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I have a quandary, which I'm hoping some of you could shed a little of your expertise on.
In the first chapter of my novel, my MC is sitting in his car and looking at a large house.
It's written in third person, through the viewpoint of my MC.
My problem is that when I'm describing the details of the house I need to use phrases like 'the left side of the house' or 'the right-hand portion'. Neither of these examples sit well with me, and I'm looking for other alternatives.
I wanted to change them to 'the west side of the house' etc., but I'm certain that my MC wouldn't know his west from his east unless a compass was hanging under his nose. But will the readers care? Will they even notice? Can our characters viewpoints subtly have little elements like knowing which direction something would be facing, from any given point?
Here's an excerpt from my descriptions, which is far from the final draft and is still in desperate need of modification, as an example:
1. Left, left-hand, left-most, west, western, westernmost?
2. Central, middle, mid, mid-section?
3. Lower or upper... part, portion, section, area, piece?
I'm finding that directional descriptions as in examples 1 and 2 are becoming one of my biggest problems. That and descriptive nouns(?) like in example 3.
It's not a huge issue at this stage of the novel, but I'd certainly like to get to the bottom of it earlier on instead of later.
In the first chapter of my novel, my MC is sitting in his car and looking at a large house.
It's written in third person, through the viewpoint of my MC.
My problem is that when I'm describing the details of the house I need to use phrases like 'the left side of the house' or 'the right-hand portion'. Neither of these examples sit well with me, and I'm looking for other alternatives.
I wanted to change them to 'the west side of the house' etc., but I'm certain that my MC wouldn't know his west from his east unless a compass was hanging under his nose. But will the readers care? Will they even notice? Can our characters viewpoints subtly have little elements like knowing which direction something would be facing, from any given point?
Here's an excerpt from my descriptions, which is far from the final draft and is still in desperate need of modification, as an example:
The central area of the building had a simple but expertly-crafted wooden porchway set under the gabels of the roof, and the walls of the ground floor were crafted from layers of aged logs stacked atop one another, into which two windows were set, one to either side of the porch. Above the cabin-esque construction of the ground floor, the upper levels of the first floor and attic area were constructed of stonework. Callum suspected that the stonework continued behind the logs, too; doubly fortifying the original portion of Fellmarch.
To the right of the central building was a comparatively modern extension which jutted forward of the rest of the building. Although a more recent addition, it appeared from the crumbling brickwork that this extension must date as far back as the sixties, possibly earlier.
The left half of the house also appeared to have extended from the original building. Callum guessed its stone walls, which were constructed in the same fashion as the top half of the central building, cane from a slightly later time than the log part. Atop it was the second largest roof of Fellmarch. A small side-door was set into the cavity between the left-hand and central structures, where both parts were connected by a narrower partition upon which sat the smallest of the upside-down-V-shaped roofs.
1. Left, left-hand, left-most, west, western, westernmost?
2. Central, middle, mid, mid-section?
3. Lower or upper... part, portion, section, area, piece?
I'm finding that directional descriptions as in examples 1 and 2 are becoming one of my biggest problems. That and descriptive nouns(?) like in example 3.
It's not a huge issue at this stage of the novel, but I'd certainly like to get to the bottom of it earlier on instead of later.