by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
On Sunday, my daughter and I took advantage of the nice weather and went for a walk at the park.
It was like a hundred other walks at the park that we’ve taken over the years. Sunny and warm. There were lots of people and dogs walking. The birds were chirping loudly, since it’s a protected habitat there. And my daughter wanted to play Poohsticks on the bridge for the eleventy-bazillionth time.
It was all very peaceful…and unremarkable. My daughter and I stood on the small bridge and waited to see which of the two sticks she threw into the fast-moving creek would come out quicker on the other side.
Then I saw him. A Mr. No-Shoulders, as my mother would call him. A snake, sunning himself on a rock.
Now, snakes in the Southern US are not remarkable. They’re everywhere. And this winter they really didn’t hibernate since it never really got cold. There are probably a ton of sleep-deprived, grumpy snakes around North Carolina right now.
But snakes usually wisely avoid Southerners. They don’t want to see us and we don’t particularly want to see them.
And this snake was watching my daughter and me closely, suspiciously. It was pretty in the sun, actually. Until it quickly leaped into the water to get away from us.
We continued on our walk…until we saw another snake sunning itself. I took a picture of one of the snakes (above) and didn’t have a chance to ask my Scout son or outdoorsy husband what type it was. Water moccasin? Cottonmouth? Copperhead? Who knows?
I’m never a fan of writing setting. It’s the kind of stuff that I skip over as a reader—unless there’s a remarkable detail that makes me interested. If a snake intrudes on a normal, everyday walk at the park, I’m more interested. If the setting is atmospheric, if I feel the setting is setting a mood, if the setting is viewed through the eyes of a character and gives me more character insight….then I don’t skip it.
How about you? How do you set apart your settings to make them pop and tie them into the story or indicate something interesting about your characters? Do you enjoy reading and writing setting?
I like to think of my settings as like actual stageplay settings — an interesting space for my characters to move around.
I describe them to set the scene only when they seem interesting to me — otherwise you’ll learn about them only as the character moves through them.
I have _read_ some great settings, though, and usually they are most interesting when they reflect the narrator’s voice. Dean Wesley Smith says “setting is opinion” and boy that can perk up a setting.
(I keep thinking of a P.G. Wodehouse scene description in which he describes the sun shining down on “well-bred bees and the best sort of birds.”)
Nonfiction writing benefits from setting details as well. The visuals ground the story. Your addition of grumpy snakes and suspicious add personality without overshadowing the scene. I appreciate the Darling Novelist’s comment about narrator’s opinion providing interest. Great ideas to think about this morning!
Hi Elizabeth .. that addition of the snake’s appearance changes the atmosphere – let alone your description of the grumpy sleep-deprived ones .. so pleased you had an interesting out with your daughter .. cheers Hilary
Elizabeth – I love that snake story because it highlights an aspect of the setting that makes it unique. The snake called your attention to a setting and I think those details make a setting interesting. When I write settings I add just enough detail so the reader has a sense of where the story takes place. I add details such as weather, noise level, and what trees and plants look like so the reader knows what time of year it is, etc.. But I have to admit, after a few sentences I want to get back to the plot…
Oh, and your story reminded me of one morning – it was early – when I was walking our dogs and saw a coyote walking in the other direction. That sure changed the setting for me!
As a reader, I skip over setting too unless its impact is out of the ordinary, like a snake or a spider. :) When an unsavory character is a part of the setting I’m more interested.
T
I tend to write as though my characters exist in vacuum – lots and lots of dialogue, but they could be anywhere. Usually when I consciously try to correct this, I overwrite the setting and it’s stiff and dull. Argh! So I’m working on blending setting in naturally – water dripping off trees, skirting around rosebushes during a walk, leaning comfortably against a mantel and trying not to disturb the knick-knacks on it in the library, etc. Just little things to ground the reader and give him/her a general idea of the surroundings.
Snakes. I hate’em. Don’t trust’em. I’m stealing your mother’s name for them though – love it!
I really like that sort of detail in settings, and I try to use it myself as well. (I’m taking a creative writing course and my tutor praised my description of a rolled-up carpet in a staff corridor as effectively indicating a ‘not-quite 4-star hotel’… not realising it was from a real 4-star hotel I used to work in!)
Seeing snakes on a walk in the park sounds terrifying though!
Once again one of your posts hits me right where I am. I’m rewriting a major scene today that really, well, sets the scene for my character’s world. It’s here that I want it to spring to life for the reader. The details are blindingly vivid in my mind and I fear they might get lost as I try to transfer them to the written word.
Oh, and from one southerner to another, I’m almost positive your sunning friend is a copperhead. (Shudders!)
You’re right – I bet the snakes didn’t sleep much this winter.
Settings and descriptions are not my favorite to write, but I’m trying to improve.
Good post. I didn’t remember the bridge much until you popped a snake near it. Writing settings is hard because we humans don’t often think of “the big oak tree threw shade on the shriveled, thirsty grass.” But it the setting is needed to help the reader stay grounded in the scene. I’m always getting in trouble at critique group because they don’t know where my characters are!
I’m finding setting to be a struggle. Perhaps because I read much like you Elizabeth. If there’s too much detail about the setting, I tend to skip over it. I really don’t care if the “shaded lamp was covered in a heavy brocade”…
I’m trying to find the right mix in my writing so I don’t bore myself!
Tami McVey
The Daring Novelist—I love your thoughts on this. Looking at it as a stage set is an interesting angle. And I do like to see the setting through the character’s eyes. It really breathes life into an otherwise boring passage!
Hilary–Thanks for visiting!
Valerie–I like that point, too. Because getting an opinion is always interesting than getting straight facts (maybe I’m biased, since I write fiction!)
Louise–I liked your descriptions in your commment! One thing you’re really doing right is using verbs in description. I think too many writers make it an adjective event and that’s what gets boring.
Margot–Coyotes are suddenly everywhere, aren’t they? I hear them in the woods at night. They make this sort of spooky cry…
Teresa–Yep, me too. It usually just doesn’t hold a candle to the rest of the story.
Juliette—Too funny! I love how that description is a clue to the setting. Must be the mystery writer in me. :)
Kendra–You know, I never get setting right the first time. Not my specialty. But I’ve heard if you use strong verbs in your setting description, it helps a lot.
A copperhead! Ugh. Good thing it wasn’t any closer than it was.
Elspeth–Ha! It’s a name that’s particular to the South, I think…or even a smaller area. My mom’s from Georgia and I’ve heard it there quite a bit.
Alex–Me too.
Taffy–I’ve really had to work on it. Originally, I had comments from editors, asking me to add more description. It pained me! Now I look at it as a challenge…find something extraordinary. Something, even, that might only be extraordinary to the character herself–and write it in. It’s a work in progress. :)
You did a great job on adding the snake to your setting. It’s the small touches that make the difference. People tell me they feel ‘right there’ about my settings, but I don’t know what I do that makes them think that – I try to write as little as possible.
I admit that I skim through long setting descriptions when I’m reading. If something catches my eye, I’ll slow down and take it in.
As a writer, I don’t spend a lot of time on laying out the setting for the reader. Maybe I’ll include a few distinct points – especially if readers need to know something in particular – otherwise I’ll let them fill in the gaps with the way they “see” it.
Glad you enjoyed your day with your daughter. We’re enjoying warm weather up here in NY too. :)
foodforays.com–Right! I don’t care about fashion, either, and that’s something else that gets a skip from me. :) Although it probably says a lot more about a person’s character than most settings do.
Carol–You must be doing broad sketches that the reader is able to fill in. I love it when I feel I’ve *been* to a place before. I’ll skip the description, but think, “Oh, right…it’s just like that hotdog place uptown!” and then I feel like I know where I am in the story.
Tracy–Sounds like me!
Isn’t the weather amazing? Just wish the pollen would go away. :)
A snake would definitely grab my interest! Yikes. If my sister read your post, she’d NEVER come to NC! If the details aren’t interesting, I tend to skim the setting description, too.