Using Specific Detail to Describe a Certain Event
Explanation of technique:
SE Hinton uses detail by going in the past or describing the character’s emotion to help the reader understand the character better.
What makes this technique so genius:
This technique is genius because even though we don’t need to know the details, SE Hinton still added them in to make the story more interesting.
Some Examples are….
“Darry looked down and turned silently. Suddenly I broke out of my daze. ‘Darry,’ I screamed the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and was squeezing the daylights out of him. ‘Darry,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry...’ He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to keep back the tears. ‘Oh, Pony, I thought we’d lost you...like we did Mom and Dad…”’(98).
Explanation to the quote:
This quote showed that SE Hinton described this event using great detail because she explained everything that was happening. She talked about the character’s actions and also their emotions.
Another example is…
“We pushed open the back room and found four or five little kids, about eight years or younger,huddled in a corner. One was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled “Shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out!” They kid looked surprised and quit hollering. I blinked myself--- Johnny wasn’t behaving at all like his old self. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then pushed open the window and tossed out the nearest kid.(...) Dally swore at me and clubbed me across the back as hard as he could, and went down into a peaceful darkness.”
Explanation of the quote:
This quote was very descriptive because SE Hinton described the burning inside the church very well. She wrote in a way that helps the reader visualize the situation very well.
Ways to borrow this technique
1. Read your story and see how much detail you used.
2. If you need more description, try describing the scene by adding more details to the setting and surroundings.
3. Add more to the action of the character(s)
4. Slow down time.
5. Re-read your story again
Explanation of technique:
SE Hinton uses detail by going in the past or describing the character’s emotion to help the reader understand the character better.
What makes this technique so genius:
This technique is genius because even though we don’t need to know the details, SE Hinton still added them in to make the story more interesting.
Some Examples are….
“Darry looked down and turned silently. Suddenly I broke out of my daze. ‘Darry,’ I screamed the next thing I knew I had him around the waist and was squeezing the daylights out of him. ‘Darry,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry...’ He was stroking my hair and I could hear the sobs racking him as he fought to keep back the tears. ‘Oh, Pony, I thought we’d lost you...like we did Mom and Dad…”’(98).
Explanation to the quote:
This quote showed that SE Hinton described this event using great detail because she explained everything that was happening. She talked about the character’s actions and also their emotions.
Another example is…
“We pushed open the back room and found four or five little kids, about eight years or younger,huddled in a corner. One was screaming his head off, and Johnny yelled “Shut up! We’re goin’ to get you out!” They kid looked surprised and quit hollering. I blinked myself--- Johnny wasn’t behaving at all like his old self. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the door was blocked by flames, then pushed open the window and tossed out the nearest kid.(...) Dally swore at me and clubbed me across the back as hard as he could, and went down into a peaceful darkness.”
Explanation of the quote:
This quote was very descriptive because SE Hinton described the burning inside the church very well. She wrote in a way that helps the reader visualize the situation very well.
Ways to borrow this technique
1. Read your story and see how much detail you used.
2. If you need more description, try describing the scene by adding more details to the setting and surroundings.
3. Add more to the action of the character(s)
4. Slow down time.
5. Re-read your story again