[stylist] Comments on Eve's sharing lesson post

[Eve Sanchez]

Bridget, You did not say would YOUR advice is. Eve

On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Eve Sanchez <3rdeyeonly at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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? :)
>>
>>
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