Saturday 17 November 2012

Autumn colour

 
Moss and lichen on a tree trunk - and a timely reminder that not all autumn colour comes in shades of fire. As I push on with the new novel, I'm trying to capture a sense of place and sometimes the most effective way of doing that is to confound expectation. A scene will be brought to life with small detail, and sometimes the most effective observations are the more subtle ones.
 
Rather like meeting someone again after many years of lapsed friendship. You find that it's the tiny personal quirks in their appearance - the particular stretch of the smile, the exact shape of the nose, that laugh - features that weren't necessarily memorable in themselves but are now the markers that spark recognition and connect your memories to the real person standing in front of you.

2 comments:

Marcheline said...

Absolutely. Facial details, and the way someone moves their hands... extremely evocative.

One of my favorite things about moss is that (at least here on Long Island) it's an all-season thing. I have neighbors that pay enormous sums of money to have a company put down "perfect" grass. Me, I love the moss in my side yard. I love the interplay between all the green things. I have no desire to live on a golf course.

josina said...

absolutely agree! This year has been my year of renewing old friendships, wonderful!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...