How to write descriptively - Nalo Hopkinson
View full lesson: http://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-write-fiction-that-comes-alive-nalo-hopkinson The point of fiction is to cast a spell, a momentary illusion that you are living in the world...
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We read fiction for many reasons. To be entertained, to find out who done it, to travel to strange, new planets, to be scared, to laugh, to cry, to think, to feel, to be so absorbed that for a while we forget where we are. So, how about writing fiction? How do you suck your readers into your stories? With an exciting plot? Maybe. Fascinating characters? Probably. Beautiful language? Perhaps. "Billie's legs are noodles. The ends of her hair are poison needles. Her tongue is a bristly sponge, and her eyes are bags of bleach." Did that description almost make you feel as queasy as Billie? We grasp that Billie's legs aren't actually noodles. To Billie, they feel as limp as cooked noodles. It's an implied comparison, a met...
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We read fiction for many reasons. To be entertained, to find out who done it, to travel to strange, new planets, to be scared, to laugh, to cry, to think, to feel, to be so absorbed that for a while we forget where we are. So, how about writing fiction? How do you suck your readers into your stories? With an exciting plot? Maybe. Fascinating characters? Probably. Beautiful language? Perhaps. "Billie's legs are noodles. The ends of her hair are poison needles. Her tongue is a bristly sponge, and her eyes are bags of bleach." Did that description almost make you feel as queasy as Billie? We grasp that Billie's legs aren't actually noodles. To Billie, they feel as limp as cooked noodles. It's an implied comparison, a met...
