A View Up Close
My last post was about going wide--expanding the themes while digging deeper. This one is about going in tight, small, close, claustrophobic.
I first learned about writing close when observing my kids. I could tell you one of my son's marches to his own drummer, is unique in a wonderful, day-dreaming, yet math-intensive way, BUT . . . it's still hard to describe him. However, one time when we were in a rush to get to school--he was a preschooler, I think, and I may or may not have been pregnant again. With four kids, seems like I spent a lot of time pregnant. But I do remember rushing along, and one second he was behind me on the way to car from the front door. The next second he wasn't. When I turned around he was completely stopped, backpack on the ground. Then he seemed to walk like a drunken man. And when I, exasperated, went back to collect him, I realized he had stopped to watch a line of ants. He squatted down to them, putting his finger down, watching them march around him. THAT is my son. Stopping for ants or butterflies, rain, babies, cats, dogs, a cool cloud, the moon. Pretty much anything. And that, describing him, is going in for the tight shot. I tell you more about him with the ants, than I do with big sweeping generalizations.
In THE ROOFER, Ava collects the stuff of childhood--a parasol from a drink, smooth rocks, subway tokens--in a cigar box. She has to hide it because of the abuse in her life, and when her treasures are found, they are taken and destroyed. It's not a huge moment of abuse. It's a small microcosm of abuse--of the way in which a tiny soul is destroyed in a small moment.
In Do They Wear High Heels in Heaven, Lily's small "huge" yet small moment is when she has sex and reveals her mastectomy to her lover. I don't pan back--in fact at no point prior has Lily talked about what the scars look like. I don't discuss how she feels about losing a breast. I don't even let the reader SEE it. It's the small moment when her new lover kisses the scar, licking along its edges. It's small and tight and intimate.
You can go wide . . . you can go really small. Each is for revealing what you want as writer.
Thoughts?
Peace,
E
14 comments:
When I turned around he was completely stopped, backpack on the ground. Then he seemed to walk like a drunken man. And when I, exasperated, went back to collect him, I realized he had stopped to watch a line of ants. He squatted down to them, putting his finger down, watching them march around him.
Love that. :)
I'm in love with the small details, the small moments. I really need to get better at them, but I love watching other authors do them well. They're like tiny pictures worth a thousand words.
Jude:
Thanks. That's my kid in a glorious nutshell.
E
spy:
Definitely. I love Jane Eyre and some classics because they are terribly good at the details.
E
I think, and this is just my opinion, that you need the broad strokes to tell the story, and the up close details to bring your characters to life, to get the reader to identify with, or at least have sympathy for them.
Both have their place.
In a surfing metaphor, you need to have a longboard to catch the littlest waves, but when you do, you can ride them for a long time. You need a shortboard to catch the steep and fast waves which are thrilling but short-lived.
Two different styles, two different boards, all the same water.
ewoh:
What a brilliant analogy! Thanks for that. I am not a surfer, but spent many a summer watching them in Florida.
E
P.S. And dead on. Yes, the little details get you to care about the character. The big moments propel the story along.
Sometimes I really have a hard time going really small in a novel. I'm constantly looking at the big picture. Wheather it be several chapters further or a couple of books ahead.
Hi la:
I actually think ewoh said it much better than I did. The little stuff really helps characterization.
E
Those are the hardest parts of a story to write because they are so intimate. When I stumble on them - because they are rarely planned - my fingers hover over the keyboard. It's like I'm outing someone who didn't give me permission. And then I remind myself that if the character arrives to the page, she or he is ready to be exposed.
Great post!
Mary
Mary:
What a true thing for me, too. I often feel VERY weird about those moments. Some are borrowed from my own life. Some from others. It's difficult to write sometimes.
E
"It's difficult to write sometimes."
ROFL, Erica. For some reason your statement just cracked me up today. I'm sure having one of those days, though. :-) One of those days where your statement feels like the understatement of the century, LOL!
spy:
I am "stuck" in a scene. I have a new first sentence for the chapter, so it should "loosen up"--but I hear ya!
E
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