Where am I?  
Making the most of description!

May 16,2002

HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Welcome to *Heart and Soul* Inspirational Christian Writers
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Tonight's special guest is...
HOST WRTR Cynth: Gail Gaymer Martin!
HOST WRTR Cynth: And she has graciously agreed to address...
HOST WRTR Cynth: Where am I?  Making the most of description!
GLMaria: Hello Gail
GailGMartin: Hi
HOST WRTR Cynth: And its' going to be a fun night of interactive
discussion...
HOST WRTR Cynth: Relax and enjoy!
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Now welcome Gail!
GailGMartin: Thanks, Cynthia.
HOST WRTR Cynth: <><><><clapping wildly><><><
GailGMartin: Seems like it's been a while since I've been here.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Welcome back! Gail, would you like to begin by sharing about yourself for us? ga
GailGMartin: Sure
GailGMartin: Those of you who know me - have watched my career blossom.
GailGMartin: Sometimes I can't believe it myself.  To date, I've sold 14
novels and 5 novellas. I sold my first in 1998 after starting to write fiction a year early. God has been with me and blessed me the whole way.  I'm awed.
GailGMartin: This June will be my 4th Love Inspired novel, Loving Treasures.  It's the first in a series - set in a resort town - - imaginary - but modeled after the real town of Grand Haven on Lake Michigan.  The cover is gorgeous and if you'd like to see it, drop by my website www.gailmartin. com and hit NOVELS button on the left.  Then hit Loving Treasures.
GailGMartin: Anyway - if you haven't visited my web site, I'd like you to know that it's loaded with helps for writers.  All of my workshop logs are there, along with writing tips, and FAQs about writing. So please drop by.  I try to update every few weeks or so.
GailGMartin: Now - getting down to the workshop. I'll talk awhile here - and then I'd like to do some interactive activities.
GailGMartin: Every fiction reader develops a visual image of the characters -   and they want a sense of place.  They want to know where they are.  They envision the hero or heroine sitting on a cozy living room sofa, scurrying through a dark alley, or relaxing in a cutter with the wind blowing through their hair. So telling the reader about the setting is very important.  If we have time we'll take a look at physical and vocal descriptions too.
GailGMartin: But a good writer wants to do more with setting than create a visual pictures of where the characters are in the story.  Setting can serve a much deeper and more important purpose and as good writers that's what we should strive for.  Setting can add depth to characterization, set moods, and serve as allegories for emotion.  
GailGMartin:  My goal as an author is to not just give descriptions to the reader but to make the  descriptions serve another purpose.  It makes the description more vivid and more vital.
GailGMartin: I'm sure you've all read stories where people describe a room or a street - and you skim over the words because they are boring.
GailGMartin: They don't serve a purpose - - so let's try to make our words provide something greater.
GailGMartin: Now - first remember that setting is more than location in the novel.  It's more than name a city, country, room, or park.
GailGMartin: It also includes weather, month, year, time of day.  As authors we need to learn to weave this information subtly into the story
GailGMartin: Descriptions of a room or a city street adds authenticity to a story.  Envision a room's decor - - cozy, formal, drab, cheerful, elegant, sparse, or filled with knickknacks.  All of these elements help to reflect the room's owner - and gives some characterization.
GailGMartin: Weather, time, and nature can add to mood or enhance emotion. Let's think about the old Gothic suspense - - the stormy night, the dark room lit by lanterns, the creaking shutters,   . .. or think of a thriller with the heroine making her way through a woods, limbs smacking her face, logs tripping her feet and a killer in pursuit.
GailGMartin: Mood is created through lighting and texture of a setting.  In my June novel - Loving Treasures, Jemma visits a rooming house owned by the Hartmann sisters.  Here's a little excerpt from that story.
GailGMartin: With a flutter of arms, the woman ushered Jemma into the overburdened sitting room.  Every inch of space was filled with antiques covered with doilies and bric-a-brac. Jemma's memory soared back to her childhood when she visited her great Aunt Bernice's home and was intrigued by the abundant clutter of treasures. A deep longing washed over her.  Home  She had none.
GailGMartin: "Sit please," Abby said.
       Since this wasn't a social call, discomfort  vied with Jemma's innate sociability.  Should she state her business or sink into the huge overstuff chair covered by an orange and brown knitted afghan.  She sat and watched the dust fairies float into the dim light.
GailGMartin: Okay - --  now you see a setting.  You get the picture of this room.  But I hope you get more than that.
GailGMartin: Tell me what else you know about the characters involved - - just from reading about the setting.   Jump in ga
GLMaria: She loved her aunt
HOST WRTR Cynth: Is Abby elderly?
GailGMartin: Yes - sorry - you wouldn't know that.  Yes she is.
GLMaria: Is she homesick?
GailGMartin: Yes - Jemma is not only home sick.  She doesn't really have a home.
HOST WRTR Cynth: Jemma has bad news, right?
HOST WRTR JanetE: Jemma yearns for a real home...
GailGMartin: yes - good.
GailGMartin: Yes - she yearns for a life, a home, so many things.
GailGMartin: The sisters are elderly - and we can see they love their
treasures.
HOST WRTR JanetE: you showed the reader Jemma's goals...
GailGMartin:  Great. . . one of her major goals.
GailGMartin: As you can see the description served a purpose to let you know that Jemma feels frustrated, sad, yearning - for a place to call her own.
GailGMartin: The Hartmann sisters - are fun characters in this novel. 
GailGMartin: Okay moving on. In another scene in the same book, Jemma has learned something Philip has done. She has quit her job (she works at the resort that he owns) and now she refuses to see him.  Depressed he wanders outside the resort situated on lake. Here's some of the narration.
GailGMartin: Looking behind him, Philip saw his balcony jutted from the building....the place where he'd first said I love you to Jemma. Sorrow squeezed against his heart. 
GailGMartin: He turned away, unable to bear the pain and scanned the horizon, watching the waves roll in, churning with white foam.  His focus drifted to the sailboat, rocking on the surf....and he walked along the path and took the stairs down the hill to the boat dock.
GailGMartin: Standing on the pier, his gaze riveted to the large black
letters.   My Lady.  He'd been wrong thinking the boat would be the last woman in his life.
GailGMartin: Okay - here we go again.  Look at some of the words here that help to set the mood of this scene.
GLMaria: He's love sick
GailGMartin: What words do you see that helps to set the mood.  
GailGMartin: Good - jump in ga
GLMaria: My Lady the name of the boat.
GailGMartin: Yes - that's important in the story.
GLMaria: He looked at the balcony. Where he first said I love you.
And you can see, he named the boat My Lady thinking that was the only woman who would ever be in his life.
GailGMartin: Yes - and notice the word JUTTED - that's a digging word, a hard sounding word - helping to show the hurt he feels.
GLMaria: Yes, I did.
MBananas: jutted.. riveted...strong words that jump out at you with impact
GailGMartin: The balcony hung over the building shows less impact.
GLMaria: churning white foam. Like his churning emotions
MaeRite: sorrow and pain, waves rolling, churning reflect his emotion
GailGMartin: Riveted - good.   Yes - great.  Churning emotions.  yes.
GailGMartin: Very good.  These words are capturing the feelings and mood of the scene.
GailGMartin: Great.  Let's move on.
GailGMartin: Describing rain - reflecting tears is a common use of weather - the sun shining - happiness. Sometimes those can become clichés - so if possible we need to look deeper.
GailGMartin: Here's nature making an analogy for the mood/emotion of the character.
GailGMartin: The spider was still at work and Fran was captured by the beauty of the iridescent threads glinting in the afternoon sunlight. Beautiful, yet distressing.  She felt trapped in a web as intricate and lovely as the spider's web.
GailGMartin: Notice the contrast here - - what is rather paradoxical - what creates interest in this paragraph.  ga
HOST WRTR Cynth: The description is unique and picturesque.
GailGMartin: Thanks - yes - it's different.
GLMaria: She felt trapped in a web like she was admiring
MBananas: captured by beauty...trapped in intricate, lovely
GailGMartin: Yes - good.
MaeRite: the description of the web show both beauty and distress
GailGMartin: Absolutely - - and doesn't this give us a depth of character.
HOST WRTR Cynth: She used sunlight as the distressing element--usually it says "happy"
GLMaria: Yes, it does
GailGMartin: Yes.  Don't we feel that way sometimes - both sickened
yet mesmerized by something.
GLMaria: Yes
GailGMartin: This type of description makes a setting seem real - a spider web - yet I used it to serve a purpose - to help set a mood, to help show the depth of struggle of the character.
GailGMartin: Here's a couple more examples -
GailGMartin: Voices of the patrons filled her ears, and she gazed at the window boxes nearby filled with contained flowers reaching toward the light.
Was she like those restricted blossoms bound in their
compartments, stretching and yearning for the sun?
GailGMartin: Okay - here we see another paradox.  I hope this shows another depth of character. Another struggle.  I've used something beautiful - yet I've added tension to it.
GailGMartin: What kind of feeling is this creating? ga
HOST WRTR JanetE: She wants to grow and break out of the situation she's been in for too long.
MBananas: Incompleteness.. striving for something more in her life
GailGMartin: Yes - very good.
MBananas: Maybe feeling trapped, yet loved
GailGMartin: Yes - that's great.  Okay - moving on
GailGMartin: I have lots more examples but you need to do some things too. Let me give you a set up and then you fill in the blanks.
GailGMartin: She sat on the chintz sofa, her fingers following the ------- design of the cloth, so like her --------
GailGMartin:  Now - it could be her fingers following the drab design so like her life.
MBananas: complicated....life
GailGMartin:  Correct.  Good. That's a way to get in setting and description with a purpose. Lets take that example   She sat on the chintz....  and you give me some other examples using those words.
GailGMartin: How about her fingers following the beautiful design like the smile on Brad's lips.
MBananas: divan, swirling design...like her whirling mind
GailGMartin: excellent!
GailGMartin: yes - that's it.
GailGMartin: Here's another - but do a contrast here
GailGMartin: Though the afternoon sun shimmed in the sky, Grace
saw/witnessed/noticed......
GailGMartin: Okay - something that goes against the sunny sky - something that will affect her mood. ga
GLMaria: A lone dove
HOST WRTR Cynth: A dark cloud
GailGMartin: Good
HOST WRTR JanetE: intricate design...her complicated relationship, going in too many directions...
GLMaria: A rainbow
HOST WRTR Cynth: Rain drops
GailGMartin: Yes - wonderful
GailGMartin: Great
PNELROD: Noticed the laundry on the line had not escaped the attentions of the local seagulls after all.
GailGMartin: Okay - you can go to the depth of meaning that you want - and you see it serves a purpose.
GailGMartin: Cute! - I love those seagulls.
GailGMartin: Okay - try this
PNELROD: Not if you'd just done the laundry--I figure THAT will change her mood quick.
GailGMartin: The wind buffeted against her back and the white caps lashed against the rocks, leaving her --------
GLMaria: desolate
GailGMartin: Or lashed against the rocks just as.....    either one.
MBananas: bruised and battered
PNELROD: dripping with spray.
GailGMartin: Yes - desolate.
GailGMartin: Okay
HOST WRTR Cynth: overwhelmed
GailGMartin: Good
GailGMartin: Here's a challenge - we only have a few minutes.
GailGMartin: I'll give you some scenarios - and I'd like you to write a
sentence or two to create a mood or an emotion.  You can pick the mood or emotion - funny, scary, angry, etc.
GailGMartin: Here are the four choices
GailGMartin: Walking into someone's kitchen
GailGMartin: Standing in a flower garden
GailGMartin: Hiking on a mountain trail
GailGMartin: Watching a snowfall
GailGMartin: Okay - pick and send your thoughts along.
GailGMartin: ga
PNELROD: Grace knew it would be another one of those days when she walked into the kitchen to find her sister sitting on top of the fridge holding a broom.
PNELROD: "Mouse?"  asked Grace.
PNELROD: Sis shook her head.  "Possum.  A big one.  It's behind the oven. "Your turn."  She handed Grace the broom.
GailGMartin:  Cute
GLMaria: She gazed out the window as the snow silently fell to the earth.
HOST WRTR JanetE: Lemon yellow wild flowers peeked out from the boulders strewn across the mountain path.  Maria smiled and stopped to drag in a quick breath.  In that moment, she knew she would be all right in her new environment.  
GailGMartin: Great Janet.  Very nice.
GLMaria: That is nice
GailGMartin: GLMaria - - give me a purpose for her watching the snow - compare it to something in her life.
HOST WRTR JanetE: <thanks> 
GailGMartin: Before we're finished here, I hope you understand what I'm saying.  Description is fine - and serves a purpose to give us a sense of place.
GailGMartin: Our readers want to know where the characters are and what the room looks like - or what the scenery looks like - but notice how much more it means when we add that little bit of mood or emotion that heightens the setting and provides something deeper.
GailGMartin: We need to do this even with clothing and appearance.
GailGMartin: It's okay to tell what they have on - but do it in a way that it has a greater purpose.
GailGMartin: From Jemma again -  she goes to a fancy party and doesn't feel a part of it -
GailGMartin: The ladies wore designer dresses meant to look casual and unpretentious, but the labels could have been on the outside. They weren't fooling anyone.
GailGMartin: Jemma glanced at her plain print sheath adorned with a gold-plated necklace and button earrings. She eyed the lush, expensive jewelry weighting the necks and fingers of the other guests and understood Philip's discomfort with her. How could he have Jemma on his arm?
GailGMartin:  I hope you see how the description serves a deeper purpose.  I know time is up. Thanks for having me and don't forget to visit www.gailmartin.com.
GLMaria: Thank you for coming Gail. I really enjoyed it and learned a lot.  It's nice to be here.
HOST WRTR JanetE: this was fun!
GLMaria: Yes, it was!
HOST WRTR JanetE: and therapeutic for me, LOL.
GailGMartin: Great.
GailGMartin: Please look for Loving Treasures.  It's getting good reviews.
GLMaria: I will Gail
GLMaria: I look forward to reading your novel
GailGMartin: Thanks - and bye.
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news...This is great stuff!
GLMaria: Good night- God Bless
HOST WRTR Cynth: ***A special thanks goes out to Gail Gaymer Martin!
HOST WRTR JanetE: Good night everyone...
HOST WRTR Cynth: Thanks again for coming!