Author: Rosanne Dingli

Authors and the visual arts

Writing classes often advise emerging authors to give a lot of attention to all the senses. ‘Include smells,’ they say. ‘Include textures and sounds. Mention the taste of things.’ These tutors are right. Humans have five senses, and use them constantly, whether they are aware of the fact or not. Writing needs to suggest real life.

Beginning writers need to be very cautious with this aspect of writing, however: bombarding the reader with every single sensory notion in every scene, or giving too much information about a character’s experience of one, can have an off-putting effect. Are you sure your reader wants to know what every scene smells or sounds like? It can be over-kill to compare noises and aromas continually. It is much more effective to mention these things occasionally, and with a lot of thought and planning. Continue reading “Authors and the visual arts”

Reinventing the wheel

Image courtesy blindingstars.com

Writing in 2012 is nothing like it was in 2000. And it was different during other periods, too. Take 1910 to the post WWII days: it was nothing like it was in the 1960s. Writing provides dips and bumps in the landscape, forcing writers into different turns and bends.

What do I mean exactly? Well – writers have always written, and they have always either kept to, or broken, the conventions of the day. Conventions have not always been the same ones we observe now, because language evolves and morphs through use. Custom and usage twists custom and usage out of the present shape into the next unpredictable one. You notice this if you carefully observe the speech and patterns of newsreaders. And goodness me – you certainly notice it in novels. Continue reading “Reinventing the wheel”

Venice – the ideal location for a novel

Venice makes an excellent location for a writer to put inside a work of fiction. It’s not difficult to see why this is. Selecting Venice as one of the places where action takes place when writing a novel solves a number of dilemmas that writers often face.

Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, Venice
Santa Maria della Salute - from Wikipedia

How can a location solve a problem?

Well – writers like me try to make their readers imagine vivid scenes, lively action, interesting people and curious things. It is difficult for a reader to visualise a fictional place unless an author describes it minutely. I try to avoid lengthy descriptions, because I find it slows down the action. So how do I inject atmosphere without the words? Well – I use places like Venice. Continue reading “Venice – the ideal location for a novel”

The Writer’s Malaise

Mood swings – of course it does. (Thought I’d catch you there!)

Seriously now:

Authors tend to teeter between elation and despondency. I have yet to meet a writer of any sort who has not – at one time or another – suffered from depression, anxiety or plain sadness. This occupation seems to attract the type of insular introvert with mood swings that are either affected by the writing habit, or that cause it. Continue reading “The Writer’s Malaise”