deails

Ruth and I went out for a meal Friday night with Mike and Kirsty to a restaurant called Zizzi. Mike is one of these people I find really easy to talk to. I haven’t seen him for over a year and we just picked up talking as if it yesterday was the last time we met.

I am sitting here writing this passage and I am thinking as a writer I haven’t been very observant or I am not very observant of external details. I mean we spent a whole evening with Mike and Kirsty and I am having a hard time remembering what the heck we said. I didn’t capture any of the finer details that could possibly find their way into my writing. My first thought is to say that nothing interesting happened, that it was just a routine night out. But then I think well what about the details? What was Mike wearing? How does Kirsty look now that she has lost 2 stone? What was the waiter like? How about the little blonde waitress, what was she like? And how about the barmaid at the Bowling Green, how would I describe her? What about the people in the Bowling Green, what were they like? What about the older blonde sitting in the back corner, why did she catch my eye? You see I was about to write this passage as I write most of my passages through the reflective lens of my inner musings. There is time and place for the reflective lens, but from the writers I enjoy reading, it’s their ability to capture the finer details that excites me. Just yesterday I read the opening pages of John Updike’s Rabbit Run and man the way he describes the pick up game of basketball in that opening scene is awesome. That is what I am after!

Conclusion: Work on the details!!

1 Comment

  1. Anonymous December 18, 2007 at 9:56 pm

    What matters most?

    I think you’re thinking too much. The blondes caught your eye because you’ve always had a thing for blondes.

    Reply

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