I think I’ve mortally injured this keyboard. The Backspace is not clicking but rather mushes in softly, so if there are any missed spaces, I’m sorry in advance.
The other day Jana Oliver and I were talking about description and how to go about it. Jana is a minimalist, by her own admission, and so am I. I don’t typically try to go into long descriptions, unless it’s absolutely necessary. But the topic stuck with me and I came back to it this morning, as I sat down to do some prep work for Kate 5.
I’m a non-starter artist. You can’t really call me a failed artist, because I never really gave it my best shot. My mother drew beautifully, and I can copy a drawing with passable results. It came in handy when the kids were small – all I did was draw horses in various poses and princesses. But I lack the actual ability to draw from nature. It just doesn’t work. I see a very clear picture in my head, almost like a photograph, but when it comes to actually translating it to canvas, I’m a dud. That’s why I like GIMP so much. I get to do photo-manipulation, like LOL Covers for OddShots. It’s sort of kind of almost like painting. But not really.
But even though I can’t draw, I still have to have images that pertain to the book before I start working on it. One of the primary benefits of working with Liquid Story Binder for me is its ability to organize images and allow me to chose a wallpaper for each project. I must have the right wallpaper or I will grind to a halt. The paper isn’t always literal representation of the actual setting.
This is the wallpaper for MAGIC BLEEDS. Why there are no actual crumbling tower cities in the novel, it’s symbolic of the history of Kate’s adversary. When I look at it, I see Kate’s family history and the time when the antagonist of the story was in their prime.
But the novel itself is grim and stark. Because some major decisions had to be made, in my head it was almost black and white. The characters faced a choice, Door A or Door B. There is no Door C, and no time to hesitate. Somehow this duality morphed into winter for me. I remember the precise moment when it clicked in my head. I was looking at Jeaniene’s cover and stepback for AT GRAVE”S END.
I looked at it and thought, “That’s it right here. It has to be winter.”
There is beauty in winter but there is also death. There is a definitive change when snow falls and then it melts into mud. The descriptions in the novel mirror that.
Outside the world had turned completely white. The snow must’ve started shortly after I got in and at least three inches of powder covered the asphalt. Thick grey clouds smothered the sky. Cold burned my face. Winter had taken Atlanta into its mouth and bit hard.
#
The grate swung to the left and I saw him, a nightmarish beast charging up the roofs across the street, like a demon caught between the black sky and the white snow.
#
What once were fields, now had become dense forest. It swallowed gas stations and lone farmsteads, forcing people to move closer together. Trees flanked the road, their branches black and leafless, sharp charcoal sketches in the snow.
By contrast, here is the wallpaper for BAYOU MOON.
Very green, very verdant. The world is lush and it’s all about swamp with a plethora of colors. Everywhere there is life but also there is constant decay, it’s chaotic and twisted.
The description in the BAYOU MOON is also heavily colored by the perception of the characters. William dislikes the swamp intensely, but he respects it. It’s old and powerful.
The boat crawled down the river, framed by dense clumps of vegetation and reeds. In the distance, cypresses rose, their bloated trunks grotesquely fat, like old men with beer guts squatting in the mud. Sunrise was due in half an hour and the sky and the water glowed pale grey of a worn-out dime.
#
The rolpie pulled with steady force. There was a serene, almost severe beauty to the fog-smothered swamp, a kind of somber, primeval elegance. The haze obscured the chaotic vegetation, filtering it to individual congregations of plants. Isolated groups of cypresses adorned with maiden hair moss loomed out of the fog and sank back into it as the boat passed them. The water resembled quick-silver, a glossy, highly reflective surface that masked the pitch-black depth.
For Cerise, the swamp is home:
Cerise strode down the twisted path, listening to the chorus of Edge cicadas seesawing in the underbrush. Night had claimed the Mire. It came on padded feet, soft and cautious, like a swamp cat, with its ears raised and its eyes opened wide. The reds and yellows of the sky burned down to deep indigo and purple. To the left the lazy wide expanse of Deadman river stretched into the gloom. As the cooling air drained warmth from its calm current, the last of nightweaver dragonflies streaked to the water, prickling the surface to snag water fleas in their chitinous claws.
She loved the night. The world seemed bigger somehow, the sky vast and endless, the soft darkness full of possibilities and excitement. Yeah. Right now excitement was the last thing they needed. Jogging down the path in hopes of watching Lord Bill trip on a stray root was as exciting as she wanted it to get. So far he didn’t stumble once. It’s like the man could see in the dark.
I think for description to be effective, it must come back to how the character is feeling about it. Here is William describing forest, which to him is the best place to be:
“So what’s a proper place?”
“A forest,” William said, his expression distant. “Where the ground is dry soil and stone. Where tall trees grow and centuries of autumn carpet their roots. Where the wind smells of game and wildflowers.”
He is poetic in his description. By contrast, when he sees a beautiful scene in the swamp, he feels the need to take it down a notch.
William stood on the dock and watched hundreds of tiny worms crawl up the roots of the cypress. The worms glowed with gentle pastel colors: turquoise, lavender, pale lemon. The entire pond was bathed in the eerie glow. He once had a drink in a bar with LED glasses that lit up when you tapped the bottom. The effect was strikingly similar.
He’s just not having any of it. He makes it seem cheap and kind of gaudy.
So these are the two things that define description for me: the palette of the novel and the perception of the characters.
Just for kicks, here is a gallery of images for Kate 5, which I gathered this morning after way too much research. I had to dig into Guildwars 2, because nobody else seems to be making images on this particular subject.
Much awesomeness!! Wicked and much love for it!!
Thank you for sharing!!
I love the pictures and the emotion they bring. Thank you for giving us a dip into the way you write. I always find it interesting.
So…Kate runs off with Mahon instead of Doolittle.
I love the swamp picture. It’s very much the type of image I’d pick, just from the snippets.
Dig the pics. It’s amazing how fast an image can convey the thing you’re trying to say in words. Am excited and terrified for Kate 4.
Ooooo those pics gave me shivers. I really like the first one with the castle. Well, I like them all but the first one just screams despair.
I am a photo editing idiot. I have tried for eons to get it and I don’t. I applaud those of you who “get it”. lol
Since I probably wont get another chance to do this without looking like too much of a jerk, I’m going to take this opportunity and plug some Kate Daniels fanart I did: here and here.
Loved the Dar Varona one! That is exactly how I see Kate in my mind.
I’m glad you think so. I generally think my stuff looks too goofy and cartoonish to accurately represent something from a real book (the kind with words and stuff), so that’s good to hear.
Wow, I like it. For me it almost has a sort of Fire and Ice look. Or I could be crazy, but they are very cool.
Fire and Ice… like the Robert Frost poem? If this is something else, like a thing that everyone knows about… wow. I should probably get out of my cave more often.
Anyway. Thank you!
Actually I thinking of the early 80′s animated feature. I am not sure that it as fondly remembered by most folks but I really liked it and still do.
Check out this link
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085542/
I have it on DVD but it is worth a try on Netflicks if you have never seen it.
I’d never heard of this movie, but it seems Frank Frazetta was involved, so I’ll be looking into it.
Thanks!
Aahahaha. That was wild! Wizards, man. WIZARDS.
pretty cool… loved the first one but both are wonderful!!!
Thanks! (I like the first one better too.)
Really nice. I especially like the second one. I so envy those folks who can translate the images in their minds to canvas, pixels, etc. I’ve never had that ability. Even my stick figures suck, though I am accomplished amateur photographer. Funny how each of us are given different abilities to translate the world around us.
Thanks very much.
I don’t believe I’ve ever had any “natural” ability, though, I was just encouraged a lot as a kid. I started drawing when I was like, three, and my mom told me I was good at it. So I kept doing it. (But seriously, I’ve seen those drawings. They look like a three year-old drew them!)
OMG! Your images are incredibly visceral, as are your descriptions. You just dropped in the missing puzzle piece! When I was writing my other series I worked off photos of the East End, old manuscripts, lots of tangible images/items that kept me in touch with the characters and the time period because I’m a very visual person. With the current project I only have photos of the characters and Oakland Cemetery under the false impression that it’s close enough to Atlanta that I don’t need that mental stimulation. Stupid assumption.
As you say, what’s missing is the characters’ perception of the world around them, which in turn reveals more about that individual. Why in the h*ll didn’t I see that? *headdesk*
Bless you for sharing, my dear. Have a wonderful birthday tomorrow and here’s hoping 2010 is an incredible year for you, Gordon and the girls.
Sorry it took so long – I just couldn’t think for a while there.
Not a problem. I knew you folks were buried deep in your own work and definitely redlining. Over supper hubby pointed out that “my” bankrupt Atlanta is slowly reverting to a neo-Victorian era of it’s own. Another light bulb. I’m thinking a couple mojitos and some serious image surfing might help me pull this project out of my, ahem, top hat. There will definitely be an acknowledgment to both of you in the front o’ the book.
*scratches head* eh, it’s your bday today? (in Australia, I mean). Happy birthday =]
Interesting blog post- To put in the characters’ perception of the place in a description, awesome advice. ^^
Kate 4 release is already making me feel anxious. It’s going to be pivotal, I can tell.
Thanks for the post!
Love the descriptions.
Love the wallpaper concept.
Working with a coauthor who had difficulty envisioning the characters was how I got into…’action figures’. I’ve since found them invaluable for setting up scenes, not to mention inspiration. And yes, sometimes I go looking for an action figure to represent a character, and find an action figure who demands to be a character
=A
Never considered the action figure angle, though I will admit to having a few stuffed monsters (demons) lying around.
We use my action figures sometimes to setup fight scenes or battles. Then Kid 2 comes along and puts them into silly things like a cheerleader pyramid. The new Sabertooth I got for Xmas makes a great Curran in battle form.
I find battle scenes really hard to write. They get rewritten about as many times as the love scenes and the first page. I’ll give the action figure staging a try. There’s a major battle scene in Book #3 that will need some serious choreography. I promise not to put them in a cheerleader pyramid.
Battle scenes usually on the first try, sex scenes on the third or so, but conversation scenes get rewritten about 10 times.
For some reason conversation scenes don’t plague me as much as the other scenes,especially the fight scenes. Those just kick my butt. I’ll definitely give the action figure idea a try. If nothing more, I’ll acquire some cool figures out of the deal. Since I don’t own any this might be the start of a new addiction.
Goodness, I LOVE it when you share insights like this. I sat here nodding through the entire post. Our drawing talents sound much the same, and I too have begun to resort to the computer to pull off what I see in my mind’s eye.
I’m a description minimalist. (Fancy sounding way to say I suck at it.) I hate to write it and I hate to read it. However, your decriptive passages hit me just right. Most of the time, I don’t even recognize them as description. (There, got in my suck-up points.)
Anyhoo, I’ve been building my own wallpaper/image library since switching to LSB. Might you have any suggestions for good sites to find some? I’m an internet weenie and fear downloading from sites I’m not familar with.
Thanks for the inspiration!
This are my favorite ones right now:
http://wall.alphacoders.com/
http://www.deviantart.com/#catpath=customization/wallpaper&order=9
Thanks for the linkies!
Yes, thank you for the links. Oh, and Happy Birthday!
Very cool post! I love the Bayou Moon wallpaper
And I wanted to say that the description of Kate 4 on your main page is totally awesome! I want the book even more now when I thought several times already that wasn’t possible anymore…
I love description in High Fantasy, but too much gets distracting. Although it can great to evoke an atmosphere. I love that tower/city image — I find towers oddly chilling. I guess that’s why they’re often used in a portentous way.
Good post – distracted me from the crying as the divine David Tennant just left Dr Who. Thank goodness we have Kate 4 coming in 2010, Happy New Year!