Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Tue, Feb 28 2017
What's really in the scene?
If you watch a favorite film several times you may begin to notice more about the way the background in scenes is presented. Are there two characters in a shot? Are they in front of a crowd of background activity? Camera work usually handles details that make it easier for our vision to accept a sceme as natural. When two characters have a conversation while crossing a city street we accept the noise, traffic and pedestrians as part of a busy city intersection, even if the background is in softer focus. If we suddenly took away all the background activity and showed those same two characters against a backdrop of deserted streets our mind would start to assume other things about the scene. Maybe it's too early for traffic and crowds or maybe it's the weekend. As the shot widens out we might find that there is no one else in the whole city at all, due to evacuation or alien abduction. Without cameras, it's up to the writer to help a reader picture the context in which the characters are presented. We don't have to provide every single detail when we describe a scene in a written story. Four pages of written description are going to be tedious and may ruin the pacing of the story. But a few well-chosen details can help the reader's mind fill in the rest of the setting naturally with their own imagination.
The more exotic the setting, the more details one might need to set up a scene. Most of us have crossed a street in a large city, but if the story takes place in 3012 the reader may need more background description in order to accept the scene as a natural one. The same might be true of a city set in early Athens. Decide which details will give your reader the best chance to build the scene in their mind and make them feel like part of the action.
posted at: 13:52 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry
If you watch a favorite film several times you may begin to notice more about the way the background in scenes is presented. Are there two characters in a shot? Are they in front of a crowd of background activity? Camera work usually handles details that make it easier for our vision to accept a sceme as natural. When two characters have a conversation while crossing a city street we accept the noise, traffic and pedestrians as part of a busy city intersection, even if the background is in softer focus. If we suddenly took away all the background activity and showed those same two characters against a backdrop of deserted streets our mind would start to assume other things about the scene. Maybe it's too early for traffic and crowds or maybe it's the weekend. As the shot widens out we might find that there is no one else in the whole city at all, due to evacuation or alien abduction. Without cameras, it's up to the writer to help a reader picture the context in which the characters are presented. We don't have to provide every single detail when we describe a scene in a written story. Four pages of written description are going to be tedious and may ruin the pacing of the story. But a few well-chosen details can help the reader's mind fill in the rest of the setting naturally with their own imagination.
The more exotic the setting, the more details one might need to set up a scene. Most of us have crossed a street in a large city, but if the story takes place in 3012 the reader may need more background description in order to accept the scene as a natural one. The same might be true of a city set in early Athens. Decide which details will give your reader the best chance to build the scene in their mind and make them feel like part of the action.
posted at: 13:52 | category: /Writing Life | link to this entry