Writing Alchemy
Post #84 – Memoir and Fiction, Writing Alchemy – A Methodology and Book for Writers – Matilda Butler
Find the Details of Your Story
If you have ever taken a writing class or read a book on writing (I’m aware this means all of you), you know about “Show, don’t tell.” Still most people are unsure about how to show. They know they should show but classes and books often let them down when it comes to the particulars of the how.
In following this blog, you’ve heard about our book Writing Alchemy: How to Write Fast and Deep.
At the end of using the Writing Alchemy methodology, you have all the ingredients you need to show rather than tell. We’ve often felt that something almost magical happens after using the Writing Alchemy approach. You’ve told the scene using five different approaches and in the process of doing that and reflecting on the results, you see the best way to write the scene. You know which details to include.
And in general, I still feel this way. It is like when you put flour, water, yeast, and salt together. You give it some time and you get a loaf of bread that is much more than the individual elements. So it is with Writing Alchemy. It lets you put together character, emotion, dialogue, sensory detail, time/place and get much more than the individual elements.
But Now I Have a New Insight into the Use of Details
Recently, I was reading one of Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes stories and found the following line:
“One of the main tasks of an investigator is to know which small facts are incidental and which are revealing.” — Statement made by Sherlock Holmes in Laurie R. King’s The God of the Hive, A Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel of suspense
If you change the sentence to read–One of the main tasks of a writer is to know which small facts are incidental and which are revealing–then you have one of those sentences that can change the way you think about a topic. It let me add a third leg to the stool of my beliefs about the importance of details in writing:
Thanks Sherlock for helping me add the last point. I had gotten so wrapped up in the value of details that I had ignored the value of the careful consideration of which details to include. I recently read another mystery that helped me understand this point even better. The author gave many details but there was no sincerity in the details. They were not woven into the story but applied on top of it.
So once you get the hang of Writing Alchemy’s methodology, once you have the details developed at considerable depth, once you have studied what you have, craft your scene using the details that help to involve the reader and move your story forward. And by the way, it is impossible to know ahead of time which details should be included. You need to deconstruct for all the details and then see which ones help to reveal your story with the depth it deserves.
Want to Know More About Writing Alchemy?
Writing Alchemy: How to Write Fast and Deep can be purchased from Amazon, and that is the link provided in the second paragraph. The price on Amazon bounces around and we have no control over it.
However, if you would like to purchase through our etsy.com store, we are glad to autograph the book as well as give you a limited time discount. Once you have clicked on Add to Cart, you can use the coupon code — WINNER — and get $10 off. Currently that makes Writing Alchemy about $5 cheaper to purchase through us. And shipping is FREE.
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