Chance Particulars by Sara Mansfield Taber

Author:Sara Mansfield Taber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2018-08-19T16:00:00+00:00

SPECIFICITY, PRECISION, AND CONCRETE DETAIL

Jot down, with as much exactitude as possible, the distinguishing details of the world around you. Use all your observational powers, bringing to bear the rich perspectives of your particular sensibility, culture, history, and experience. These precise details of your world, specific sights and scenes, will give authority and vivacity to your account.

Strive always to show rather than tell the reader what you notice. As Kazin shows us, through description of “note on note,” a girl’s painstaking devotion to her piano practice, show how people with whom you interact are strong, nurturing, or angry. Seize select incidental details such as those caught by Kazin:

The chants of hawkers

The containers in which fruit is stored

The food sold on the street

Snacks eaten by old people

The look of the sky

Snippets of overheard conversation

Strains of music

In general, make specific, precise note of details:

Names of streets, shops, restaurants, businesses, woods, mountains, parks

The appearance of people: looks on their faces, clothing, gestures, actions, gait, what they carry . . .

Storefronts and window displays

Furniture

Placards and printed matter

Foods in the vicinity

Objects that catch your eye

Conversations you hear

Animals on the loose

Trash

Cars on the street

The earth, the sky, the quality of the light

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