It is an honor to have Linda Wells as my guest. She has painted some lovely pictures with words and it is amazing. I like how you drew me in with your words and visuals. Thank you Linda, for such an interesting post. Be sure and check out the giveaway at the end of the post. You will not want to miss this one!
I was recently sitting on a hotel balcony, watching the sun
rising over the Atlantic Ocean, and the phrase, “A picture is worth a thousand
words,” came to mind. That’s true
enough, but not the best adage for a writer.
After all, my goal is the opposite, to paint a picture with
words. So, I went about mentally writing
the scene playing out before me.
Gulls cackled and
soared in ever-growing circles as the slightest glimmer of light appeared on
the horizon. Still too dark to see
clearly, the gentle lapping of waves upon the shore, and the unmistakably heavy
scent of salt in the air, confirmed that it was a great body of water
stretching out into the distance, and not some open field in an empty park. Slowly the light took on a pinkish hue, and
the silhouettes of two people appeared against the brightening sky. One, a man standing stiffly with his hands
balled into fists, stared out across the water.
The other was a woman, seated on the beach with her arms wrapped around
her knees, her long hair blowing unheeded around her drooping head. They were clearly together, but at the same
time, the distance between them seemed as vast as the ocean.
The hardest thing when starting a new story is writing that
first paragraph. It has to grab your
readers’ attention and keep them curious enough to turn the page. Setting the scene, introducing the mood, the
time period, and most importantly, the characters, is challenging. You want to reveal enough to be intriguing,
but you don’t want to say everything right away. That’s what makes writing variations of Pride
and Prejudice interesting. After all,
everybody knows Darcy and Elizabeth. What
new thing can possibly be revealed about two characters who have been dissected
by hundreds of writers, on both the scholarly and fan fiction sides of
things?
And that’s where it strikes me. How many times have artists painted the same
scene? How many students have sat around
a studio with the same model before them, and yet every painting produced is unique. Each student chooses a particular feature to
highlight, a preferred style and medium to use, and inevitably, each mixes
their individual feelings into the finished piece.
The same goes for writing Jane Austen variations. We all start with the same story, the same characters,
and then . . . our imaginations are set free to paint that new picture with
words. Where will we put them? What time period will it be? What can we change? What should be left untouched? And most of all, how can we begin that story
so each reader is comfortable with their beloved characters, no matter where
they happen to be this time around, and know that in essentials, they are
unchanged?
The drone of
propellers cutting through the air drew Darcy’s impassive gaze from the field
of ripening wheat to the horizon, where three Spitfires flying in close
formation sped ever closer. As a boy he
would determinedly spur his pony to chase the shadows of passing aircraft,
sometimes waving to the pilots as they swooped down low. Now a grown man, he sat still and followed
the fighters’ progress as they passed over Pemberley, the fading sound of the
engines lingering long after the planes were only specks in the cloudless sky.
A different sort
of engine sound shifted his attention to the drive and signalled the approach
of an open top Cowley and the three people seated inside. Urging his horse up the ridge, Darcy directed
him through the trees and onto the gravelled road. The motorcar was too far away to see any
great detail, but he could tell by the way the people behaved that they were
strangers, come to see the estate.
There, a picture painted with words. Can you see it? You know that it’s Darcy, you can be pretty
sure that the three people in the car are Elizabeth and the Gardiners coming to
see Pemberley. It’s definitely not
Regency, but it is familiar. Your
imagination can fill in some of the details even without reading another
word. But that’s the point. You want to read the words because they take
you far beyond that first picture. The
words let you examine and explore, to feel the emotions of the characters and
draw out feelings from your own experiences.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but a thousand
words give you so much more than a painting.
Do you have a favorite opening paragraph or sentence? And no, you can’t pick the obvious, “It is a
truth universally acknowledged . . .”
Your post made me think and feel...very pleasant and inspirational. Thank you again for sharing these thoughts with us, Linda. I think you said it all very well, indeed.
Now to Ms. Wells' giveaway...winner's choice of ANY of her eBooks. Folks that is a set of three books for Memory or two books for Imperative and so on. You get the idea. It is a very generous offer and we thank you very much Linda Wells. Answer Linda's question above in the comment section to be entered. The giveaway is international. Be sure to include your email address in the comment. To prevent unwanted spam, put your email address with an (at) instead of @. Winner will be chosen in a random drawing. Giveaway ends at midnight, September 2.
