In the last post I wrote that I would tell you how the ‘clinical’ writing exercise went, but before I do that I should describe the writing process because it got me thinking… When I write descriptions in my stories, I search around in my mind for the visuals which I then translate into words. This is probably why many of my descriptions don’t contain enough details in general (which isn’t always a problem) and are especially lacking when they are needed to orient the reader

The first class was getting to know each other; names, brief histories, course ground rules (we are not here to write a magnum opus!), etc. The first exercise was ‘clinical description’. The idea was trying to capture the person in front of you without using prose or fancy images to evoke feelings. So it was just a matter of describing features. At first, I thought it was a pointless exercise until I found out that I couldn’t get it on my first try. My first attempt resulted

It’s time to get some instruction! It’s not that I haven’t had any. I did go through school and I did some creative writing for a number of years before stopping altogether for thirty years. When I started writing again, I was creaky and rusted and made every error imaginable but it really was like riding a bicycle. The first results weren’t great, but I was able to put together something that resembled a story upon my glorious return. Over the past year and a half, I’ve bee