I’m currently reading Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath.   I noticed a character description and, as usual with all of the great writers, I could really visualize the person.

When I write, I like to create word buckets.  Just a brainstorm of words, nouns, that give me the feeling of something in particular.  For instance, in my Degrees, Minutes, Seconds story, my word bucket consisted of a church theme.  I tried to use all the words in the bucket, sprinkled throughout.

‘High cliffs like cathedrals, enshrine, holy water, faith, prayer, eternity’

With Steinbeck’s description - here were some of his keywords describing mother Joad:

heavy, not fat
thick…with work
strong, broad bare feet…quick and deftly over the floor
strong freckled arms…
face…controlled and kindly
hands sure…controlled and quiet

There is no doubt that this was a strong woman.  He described a lot of things about the woman, he made me feel her, without exactly telling me about her.  He left it up to the reader to infer. 

This made me think of teeth. 

Hence…the wrongness and rightness of teeth.