Description & Setting: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Believable World of People, Places, and Events (Write Great Fiction)

219 Pages·2005·1.08 MB·English

by  Ron Rozelle

[ copyright ]
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Rozelle,Ron
Writegreatfiction:description&setting/byRonRozelle.—1sted.
p. cm.
Includesindex.
ISBN1-58297-327-X(pbk.:alk.paper)
ISBN-13: 978-1-58297-682-2 (EPUB)
1.Fiction—Technique.2.Setting(Literature)3.Description(Rhetoric)I.Title.
PN3383.S42R69 2005
808.3(cid:3)92—dc22 2004023472
CIP
EditedbyMichelleRuberg
DesignedbyStanardDesignPartners
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[ about the author ]
RonRozelleteachesCreativeWritingontheTexasgulfcoast.Heistheauthor
of three books: Into That Good Night, a memoir, The Windows of Heaven, a
novelofthe1900Galvestonstorm,andAPlaceApart,anovelsetinmodern
dayOhio.HeistherecipientoftheStephenF.AustinFatherofTexasAward
and the Image Magazine Creative Prize. His memoir, Into That Good Night,
was a national finalist for the P.E.N. Prize and the Texas Institute of Letters
CarrP.CollinsAwardandwasselectedasthesecondbestworkofnonfiction
in the nation for the year 1998 by the San Antonio Express-News. He has
taughtwritingworkshopsatnumerousconferencesanduniversities,andwas
twicethememoirteacherattheNewmanNationalConferenceatMississippi
College. His articles have appeared in a wide variety of publications, and he
was the Barnes and Noble Author of the Month in both the Houston and
Dallas markets. He has been a featured author at the Texas Book Festival in
Austin and the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio. He has a new novel,
Touching Winter, coming out soon from TCU Press.
[ dedication ]
for
Victor Platt
and
David Westheimer,
wordsmiths, both
table of *
contents
*
CHAPTERONE:
The Importance of Description and Setting ....................................................1
CHAPTERTWO:
Learning to Pay Attention ...............................................................................18
CHAPTERTHREE:
Using All the Tools in Your Kit......................................................................37
CHAPTERFOUR:
Showing, Telling, and Combining the Two...................................................62
CHAPTERFIVE:
Sensory Description .........................................................................................75
CHAPTERSIX:
Description of Characters ..............................................................................100
CHAPTERSEVEN:
Time and Place ...............................................................................................120
CHAPTEREIGHT:
Description and Setting in Specialized Fiction ............................................137
CHAPTERNINE:
Using Description and Setting to Drive the Story ......................................152
CHAPTERTEN:
Working the Magic ........................................................................................163
CHAPTERELEVEN:
Too Little, Too Much ....................................................................................176
CHAPTERTWELVE:
Description and Setting in the Writing Process ..........................................187
APPENDIX:
Point by Point—A Quick and Easy Reference to Material Covered .........196
INDEX.................................................................................................................209
1
chapter *
*
[ the importance of
description and setting ]
One of the first things I learned about the difference between good and bad
writing is that good writing is not entirely dependent upon the setting. And
bad writing sometimes is.
IwasinacollegeclasscalledTheAmericanNovelonthethirdorfourth
flooroftheEnglishbuilding,watchingthebranchesofahugeoaktreesway
gentlyoutsidetheopenwindowsinthelazybreezeofaspringafternoon.We
were nearly halfway through that odd duck of a decade called the seventies,
andtheprofessorusedtheadjectivetranscendental,whichwasalmostalways,
in those times, paired with the noun meditation.
t
‘‘Goodwritingistranscendental,’’theprofessorsaid.‘‘Itrisesabovetime he
and place.’’ im
p
o
Thatlittlepearlhasstuckwithmeeversince.Andbeingforalongtime r
t
a
nowinthebusinessofwriting—goodratherthanbad,Ihope—andteaching n
c
e
it, I can attest that it is true. If it weren’t, then only people who grew up in o
f
rural Alabama in the early years of the Great Depression would be able to d
e
s
make much of To Kill a Mockingbird. But the fact is that any thoughtful c
r
ip
readercanmakeagreatdealofit,becauseToKillaMockingbirdisnotabout t
io
Alabama or the Great Depression. Writing that is only about a time is not n
a
literature, it is history. If it is only about a place, it is geography. Literature nd
s
is about neither; it is about people and all of the wide range of joys and e
t
t
troubles that people tumble into. in
g
Now, having said that, I’d better quickly say this: Even though good
1
writing is not entirely dependent upon the setting, a writer of fiction would
be paving the way to miserable failure if he did not first create, using every
tool at his disposal, the most clearly depicted time and place he could come
upwith.Becauseastorywillnotgetveryfar—morespecifically,yourreader
will not go very far—without a setting that has been meticulously crafted.
Readerswanttoknowafewthingsrightupfront,likewhattheweather
islikeandthelayoftheland,thecolorofthatlake,orthesteeppitchofthat
steeple.Nowwhetherornotthesethingshaveoneiotatodowithyourstory
doesn’t concern the reader. And it shouldn’t; that’s your business as the
writer. That generic reader out there, who my students and I call the guy in
Sheboygan, expects a few details from the start as part of his due for sitting
down to spend any time with you at all.
The location and time frame of your story is more than just a stage for
your characters to tromp around on. In some cases, the setting becomes a
character itself. And all of the attendant details—societal conventions, sea-
shores, mountains, regional dialects—determine the overall tone. In fact, if
youdoitright,settinganddescriptionbecomeessentialinyourfiction.They
become the foundation for the rest of your story to build on.
Veryfewexistingnovelsorstorieswouldworkaswellastheydo,orwork
atall,incompletelydifferenttimesandplaces.ItmightbearguedthatToKill
aMockingbirdcouldbesetinNovaScotiainthe1980s,providedtherewas
discriminationofsomesortthere,whichtherealmostcertainlywas,discrimina-
tionbeinganabundantcommodityinmosttimesandplaces.Inthatvenue,the
storymightpossiblydothetranscendingmyoldprofessorspokeof.But,though
itmaysurvivesuchatransplant,itcertainlywouldn’tbethesamebook,or
even—almostsurely—averygoodone.HarperLeesethertaleintheDeep
Southoftheearly1930s,fertilegroundforbigotryandfamilyoddballskept
hiddenawayincrumblingoldhouses,aperfectbedrockforheruniquenovel.
Your fiction has to have a setting rich enough to match the story you
intend to tell. It must be believable and sufficiently described to be as real
for your readers as the rooms they are sitting in when reading it.
g
n It’s a tall order. But it’s one that you’ll have to fill before your writing
ti
et canworkonanylevel.Thisbookwillshowyou,throughtheuseofexplana-
s
& tions,examples,andpracticedrills,howyoucangoaboutestablishingrealis-
n
o tic, believable settings and providing engaging descriptions that will allow
ti
rip your readers to see, when they read your story, what you saw when you
c
s envisioned it.
e
d
2
craft and voice
Whenever I meet with a new class, the first thing I tell them is that creative
writing consists of two things: craft and voice. I pilfer pretty liberally here
from William Zinsser’s On Writing Well, but he wouldn’t mind; writers are
usually gracious sharers and universally proficient pilferers. Then I tell the
classthatImightbesomewhathelpfultothemregardingcraft,whichincludes
thetricksofthetradeandvariousclevermanipulationtools,likerabbitsout
of hats.
But when it comes to voice, the entirely individual way in which they
spin their yarns, I admit that I’m not likely to be of any use whatsoever.
They’ll just have to dig around for that on their own. I can point them in
the right direction, can show them examples of other peoples’ voices, and
can even tell them when they haven’t found it. But finding it is a personal
expedition.
Thisbusinessofdescriptionandsettingisrootedfirmlyinbothcraftand
voice. The careful brush strokes that bring your story to life, the delicate
tightropewalkingbetweentoolittleandtoomuch,andthecarefulchoiceof
a locale that makes your tale accessible to the guy in Sheboygan will require
all of the tools in your kit and your ability to employ them. Jumbled in
there—like screwdrivers and hammers—are metaphors, similes, sentence-
and paragraph-length variation, onomatopoeia, allusions, flashbacks, and
many more things. Your job is to lift each one out as it is needed and—in
your distinctive voice—put it to work.
And while voice can’t be taught—at least within the strictest definition
t
ofthe word,byateacher inaclassroomor the pagesof ahow-tomanual— h
e
it can be learned. The process through which it finally emerges is a refiner’s im
p
fireofmysticalcomponents,madeupofhoningthebasicskillsofstorytelling, or
t
a
devotingplentyoftimetoreadingawideassortmentoftalentedwriterswho n
c
e
have found their voices and put them to good use, and then undertaking,
o
f
meticulouslyandslowly,the ancient enterpriseofwordsmithing:thecareful d
e
s
selection of each and every word and phrase. c
r
ip
t
io
the trinity n
a
n
d
Ineachchapter,we’lllookatvariousconventionsanddevicesthatundergird se
t
t
effective writing (craft), we’ll dissect specific examples of how established in
g
writershaveprovideddescriptionandestablishedsetting(models),andwe’ll
3
look at ways that you can go about the planning, writing, and fine tuning
necessary to write quality fiction (wordsmithing).
Let’s set some ground rules. Instead of dealing with craft and voice as
twothings,let’sconsiderthemfromhereonoutasone.Thetoolsandyour
uniqueuseofthemmustbeasingleenterprise,thetwofusingcontinuously
into what will eventually be your finished product: a story or a novel. The
sameistrueofourdualtopics,settinganddescription.Onedependsentirely
ontheother,andseparatingtheminourthinkingorourtreatmentwon’tbe
helpful. For that reason, I’ve chosen not to break this book into two parts,
one dealing specifically with setting and the other with description. They’re
goingtohavetoworktogetherinyourfiction,solet’sgoatthemasasingle
entity.
Finding andpolishing the writingvoice inwhich you willdescribe your
setting is a solo voyage with you alone at the helm. But if you tinker suffi-
ciently,usingthemanytoolsavailabletoyou,andpayattentiontohowother
writershaveusedthem,thenyourstyle willsurface,likeAhab’swhite whale
offthereonthehorizon.Anditwillgetclearerandclearerasyourowtoward
it.Here’sawarning,however.Thisthingyouarechasingislikelytogiveyou
as much trouble as the whale gave Ahab.
Good writingis hard work, anyway you look atit, and notalways a lot
of fun. It’s a lonely business and oftentimes a frustrating one. We might as
well have our first bit of wisdom from Flannery O’Connor, and you should
getusedtoit.SomeofmystudentscallherSaintFlannerysinceIinvokeher
words pretty often.
‘‘I’m always highly irritated,’’ O’Connor says, in Mystery and Manners:
OccasionalProse,‘‘bypeoplewhoimplythatwritingfictionisanescapefrom
reality. It’s a plunge into reality and is very shocking to the system.’’
So prepare to have your system shocked. But prepare also to reap the
rewards of your struggles. I’m not talking about a huge advance from a
publisher and a national book tour and plopping yourself down opposite
Katie Couric on the Today show. You can’t be concerned with any of that
g
n just yet. What has to occupy you for a good while now is the actual writing
ti
et ofthis piecethat might or mightnotprovide yourdeliverance. Therewards
s
& I’mreferringtoaremorebasic:the goodfeelingofhavingwrittenwellfora
n
o few hours and the satisfaction of crafting a piece of your story in your very
ti
rip own way, putting your own stamp on it.
c
s Good, clear writing that has been sufficiently wordsmithed, that’s what
e
d
we’re after. A solid, well-written work of fiction with your name under the
4
title and your voice throughout. A story and a cast of characters that will
make the guy in Sheboygan continue to think about them even after he’s
finished the reading.
Twoofthemostessentialcomponentsaredescriptionandsetting.Before
youcanworkonebitofthemagicinthatstoryorthosecharacters,youhave
tomakeyourreaderfullyawareoftheplaceandthetime,ofwhattheweather