Using Detail

  
     
  You work for a national magazine (maybe Time or Newsweek?). Your editor has sent you to the George Mason University campus to write a reflective, interview-based feature on technology-mediated learning.  
     
  After interviewing faculty, students, computer lab. assistants and administrators, you sit down to write your piece. You decide to begin with a scene-setting lead and the scene you choose is JC 311, just after 4-00pm on a Tuesday or Thursday.  
     
 

But it's tough to begin your article, and you decide to make one more visit to JC 311 to immerse yourself in the location. Using all five senses, list in precise language as many specific details about the room, its inhabitants and the work going on that you can.

Think beyond what you see, although that is critical. What are the sounds you hear (both inside and outside the room)? What do you feel? Is the room hot or cold? What kind of heat is it? What might you touch in the room? How might you touch it?

  
     
  Whenever you write down an evocative detail, ask yourself what detail about the detail might you add? Will an incisive adjective or a probing adverb sharpen your focus? Will you talk about the 'white polystyrene ceiling tiles" or will you talk about the 'chipped polystyrene tiles peeling halfheartedly from the ceiling."?  
     
 

Here are some questions you might use to start your creative process:

a) What does the room look like? What fabrics are used in its construction? How traditional or modern does it look? Does it overshadow the occupants?

b) How does it sound? Are any of the sounds musical? What metaphors do the sounds bring to mind? To what extent is the room insulated from the world or linked to it?

c) What are the furnishings like? Are the furnishings purposeful or decorative? Are they aesthetically pleasing or are they utilitarian?

d) What is going on insider the classroom (remember you have completed your research for this piece so you know the purpose of the class)? What relationships do you observe? How are these relationships displayed? Do any people in the room seem to exemplify the room and what is happening within it?

Good Luck!