Writing in Reverse

Not as Easy as It Seems

By the time the overview was over 200 pages and Microsoft Word wouldn't allow me to write anymore, I opened a new page and typed on.  But after this, and in the middle of still coming up with ideas, I realized just how far I had come.  Looking back at everything, it was so much - for just the overview, which I spent months on.  I couldn't imagine what it would be like to actually write this huge story.  I knew it would take years and years to do it and be at least seven or eight books long with how much I put into the overview, with how many ideas I had, and when it was still endless for me.

I hadn't even finished the overview because I knew I had to see how I would actually do at writing in the first place.  After all, I was just writing out ideas and points for the story this whole time.  I had 50 characters so far, over 200 pages of an overview for what was looking to be an entire series, and the curiousity to see how I would do with actually applying the material from this overview - which was now basically a summary. 

With ninth grade done, I had the summer open to write the first part of this huge idea.  It was a simple beginning.  I started writing the first part of the overview, which just took up a line in the overview - 'car mysteriously crashed and  Violet ends up in hospital; Jamie vistits'.  That line was my first thing to write about. That was to be the beginning of this huge series.

As I began writing this, I realized just how detailed I was making everything.  I didn't expect me to be able to write about every little thing like it was easy.  I figured that little part would be maybe ten pages at the most, not knowing my abilities in how much I could write yet.  Turns out, I wrote over 130 pages, just on the main character ending up in the hospital and her time there (which was only a few days).  It was too much and that was the point.  I wanted to see how much detail I could put into this and how far I'd be able to draw it out and it turns out, pretty far. I was shocked at how much I could put into just once little scene.

I figured that it would go by fast.  I mean, how long does it take to just type out what was happening? But that was something I was realizing.  You can't just write out events as they are happening.  To make it real, you need everything. 

You need the senses - the way a room feels when you walk in, the way something smells in the air, the feel of fabric when you run your fingers over it.... there is where a huge chunk of detail comes in.  What everything looks like, the colors, characteristics of a room, characteristics of the people in the room. 

That's another thing that takes up detail: setting.  You can spend forever on describing a setting.  It's more than just a small room.  There are edges, a draft, color on the walls, windows with ugly curtains, furniture, texture, flooring... there are always endless details. 

Another thing I noticed that drew out how real everything was was observation.  How you look at people, their movements, watching where the they glance to, how they look at you, their expressions based on what is happening in a scene.  Movements... like if they take a step towards you, if they stare you down with their penetrating royal blue eyes that pierce straight through you.  Not to mention your movements in a scene (and when I say 'you' I mean the character you are writing through).  Does your character shift from side to side?  If leaving a house, how do you walk out?  Do you go down a porch, a flight of stairs?  These little things are what make a scene real. 

And that's not taking into account everything going on inside your character. Emotions.  You can spend forever making a scene more realistic with emotion.  Describe how you are feeling, what is running through your head, what are your thoughts on anything - the situation, the setting, something that is distracting....   Even better than telling your emotions in a scene is showing them, which is often rare considering where you are going with your story.