July 7, 2007

How Do They Do That?

I've often found myself stuck on how to describe a scene.

When reading books written by the pros, I often wonder...how do they do it?

A writing professor spoke at one of my writer's groups a couple of weeks a go and he had this advice:

When you come to a scene in a well written book that really flows and you can't figure out why...type it into your computer.

I'm not saying to steal their ideas, but just typing it gives you a new prospective. You will see things simply reading did not show and learn techniques you can use in your own writing.

I tried it. I've always been a hands on learner so this helped me where telling or showing had not.

In fact I came to a place in one of my own novels where I wasn't sure just how to describe an action my character was taking.

I found a book where the character was doing a similiar action and read it. I didn't copy the writing but it helped me through my delimma.

Try it. I hope it will help you as well.