Descriptive Language
- Lgs1089
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Descriptive Language
"Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick, and pull yourself together."
- Irene C
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I strongly agree! The mental strain goes even farther with the dialogue. The reader has to switch mindsets between the narrative and conversations. I think it was meant to sound like Natalie was telling the story when she was older and to show just how much she has grown and developed. I think it went too far and the juxtaposition just made it hard to continuously read without having to stop and go back for clarity.Irene C wrote: ↑18 Apr 2018, 23:16 It did seem at times that the author strained grammatical rules past their breaking point with her phrasing. It put a lot of mental load on me as a reader. I got used to it somewhat as I got further into the novel, but lots of sentences were still very dense with description. And often dense with mentions of distinctively Australian plants and landscapes I wasn’t familiar with.
The mention of all the Australian plants and landscapes were especially hard for me. They were interesting once I knew what things were but it was hard to understand without stopping to do an internet search on everything. Most authors get around this by saying things like "oak tree" instead of "oak" the first time it's introduced.
- Irene C
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I agree with this. “What should remain mundane” should also depend on the characters’ personalities, I think. Would they notice most of the scenery and appreciate it in such detail? Would they know all the plant names? Are those descriptions sort of part of their natural internal monologue?Vendlyss wrote: ↑20 Apr 2018, 20:50 It is definitely sometimes a hard line to toe. I've read books where the author describes every feature of a field, and I nearly die of boredom. This also applies, what sounds to be in this case, overly expressing what should have remained mundane. However, if you're not descriptive enough, you have failed to paint an effective picture for your reader.
I tried to give this author the benefit of the doubt because Natalie was a character born and raised in this rural setting. I thought a character like that would be more likely to know and look at everything in the scenery.
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You raised an excellent point. I, for once, love a very descriptive writing, but it has to describe the right things and respect the protagonist personality. The scenery should be described through Natalie’s eyes and I’m not sure she’d take note of all the naturalistic details.Irene C wrote: ↑21 Apr 2018, 10:33 “What should remain mundane” should also depend on the characters’ personalities, I think. Would they notice most of the scenery and appreciate it in such detail? Would they know all the plant names? Are those descriptions sort of part of their natural internal monologue?
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