From: "The Critic" <ranma_critic@hotmail.com>
To: ffml@fanfic.com
Subject: [FFML] Critical Writing Skills (#1)
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1998 12:33:44 PDT

Hi all.

I've decided to post small 'tricks of the writing trade' every once in 

a 

while to help unexperienced writers polish their craft.

Canonical Characterizations 101:  Descriptions

Many unexperienced writers feel the need to explain facets of a 
character we already know (canonical characters, not new characters 

whom 

we naturally know nothing about). This practice clutters the prose, it 
can make the reader annoyed when the material contradicts his own 
perceptions of the character, and it's often taken by experienced 
readers, such as myself, as a set-up for an OOC description.

In a nutshell--don't do it. You know how a character looks, acts and 
what is capable of, and so does the reader. It's acceptable only when 
done through the eyes of a new character who doesn't know anything 

about 

the canonical characters, and only then when it isn't gratuitous.



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	This seems a bit arbitrary.  Depending on the tone of the work and it�s 
focus, description of characters is important.  Only in the fiction with 
the lightest tone should it be avoided.

	I think you where trying to point out a common error -- I make it 
myself � in how a description is handled.  It is a bad idea to simply 
take a whole paragraph to describe a character.  Weave descriptions of 
appearance and personality into the work.  Don�t make it sound as if you 
are giving a character sketch.  You have the whole scene or perhaps work 
to paint your picture, there�s no need to hurry.  Let the scene unfold 
gracefully.

	I often find myself reinventing characters as I read.  New information 
comes to me and I have to redefine my image of the world and people in 
it.  Just like real life.

	You said it was only acceptable to describe old characters threw the 
eyes of a new one.  Remember that an Author is always in his/her story.  
They are the narrator.  
                                                   -Ba'al



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