Writing Tip: Use a Bad Situation to Create a Descriptive Scene

Are you an author out of writing steam? Don't resort to alcohol abuse; the key to your next writing spill is as close as your last meaty rant. Ever noticed that when you've got something good to say, you rarely gush your love for more than a minute? Yet, if some jerk has left you less than pleased at work, you have a twenty minute complaint session right up your sleeve. Now, consider what would happen if you wrote that moment down. It would no doubt be a garbled mess, but, lurking between the lines of foul languages, horrid comments about someone's mother, and complains on the government would be clever, logical comments. Here's the tricky thing--in a few days, when your anger has subsided, that clever tongue of yours is going to go into hibernation faster than Yogi Bear with an empty picnic basket. Unless you have a Lewis Black attitude, you'll probably be less than apt to relive the riling moment, and your opportunity for fiction genius will have evaporated into the lost land of bad day rants.

While everyone knows that a rant can lead to an opinion piece or a long blog, not all authors think to write their moments of anger down as a fictional scene. If you want description, vivid writing with a little clever twisting of words, write while ranting. Here's the best way to take advantage of your bad day:

Describe It

You let loose a primitive growl, your blood pressure is on the rise, and, though you don't know how your spilled milk related to the Oval Office, you begin to mutter about President Obama. But why? Telling the reason for your anger is one thing, describing the reason is another. Take my situation a few weeks ago.

Déjà vu, indeed: I was on a weekend trip, funds were low, and no hotel reservations were made in advance. Not wanting to part with my shopping cash, I found myself at a less than hospitable motel that looked more like the setting for a cheap porno than a place of rest and relaxation. I knew what I was getting into--this wasn't my first roach rodeo. However, I had apparently forgotten my gag-inducing past experiences with twenty-seven dollar motels. The scent of cigarettes and marijuana, odd stains, bare electrical wires, and an uncovered window in the shower helped to stir up past memories. As you might imagine, my stay was less than satisfactory.

As I was preparing for bed (making a t-shirt pillowcase and pulling the safety blankets out of my vehicle to cover the sheets), I bitterly ranted, taking in every negative aspect of the tiny room and mentally listing my problems. Then a thought struck me: why was I speaking instead of writing? With this, I pulled a notebook from my bag and began to capture the scene.

When writing a rant, don't simply list the reasons for your anger as you would in a letter of complaint. In my situation, I took a trip around the room, starting at the front door that refused to close. I pretended that I'd just entered the room, observing, allowing the scene to build itself. I made it into a journey, exploring the general room, walking into the bathroom, seeing the hairy piece of soap left in the tub, and going back out to see the what-is-that-stain sheets. Some of it came out as comedic description, the rest appeared to be the makings of a scene from a Stephen King novel, but all of it was usable.

Not only did I begin to calm down as I realized the horrifying scene was developing quite beautifully, but I had made something positive out of a bad situation. What writer wouldn't pay twenty-seven bucks for a realistic, cleverly described piece of writing to insert into a future story?

Record the Circumstance

There's always back story where there's a bad day. You know that woman who took your parking space? The back story is that she's your preacher's daughter. Or perhaps you remember why that man giving you the finger ruined your day? Because stomping on your breaks for him had also caused you to spill coffee down your shirt.

A story is never simply a scene, but all the events surrounding the moment. So, once you've used your anger to fuel a juicy description, go back and record the circumstance. Tell the why and the how. If you do this, you'll have gathered all the information necessary to incorporate a believable scene into your novel or short story.

Next time you feel a rant coming on, throw kindling on the fire. Yell, complain, start a fight, but then, before it's over, write it down.