The power of fiction, the beauty of words, and the God who made us to wield them for His glory.

Character Painting

Seriously, if you want some great examples of how to capture the essence of a minor character in a few sentences, read Thomas Locke’s Emissary. Here’s another one I posted recently. Now, picture this if you will: “The older man wore his remaining hair like a froth encircling his bald pate.  His breastplate had been scrubbed and polished until it shone like silver.  It was the only military aspect about him.  He was peevish and flaccid and chinless.” I love the combination of ‘peevish’ and ‘flaccid’.  Isn’t flaccid such a… well… flaccid word? Incidentally, the second book in the Legends

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Reading Between the Lines

I don’t know about you, but I love it when authors manage to say things without actually saying them.  Subtlety in writing is an artform that fewer and fewer authors seem to grasp, but when I read this recently I had to laugh: She climbed the stairs to the second level, where cool marble floors gleamed and the scents of wax and the freesias in their Chinese vase on the hall table greeted her in a silent benediction.  There was much to be said for silence.  Perhaps Mama had not yet returned from paying her afternoon calls. Lady of Devices

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