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Exercise #345: Craft
Posted 12/4/09
In continuing with using your suggestions for Craft exercises, I give you this one, prompted by Kelli Landon. She said, “I seem to have a problem with description when I’m writing. I get so caught up in my story (action and conclusion) that I often miss the descriptions where the reader feels like they are in the story themselves. I would like to try an exercise that reflects on description such as writing a scene or recalling an incident that has happened in one’s life where their surrounding made them happy, relaxed, sad, suffocated, etc. I hope it’s one I can try since it is my weakness, but I think it would help a lot to try this.”
Thank you, Kelli, for a great suggestion. Here's what it morphed into.
Describe a place “off hours” - a National Park in winter, a 24-hour store at 1:00am, a rush hour street on a major holiday. You may use any place which feels different when the “busy” part of its cycle (be it hourly, daily, seasonally) is done.
If you’re really energetic, describe it again during “on hours,” when its at its peak on “busy”ness.
And if you’ve simply got too much time on your hands, show us a character interacting with this place during *both* times. (Are you totally lost now on this exercise? See my example scenarios at the bottom of the message.)
Critiquers, some questions you might answer:
* Can you see, hear, smell, taste, feel the place?
* If the writer gave you “on” as well as “off,” did the difference come through?
* Do you know this place in real life? If not, do you feel like you know it now?
Word limit: 300 for the each of the two descriptions, 1000 for the character sketch
Please use the subject line
SUB: Exercise #345/yourname
Example:
* Description “off” hours of a corner mini-market; the kind that sells fuel, doughnuts and soda. 300 words or less
* Description “on” hours of the same mini-market, at lunch time. 300 words or less
* Character scene: New mom. Mini-market trip at lunch to get a hot dog and Sprite. Late that night goes to feed the baby and realizes there’s no milk. Back to the mini-market for some formula (if they have it) or milk. 1000 words or less
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