Perspective Writing

[Hogger]

This is an idea I've had for a while but never really bothered sharing it. I read someone somewhere say that you can tell a lot about a person by how they write and I think this holds quite a lot of truth. If you think practically, how someone writes reveals their chosen vocabulary, their understanding of how grammar works, how they link ideas etc. but from an artistic view I think it reveals a lot more; it can show what they choose to be important features, how far they develop ideas and you can generally get an idea for how someone feels about something from their perspective.


The idea for this is to get everyone to write about the same scene and see what they manage to create. I've got no idea how this will turn out, but I think it'd be awesome to see anything you guys contribute ^^ there's no right or wrong way to go about this, I'll link a video and then if you want to give this a try just choose a perspective to write from and write what you see / feel.


For starters I think it would be awesome if we did The Fall of the Lich King. It's not too long, and you can just choose a small chunk to work on if you want.


About perspective if you choose first person you can write something from Tirion's perspective like "As the apparition of King Terenas fades away, I carefully move towards the fallen crown of the Lich King. With great care I lift up the helmet which is lighter than it first seems although I can feel a powerful radiance around it. The full realization of what I'm about to commit myself to suddenly hits me; by the Light, am I really willing to let myself become the same monster I had sworn my life to destroy?" blah blah blah


Third person could be something less personal but still descriptive like "As the life ultimately drains out of Arthas' fallen body, his eyes roll up revealing a cold glassy visage, any sign of his once great vitality lost. With Tirion watching the supernatural interaction between long lost father and son, the spectral image of King Terenas covers his son's eyes which somehow manage to physically close creating a slightly more peaceful expression. Without turning to Tirion, King Terenas states matter of factly "Without its master's command, the restless scourge will become an even greater threat to this world." As Terenas settles Arthas' body down, his focus now moves to Tirion, "Control must be maintained, there must always be a Lich King" as Terenas says the final words a strike of lightning cracks across the sky, whether by coincidence or somehow caused by the ghostly apparition it seems to add weight to the message. With his son finally at rest, Terenas' form now slowly starts to fade away in a spectacular fashion. Tirion, knowing that the words were meant for him, now looks towards the fallen crown knowing what he must do." etc.


These are just silly little examples, I actually hate how I write with it being all waffley and long, but please don't be put off, no one will judge you for this and it's only supposed to be for fun. I'll post my own snippet once I finish it.

[Steamboy]

Sounds fun! I'll give it a go. I don't read very much so I like it when the author communicates in the fewest possible words. My all-time favorite scene is in a Fritz Leiber book where our heroes Fafhrd and Gray Mouser are sneaking into an underground temple. "It had a ceiling so low that at any point a man standing tall could have brushed it with his fingertips. Except that here all groveled."

[Hogger]

Thanks for the input Steam, and yeah it's always interesting reading different styles, and I get what you mean about liking the fewest possible words. I read the Hunger Games the other day, and that author is quite clever how she uses differing sentence lengths for different effects; when the main character is being hunted, you can almost feel that as the sentences are short and sharp and just pick up on the main points, as if she's rapidly turning her head and keeping sharp. Later on when she's more relaxed, the sentences get longer and more descriptive as you feel she's taking time to look around more. It's actually a good book, can't wait to see the film now.

And I'll look out for Fritz Leiber's stuff now.

[Steamboy]

I like when they do that too Hogger. I found one of Leiber's books online. I don't understand how the copyright works. Maybe it has become PD.

http://www.pdfdocspace.com/docs/71771/

I know....just what we need at work....online scifi.

[Hogger]

Haha awesome, I'll read that tonight.