marrian.com logo

“I find it jars a little. After all, it was written for Marilyn Monroe. This is writing songs for dead blondes.”
(Keith Richards , in a 1997 interview with Toronto Sun writer Jane Stevenson commenting on Elton John's reworking of Candle in the Wind)

 

Lesson 5 - carry a cat

I'm not quite sure what happened in this lesson. I took very few notes:

  • Don't give observations to people that they couldn't actually make eg small person seeing bald patch of tall person
  • Telling of a story: narrator, characters, author
  • Psychic distance (did I hear right?): start landscape, drill down, use description which might apply to narrator or character
  • 1st person: think about what the character sees, not what the author sees. Make POV choices and stick to them
  • Don't put the important part of a description last eg hat, boots, clothing, gun!
  • "Walk in the space" when you write
  • Don't mix metaphors - use any metaphors consistently

Back to Writing Course