In Second Nature, one of two long novellas published in Nora Roberts 2003 re-issue of 1986's Second Nature and One Summer, bound together as Summer Pleasures, we open the Prologue of Second Nature to find:
"With the moon full and white and cold. He saw the shadows shift and shiver like living things over the ice-crusted snow. Black on white. Black sky, white moon, black shadows, white snow."
Heart by Bartosz Szamborski, Wikipedia Commons
Let's look more closely. Her description is one of contrasts:
"With the moon full and white and cold. He saw the shadows shift and shiver like living things over ice-crusted snow. Black on white. Black sky, white moon, black shadows, white snow."
Okay....The mood is set.
We race through the next pages.
We are introduced to Hunter Brown, horror writer, ' "who created the terrifying, the breathtaking, the unspeakable." Hunter explored the darkest nightmares of the human mind, and, with cool precision, made them tangible. He made the implausible plausible and the uncanny commonplace.'
Let's look closer at what Roberts is doing. She's done a more than admirable job of creating an opening based on contrasts.
She continues but deepens the theme.
Look at this example again:
Roberts gives us Hunter Brown who creates "the terrifying, the breathtaking, the unspeakable." Hunter explored the darkest nightmares of the human mind, and, with cool precision, made them tangible. He made the implausible plausible and the uncanny comonplace.'
Ah! implausible plausible' and uncanny commonplace.'
Edmund Blair Leighton, 1900 "God Speed" Lady bidding the knight 'God Speed' on his mission. Oil on canvas From Wikipedia Commons, public domain.
Roberts does this throughout the novel.
She's not yet introduced us to the heroine, but we salivate for Hunter Brown. A few pages into the Prologue, we find:
'Then he saw her, walking leisurely down the winding path to the house. The dog's tail began to swish back and forth.
Sometimes when he watched her like this, Hunter would think it impossible that anything so lovely belonged to him. She was dark and delicately formed, moving with a careless confidence that made him grin even as it made him ache. She was Sarah. His work and his privacy were two vital things in his life. Sarah was his life. She'd been worth the struggles, the frustration, the fears and the pain. She was worth everything.
We hope Hunter is talking about the heroine. Who could this be? Who is this female he loves so much?
Again, Roberts is masterful with her use of contrasts:
Sometimes when he watched her like this, Hunter would think it impossible that anything so lovely belonged to him. She was dark and delicately formed, moving with a careless confidence that made him grin even as it made him ache. She was Sarah. His work and his privacy were two vital things in his life. Sarah was his life. She'd been worth the struggles, the frustration, the fears and the pain. She was worth everything.
And here is a photo of a handsome cowboy. Photo by:J.C.H. Grabill, Sturgis, Dakota Territory, public domain.
So, we know this female is beautiful: dark and delicately formed. Such a lovely contrast!
What follows next is more important: She moves with a careless confidence that made him grin even as it made him ache.
Oh! careless/confidence; grin/ache.
I'm aching through my grins, sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to know who she is.
Is she the heroine? I hope so.
Sarah was his life. She'd been worth the struggles, the frustration, the fears and the pain. She was worth everything.
I have to read on.
Here we get our first hint of her identity:
Looking over, she broke into a smile that flashed with braces.We realize she is not a grown woman. But who?
"Hi, Dad."
And so the prologue ends. She's his daughter! We love him! Surely a man this likable can't be all bad.
Using contrast to create description and set mood is a hallmark of Roberts' strength as a novelist. She goes beyond, way beyond, mere physical description, giving readers ample opportunity to know who these characters are, what and who motivates them, and why.
I re-read small passages of Roberts such as these, over and over again, looking at her technique.
Definitely More than a cut way, way above other Romance novelists.
***
Copyright © 2007, 2008 Kathryn Esplin-Oleski
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Comments: 42
Happy Easter, Elsie, Zara.
Jeff: Thank you for enjoying.
10 4 u
F Jeanette, thank you.
Too bad she abhors poetry and fiction and only loves non-fiction. But she is a great history buff.
I was fortunate to attend high school and college in Canada, where I was taught UK methods. I've always appreciated the educational advantage I had...
Your daught is fortunate to have such a good education. I quickly realized my daughter and son were not being taught grammar at their schools when we moved back to the USA in 1998. On top of this, my children had only attended Japanese public schools and could not read or write English. My daughter was in 7th grade and it was a struggle for her, but she learned quickly. Last year she graduated from Wayne State University with a fine 3.93 GPA. Her first language is still Japanese. If someone like my daughter can pick up grammar and rhetorical concepts and utilize them, it seems absurd that our public schools tend to look at such concepts as being difficult for students to learn and master. I really wonder if anyone in this country realizes how little is actually being taught at our public schools. It seems public schools in Michigan are more concerned about security and making restrictive rules than they are about real learning.
Your family is gifted in languages, that is for certain.
When I was in school, I railed against formal instruction, though I knew how to recognized and use literary devices. I wanted to learn them on my own.