Writing Active Setting Book 1: Characterization and Sensory Detail Read Online Free Page A

gives enormous insight to the POV character ’s world and his relationship to it — we assume the character, too, is alive on the outside , but dead on the inside.
     
    Another common Setting detail speed bump:
     
    Example : a blue trac t home.
     
    Here we have too little detail. The author assumes the reader knows what is meant by a trac t home, but since trac t housing has been around since the 17 th century there can be a huge difference between coal - miner homes in an 18 th century Cornish town and wooden detached homes created in an American suburb shortly after World War II . Adding a few more specific words will pull your reader deeper into your specific story Setting .
     
    Rewrite :
    * A blue trac t home in a 50s suburb.
    * A copycat row of brick trac t bungalows built for the coal miners, some faded red, others painted blue.
     
    * Little wooden box trac t houses built for single mill workers or families who couldn’t afford more.
     
    Note: A few small details can make a huge difference. Don’t think that adding Setting means adding paragraphs of details.
     
    Example : Tall evergreens
    Another example of too little information or too vague that does not give the reader a strong enough image to either see or experience this tree. What is meant by tall? Larger than a child or a second-story house? And since an evergreen tree can technically be any tree that has leaves all year round , one reader might imagine a Ponderosa pine while another sees a Blue Spruce and another a Live Oak — very different - looking trees.
     
    Rewrite :
     
    * The towering live oak dwarfed the one story shack built against its trunk.
    [T he change here gives the reader a clearer idea of the type of tree and its size.]
     
    * The leaning cypress tree once must have stood seventy feet tall or more , but now looked like a crooked-back elder at half that height. [T he change here gives a specific tree type plus a hint of the tone or feel of the passage.]
     
    * The broad-leafed magnolia once was my height , but now arched taller than my five - foot- seven stretch. [T he change here added a specific tree plus shows the POV character and a hint of his or her back story.]
     
    I gnoring Setting details or using vague, non-specific details as a default mode of writing leaves your reader at a distance from your story and that’s what we’re looking at with learning to write A ctive Setting . But always consider the intention behind why you’re showing Setting at all.
     
    Here’s an example of Setting that does not need too many details or words because the Setting is not being used to show information about the POV character or to orient/anchor the reader into a change in the story’s location. The Setting is used to show the reader only one thing:
     
    “ Woods surrounded the clearing in which Merlotte’s stood, and the edges of the parking lot were mostly gravel. Sam kept it well lit, and the surrealistic glare of the high parking lot lights made everything look strange.”
    –Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
     
    In the above example the author wanted to keep the reader focused o n the feel, the emotion of the S etting, and nothing more. Look what would have happened if Harris had chosen to overwrite this Setting.
     
    “Piney woods with a few wild magnolia trees surrounded the ninety foot by ninety foot clearing in which Merlotte’s stood, and the edges of the square parking lot were mostly gravel of the light grey variety, clashing with the red of the Georgia soil. Sam kept the lot well lit with at least six vapor - arc lights high overhead and a spotlight near the front door of the bar. The surrealistic glare of the high parking lot lights made everything look elongated and warped, like looking into one of those mirrors at carnivals.”
     
    See? All this detail shifts the focus away from the mood of the Setting and can slow the story pacing.
     
    Note : Be aware of the intention of using Setting details. If the reader