tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post3840886717145524219..comments2024-03-29T11:29:56.764-04:00Comments on Jungle Red Writers: ON DETAILSJungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-88890306109041302022007-04-08T13:35:00.000-04:002007-04-08T13:35:00.000-04:00Ah--Sheila! You got it! And even the thought of yo...Ah--Sheila! You got it! <BR/>And even the thought of your (pretty unpeasant) olfactory image made my nose twitch... <BR/><BR/>Love the other images, too..it's so much fun to hear from you all.<BR/><BR/>New topic coming up Monday--see you back here then!<BR/><BR/>HankAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-7317295136827317112007-04-07T09:14:00.000-04:002007-04-07T09:14:00.000-04:00Debenham and Freebody, Hank--I had a friend who wo...Debenham and Freebody, Hank--I had a friend who worked there one summer,long, long ago...<BR/><BR/>In one of Lisa Gardner's books there's a woman who has been kidnapped and dumped in a muddy sinkhole, and while she waits for rescue (or death) she watches blow-fly maggots crawling under her skin. That image is hard to shake.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, in my current cozy, my agent and editor agreed that the reference to the smell of burning meat after my victim had been stuffed into a glassblowing furnace was a bit too much for cozy readers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-34332201781964954132007-04-05T08:13:00.000-04:002007-04-05T08:13:00.000-04:00The most lingering image for me is in Tess Gerrits...The most lingering image for me is in Tess Gerritsen's THE SINNER, when an unexpectedly pregnant Jane Rizzoli, still in denial, goes off for a mad, last-minute Christmas shopping session at Target. She pushes the cart up and down the aisles, all the while hurrying and obsessing, until she rounds a corner to end up smack dab in the aisle with all the baby stuff.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16467786990577651930noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-88904436019954609862007-04-04T09:45:00.000-04:002007-04-04T09:45:00.000-04:00There's a line from the non-fic book Man is the Pr...There's a line from the non-fic book <I>Man is the Prey</I> by James Clarke that gets me every time. He's talking about hyenas:<BR/><BR/>"The animal clamped its terrible jaws over his mouth and nose, and with the ease of a man eating a biscuit, it bit cleanly through."<BR/><BR/>Eeeewwwww. I'll never get that image out of my head. Of course, I share it with the students so we can have mutual shudder moments.Rural Catholic Womanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00042421637636646604noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-21636368270445322202007-04-04T08:12:00.000-04:002007-04-04T08:12:00.000-04:00I love details, whether they be indigenous flora w...I love details, whether they be indigenous flora within the setting (White Oleander), a quirk in a character's personality (Trashcan Man), or the syntax (Huck). It makes all the difference, doesn't it?Lynne Griffin and Amy MacKinnonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11107479565926998943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-42437093902463839942007-04-04T03:42:00.000-04:002007-04-04T03:42:00.000-04:00Watch out! Virgin blogger on the loose. I accident...Watch out! Virgin blogger on the loose. I accidentally posted my blog on your Writing Well is the Best Revenge, so you can pop over and read it if you wish. It would be nice to get feedback on the conversation.<BR/><BR/>I must admit that I, too, am a visual, sensual type of person, and that is how I must write as well. It is the best way I can convey mood, thoughts and emotions.<BR/>I tend to use hints that I hope will kind of dawn on the reader in a "6th Sense" sort of manner where it all comes cascading into focus as the ending approaches. There are, of course, other hints I like to elude to before bringing them out into the open to further the story along. Verbal exchanges, visuals, and the like play in big.<BR/><BR/>Jessica, I love that you're writing a medical thriller as I am too, and it's nice to meet a sister in the hood! In my other blog, I share how this day I sent my 1st query for my 1st novel.<BR/><BR/>Aloha!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-72868699928365920582007-04-03T13:38:00.000-04:002007-04-03T13:38:00.000-04:00Hey, ladies! Great topic. Jessica Andersen here,...Hey, ladies! Great topic. <BR/><BR/>Jessica Andersen here, still locked out of my blogger account and too lazy to go fix it.<BR/><BR/>I'm sorry to say that I'm not nearly as well read as you all- so here's a genre example of a telling detail. In one of the Jody Jaffee mysteries, which are set on the horse show circuit, a Jane Doe murder victim has a sticky, dirt-like substance under her short fingernails, and her fingertips were wrapped in tape. <BR/><BR/>To anyone who's 'done' the show circuit, this indicates that Jane Doe was a professional braider. Other readers got to wait until the end for that reveal, which I thought was nicely done.<BR/><BR/>In my own writing, I try to use detail to make the character's thought process feel more authentic. When I'm writing a medical thriller, my geneticist doesn't think 'that smells like skunk'- she thinks 'that smells like BME,' because beta-mercaptoethanol, the active ingredient in skunk smell, is commonly used in many lab protocols. <BR/><BR/>This, obviously, is an area where 'write what you know' comes in very, very handy.<BR/><BR/>The way I see it, most of the small, internal details in a character's POV often become invisible to the reader- but it only takes one wrong detail to bump the reader out of the story and lose that sense of authenticity.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-68816008184575101812007-04-03T11:49:00.000-04:002007-04-03T11:49:00.000-04:00..someone recently (my editor, actually) mentioned.....someone recently (my editor, actually) mentioned a detail in my book, that I had pretty much forgotten writing. It wasn't critical to the story but she remembered it. All right, it was a cake, and the KIND of cake it was made the scene more memorable to her. Ok, it's not up there with Proust's madeleines, but if he had just liked crackers would anyone remember?<BR/>RosemaryJungle Red Writershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com