Solving the Little Mysteries

Yesterday I was randomly writing, when I thought, “I’ll draw something instead."
     I like to draw characters with the wind howling around them, leaves spraying here and there, and soon, I had drawn a scene.
      Not any particular scene, but you could make a story out of it. You can make a story out of anything, really.
     But the thing about the picture is that there are so many unsolved mysteries in it.

Who is the girl?

What is she doing?

What is she holding?

Why does she give that look?

Whose arm is that? What is it doing?

Where is she?

What is the place she is in?

What’s happening?


How do we solve these mysteries?
     The answer: Ask yourself questions and answer them.
     In stories, the reader needs to know what’s happening. It can’t just happen, even though you understand; the reader doesn’t!
     Who is your character? What is her goal?
     What does she hold that is dear to her?

     What are is the turmoil inside of her? How does she feel about whoever she’s with, what’s happening right now?
      What is your obstacle character, your antagonist? What are they doing to be who they are?
      All this is good to know. But, we do like a look at the scenery. Not too descriptive; you’ll bore the reader.
      What is happening right now? Why does the protagonist find themselves in this situation?
      Don’t skip over a mystery, you need to solve it or the reader might not understand. You don’t want your reader asking all these questions, because they don’t have the answer. You do. It’s your book.

     You don’t want to be overly detailed, either. Seriously, no one wants to know that the backpack that carries the map has intricate figurines stitched on the side, and a pocket in the front with a double zipper carrying the key to the chest. Also, a latch for the light brown, leather cover so the map doesn’t spill out.
     That’s just not going to cut it.
     Also, don't mention something particular if you're not going to use it later on; it could be a mystery you solve later on. It might even be the character just looking around.
     'She glanced down and saw he was holding an object of a curious size. She tried to figure out what it was, but nothing came to her mind. It was a small, glowing object with little indentations.'
     Either I'm going to use this object later in the story, or the character is avoiding something and putting her mind on other things. I'm not just randomly throwing it in there. (actually I am for the post, but that's not important)
     
     You get what I'm saying? These are things I'm trying to work on; not being overly detailed and mentioning things I'm not going to use. I do this quite often and my sister is constantly telling me, "Seriously, what is up with that?"

     My brother came up with the question thing. When you get stuck in one part, ask yourself all sorts of questions, answer them, and use that to help you along. It's worked for me once, and I'm sure it could work again.

     Anyhow, I hope y'all enjoyed the last Wednesday Wonder! I got a lot of delightful comments, and Clara has replied to every one of them, so if you commented check back for a reply! We had quite a bit of fun. :)

Savo'lass a lalaith,

-The Writer