The Most Horrible and Perfect Sentence of A Dance with Dragons

First, a note: No spoilers, I swear. You can read on safely, fellow fans.

Ten days ago was the release date of GRR Martin's A Dance with Dragons, a book for which I, along with many fans, have been waiting a long time. Not that I mind - there's plenty of other books to read in the meantime - but once it was there, I wasn't going to wait another day.

I bought on Tuesday and spent my week doing little else with my free time than read through the thousand-page epic.* I was done Saturday afternoon, and "forced" the book in a friend's hand so I'd have someone to discuss spoilery goodness with.

Not that I'll expand much on the book. By now there's plenty of reviews out there if you're curious. 

See, Martin does grim and brutal super well. He's known for the frequent character deaths and general grittiness of his setting. And among a bloody description of a city's ruins after the war came by (bodies in the water, entire streets burnt down, etc.) was a sentence fragment so perfect  I just had to stop.

Maybe it's just me, but that sentence caught my attention, and that rarely ever happens when I read. And with all the set-up I just did, maybe you'll be disappointed. :P It's still one of the most horrible and perfect sentence I've read in a looong time (hence the title!)

So, here goes. Remember: part of a list of war-related horrors. It wasn't standing alone. And if you're eating anything, put it down.

Children fighting over half-cooked puppies.

And that's it! Tell me, do you remember powerful descriptions that made you stop and pause?


*It's 959 pages of actual text, but with the appendix it goes over 1000. So, I decide that it qualifies!

Experiencing Life at its Fullest

(Would you believe this is my 100th post? It feels weird!)

Writers, I believe, have a special way of experiencing life. I, at least, no longer blitz through it without paying attention. Ever since I put the first word on a page and attempted to describe a scene, I discovered a new facet of life.

I had to see, smell, taste and touch everything. It's as if someone turned up my perception button one day. I have to feel the world and understand it.

Everything can be material. People talking on the bus. A strange customer at my grocery. The rich smell of fresh croissants. The super sweet candies I eat by the dozens on Thursday evenings. The foul smell of sulfur in my labs. There are no exceptions.

I realised this more fully last weekend, as I hiked through a forest with snowshoes. It's winter and most birds are gone. The forest was silent safe for our steps. The day was hot and snow melted, falling from the branches and to the ground. I stopped to listen. My boyfriend was a bit confused at first but when I motionned for him not to talk, he knew right away. I was doing this writer thing.

And then in the middle of a winter forest, I heard the strangest of sound. A fire crackling. It was the melted snow from the trees touching the still cold ground. Admist the tall pine, with not a human being in sight besides of us, it was magic.

I recorded this in a little part of my brain, which stores peculiar experiences for future descriptions. I'm not sure I would have stopped to listen four years ago.

When we started walking again, the sound of our snowshoes crushing the snow covered the crackling. I knew it was there, however, and I was glad I'd stopped.

The writer in me did it. I never loved him more.

Neglecting the Descriptions

There's one thing all my first drafts have in common: they're lacking in descriptions.

 I don't do it on purpose. In first drafts I just write on. I try to stick to the plan and jump from one scene to another. Unless I'm feeling inspired, I don't stop for the descriptions. Or, well, I give the basic hints of what the place is like and jump as quickly to the dialogue.

The advantages
I doubt overdescription will ever be a problem for me. Or at least, not a recurring one. Whenever I linger too long on describing something - even something important - I get the feeling the story isn't moving onward. My brain goes "ACTION PLEASE". Thus I'd be surprised if description was to bog down my pace.

The dangers
While it's good to leave some room to the reader's imagination, description remains an essential part of storytelling, especially in fantasy. You can establish a mood with it. You can give a better idea of what world these characters live in. Skillful description establishes the setting.  I don't want to miss on that!

The truth is that I don't think I need a lot of description to get my points across. I need meaningful details. I think it's fine not to describe a lot, if the time you spend doing it makes your setting unique. Underdescribing can lead to generic scenes. It's always better when you have an original location for your scene.

I guess the morale is not to do what I am doing. Don't be lazy with the description. Seek the specific. Seek the unique. Make the setting come to life.

Me? I'm just waiting for edits to fix it up. For now, I'm moving onward with the story!

The Setting is in the Details

I haven't been blogging for a long time, but it should be increasingly obvious that I love worldbuilding. There is something magical to imagining a time and place separate from our own, where everything works differently and which has its own, unique culture. I am, and will always be, fascinated thick and complex web of connections that emerges between various spheres (political, cultural, geographical, etc.) as you define your new world.

No matter how much time you spend playing around your world, adding new regions or races, or explaining the cultures in it, however, it will lack a little something called life.

Nothing will bring life in your world like actual writing.

I think it's when you write that the details of your world will emerge. They will evolve from your planning and give concrete shape to what you created. And the best way to make your world shine through without exposition is, I believe, in the details.

Our beliefs and our culture is reflected in how we talk and act in our everyday life. Subtle details spread over the course of an entire novel will have more impact than any exposition, not to mention they won't stilt your story.

Here are a few examples of what I call 'details':

Salutations and warding gestures. Here we wave at each other, or we do the christian crest to ward off ill thoughts (I apologise if that is not the correct term. It is a direct translation, and despite my best attempts, I could not find the 'official' name on the internet). Other worlds with other religions may have different sets of gestures, more related to their beliefs.

Swear words and other expressions. Many English swear words will be related to sex, whether it is direct or indirect. Here in Quebec, they are distortions of church words (and are often called Church Words). Swear words (and any other expressions, really) depend a lot of where you are. If you can come up with one that reflects your culture and could be yelled in a moment of frustration, go with it!

Clothing and architecture patterns. How easily can you identify a historical period by the clothes worn? By the buildings? There have been distinct variations throughout history, and when you research them, you realise there are always cultural reasons behind them. Think of how your society's belief will influence how they build and what they wear. As an example, my expansion-obsessed culture will be wearing ample clothes, with hanging sleeves.

Historical/Religious/Geographical references: There are many terms used in our daily vocabulary that are references to past events or to important figures. Don't be afraid to event some, but make sure they are easily understood. If the first time you use a name, what you are trying to say is obvious, you are establishing a life to your setting outside of this novel. That's good, but do be careful not to make obscure and impossible-to-get references. If they sound like an inside joke, you're doing it wrong.

All of these don't have to be planned in advance. Some can be, but in my case it often comes up naturally, and I write them down in a separate document to keep track. After all, I wouldn't want to confuse two elements, and I like to reuse key details until the reader remembers them!

Sensory Deprivation

One morning, nearly a year ago, I stood up after sitting on my foot for too long. I don't know if it ever touched the ground. It must have, but I never felt. All I remember is falling afterwards, and my sister laughing at me.

This, of course, had happened countless times before. Both the numb foot and the fall (my balance is not very good). That particular time, though, was special, because it sparked something in the writer in me. Questions, and a character!

I wondered how it would feel to have all our senses dulled out. How do you cope when walking is challenge, when you can't see well at a distance, when you can't feel hot/cold, when you have to make everyone repeat and when you can't smell a thing? How does that influence someone's daily life, and how would it have happened?

There are multiple ways to answer this. My character was undead-ish, and in addition to the effects named above, he also could not feel pain. He could still die,  if burnt, but otherwise, there were a bunch of things he no longer needed to do. I imagined him trying to live a normal life, to settle down among the other citizens, to get used to not feeling the wind on his skin (he was from a windy city). I thought it would all be rather cool. I still do! I just never found a home for him.

These ideas begged for another question, though. How would that influence descriptions? It becomes harder to place the setting when you have to limit what the character receives as sensory information. I think it becomes a lot more interesting too. Of course, you have to be consistent, but with limited senses, you bring a very different perspective. The same is true for blind or deaf characters too. I'm not sure it would work well for an entire novel, but for a few scenes or short stories, I love it.

This character still needs a home. I will find one for him. Not now, though... I really need to focus on my two WIP, and not jump to a third so soon!

What about you? Do you have any characters with malfunctionning senses? How does it play in your story?