Writing Writer's Congregation #1

Aoki

Aoki

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Writer's Congregation ​
Hosted By: [member]Articuno[/member]
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Hello there, Writers of PB! Welcome to the first of the series of monthly threads that will be hosted in the Writer's Corner, and it is a pleasure to have you as a viewer and potential contributor to the discussion that will be commencing shortly.

With these gatherings, the goal of the monthly congregation is to stimulate intelligent debates amongst veterans and elaborate on the subject of interest creatively, whilst, we attract new members/writers to come in to learn, become knowledgeable about the aspect of writing and encourage themselves to contribute to the discussion at hand. To further enhance our post quality and feedback, I have integrated a system that is only exclusive to this series of discussions. When I see one or two valuable posts, those posts will be featured in next month's discussion thread. So, if you want a chance at that position, feel free to do so. With that all said and done, we eventually hope that this series of discussions will assist in your development as a writer.

Remember, when you are considering of contributing, ensure that your posts follow the rules of PB and it has a connection to the current topic.

Happy discussing and learning!


Week One - The Art of Description​

Now, for beginning writers perusing through this thread, this week's discussion and topic is about the description used for stories/novels. To gain some knowledge on things you should look out for and experiment with, visiting this off-site article should gear you up to writing your first few fanfics. If you are feeling brave enough, feel free to contribute to the topic at hand.

So, we all know well enough that to become a writer, the establishment of descriptive writing is seriously imperative to your development as a writer. Because, without it, your words are equivalent to burning paper. And most often, this is sadly the largest issue and obstacle for new writers interested to invest their time in the art of writing. Feeling intimidated by it, they shy away and move on to something else.

So, for you writers of all kinds, here are a few questions for you:
  • All of us were rookies at some point. How, in your method, did you find a way to conquer your difficulties with description writing when you were new?
  • What approach do you use when integrating description into your stories? Do you use all senses? Do you focus on one particular aspect of the senses?
  • Who would you say inspired your writing style and your approach?

These are just a few guide questions. Everyone in the thread, feel free to bring up questions and responses of your own relating to this week's topic. Remember, I will be monitoring the posts in this thread and if I see one or two that are well-crafted and intelligent, they will be featured on the next congregation.

If any of you have any ideas on what can be potential topic to speculate at, do not hesitate to PM me about it.
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

OH GAWD, DESCRIPTION. WHERE TO START?

Probably the finest ways of describing something as a starting writer was to simply write the story, stop, and then wonder what else would look nice if you add stuff in. Similar to the older days of printing, you build your work through layers: get the outline, build the skeleton, and then flesh it, and lastly polish up. When you slowly progress as a writer, the writing steps between outlining and proofreading start to merge.

But back to the point of the matter; description is made just to convey a certain message or mood. It's not there to be fancy, but to make something clear. That said, I am an atrocious spawn of Faulkner who has no idea when a sentence is too long.
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

  • All of us were rookies at some point. How, in your method, did you find a way to conquer your difficulties with description writing when you were new?
I mostly read and read more. I'm a very avid reader, so I tend to pick up a few basics from authors.

  • What approach do you use when integrating description into your stories? Do you use all senses? Do you primarily focus on one particular aspect of the senses?
I try to focus on a few things, such as looks and textures. I also add coloring in the equation.

  • Who would you say inspired your writing style and your approach?
Hmm, I don't really know. Maybe the author of Dragondale and other books. It's quite hard to say, because I picked up a lot of styles and, I guess, tried to blend them all in somehow.
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

Bump. I'll be replying to this one guys sometime during the evening. In the time being, someone contribute to this thread.

I should've noted this above, but this thread was for experiments. I am currently seeing if the thread will receive loads of attention or not. If not, then I will have to come up with a few more things to go along with this weekly series.
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

Everyone read my fic for a shining example of what not to do as far as description goes. :]
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

It's been some time since I touched this place, I must say. My work is all way above the limits of here in terms of ratings (Think Adult Fiction), so most of my current work is done offline. I'll put forth my opinions though, if you wish.

-All of us were rookies at some point. How, in your method, did you find a way to conquer your difficulties with description writing when you were new?
I was a silly little child on PokeGym when I first wrote a story, just to give it a try. Obviously, being in 5th grade was why it sucked so bad. After its completion (over a month), I tried my hand at a new story, which I resolved to be much better, Pokemon Anaranjado. As time passed by, the chapters increasingly grew longer. After I hit 15 or so, I noticed my readers became actually hooked on my writing, and I knew the description had caused that. It had magically built itself into my writing as time went on. This story lasted for 33 chapters before an abrupt halt, but I am considering revising it and bringing it back. So, in the end, I shifted to non-canon fiction when I came here after a year and a half of Anaranjado's writing, and Apollo and Zyflair (and Zenith) where the first to critique it. Their comments gave me motivation to continue improving the descriptions, and my finished product was my monster, Ch. 3 of The Price of Revenge. After that (I still haven't posted Ch. 4, come to think of it), my work offline began because I took the big step into the realm of adult fiction when I picked up the novels of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. All along, my description has just naturally built itself through time and work.

-What approach do you use when integrating description into your stories? Do you use all senses? Do you primarily focus on one particular aspect of the senses?
I will never use the sense of smell, honestly. I prefer to use sight, hearing, touch, and taste rarely. I'm also one to try to find exactly the right space for description, usually in a stalled moment of the plot (e.g. standing in a forest). It is normally a huge chunk, several paragraphs if I want to (look at TPOR, Prologue and Chapters 1 and 3 for my example of that), that I usually cram with the character's internal thoughts. It's a weird process, but it does work for me.

-Who would you say inspired your writing style and your approach?
Well, this is a mix of critique and inspiration for me. Reading Zyflair's and Apollo's work and their comments on my stories helped me develop my skills, while reading a pile of Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels gave me a base genre and style to look upon. King's style is really what mine is based on. The direction I steer a story in while using description is also based off of him.

Well, hope that helped. It has been awhile, I admit that much.

~AoH
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

My method of describing things started out quite crude at best when I first started writing back in 2004/2005. I didn't really include any description whatsoever in my earliest handwritten drafts of "Pokemon: The Ages of Chaos," which I eventually turned into "The Crusade of Dark Nostalgia." The only reason things changed was because I literally got the culture shock of having a fan fiction critic by the username of Yami Ryu on Serebii.net's forums give me a very negative review. Since then I've basically made it a point to beef up my descriptive powers (even to the point of description overload) to compensate for the fact that I'd posted such horrible fanfics anywhere online.

Sadly, I don't have a specific method to description that I use whenever I write, and mostly concentrate on setting up the background details first before actually getting into full on descriptions of characters and the setting. Other times, I try a minimalist approach and tell things how they are, while leaving my readers to figure out just they're reading about.
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

I am a rookie, but I thought I would post anyway :p

•All of us were rookies at some point. How, in your method, did you find a way to conquer your difficulties with description writing when you were new?

I have only been "seriously writing" for one almost two years and in the time I actually had a hard time finding the balance for describing things and I am probably still a bit off. The first one I was over descriptive. As a massive reader, I know that when things get to detailed... I skim or skip to the next bit of dialogue. The amount of description is different to every writer and, in my opinion, is called for differently for different genres. I, personally, enjoy leaving a portion up to the reader to create. All of my characters have a form in my head, but I would never want to limit you to that one way on how they look. Basically I used the "trial and error" method and I am still working on it, but this is almost a never ending battle.

•What approach do you use when integrating description into your stories? Do you use all senses? Do you primarily focus on one particular aspect of the senses?

I like all five senses, but I am not always good with balancing. My favorite, when I use it, is the sense of feeling something. The texture of something happening adds a very large sense to me, although taste is probably the one I use the least.

•Who would you say inspired your writing style and your approach?

Probably the books I read around the end of eighth grade and beginning of ninth grade are the ones that most affected my writing style. This would be Rick Riordan's series along with "The 13th Reality". Both series were great in my opinion, but my writing style is different... blends well with my story telling voice :p
 
RE: Writer's Congregation #1 - The Art of Description

I personally cannot seem to find the balance between description and action. It could possibly be my writing style, but I tend to describe whenever the characters come to a pause and survey their surroundings. Also, whenever the main character meets someone, I usually describe what they look like. I am not that describtive in that sense either.

Like I said, that could just be writing style.
 
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