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Old 08-04-2002, 07:22 AM   #4
Estelyn Telcontar
Princess of Skwerlz
 
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Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles)
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Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!Estelyn Telcontar has reached the Cracks of Doom and destroyed the Ring!
Silmaril

Wonderful topic, littlemanpoet! This will be very enjoyable to read. I agree with Kuruharan that a lot of authors' attempts to add details are awkward, to say the least. Less is often more.

Offhand, a great example from LotR occurs to me: JRRT often adds just one adjective and creates an atmosphere with it. I hadn't noticed it consciously until my last rereading of the book. It's the mention of moon phases. When his characters look at the moon, it's the "waxing" or "waning" moon. That's all he says, no big description, but just that gives the passage a feeling of motion, of the passing of time with the moon phases. I do remember reading (biography?) that he payed attention to those and corrected if necessary. It happens in the interwoven passages too, when different characters are separated and looking up at the same moon.

Subtlety is the key - it has to seem incidental to be good, I think.
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