Use Specifics

Here’s an email I wrote to someone in a critique group who had just written me a quick note on one of my suggested tweaks to her latest chapter:

"Hi Connie,

"Funny thing. For some reason, during breakfast or my wake-up dream or something, I thought of your novel and your bad guy, Don Dillman. Right now he's just a name to me, maybe with some hearsay badness about him. We know he gets Sally's hair to stand on end. We ought to see an example of his couple most villainous traits on display in some side, indirect way, not specifically against Sally. Don will come more alive for the reader instead of being just a stand-in "name" for evil. We readers need to see it happen, not just by hearsay (in just a sentence here or there, not take an entire chapter or anything), maybe some rude, thoughtless remark at one of his helpers or henchmen or some other way to illustrate a specific "talent" that can be used later against Sally.

"And, I'm sure you know the following: no matter how sound anyone's advice, you don't have to use every comment in some mechanical way. It's your option to not use our "helps." The story (and reader satisfaction) should be king.

"I'm just talking as in chatting, but it's nice from my point of view to have two or three regulars in our group helping me see some angles I hadn't stopped long enough to consider. I appreciate the group for that, even if it does slow my apparent writing volume down.

"Thanks for stopping to say something on my quick jotting."

Critique groups are one way, sometimes a bit trying and time consuming, to make sure what you write makes sense to the general reader out there. The key here is how "using specifics" can enliven your fiction. Also,show us, don't just tell us about important traits of your characters.

Write on, everyone.