Juniper (#atozchallenge)

Welcome to today's post on the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge. My challenge, as I have chosen to accept it, is thus: I have asked on my Facebook and Twitter accounts for people to contribute random words beginning with today's letter. From Random.org, I have selected one of these words, and will below challenge myself to connect said word to writing.

For the letter J, I received 50 suggestions. Random.org selected number 10: juniper.


Juniper

Close your eyes for a moment.

Wait, never mind. If you close your eyes, you can't read this. Eyes open. Read on.

Okay, so imagine (with your eyes open), that I've said "juniper" to you, and I show you this picture.

Image courtesy of Wiki Commons

And I ask you to describe juniper to me. Where do you start?

"Well, it's a tree, on which grow small, dark juniper berries..."

If you're anything like me, you start with the visual. As writers, we paint pictures in the mind. But sometimes, we forget that the mind's eye can do more than see.

How do juniper trees sound in the wind?

What do juniper trees smell like after an autumn rain? How do the berries smell  just after being picked?

How does the bark of the tree feel under your hand? The needles? What feeling do you get when you squish a berry between your fingers?

What do juniper berries taste like? (I won't ask about the bark.)

The picture we're painting for our readers is not static, and it's not only visual. There's so much more to a setting and a character than just how it/he/she looks. Does your sixteen-year-old male MC have BO? Does that twenty-something secretary (that your MC is screwing behind his wife's back) wear strawberry LipSmackers? Does your MC's sixty-two year old boss wear so much perfume that your MC prefers to walk the eight flights of stairs to the ground floor than take the elevator with her? (I bring this up only because I know this woman.)

Not yet convinced? Well, I'd like to leave you with this small scene from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, season 1, episode 8: I Robot, You Jane (not my favorite episode title). Unfortunately—and unsurprisingly—I couldn't find this clip on YouTube, but if you start at about minute 42:00 and let it play for about 1 minute, you'll get what I'm saying.



Don't have time to watch? The bottom line: things are better when they're smelly :)

Want more ideas on how to work smells into your writing? Check out this great post by Charity.

How do you describe your settings? Your characters? Do you try to add more than the usual visual content?


Today I'm taking suggestions for the letter P? Have any? Leave them below! Thanks :)

My Own Personal Challenges

I've been reading (among many other things at once) On Writing by Stephen King. I enjoyed reading his books when I was younger. After having read every Christopher Pike novel published to that point in my life at least three times, Stephen King was the next step, moving into the world of adult horror/suspense/thriller/what-have-you. And, honestly, even if you don't like Stephen King's style or his stories or are simply jealous, you have to admit—the man's got something.

So when a friend loaned me his writing memoir a few months ago I thought, "Okay, sure. Seems like a good idea."

Then it sat on the shelf until I reached 50K for NaNo.

I thought to myself, "What now?" as I'm sure many other NaNo's do. So I picked up King's On Writing to see what advice I could glean on how to dust off my work boots and get back into it.

The book is full of fabulous advice. Above and beyond the tips like "Read a lot. Write a lot", he suggests setting a daily goal. Don't do anything until you reach your goal. Don't give up and walk away. Write while eating your lunch if you must. Obviously great advice, and something I could stand to implement into my own life.

But the piece of advice that has resonated with me so soundly today is about description. I tend to be an under-describer in my writing, particularly in my first drafts. As I read, I thought about my NaNo creation (whatever it may be) and about the setting. What had I described well? Ne, what had I described at all? Oh, it hurts to admit that I may have let the description slide some. But now I know at least one thing to focus on when I go back for rewrites.

There are plenty of other gems in King's On Writing. This is just the one that inspired me today.

What's some great writing advice you've been given/come across?