Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Writing with Verisimilitude

I just took part in an online writing workshop called "Writing the Small Town Romance." One lesson was on creating a believable world through description -- visual and sensory details. Learning to do this can mean the difference between showing and telling. The author who taught the workshop told about attending a workshop where LaVyrle Spencer emphasized the importance of verisimilitude -- creating a real world through the use of exact details. I'll admit that I was not familiar with this word, but I'll remember it now.

Ms. Spencer told how writing "a wisp of lily of the valley", not just "a flower" made the reader actually smell the blossom. A guy "tossing two twenties on the table", not just "paying the bill" shows a clearer picture of the action. The use of the senses brings a setting to life.

In our first writing exercise, we were to think of a rural or small town setting that had nothing to do with anything we'd ever written before. We had to write two long paragraphs about it--making it an intriguing, believable place. What era and season is it? What sort of mood does this setting have? Close your eyes and imagine a woman driving slowly down Main Street, her heart in her throat. She pulls
over to the curb, and...

Then in lesson two, where she taught about verisimilitude, we were to use the setting and character paragraphs we developed in Lesson #1 and add details using all five senses. We were to build upon what our character was thinking and feeling, and while in that character's POV, give a detailed description of this small town setting--what it looks like, its atmosphere, his (or her) overall sense of what the people are like.

It was a great lesson in writing. You might want to try it sometime. If you don't want to create a new scene, just take an old one and see if you can beef it up with sensory details.

Feel free to comment.