Today’s guest blogger is poet and book reviewer, Cronin Detzz. We've had such a great response from readers of this space to Guest Posts (a phenomenon I'm not too sure how to feel about) that we're jumping ahead of our regular Thursday Guest Post schedule to host Cronin's thoughts today. Now that she is crafting her first novel, she’s been invited to share tips on weaving poetry into non-fiction.
TURBO-BOOST YOUR WRITING!
How does a writer accomplish adding that special flair without falling into too much purple prose or too much detail? It’s a tricky, subjective area, but if a writer adds a few flourishes, he take his writing to new heights.
Really get your character into his surroundings. Immerse yourself in the scene – what do you see? Smell? Hear? Remember?
SOUND
Notice the opening lines of “Wool,” a fantastic series by Hugh Howey. The only action that the main character accomplishes is climbing a set of stairs:
“The children were playing while Holston climbed to his death; he could hear them squealing as only happy children do. While they thundered about frantically above, Holston took his time, each step methodical and ponderous, as he wound his way around and around the spiral staircase, old boots ringing out on metal treads.”
“Old boots ringing out on metal treads” is Howey’s way of informing the reader that the main character, Holston, is walking up a staircase. It’s an odd situation: children are laughing while Holston walks to his death. This opening paragraph is far superior to saying something like, “Holston climbed the stairs to his death.” This is, indeed, what Howey is telling us – but he is telling us so much more, too. Notice how sound is being used. The children weren’t just playing, they were squealing. Holston’s boots were ringing out on metal treads.
Those stairs are integral to the Wool series, and they appear in all eleven books. Read them, you’ll love it.
MEMORIES TRIGGERED BY ITEMS IN SCENE
Katniss only does one thing in the opening paragraph of “Mockingjay” by Suzanne Collins – she looks down at her shoes:
“I stare down at my shoes, watching as a fine layer of ash settles on the worn leather. This is where the bed I shared with my sister, Prim, stood. Over there was the kitchen table. The bricks of the chimney, which collapsed in a charred heap, provide a point of reference for the rest of the house. How else could I orient myself in this sea of gray?”
In the simple action of looking at her shoes, Katniss tells us about the gray ash; you know something terrible has happened. She remembers her bed, the kitchen table, the chimney. Her home has been destroyed. We don’t yet feel Katniss’s feelings, but we are set up for something dismal in the “sea of gray.” Suzanne Collins is painting a picture for us.
TURBO-BOOSTED WORDS
Which words stand out to you from the first page of Carlos Ruiz Zafon’s “The Angel’s Game?” Look for phrases that heighten your appreciation of this modern gothic novel:
“A writer never forgets the first time he accepted a few coins or a word of praise in exchange for a story. He will never forget the sweet poison of vanity in his blood …what he covets the most: his name printed on a miserable piece of paper that surely will outlive him. A writer is condemned to remember that moment, because from then on he is doomed and his soul has a price… I was seventeen and worked at The Voice of Industry, a newspaper that had seen better days and now languished in a barn of a building that had once housed a sulfuric acid factory. The walls still oozed the corrosive vapor that ate away at furniture and clothes, sapping the spirits, consuming even the soles of shoes. The newspaper's headquarters rose behind the forest of angels and crosses of the Pueblo Nuevo cemetery; from afar, its outline merged with the mausoleums silhouetted against the horizon — a skyline stabbed by hundreds of chimneys and factories that wove a perpetual twilight of scarlet and black above Barcelona.”
Turbo-boosted words and phrases:
Instead of pointing out a writer’s goal of being published, Zafon writes “sweet poison of vanity.”
The main character wants to be published. He calls it a “miserable piece of paper.”
An aging magazine business is said to be “languishing in a barn of a building.”
Barcelona is wonderfully described in Zafon’s novels. In this example, he writes the skyline is “stabbed by hundreds of chimneys.” By using a verb, “stabbed,” we subconsciously feel the violence and darkness of his “scarlet and black” city.
I look forward to reading excerpts of your own turbo-boosted manuscripts. Study the masters and highlight phrases that you enjoy. You can do this! – Keep writing and keep sharing, Cronin Detzz
Cronin Detzz has been writing poetry, lyrics, and short stories for over 30 years. Her works have been published in numerous online journals and anthologies. Her latest books, “Supernatural Poetry” and “Poetry for Our Time,” are available at Amazon.com.
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