TITBITS
The simplest form of acknowledgment, is to learn, and share. Henceforth, I am deeply grateful to introduce my mentor in writing, Dave Owens with his desire to help others in the following text.
Tidbits
David Alan Owens
“People look without seeing, listen without hearing, touch without feeling, eat without tasting, move without physical awareness, inhale without awareness of odor or fragrance, and speak without thinking.”
Leonardo Da Vinci
Writers must provide Leonardo’s elements to the reader in order for the reader to experience what the writer intends. To write without those elements deprives readers of the joy they anticipated when they began to read a story.
How does the writer introduce those elements into a story without cluttering the story with lengthy, useless, and often boring details? I call them tidbits – tiny elements the writer places into the reader’s mind unobtrusively. A simple mole on a character’s face lets readers imagine “why” the mole is there. One reader might see the mole as a sort of “beauty mark,” another reader might find the mole disgusting. In each case. the reader sees the mole.
Scenes may possess flavors, or odors, but to include a flavor deepens the action. “The odor of burnt oranges” evokes an intellectual response – exactly what the writer wanted. The odor will represent different things to different readers, but the tidbit enhances the scene and takes little space to write.
What a character says tells more about the character than what he does – Shakespeare’s “nothing renders a man’s image such as his speech” applies. Add a lisp – bang! – character. Does the character “Growl” his words? Is his voice “gritty?” Maybe a female character’s voice has a bell-like quality. How would the writer write the sound of her voice? I described one of my characters in this manner: “her honey sweet voice.”
Tactile sensations are difficult to write. Consider how the touch feels, better yet, ask a female friend to touch your cheek: “Her finger felt like a feather. Or her feathery touch.” I’m sure you can write something better, but the illustration works, I think.
Expressions. Avoid “look.” The word is vague. Go to a mirror and watch your face when you grimace, smile. What is your appearance when you try to understand something? The technique works, and is good advice from a professor who taught me long ago.
A writer knows he has achieved his goal when he realizes there is nothing left to take away or add to a story.“The worst evil which can befall the artists is that his work should appear good in his own eyes.”
Leonardo Da Vinci