Michaels, commenting on random topics of interest to writers and readers. Leigh is the award-winning author of more than 100 books. (The Snarky Editor herself mainly comes out to play when she discovers egregious and often hilarious errors in published books.)
To find out more, check out https://leighmichaels.com
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