{"id":11420,"date":"2014-09-23T03:00:50","date_gmt":"2014-09-23T10:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/?p=11420"},"modified":"2014-09-21T17:23:35","modified_gmt":"2014-09-22T00:23:35","slug":"description-feelings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersfunzone.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/23\/description-feelings\/","title":{"rendered":"Description is About Feelings by Jackie Blain"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Description<\/a>Join me as we welcome back columnist\u00a0Jackie Blain as she shares with us on how \u201cDescription is About Feelings.\u201d Enjoy!<\/em><\/p>\n

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\nOne of the delights of reading fiction is getting lost in the world of the story.<\/strong> Becoming so immersed in that place and time that we get confused when we look up from the page, and have to ask, \u201cWhere am I?\u201d<\/p>\n

When I read The Alienist<\/em> by Caleb Carr<\/a>, it always took me several seconds to come back to the present from his deeply felt descriptions of 19th<\/sup> century New York City. Okay, he\u2019s an historian so he\u2019s obviously good at the \u201cstuff\u201d of an era. But it was more than that. It was the atmosphere, the emotions of the description, that sucked me right on in and wouldn\u2019t let me go.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why description at its best isn\u2019t just about the \u201cstuff\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s also the feeling.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

And the feeling can change, depending on what you\u2019re trying to do as an author, or where your character is emotionally.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s one example:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you read my previous post<\/a><\/strong> and did the exercise, pull out what you wrote after you visited that favorite childhood place. Re-read it, close your eyes, and put yourself back there. If you haven\u2019t seen that post or tried that exercise, I\u2019d suggest doing it now \u2013 it\u2019ll be even fresher in your mind!<\/p>\n

Now I want you to go back to that place\u2026 but as your adult self, who you are now<\/em>. Even if the place is gone, imagine what it would be like today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go ahead. Close your eyes.\u00a0 Take a deep breath. Hold it. Let it out…<\/p>\n