Write What You See, Not What You Think You See
Posted on | May 8, 2010 | 4 Comments
I took a drawing class once, not sure from whom, I was in high school at the time, where the teacher said, “Draw what you see, not what you think you see.” After a moment to process this, my drawing improved unbelievably quickly. I was drawing a face at the time. I had put a nose where I knew noses were supposed to be, eyes in their proper place, a mouth down below. After that comment, I looked to see what was actually on the face I was drawing. It wasn’t nose, eyes and mouth, it was specific shapes and shades of light and dark in specific relationships to each other. The drawing I produced was the best one I’d ever done to that point. Amazing what a simple adjustment in perspective will do.
There is a similar process in writing. People often write what they have been trained is there rather than what really is there. Rather than looking at the sky, they type blue. It’s rarely just blue. Right now outside my window, it’s a pale blue graduating toward dusky grey at the horizon. Rather than imagining the whole of something, people will parrot what they have heard others say. The cat doesn’t just purr, she softly vibrates with pleasure, her eyes closed and her body relaxed, swaying back and forth gently to the slow rhythm of her breath.
Do you have to use all those words when you write? Do you have to describe every subtle detail? No. That would make your writing very tedious for you and for your reader. But when you really look at something, in your view or in your mind, you will know which of all those words to use that will most communicate it. Even if you end up just writing, “the cat purred”, because you have first really looked, it will inform what comes before and what comes after and will make the word picture you’re painting much more compelling.
~Geoff Hoff
Co-author of the how-to guide On Writing a Short Story.
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May 9th, 2010 @ 5:03 am
OOOOooh, I got shivers on this one, Geoff. Yeah…I get it now. That’s what *I* add to the mix of our writing partnership. He provides the story, I provide the sensations of being “IN” the story. Thanks for putting it into words.
.-= Kate´s last blog ..Conversion Architecture — The Art of Visually Identifying Your Company’s Primary Sales Funnels =-.
May 9th, 2010 @ 11:57 am
You’re welcome, Kate.
May 14th, 2010 @ 5:59 pm
Another great blog post.
I just wanted to say, “I absolutely LOVE Escher’s works.” Thanks for the reminder.
CaptRob
May 14th, 2010 @ 6:00 pm
Loving Escher is a round about way of saying rehcsE gnivoL!