Sometimes the best fix isn’t changing what characters say—it’s changing where they say it.
This might be sacrilegious as a science fiction and fantasy writer, but I dislike writing description—especially settings. I’m more of a dialogue and action gal, and my first drafts (okay, sometimes second drafts as well), have a lot of “white room” scenes, where nothing about the setting is mentioned. This was a big problem in my early writing days, since SFF readers enjoy the world building and setting and all the things I had to slog through to write.
I got feedback such as:
- I can’t picture the setting
- Where is this happening? Could they interact more with the room?
- I feel unanchored, and there’s no sense of place
All of it was justified, and after a lot of reading, learning, and forcing myself to just do it, I found a way to enjoy writing setting descriptors.
I stopped thinking of setting as decoration and started using it as a storytelling tool.
Setting works best when it does something—not when it just sits there.
A vivid location can add atmosphere, but an active setting can add pressure to a ticking clock, reveal emotion a character is struggling with, and shape the choices that character makes. It becomes part of the story, not just where the story takes place.
Read the full article: http://blog.janicehardy.com/2020/08/a-5-minute-fix-for-blah-scene.html
No comments:
Post a Comment