Sally tossed her notebook on the table. “You’re tan. How fair is that? I’m still pasty white.”
I gave her a smile. “I’m still white as a walleye compared to the Hawaiians, not to mention the native Hawaiians.. How is your storyworld writing going?”
“It feels like a travel brochure. I don’t know how to make it interesting.”
“It’s all about perspective, which is what I wanted to talk to you today. Every book, regardless of what kind – Suspense/Romance, Fantasy, Thriller, Historical romance – every book starts out someplace. In a world. At a moment. And, in today’s literature, with a person. Whether it’s a firecracker start to a book, or something that begins with a wide-angle view, drawing into the scene, it is viewed through the eyes of a character.
It’s the perspective of the character that gives the storyworld life.
One of my favorite novels, Wiser than Serpents, started in Night Market, in Taiwan. I could have started with description, the hundreds of tables pushed side by side, hawking chicken legs and squid on a stick, the cloying smell of sweet potatoes mixed with the pungency of tea eggs. I could have talked about the voices of the vendors, each rising above the other in a wild, chaotic cacophony that outshouted even the seagulls at the nearby shipyards.
However, if I simply described the scene, then the reader doesn’t know how to interpret what they see. They need a character to perceive the sights, and sift them through their grid of understanding. Scenery without pov interpretation is, well, boring. (Unless it’s in omniscient pov, but then again, you do have a pov — the narrator).
And it’s not just the POV that matters, but what is at stake for them that turns the setting into something vibrant and distinct. What if the character was looking for a small boy, lost in the crowd? Every vendor would be suspect, every vat of boiling oil a horror. Or, hiding from someone? Suddenly the market becomes their salvation. What if they’re hungry, and have no money? Then night market becomes tantalizing, and perhaps pushing them over the edge.
Here’s the secret – move your character through the scene, experiencing the world as they go, wrapping it up in their attitudes and stakes and the scene will go from static to alive.”
I pulled out a book and handed it to her. “Read the scene and tell me what you think.”
*****
Tomorrow stop by the blog and read the scene – see if you can find all the ways I build in his attitude into the description.
Have a great writing week!
Susie May
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