The Word Cloud

4 Comments

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  by Weens 1 year ago

  Could you drip feed the information,? Just give the salient parts we need to know to understand the story instead of giving it to us all in one go. I'm all for setting of time and place, but if you overdo it, it becomes an information dump and all tell. If you can integrate it into your story, maybe have one of the characters integrate with his environment, it would be better.
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  by Barb 1 year ago

  It may help to look at this from the point of view of the characters - after all, that is who you are speaking for. Have they been to this place before? If it's familiar to them, it would expose the narrator if you begin to describe the rooms.
  
  People notice what is different to them, not what they see everyday. Find the "points of change" and describe those.
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  by Wrathnar the Unreasonable 1 year ago

  It can help, in dealing with description, to realise that you can rely to some extent on your reader's imagination. Sometimes it's even possible to do without any descrip at all, if the action happens in the sort of place that is entirely familiar to anyone, for instance a hospital ward, or a McDonalds. For most rooms, a few words to give the atmosphere will suffice. Eg: 'dimly lit, Victorian' or 'airy, modern' - it's rarely necessary to go into too much detail. Sometimes, tho, a detail may be important cos it affects the action, eg: you might need to mention the trapdoor in the ceiling, cos that's where the lurking maniac is gonna drop down from. I'd say give as much descrip as you feel is necessary to give the feel of the place, but always consider how much of it will be of interest to the reader. Also, descrip can be entertaining in itself, if done with wit.
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  by Has'san 1 year ago

  Ok. That was helpful. Thanks for the help Weens, Barb and WtU.