Imagery

[Strongbow]

whgen i write poems and other works i tend to use very abstract imagry focused around darkness, fog, mazes, light, angels, demons, bloodflow (arteries, the heart), and so on... sometimes its hard to pull myself out of that trend and it will linger into two or three poems in a row. : (

has anyone else ever been momentarily stuck on a few "types" of images?

[Lizra]

I overuse descriptions of vitality ( ) bright, vibrant, heady, invigorating....but my favorite is using double letter deals. Vivacious vitality, beckoning brightness, heady herbs, invigorating images...love the sound of those doubles!

[Strongbow]

oh i like how beckoning brightness sounds

[Ninquelote]

I'm almost always stuck on descriptions of cities and cultures, but never people.

Cities have that certain feel that's hard to replicate in writing. Cultures vary and thus, you have to describe something entirely new to the reader. It's hard for me.

I love describing images of nature, though.

[Anglorfin]

I wish I was more of a creative writer. Usually what I write is considered too objective. I have very little skill with descriptive adjectives or adverbs.

[IronParrot]

Yeah, over the past few years, I've become too much of an essayist too. It's hurt my prose a lot.

[Anglorfin]

Darn school assignment writing and not taking any creative writing electives . . . . . .

[Strongbow]

haha i started writing a several page essay on my views about government and the human condition... never did finish it, and my views have changed since then (damned maturity)

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I often get stuck describing people's emotional states, and explaining the actions my characters take. But that's not quite imagery, is it? Hmm.

I find myself utilizing stock images, usually of the more Goth-y, dark sort, far too often.

[Lief Erikson]

Originally posted by Eruviel Greenleaf
I often get stuck describing people's emotional states, and explaining the actions my characters take.

It's best to let the behavior of a character speak for itself, in demonstrating what the character is like. Or if the character from who's perspective you're writing is the one you want analyzed, use the person's thoughts to let the reader draw his own conclusions. Writing doesn't have to be definitive, and leaving something for the reader to think about can help draw them along, or enhance mystery.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Originally posted by Lief Erikson
It's best to let the behavior of a character speak for itself, in demonstrating what the character is like. Or if the character from who's perspective you're writing is the one you want analyzed, use the person's thoughts to let the reader draw his own conclusions. Writing doesn't have to be definitive, and leaving something for the reader to think about can help draw them along, or enhance mystery.

Thanks

Yeah, I've been working on trying to do that. It just means I have to go back through and re-write a lot of stuff. I've been trying pretty hard not to go off on long descriptions of the emotional state of my main character (usually I only describe what she's feeling and let the actions and words of the others speak for themselves) but I sometimes get carried away. However, I think a lot of why I'm doing that is to justify their actions for my own sake, and in the next draft I'll revise to do more showing and less telling

[Anglorfin]

Originally posted by Strongbow
haha i started writing a several page essay on my views about government and the human condition... never did finish it, and my views have changed since then (damned maturity)

I really like writing about that sort of stuff, I enjoy critical writing like that. But as a result my freewriting has suffered greatly. I think my best (and only) piece of freewriting over the past few years was a song I wrote for my band, and I wound up not even writing the whole thing.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Now I'm stuck on bridges and moonlight and ravens and willow trees. Make it go away! I can't stand the sappiness!

I especially love throwing horribly depressing stuff into quite peaceful settings like the moonlit water seen from a bridge...*sigh* I'm hopelessly...Gothic.

And then there's the sea. I'm also addicted to the sea at night. Probably because that's been an image that has been very important in my life--something I see at moments that have been important to me.

[galadriel]

I get stuck on genres (right now, I'm obsessed with Hans Christian Andersen, urban fantasy, and Welsh mythology).

But even stranger is the way I reuse *phrases*. For instance, I keep having the urge to end my scenes or vignettes with the same description of a character walking "out into the moonlit/silent/darkened night/world/whatever". Getting very repetitive, that.

[Laurus Nobilis]

I've noticed that I frequently use imagery related to nature- trees, streams and mountains are usually present in my writing.

And for some reason I tend to set the mood of a scene with the wind; it can be pleasant, violent, rushed... It also gives a sense of freedom, and I love it.