Specificity In Writing

     Spe-ci-ficity!

     If you've ever taken an acting class, you've probably heard a spiel or two about how important specificity is in deciding your character's actions; the way you speak, how you interact with your surroundings, the way you pick up a pencil and scrawl your character's signature, can all provide a wealth of information about who the character is, what they want, where they come from, etc.  In acting it's necessary that the actor create these specificities for their character because scripts tend to be pretty bare-bones.

     But when writing a novel or short story (or even dialogue for a script), specificity is every bit as important.  In fact, when writing a novel or short story or poem, etc, specificity can be the difference between an okay story, and a GREAT story.

     Which sounds more compelling?

     a)  "He walked in with his gun and looked around.  There were some hand prints on the wall and some stuff on the floor.  It took him a while to realize the blood was fresh."

     OR

     b)  "He entered silently, scanning the room with gun at the ready.  It was bare, containing only exposed copper wiring coated in dust and a few metal chains.  Seven gluey red hand prints decorated the filthy yellow walls, and it was thirty full seconds before it hit him--the blood was fresh."

     The second paragraph is much more compelling, isn't it?  Yes, part of that has to do with style and suchlike, but without the specificity of detail, there wouldn't be much to stylize!

     The more specific you are when describing something, the more easily the audience can envision what you see.  And details can carry significant weight--the difference between thirty seconds and thirty-seven seconds, for example, is an ocean--thirty seconds is usually either timed out using a stopwatch, or used as shorthand for "roughly half a minute."

     Thirty-seven seconds, though--that says "this is the real time that had passed, and your narrator knows it for a FACT!"  Exact times exude confidence--exact details exude confidence, correctness, a feeling that we're being told how it is.  It makes the audience take notice, and feel like they can trust you, because obviously you know what you're talking about when you can tell us exactly what material the walls are made from and what country that hat was made in.

     Take a look at your work.  Look for places where the details have been hand-waved, "some" this, "roughly" that, etc.  Ask yourself if a generalization fits the passage best, or if it could benefit from a few more specifics.

     Hint:  The more important something is, the more detailed and specific you'll want it to be.  Unless of course you're writing a mystery and trying to lay down some red herrings....

Podcast Tips

     I've posted before about the things I've learned podcasting, but when it comes to the arts, there's always more to learn, so here are a few more tips to help you on your auditory journey.

1.  Speak Slowly

     If you've ever acted before, you've probably received a note from your director at some point or another that you need to speak slowly and clearly--if not, then this is your Temporary Self-Appointed Mentor-Director here to tell you that when you're acting, you need to speak slowly and clearly.

     Of course, you don't want to take it too slow, or people might fall asleep, but when we know our material we tend to talk waaaayyyyyy too fast (especially if we're nervous), which makes it more difficult for others to understand what we're saying.

     In film and on audio recordings this is less of a problem than on stage, because in a recorded performance the audience can rewind as many times as they need, but the more they have to do this, the less invested in the story they become--and the more irritated, which is never good.

     There are times when your characters may need to speak extremely quickly, of course, but avoid fast speech in narration where you can, and make sure that, unless unintelligibility is a conscious choice, you're speaking slow enough for most people to catch the meaning.  Speaking clearly, without slurring your words (except where characteristically necessary), will help with that, too.

2.  Always take multiple takes

      The underrated beauty of a live performance is that anything can happen.  Everyone on a set will become obsessed with doing everything perfectly every single night, but some of the most perfect moments and wonderful ad-libs happen because something went wrong or just differently than expected.  It happens in film on occasion, too--look at Heath Ledger's "smack the remote" moment during the hospital explosion in The Dark Knight.

     But the beauty of film or audio recordings is that things can go right--or wrong--but it's all captured on your recording devices and synced to your computer for as long as you decide to keep it.  The beauty of film or audio is that you can pick and choose the pieces you want from any take, cut and paste, and no one can stop you.  You can reap the harvest and serve the best crop from every row.

     So never shortchange yourself; take multiples.  Any time you record, take at least two takes, more if you can, and try to change it up every time--it doesn't do you any good to have two or three identical recordings.  Variety is the spice of life!  Variety is life!  Exogamy is how we've survived this long as a species, and interbreeding is the reason the cheetah is on a path to extinction!

     Take the best and leave the rest on the cutting room floor.

3.   Put in the time or get in the line

      As I mentioned previously (double-linking is a dangerous game, but I'm feeling brave tonight), you end up putting far more hours into podcasting than you'll get out of it--hours writing and editing the script, hours recording, hours editing, just to distill it all into a 'cast that's 20-50 minutes long.

     It's a big job, but if you want to have a quality cast you have to do it.  You can always half-ass it, of course, that's an option, but chances are really, really good that if you half-ass it, you're going to drown.  Even really good podcasts that people pour their hearts and souls into will drown in the sea due purely to circumstance, so if you want to stand out, you have to put everything you've got into it.

     Podcasting is an art, and art takes work.