[stylist] Comments on Eve's sharing lesson post

[Eve Sanchez]

Still never heard of him or of any of his books. I am not saying that you
need to put in a bunch of unnecessary details. What I am saying is that you
should not put in something that is not possibly true. That was just an
example I thought would explain what I meant. If it is truly unneeded and
you still want to put something without knowing for sure, you could say
that dad ate three burgers and...    Don't mention something that is known
when you do not know if it is true. I truly believe honesty of details is
important. Do not make things up. "Exclude or include, depends on you and
your piece, just be precise with what you use." Eve

On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 12:39 PM, Bridgit Pollpeter
<bpollpeter at hotmail.com>wrote:

> What Eve demonstrates is an example of the author having credibility,
> but you also have to consider if knowing certain information is
> pertinent to the story.
>
> What Vonnegut is saying is that each sentence, each piece of dialogue,
> each description should drive the story forward or reveal something
> about a character. If you're describing Yellowstone in great detail just
> to describe it but it has nothing to do with the plot, it's unnecessary
> information, according to Vonnegut. If, however, the geography is
> important to the story and/or character development, then you will want
> in-depth details of setting.
>
> This is not to say you don't describe setting at all, but each word must
> be present only to further the plot or develop characters.
>
> This is extremely important with dialogue. Dialogue is only used to move
> the plot along or for character development. Anything else is just
> fluff. In Eve's example, if knowing something about Burger King is
> important to the plot or the development of a character, then it can be
> left alone. If it has nothing to do with either plot of character
> development, it's text that can be cut. Though info as displayed by Eve
> may show the author knows about the place or subject, lending them
> credibility, if it has nothing to do with plot or characters, it doesn't
> matter.
>
> This contemporary standard of fiction writing takes a minimalist
> approach to writing. You still want to retain great, detailed sensory
> descriptions but only if pertinent to the story at hand. You want
> readers invested in the main arc and not extra material that may be nice
> in description and show the author has knowledge of the subject, but
> have nothing to do with the over-all story.
>
> Though I agree with this concept of writing, it's not my original
> opinion. I'm simply discussing what writers like Vonnegut have already
> put in motion in terms of contemporary writing. This is what he means
> when stating, "Every sentence must do one of two things-reveal character
> or advance the action."
>
> Sincerely,
> Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter, editor, Slate & Style
> Read my blog at:
> http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/
>
> "History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
> The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2012 09:56:26 -0800
> From: Eve Sanchez <3rdeyeonly at gmail.com>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [stylist] sharing lesson and Chris Kuell
> Message-ID:
>
> <CACdbYKXtf7Z-9MHRN_id+R4exGr3_ZxHv644JTceoNM1C9CiPg at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> And okay, I am going to be the first contributor to the list.
> * Know your details. Let's say you are writing a story, totally
> fictional, about a family trip. The family goes to Yellowstone National
> Park and in one chapter you have them stop in West Yellowstone, Montana
> for lunch. West Yellowstone is where the West entrance of the park is
> located so this would happen. You put a small comment that does not seem
> important to the story like 'Dad ate three Whoppers and both french
> fries and onion rings.' Seemingly innocent line right? Well, as I am
> sure we all know, Whoppers are from Burger King. What we may not all
> know is that there is no Burger King in West Yellowstone. Little things
> like this show that the author takes time to know what they are writing.
> Once an issue is found, the whole story may become less credible to the
> reader. So, my advice is to remember the details. What's your advice? :)
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Writers Division web site
> http://www.writers-division.net/
> stylist mailing list
> stylist at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/stylist_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> stylist:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/stylist_nfbnet.org/3rdeyeonly%40gmail.com
>