Creating Word Pictures

I know a book is good, when I think back on what I read, and it plays out like a movie in my mind. The more the text is filled with word pictures and eloquent descriptions, the more colorful and detailed the mental movie becomes.

I will always remember the party at Gatsby's house in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. The image of it almost sparkles in my mind.
Jane Eyre's childhood friend who dies from illness will always be an angelic face with a soft spirit in my visual archives thanks to Charlotte Bronte. And who could forget the Spirit-filled scene when Angel sang a hymn in front of a room of burley men at the climax of Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers?

Sometimes it is easy to get so caught up in hashing out the plot and making sure your “idea” is written down, that the fun part (for the reader, and maybe the writer) of writing, gets pushed aside. I personally, love figuring out a creative way to describe the actions, facial expressions, and environment of my fictitious story, in a way that will be unique enough to stand out in the reader's mind. It's almost like a challenge to my creative juices and gets them all bubbly and tumbling around in my writer's soul.
Here are some of my personal guidelines to create effective word pictures. I have learned them from reading, as well as in my own writing from some fabulous critiques.

1. Just 'cause it sounds good, doesn't mean it makes sense to everyone...an example from my own work... “The walls were thick as molasses.” I wanted to enhance the southern setting of my novel, but this sentence was a major stumbling block for more than a few of my critique group members...Walls and molasses don't have anything in common, so how could they form an effective picture? Now looking back, all I think about is ooey, gooey, dripping walls...not what I was going for!

2. You can get the imagery across without an overload of adjectives and frilly words...Girl With A Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier is a great example of simple but effective word pictures. Here is one of her descriptions: “The woman's face was like an oval serving plate, flashing at times, dull at others.” My goodness, this is just a wonderfully simple image, but so effective (if you haven't read the book, the protagonist is a maid, so the use of common household objects in the author's metaphors and similies is very prevalent.)

3. Keep your eyes open...the world around us is great research!
There are a million facial expressions to choose from, a billion designs among creation by man and God. We all have an endless encyclopedia of materials to create vivid images in our readers' minds! I often find myself making odd faces while I write, trying to figure out exactly what expression I'm going for and how it feels. I think of words that come to mind with the look and feel of the expression, and then check it against a thesaurus and find some fabulous ways to describe the simplest of things.
 I particular love combining the expressions and creations research, to come up with a creation-induced feeling or impression of a character, or a personified nature/inanimate element. For example (from my own work again): "As we approached the place, a thorough adjusting of our attire became habit before entering through the narrow doors that yawned, “come in” and then snapped “if you dare” as they banged shut."

For me, and I am sure most of you, an author's creative imagery alongside their story-telling, keeps me reading and gives me permission to slip away into their world and delight in a new place with characters I long to get to know better.

Can you think of a book in particular which gripped you first and foremost by the author's ability to paint a picture with words?