Getting into Writing

[JMP300z]

[ QUOTE ]
Attention to detail has always been key to me. When you go into great detail about things that naturally appeal to the senses, but may tend to be overlooked, you learn to create a mental image for the reader that envelops them, which imo is my favorite part about writing; paint an image with words so realistic that its hard not to get engrossed in the text.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is good advice, but a writer should be careful not to overdo it. Remember that somewhere on the opposite end of the spectrum has its own unique charm. Let the readers imagination fill in all that is mundane, only key them in on all that is relevant. This is the approach Stephen King supports in On Writing.

-JP

[cbloom]

[ QUOTE ]

Read things where the voice has an unusual of flavorful take on mundane circumstances. A primary source of my inspiration were Hunter S. Thompson's newer ESPN articles where he'd take a seemingly boring sport event and put his own colorful twist on things.


[/ QUOTE ]

Hunter did this well, as do a few others, but so so many people try this and fail, and if you do it badly it's worse that just being dry. A typical journalist should get to the point and leave their own personality out of it.

[ohgeetee]

I second Stephen King's On Writing and The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. With these 2 resources, an idea, and some motivation, you have all you'll ever need.