The China Experiment
If you are coming from my other blog you know what this "experiment" is all about. If not, here it is in a nutshell: Effective writers use specific, concrete images to create events and emotions within their readers. To help writers (and any other interested folks) develop this skill, I have attached several pictures from my recent trip to Beijing, China to this entry. The challenge? See if you can come up with a specific, concrete image to describe some or all of these pictures without using words such as "good," "nice," "old," "beautiful," well, you get the idea. And hey, if you'd like, let me know what you came up with. I'd LOVE to see them.
Within the Summer Palace.
The Great Wall.
The Summer Palace.
Posted by Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen at Sunday, July 15. 2007 
Categories: My Favorite Places and Things,My Favorite Occupation WRITING
Categories: My Favorite Places and Things,My Favorite Occupation WRITING
The way the shots are taken (especially with the misty Great Wall) makes me think: mystical. It's like a land with magic granted by the rocks and the waters, and where nations have battled.
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I like your description, Andy. During my time in China, I learned the people do see a harmony within themselves and the world they live in, including nature.
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Wow, Ronda ... I loved the photos. Here's my contribution towards creative writing.
The Great Wall: The stone dragon that slithers its way across China.
By the way, thanks for the writing exercise. I love that kind of thing.
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Picture #1. The winter palace rose up in front of me as I walked past a pock-marked stone barrier, the stones under my feet echoing against the mist.
Picture #2. Not knowing whether it was meant to keep intruders out or me in, I walked along the top of the Wall, wondering how many people had walked it before me, contemplating murder like I was at that moment.
(I was in the mood for something suspenseful just then . . . )
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Hey, everyone, that was fun! One bit of info that might interest you, especially if you need China details for something you are writing, is that the "mist" is really smog. China--at least the cities--is extremely polluted. I was outside all day in extreme temperatures and bright sun without sunscreen, and I didn't even get pink (I normally burn easily). On top of the Great Wall, however, it WAS mist. At the highest climbable point on the section we were on, it was so cloudy visibility was only about a hundred feet out.
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