Focus
Learning to write, means learning to think like a scene director, who plans where the main focus runs and then skims over mundane activities, or events that are not integral to the storyline.
However, in critical scenes, the director slows the action to focus on the teeniest details of bright or muted color, looming shapes, the size of things, describing an abhorent odor or sweet aroma.
The director may itemize what disgusting articles make up the trash, if a character heard a soft whisper, or a frightening crash.
Using various senses, the director adjusts darkness and light, gives a character a pounding heartbeat, a catch of breath, a cut, a caress. Whatever it is, every nuance, every detail increases the reader's excitement and expectancy. And the master director builds her spellbinding story.
So you are not a playdirector or writer. Learn to capture the details of ordinary things anyway. It will increase your creative AWE and appreciation of life on this earth. The miracles and beauty we normally forget to see, suddenly inspire us.
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