Grace & Descriptive Prose

Seneca said, "Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness." New York Times bestselling author Stella Cameron exempliflies that truism in her interactions with her fans. It was very much in evidence at the book talk by her and Jayne Ann Krenz on Saturday. Stella and Jayne were both so at ease with each other and with talking in front of a 'standing room only' crowd, that people started throwing out questions and commenting on their comments, leading to a fun and informative discussion for both readers and writers.

Out of this conversation came the fact how Stella is good at descriptions. I asked her how she manages to keep the energy built up in the preceding dialogue moving forward through the descriptive passage that follows. I sometimes find my descriptions falling flat, not due to info-dumping, but lacking the vitality of the dialogue. This is especially evident in scenes with high action and drama.

Her advice was to write shorter narrative passages with a few choice details and to not break up crucial dialogue components, such as a question and an answer, with a description in between them. Use exposition in a variety of way so that those paragraphs aren't always doing the same. To wit, have it be a punctuation to dialogue, layers in the scene, mirrors or heightens/sharpens the experience, gives a deeper insight into the mind of the POV character, or acts as a breather for the reader.

In a tense scene, the details have to be spare and all narrowly focused on the action. Look for the rhythm, Stella said. This reminded me of a talk with the poet Edward Hirsch on Titlepage TV, about how "poems have an intensity of feeling because [the format] is so compressed." So, perhaps that can be true of descriptions, too? I asked Stella.

She picked up Black Sheep by Georgette Heyer and read this to me: A little before eight o'lcock, at the close of a damp autumn day, a post-chaise entered Bath, on the London Road, and presently drew up outside a house in Sydney Place. It was a hired vehicle, but it was drawn by four horses, and there was nothing in the appearance of the lady, who occupied it, to suggest that a private chaise, with her postilions, would have been rather beyond her touch.

You can all see the scene, can't you? The prose moves smartly to the clip-clop of the horses. You know the lady's whereabouts, her wealth, and her consequence. And, of course, the weather.

I could not thank Stella enough for her graciousness and for making the time to give a local aspiring writer a workshop in five minutes, when I might've expected her to be more occupied connecting with readers and selling them her books. I rushed home to our home library to find more examples of good descriptive paragraphs.

From the book the former editor for The New Yorker, Daniel Menaker, called "the most perfect book," Pride and Prejudice: Mrs. Bennet was perfectly satisfied; and quitted the house under delightful persuasion that, allowing for the necessary preparations of settlements, new carriages and wedding clothes, she should undoubtedly see her daughter settled at Netherfield, in the course of three or four months. Of having another daughter married to Mr. Collins, she though with equal certainty, and with considerable, though not equal, pleasure.

By the master writer Jo Beverley, from her RITA-winning Devilish: Then she'd teased that dangerous kiss. Their kiss. Still, he'd remained in control. Not seriously threatened. Until tonight. Unique. Shattering. Forbidden.

From the sensation of the year, Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady: The door opened, and Grey came in. He had come to her, here in the bastion of his enemies. He wore the authority of his office and the controlled deadliness of a soldier. He had never looked more menacing.

From Connie Brockway's most marvelous Skinny Dipping: Little will-o'-the-wisps of steam rose from the water around her, and the soothing, rhythmic plop of the water dripping fromt he faucet lulled her into a pleasant state of inertia. Her natural state, she reminded herself.

From Tanya Michaels's Harlequin American Romance Trouble in Tennessee: She was calling him a coward? His temper boiled, at war with the banked but still-heated urge to touch her again. Proving his self-control, he kept his tone civil.

It seems as if I could write mega bytes of sample paragraphs, all from my own home library. Some re-reading is in serious order here. For a while "write, write, write" was my only motto; now I need to add "read more to write better" to my regimen. It almost seems as if I need to keep the reading and the writing well-balanced for the good words to issue forth from my mind.

Over to you: As a reader, what is the one advice you could not do without? Which writer would you say has had a profound influence on your writing and/or you as a writer?