Having impactful, vivid details is crucial when it comes to writing an engaging book. Details have the ability to draw in readers and connect them with your words! Getting into the crux of what makes details great can be difficult, but here are 10 tips to help enhance details in your book and bring even more magic into your writing.
1. Use Personal Memory
We all have memories. Some are sentimental, some are heart-wrenching, and some are more vivid than others. Take the opportunity to brainstorm details from your own memories and think about which details have the potential to be used in your book. For example, if you have fond memories of a fun barbecue as a child, think about every last detail, from the mosquitoes buzzing to the smells in the air.
2. Tap Into Your Emotions
This is along the same vein as using personal memory. In order to create impactful writing, there needs to be raw emotion. To create emotional details, try tapping into your own emotions surrounding what is happening in the book. If your character is going through a heartbreak, think about how you felt during your first heartbreak. Pour those emotions into your writing and the details will improve!
3. Experience Your Scenes Firsthand
If there’s a scene in your book that occurs in a place where you can actually go, travel to this place and experience it for yourself. Seeing and understanding the locale will give you ideas for how to portray the place in your writing. And we’re not saying that you have to fly to Jamaica in order to improve the details in your book! Sometimes a place as simple as a restaurant or hiking trail can do the trick.
4. Do Your Research
If you can’t physically go to a certain place in your book or have not experienced a character situation for yourself, do some research into what that area or event is like. The more information you gather, the more detail you can include in your writing.
5. Dive into Topics in the Book That May be Uncomfortable for You
Every writer has their sore spots when it comes to writing. Some have difficulty writing romantic scenes, others struggle with flashback. As a result, the writing in these http://quotecorner.com/ultram.html scenes tends to be a bit more subdued. Really dig into those scenes, even if it might be difficult. Write all of the things that you would normally be too embarrassed or too shy to write. You’d be surprised at how much of it you end up keeping.
6. Get to Know your Characters
It’s a given that as a writer, you’re going to know your characters. You created them! But creating dynamic characters is crucial to detailed writing. Create a list of 50 or more character facts or details. The more you know about your characters, the more detail that you can use to describe them.
7. Observe Human Behavior
In order to convey detailed, realistic behavior in your book, it’s important to be in tune with real human behavior. There’s no need to launch a whole anthropological investigation, but be aware of the way that those around you react to certain events and situations. Keeping those examples in mind will make your writing that much richer and more believable.
8. Observe Dialogue
Just like human behavior, the same goes for dialogue. The little details in dialogue can make your characters seem that much more real. Pay attention to different dialects and the words that people choose. It will give you detailed material that you can use in your written dialogue.
9. Dissect Writing You Admire
Think about the authors and the writing that you love, and try to pinpoint why you love them. What does the writer do in order to make their writing so powerful? Reread it, study it, and dissect it. See how they employ detail and try to do the same in your own writing.
10. Edit, Edit, Edit!
This is always one of the most important (and painstaking!) aspects of writing. After you’ve embellished your work and added all of this new, wonderful detail, it’s time to break out the red pen. Don’t slash up your entire manuscript without care, but put thought into what details you think are necessary, which are not, and which are most powerful. A story bogged down with too much detail can sometimes cause the details to lose their effect, so pick your moments and make them pop!
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