Forms of depiction and description

[silentmetaphor]

I Would like to know about your preferred style of depiction or description of different scenes, environments ( media ), relationships ( any kind ), major aspects, and details in general.
For different Genres.
Styles/manners: Highly detailed ( media/environment ) - separated from narration as a whole; Simplistic ( with major and minor references to and from characters and elements of the media ); Dynamic ( somewhat inconsistent, higher variance, based on the development of the story, maybe connected to characters and their individuality/ position or role ); Highly informatic but laced with references... etc.
Depending on /the/ perspective: Described by characters ( in and for the context ); Described by the narrator ( as a side character, observer, judge... etc ); Maybe a combination of both...


part of my research

 

[luriantimetraveler]

I think your answer to this will depend entirely on the reader and the writer! If you haven't already, I would suggest (if this is a research project) that you pick a few "Best of" anthologies (SF/F, Fiction, Nonfiction, Non-required Reading) and start breaking down the stories/essays, coding for the different types of description.

 

[Wayne Mack]

@silentmetaphor, an aside -- a better formed question might help in getting responses for your research. Perhaps it could be broken down into a set of more discrete individual questions?

The initial question listed about five different aspects for a response. I was also confused about the parenthetical reference to media and then media/environment. I really did not understand your definitions of styles/manners. I was also confused by the final line as the narrator is typically the point of view character. Are you trying to ask about preferred point of view?

People are much more likely to respond to a limited, focused query. The onus is on the asker to determine what information is important and focus on that. I hope these suggestions help in completing your research.

 

[DLCroix]

Hi! I read this and I can't help but think two things:
1. You are doing academic work or ...
2. You come from the market and you want to find out trends.
Because one does not put it so coldly, what can I tell you, dear friend? For example, when I was twelve years old myself and I was just a girl full of crazy ideas, I even already had a certain vague conception, quite intuitive, about the influence that we are receiving from everything we read. That is the base. In fact, the endearing Harold Bloom called this the Anguish of Influence, and then further breaks the concept down into a second theory that he called Anatomy of Influence. Basically it is that we begin to write by imitation and by an unconscious desire in which we are competing against that author whose stories we liked so much. With all this, what I want to tell you is that there is NO formula. No one can tell you do it like this or do it like that. Because in a way it's like flying, you understand? So for certain stories certain approaches will serve you and for others a totally different type. For example, you can read The Nova Express and at first you don't understand anything; but then you understand that the story, or the narrator Burroughs invents, is nothing less than an alien. Word is falling, image is falling, etc. And it is that writing you will discover that you can fly in many ways. Over time you will discover which one suits you best. You will discover, among other things, your own narrative voice. But this mountain can't be climbed in a day, darling. The main thing is that you must have a lot, a lot, patience.
Best of luck. Yes.

 

[silentmetaphor]

@silentmetaphor, an aside -- a better formed question might help in getting responses for your research. Perhaps it could be broken down into a set of more discrete individual questions?

Sorry for being so vague. I partially intended to be less precise, or strict, but clearly confused you.

About my wording ( I get this type of response more often than I would like to )- I usually use words with the full extent of their definition ( it can look, seem pretentious, or odd, but it comes from my background/ language ). In this case word media ( as the plural form for medium ) refers to situation, environment, " substance" of the moment/scene, properties that form the reason, argument, intent ..., etc.

You are absolutely right about the responsibility of an asker. I "misplayed" this, Took it too far from the intended.

Thank you for your response.

 

[silentmetaphor]

Hi! I read this and I can't help but think two things:
1. You are doing academic work or ...

I'm trying to process a few of my older stories, and convert them into a more digestible form. Couldn't decide the perspective issue in a few of them.

Thank you for your advice, and the novel landscape of possibilities.

 

[DLCroix]

Well, I think that you also have to stop a bit to think about two aspects.
1. Communication. As the sender of the message, through the narrator who I invent for a certain story, I must always have as my first objective to try to be as clear as possible, so that the receiver of my message, the reader, can understand it easily and as far as possible, identify with that message, the story, that I am transmitting to him.
As for ambiguity, it should not be confused with rambling, since all writers tend to do that to a greater or lesser extent. But even that digression should have the objective of, without falling into info-dumping, adding annexed but important information that does not constitute the corpus of the story itself, although in fact it can also serve to, with respect to your concern, "describe" some aspects that otherwise one as a writer feels it lacking in the story. Even each one notices that something is missing. But digressing is a whole technique, in fact, and although it seems incredible in these times in which many despise "so much detail" in favor of a supposed conciseness that actually obeys a television ideal rather than a literary one (I wonder what Borges or Bolaño would say), is still being used.

2. The attitude of the writer. I think it will always work more to be persuasive than forceful. I do not intend to overwhelm my reader with my knowledge, which is otherwise very scarce, old-fashioned, and of doubtful validity. Instead I prefer to think that I am having a coffee with a friend while we are shopping and I tell her a story like: "Ah, no, they didn't tell me, dear; I was there and this is what happened", etc.

 

[silentmetaphor]

Well, I think that you also have to stop a bit to think about two aspects.
...

Thank you again.
I find it hard to find balance at this point, especially when I'm writing in English.

 

[Brian G Turner]

IMO make any description dependent on the character's experience and point of view. However, also appreciate that a writer only needs to seed a description because the reader will quickly start to construct their own image, and too much description will simply be ignored.