'Smooth Infusion'

goatpiper · Aug 31, 2005

I would love to hear thoughts/experiences regarding the description of setting in writing...I am struggling with my first novel, and trying to smoothly convey my setting - I have invented a city (though the novel is set in modern-day America), and something I'm calling the 'setting lump' is driving me insane. I can't get past taking an aside to describe the visual aspects of this invented city - I'd like to be able to describe it without getting bogged down in three straight paragraphs of description that take away from the momentum of the novel. There are some very fantastical elements to the setting, and I really want to make it vivid without boring the reader with some kind of prose-blueprint of what this city is all about. I'd love some suggestions and ideas - I'm new to this long-fiction thing.
Thanks ahead of time.

Andrew Jameson · Aug 31, 2005

Figure out where you want your description. Hit Caps Lock. Type "[INSERT CITY DESCRIPTION HERE]". Hit Caps Lock again. Go on and write the rest of your novel. When you're done, come back to this spot. I'm willing to bet that, by that time, you'll have a lot better feel for how important this particular bit of description is.

If that's not a satisfying solution, try to interweave bits of description with character actions--Your protagonist splashes through puddles, nearly trips over the broken sidewalk, looks at his watch in the glare of the neon, runs his hand along the iron railing, that sort of thing. The trick isn't in painting a full picture for your reader. It's in painting just the right detail that will let your reader interpolate the rest of the scene.

IMO, of course.

cwfgal · Aug 31, 2005

I agree with Andrew that finding the RIGHT details is key. I also like his idea of bookmarking the spot and coming back to it later (I do that all the time). When you are ready to do your description, use all your senses to come up with descriptive details, then choose those that communicate the overall feel or look or sound or smell of the city the best.

Beth

Aconite · Aug 31, 2005

Andrew's suggestion is a great one. I do something similar: I write up the description on a separate page, which I keep attached to the end of the manuscript and/or taped above the computer.

Btw, congratulations. You successfully identified a problem also known as the "infodump," which speaks well of your judgement. Are you familiar with the Turkey City Lexicon? If not, Google it and give it a look. It's handy.

reph · Aug 31, 2005

You probably already know this, but I'll say it as a reminder. However much you might want readers to imagine the city just the way you see it, nothing you write can show them the movies in your head. They'll make up their own inner movies.

triceretops · Aug 31, 2005

Show your characters interacting with the envoirnment of the city. Boarding a bus, passing a treeline, passing a typical storefront, or liken it to a famous metropolitan city, national or overseas, with a metaphor twist. Study other techniques used in othe published novels.

Tri

Jenny · Aug 31, 2005

I read this advice somewhere - after a while, all those how-to books blur - describe each new setting in the way a human would take it in. So your descriptive move through a scene should pan like a video camera. Which I understood to mean you don't jump from describing the floor to describing the ceiling unless something drags the camera's (reader's eye) upward. And use all five senses.

I'm not sure if it answers your question, but when I was struggling to work out a coherent, effective weaving of plot progression and world building/sense of tangible reality, it helped me to think about where I was directing the reader's eye.

maestrowork · Aug 31, 2005

Movement.

Make your characters move through these settings, instead of stopping them cold. Make your setting "moves." Make your plot move through the settings...

'Smooth Infusion'

goatpiper

Distraction Junkie

Andrew Jameson

(not his real name)

cwfgal

On the rocks

Aconite

reph

Fig of authority

triceretops

Jenny

Who should be writing ...

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray