Ispirational Quote by Brandon Sanderson
““It seems a simple task. We all know what water looks like, feels like in our mouth. Water is ubiquitous. Describing a cup of water feels a little like doing a still life painting. As a child I used to wonder: Why do people spend so much time painting bowls of fruit, when they could be painting dragons? Why learn to describe a cup of water, when the story is about cool magic and (well) dragons? It’s a thing I had trouble with as a teenage writer—I’d try to rush through the “boring” parts to get to the interesting parts, instead of learning how to make the boring parts into the interesting parts. And a cup of water is vital to this. Robert Jordan showed me that a cup of water can be a cultural dividing line–the difference between someone who grew up between two rivers, and someone who’d never seen a river before a few weeks ago. A cup of water can be an offhand show of wealth, in the shape of an ornamented cup. It can be a mark of traveling hard, with nothing better to drink. It can be a symbol of better times, when you had something clean and pure. A cup of water isn’t just a cup of water, it’s a means of expressing character. Because stories aren’t about cups of water, or even magic and dragons. They’re about the people painted, illuminated, and changed by magic and dragons.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: Writing Process, 2015, null
Describing mundane details like water teaches writers to make the ordinary compelling, revealing character and culture.
In simple terms: Focus on details to enrich story.
Use ordinary objects to reveal depth.
Themes
Mood
Type
When to use this quote
- novel writing
- creative workshops
- character development
- worldbuilding
- teaching writing
Key Concepts
Questions to Reflect On
- How can mundane details serve plot?
- When does detail become distraction?
Overemphasis on detail can stall plot momentum.