Sixth stop on my international blog tour,
Dublin Ireland. Thanks so much to Paul Carroll for
hosting me; it’s good to be here.
I'm sure we’ve all heard the old adage,
"The devil is in the details". I've certainly found this to be true
when writing novels. Some days it is devilishly tricky to strike the proper
balance between too many details and not enough of the little beggars.
As an author, my job is to keep my reader
totally engrossed in my story. I don't want them to put it down until they’ve
finished it. When a reader finishes a book in one session, they become
completely convinced that the book was "too good to put down". This
leads to them telling their friends about the book that was too good to put down,
which leads to more people who want to read my books.
As long as I can keep the reader's mind
entirely inside of my story, there’s no danger of them putting the book down
voluntarily. If they do have to put it down, I want them to be thinking about
it, with their mind still in the story, until they have the opportunity to pick
it back up.
In order to keep a reader that involved in
a story, the place has to seem like a real place. The characters have to seem
like real people. And the reader has to be able to relate the problems facing
the hero.
What does that have to do with descriptive
details? Everything!
If I put my characters in a car and send
them someplace, it’s not very interesting if they’re traveling through a blank,
gray wasteland. My readers’ minds will be wandering off, trying to figure out
those background details I haven’t given. To keep that from happening, I have
to provide some of the details of what is happening outside of the car.
Think about it. If you’re a passenger in a
car, even if you’re involved in a conversation, you are peripherally aware of
what is going on outside of the car. You’re aware of the landmarks you pass,
red lights you stop at, and the idiot on the motorcycle who just cut you off.
If I put some of these descriptors in between the lines of dialogue, it’s much
more interesting to read and seems more like a real conversation.
At first novice writers might think that
the more detail that’s included, the better the story will be. This is not
true. Too many details are just as damaging to your readers’ attention span as
too few. For example, if my character walks into an office for an interview,
time is not going to stop while they examine every item in the office and
describe it in their mind in loving detail. They’ll pick up the details a
little at a time as various objects come to their attention.
As they first step through the door,
they’ll notice the color and lushness of the carpet. When they greet the
interviewer across the desk, they’ll notice the size and placement of the desk,
and possibly what it’s made of, if it’s an unusual material. No one is going to
consciously notice a plain metal office desk with Formica top, when they are
busy being concerned with their upcoming interview. However, they might notice
the beautiful hand-carved oak desk with a glass top to protect the carvings,
simply because of its unusual construction.
They’ll probably not notice what the
interviewer is wearing, unless they were worried about their own appearance
earlier, and are comparing the two outfits in their mind. They will notice the
one outstanding physical characteristic of the interviewer, however, whether
it’s hair of an unusual length, style, or color, an overly large nose, eyes
that don't match, or a prominent wart. Most characters should have one
outstanding physical characteristic, which is mentioned often enough in the
narrative to assist in identification.
What’s the right amount of detail to
include? This is probably one of the most difficult questions to answer. A lot
of it depends on the setting, not just of your novel, but of the particular
scene within the novel. For example, most people have seen enough historical
movies, that if the characters are in a large manor house, and I state they
walk into the library, the reader can provide a picture of a large room full of
books, probably containing a fireplace with a grouping of chairs nearby.
However, if I have the character walk into the buttery, the reader is likely to
conjure a picture of a small room with a wooden butter churn. A buttery is
actually a small room near the dining room where plates, silverware, and other
serving implements are kept handy. In this instance, a quick description of
either the appearance or the use of the room is in order.
When I sent The Siege of Kwennjurat out to my beta readers, there were several
places where they asked me for more details. There were also several places
where they noted the action was too slow, and I therefore removed some of the
details. In one place, I knew I had the mix exactly right, because one reader
asked for more details while another was complaining there were too many.
Learning how many details and where to put them is an ongoing process for every
author.
About the book: The
Siege of Kwennjurat is the second book in the
Kwennjurat Chronicles. Alone in Kwenndara, Princess Tanella cares for the
refugees from war-torn Jurisse, while she worries about her loved ones’ safety.
Her new husband Fergan is two days away in Renthenn, coordinating the business
of two kingdoms.
Kings Jameisaan and Fergasse join forces in
Jurisse to pursue the war against the Black Army. They know Liammial hasn't
played his last card, and are willing to give their lives to protect their
people and their children.
Who will triumph and claim the throne of
Kwennjurat?
About the author: A M Jenner lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with
her family, a car named Babycakes, several quirky computers, and around 5,000
books. A self-professed hermit, she loves to interact with her readers online.
Her books are available at www.am-jenner.com, as well as most major online
retailers.
