[stylist] Visual scenes

Sat Apr 13 19:24:14 UTC 2013

Hi Tessa,
Some of the answers can be found by doing research, like reading nonfiction
books  about native American history or in the case of your Turkish
character, aboutcultures and customs of other countries and times.
Historical fiction is also a popular genre for educating students about
different times and places. Check with the NLS BARD site. 

You want to write from the POV of the artist, and you say he's "drawing"
her. Artists, especially when they're drawing with a pen or pencil of only
one color, are not totally focussed on color; the shadows formed when light
plays across the features of a face, the tilt of the head, the way a person
holds and uses their bodies are critical in portraying someone through a
drawn design and are not less so when the artists paints with colors. While
you can't see the colors, the other things are things that you can feel
within yourself. I think in the case of your artist that you have a lot
going on in your head that isn't visual and may be more moving to the reader
than simple colors.

There are many images online, it's true, and they don't help much unless
someone describes them to you, but there are also writers and historians who
have written things without relying on pictures to convey their message. In
the case of Wicked, you could also read the book itself, take notes on the
author's visual descriptions and figure out a new way of saying the same
thing.

I think sometimes we get unnecessarily focused on and stimied by the visual
and forget that our readers have imaginations. For instance, if you say that
your character is in a forest at sunset, or is walking through dry leaves,
these images, which are not intrinsically  visual, evoke a visual response
in the reader. Also, don't forget to use descriptions based on the senses
you do have. An old writing buddy I had in college once told me she thought
I should include nonvisual descriptions, as it would add a dimension to my
writing that might not occur to people focused mainly on the visual world. 
HTH,
Donna

-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
tfurban22 at gmail.com
Sent: Saturday, April 13, 2013 12:53 PM
To: 'Writer's Division Mailing List'
Subject: [stylist] Visual scenes

Hi all,

I hope all of you are doing well.  I have a problem, or question, however
you wish to look at it when it comes to writing visual scenes.  Scenes that
have (or, I want to have.) descriptive feel to them.

I'll give an example of something I'm struggling with now.  There's a
fanfiction story I'm looking to write based on a character from the musical
Wicked.

I haven't read the book this musical is based on, but a friend of mine has
so I know the musical is loosely based on the book and I know the
differences between it and the musical.  However, I'm getting off topic.

The scene that I'm looking to write is visual.  You see, my character, whose
name is Thackery, is attracted to a character named Nessarose or Nessa for
short.  I can kind of see the scene in my head, but not clearly.

She's giving a lecture, he's in the back as it is in a room of advisors.
He's an artist, so instead of paying attention to her speech, he's paying
attention to, "her."  He likes to draw; sketch what not.  I'm sorry I'm
being vague. I'm just not sure how to write him looking at her, avoiding eye
contact when hers meets his.. He trying (and failing.) to be secretive that
he's gazing at her and drawing her outline.  It's great in my head but I'm
finding the words to be very difficult.

Not just that, but how can you, or do you write landscape scenes that are
not boring?  How to write the colors in a sunset over a lake?  Or, the sun
over a meadow in the afternoon?  A raging thunderstorm?

These are just some of the many examples that I can think of at the moment.
There are a million of visual things that I just don't know how to describe.
I try to google things but it just gives me images.

Another example is looks. 

Case in point: I'm looking to write another fanfiction based on the Disney
movie Pocahontas.  There's a character in it that is a woman from Turkey.
However, I haven't a clue what she should look like.  I mean, I know dark
hair and eyes, but that's really it.  What did they wear and more
importantly what did it look like? 

Any help would be greatly appreciated.  I realize I must sound like a new
writer lol but I did join this list to learn and improve.  It is scary for
me at least stepping out of my comfort zone.

Thanks so much!

Tessa 

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