About Being Deeply Superficial

Post 1095:

One of my biggest strengths as a writer is my superficiality, an innate ability to ignore what matters for what’s on the outside. Looks over behavior. Hotness over integrity every time. That’s what I tell people at all the seminars I’m not invited to.

Yes, my opening statement was absurd and ridiculous. And not wholly inaccurate. I am, like most people that have ever lived, interested in and sometimes overwhelmed by the looks and general presentation of others.

I’m trying to describe description. Maybe that wasn’t the best way to say it. Anyway, I have a working theory that I’d like to share. When you meet someone in real life, even if you’re superficial as hell, maybe you’re attracted to or interested in one or two things in particular. After a little time, you learn to appreciate other things, or decide that some things aren’t your favorite. Maybe the way they walk is a little strange. Maybe their shoulders are a little saggy, and maybe that’s because of that confidence problem they were talking about. The family problems and the fear of rejection might have something to do with their rabid need to get done up and presentable.

See where I’m going? Looks aren’t just looks. They go to character and are intertwined. I was reading To Kill A Mockingbird and the way she describes Atticus Finch struck me as particularly brilliant. We learn more and more about his internal character by the way he looks and moves, and we learn it like we learn a person in real life. Slowly, sort of piecemeal. It’s brilliantly done. Obviously this is the stuff of good writing.

So often I read authors who use description as a blunt instrument. They tell you everything right off. Not great. Perhaps giving them enough to form an impression is enough. Then parcel out the details through the story when appropriate and when they’ll have the maximum impact. Description can be as important to the narrative as, well, the narrative. It’s one of the hardest parts of writing, I believe.

Get creative. Use subtle physical clues to hint at a character’s past. That, or give them a huge scar or wooden leg or an eye patch. That shiz works too, I guess.

Okay. Go get deep into your superficiality. Cheers and see you after.