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Rooting the fantastic: excerpt from Ridiculous Kinky

10/2/2013

 
PictureM.C. Escher
        "In her bedroom Ada dressed slowly, with ritual care, her skin buzzing as though the walls watched.  She liked her room. The walls smelled like vanilla and old books in the sun.  But when it rained, the house became strange and dark, as though it kept a secret.  The oaks and magnolias unfurling alongside the house seemed to claw towards it like a nightmare row of hands.

         The day was warm, though; the wooden boards had not forgotten their months of wildness and were no longer asleep.  Under the touch of birds and sneaking rain, their surface had faded as pale as a fawn's..."


 (the house was abandoned after a grisly incident, hence the months of wildness)

          The more otherworldly your writing, the more important it is for you to ground your words with concrete images: walls, books, trees, floorboards.

          Close your eyes and imagine your page as if it were a scene in a movie; what do you see?  

          What would you feel if you were there?  

           Smells, sensations, emotions... just a little bit of symbolism and foreshadowing... if you work this stuff into every scene, your story will feel like a world unto itself.  

           Try to hit every sense on every page if you can.


sarah
10/7/2013 07:47:00 am

Ah.... rooting..... stability.... Grounding.

Very good post!


Comments are closed.

    Pauline West

    ​Pauline West's first novel, EVENING’S LAND, is winner of the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation Award and recipient of the Carol Marie Smith Memorial Scholarship for the NOEPE Center of Literary Arts.  

    West's writing has been shortlisted for The International Aeon Award, and featured in International School Leader Magazine, Reddit’s NoSleep channel, The Art Mag and The Sierra Nevada Review.

    Pauline West's books on Goodreads
    Candlemoth: A Holy City Romance Candlemoth: A Holy City Romance
    reviews: 15
    ratings: 27 (avg rating 4.04)

    Evening's Land Evening's Land
    reviews: 20
    ratings: 24 (avg rating 3.46)

    Candlemoth Volume 2: How To Spend It Candlemoth Volume 2: How To Spend It
    reviews: 7
    ratings: 10 (avg rating 4.40)

    Candlemoth Book 3: A Twist of Fate Candlemoth Book 3: A Twist of Fate
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 6 (avg rating 4.17)

    Stalker: A Gothic Thriller Stalker: A Gothic Thriller
    reviews: 3
    ratings: 4 (avg rating 4.25)

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