Putting Pen To Paper

Friday, August 04, 2006

Character descriptions...

posted by penitentman at 8/04/2006 11:53:00 AM

These 2 descriptions were generated from a clustering excercise. I REALLY like clustering. I wish I'd remember to do it more often.

William Stout
William Stout was a sharp blade of a man. His sneering maw was cut in shadow by a bony beak and eyes set dead like a sniper's. Each step, like the parry of a sword. Each change of direction a hairpin turn with no girth to slow him down. The memory of him is like the nagging of a paper cut. My breath, drawn slow like the steady plunger of a syringe, waits for fate to turn its head before striking. Dreading the voice that would assault me like a rifle. My father's voice. The voice that would cut me, surely as a knife.


Orin Mills
Orin Mills was a hard chisled man. Stout, solid as the earth. As steady and unchanging as the silent forest. His muscles were like molten steel. Bending, stretching, molding to the shape of his hammering bones. A block of flesh, more sculpture than man. His voice, as startling and rough as a rockslide, could carve wisdom out of dead air.
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click to post a comment or read comments from: Blogger WDavid, Blogger penitentman, Blogger penitentman, Blogger Ruth,

4 Comments:

  • Penitentman...What is Clustering? How does it work? What are the benefits and drawbacks?

    By Blogger WDavid, at 8/04/2006 12:24:00 PM  

  • The first I'd seen it was in a book called "Writing the Natural Way."

    The author's website talks about the process here: http://www.gabrielerico.com/Main/ClusteringSampleVignettes.htm

    The words I clustered around for these 2 pieces were "sharp" and "hard".

    By Blogger penitentman, at 8/04/2006 12:52:00 PM  

  • Hmm... so that link didn't seem to work right, at least for me. Let's try this:

    LINK

    By Blogger penitentman, at 8/04/2006 01:20:00 PM  

  • An interesting process.

    In William Stout, I note that sentences 3 and 4 have no verb. Can they stand alone like that, or should they have been phrases separated by commas or semicolons in the previous sentence?

    By Blogger Ruth, at 8/04/2006 05:04:00 PM  

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