Greetings gentle reader, this installment takes on the topic of settings, which, like your characters, calls for differing levels of specificity.
Setting, in most cases, is driven by the main premise. Some stories unfold entirely inside the main character's head and can be as fantastical as the writer's ability to express such fanciful places.
Otherwise we arrive at the question that devil's most writers and that is 'how much is too much?' If you have taken pains to establish the story takes place in the fall do you need to tell the reader that the leaves rustled (fill-in-the-blank) every time there is a whisper of wind?
Exposition is the art of timing when you tell a reader something pertinent to the storyline. Often what you share descriptively pertains to where the character is in the story.
Which brings us to the other side of it...is it necessary to tell the reader about the howling wind and the creaks and groans the shelter makes once you have established there is a storm?
You definitely go there if the character is being stalked by something (often being chased by personal demons can be more terrifying than a real life threat!) but choosing when and where to use the landscape as a vehicle to move the story forward is a tough call.
I'm sure I'm not the only one driven to distraction by Tolkien's endless description of the trek through the forbidden forest but it achieved the desired effect, by the time the spiders captured the company you were glad he stopped describing the ceaselessly falling and rustling leaves!
(I don't have a copy of 'The Hobbit' handy or I'd look up it's proper name and since Tolkien employed a lot of similar sounding place/character names, I don't dare guess.)
Which is to opine that Tolkien took a chance when he purposefully stretched the trek through trackless forest letting the reader become as nauseated as his characters were, trapped in an endless, unchanging landscape.
I'd advise against using a similar device (unless, like Tolkien, you're writing fantasy...just saying.)
But I digress, when setting up a scene you want to be sure the reader has enough information so they aren't left wondering 'how'd they manage that' because you forgot to include a specific item your character had access to.
But this is part of the 'loose threads' factor authors also combat routinely. (You can't include anything in a story that you don't 'pay-off'!)
When writing, one must be careful not to 'lose' the reader and you definitely don't want to raise more questions than you answer! (A very good indication something is tragically wrong...like your memory is shot!)
All of that said, I preach to the choir...
Thanks for stopping by!
Setting, in most cases, is driven by the main premise. Some stories unfold entirely inside the main character's head and can be as fantastical as the writer's ability to express such fanciful places.
Otherwise we arrive at the question that devil's most writers and that is 'how much is too much?' If you have taken pains to establish the story takes place in the fall do you need to tell the reader that the leaves rustled (fill-in-the-blank) every time there is a whisper of wind?
Exposition is the art of timing when you tell a reader something pertinent to the storyline. Often what you share descriptively pertains to where the character is in the story.
Which brings us to the other side of it...is it necessary to tell the reader about the howling wind and the creaks and groans the shelter makes once you have established there is a storm?
You definitely go there if the character is being stalked by something (often being chased by personal demons can be more terrifying than a real life threat!) but choosing when and where to use the landscape as a vehicle to move the story forward is a tough call.
I'm sure I'm not the only one driven to distraction by Tolkien's endless description of the trek through the forbidden forest but it achieved the desired effect, by the time the spiders captured the company you were glad he stopped describing the ceaselessly falling and rustling leaves!
(I don't have a copy of 'The Hobbit' handy or I'd look up it's proper name and since Tolkien employed a lot of similar sounding place/character names, I don't dare guess.)
Which is to opine that Tolkien took a chance when he purposefully stretched the trek through trackless forest letting the reader become as nauseated as his characters were, trapped in an endless, unchanging landscape.
I'd advise against using a similar device (unless, like Tolkien, you're writing fantasy...just saying.)
But I digress, when setting up a scene you want to be sure the reader has enough information so they aren't left wondering 'how'd they manage that' because you forgot to include a specific item your character had access to.
But this is part of the 'loose threads' factor authors also combat routinely. (You can't include anything in a story that you don't 'pay-off'!)
When writing, one must be careful not to 'lose' the reader and you definitely don't want to raise more questions than you answer! (A very good indication something is tragically wrong...like your memory is shot!)
All of that said, I preach to the choir...
Thanks for stopping by!
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