{"id":1065,"date":"2016-05-02T11:00:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zachbarnesonwriting.wordpress.com\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2016-05-02T11:00:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-02T16:00:24","slug":"co-authorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/co-authorship\/","title":{"rendered":"Co-Authorship"},"content":{"rendered":"

When someone asks for “description,” do you answer with “leave nothing to the imagination?”<\/p>\n

Well, as you may know, this isn’t too classy, and although some folks may enjoy that, most probably don’t. \u00a0I personally fall back on description when I am at a loss of words, because I know that description\u00a0is my strongest asset as a writer, and I’m most comfortable doing it. The problem remains: sometimes, to improve, I need to leave something to the imagination.<\/p>\n

This might sound contrary to you. \u00a0Or maybe like an author not doing his job. \u00a0But I heartily\u00a0believe\u00a0that leaving something to the imagination is essential to any engaging story.<\/p>\n

Think about\u00a0these two scenarios:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. You are shown a building.<\/li>\n
  2. You are shown the blueprint for a building and given the tools to construct it yourself.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Which is more interesting?<\/p>\n

    My father calls this literary technique “co-authorship.” \u00a0If a reader\u00a0begins to provide details, they are investing themselves in the story, piece by piece. \u00a0They build characters and settings and even emotion based on the breadcrumbs an author leaves. \u00a0Of course, you must give them the scaffolding, but they are the bricklayers. \u00a0In the end, characters are more personable, settings are more vivid, and emotions are more visceral if the reader has had room for input.<\/p>\n

    Leaving this margin–the reader margin, per se–can be difficult to do, especially in secondary world fiction, where authors believe it is their solemn duty to present as real and fully-fleshed a world as they can by relying purely on what I’ve heard called “description-porn.” \u00a0So, I’ll say it again: Co-authorship is hard to pull off because it lives in the absence<\/em> of words, like a bar of silence in a symphony.<\/p>\n

    Great fiction accomplishes this. \u00a0You may know the feeling of reading a book and then seeing the film version, and thinking: “well, that’s not how I pictured ____ at all!” \u00a0(I will never remember what Ned Stark looked like; all I see now is Sean Bean, dammit!)<\/em><\/p>\n

    Description, then, should be treated like valuable currency, not to be spent all at once. \u00a0Find hedges of words and prune them vigorously, until only the most nuanced, interesting bits remain. \u00a0Or, write a new scene in a new setting to you and limit yourself to five sentences of description.<\/p>\n

    Good luck, and happy writing!<\/p>\n

    \"292470\"<\/p>\n

    I\u2019m on facebook at:\u00a0https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/zachbarnesonwriting<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

    And Twitter: @ZacharyBarnes4<\/span><\/p>\n

    Like or follow me if you enjoy\u00a0the blog!<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

    Don\u2019t steal\u00a0my words. \u00a0They\u2019re mine. Zachary Barnes 2016\u00a9<\/span><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    When someone asks for “description,” do you answer with “leave nothing to the imagination?”
    \nWell, as you may know, this isn’t too classy, and although some folks may enjoy that, most probably don’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2,13,17,18,21,27,29,46,52],"tags":[60,61,65,83,94,113,132,169,171,204],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":752,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2016\/03\/28\/master-insights-haruki-murakami\/","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":0},"title":"Master Insights: Haruki Murakami","date":"March 28, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd like to bring your attention to Komatsu's last line, which I believe to be the best: \"What you can eliminate from fiction is the description of things that most readers have seen.\"","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/01\/08\/review-of-scott-lynchs-lies\/","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":1},"title":"Review of Scott Lynch's LIES","date":"January 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"The debut story of Locke Lamora is gripping and crammed with an intense gamut of emotion. Though the secondary world is vividly realized, the characters are what make this novel shine. The dialogue is sharply witty and every motivation fits its corresponding personality like a snug winter jacket. Sections of\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Book Reviews\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":184,"url":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/2015\/05\/05\/how-much-description-is-too-much\/","url_meta":{"origin":1065,"position":2},"title":"How Much Description is Too Much?","date":"May 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Have you ever read a book with long passages of description? At first, you may engage, similar to how I used to vow to use my planner at the beginning of every semester. And then interest falters. Some descriptive paragraphs feel like a mud slog. I admit that even I\u2026","rel":"nofollow","context":"In \"Advice\"","img":{"src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zacharybarnes.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}