World-Building -- What Works For You?

[scribblerworks]

In her book Talking About Detective Fiction, P.D. James begins a chapter discussing setting, viewpoint and people with the following comments:

Reading any work of fiction is a symbiotic act.  We the readers contribute our imagination to that of the writer, willingly entering his world, participating in the lives of its people and forming from the

Comments

[kalimac]

As a reader, I like physical descriptions of settings which give the feeling of standing there, experiencing it. Instead, too often I get the feeling of watching a movie of it.

I also think it's far too easy for an author using realistic settings to think, "Well, everybody knows what Times Square is like." No they don't, and even if they've been there they could use a reminder. I like a setting that conveys the place and doesn't just have its name slapped on.

[scribblerworks]

I think I'm pretty much in sync with you on that. I too prefer the experience of the space. I think that was why I wasn't really charmed with Michener's work. It was too objective and disconnected from "me."

[kalimac]

The only Michener I ever read was The Source, where he did such a good job of drawing tight connections between deep and recent history in the same spot that a sense of place was engendered thereby, and didn't need evocative descriptions.

I am very aware of, when authors set novels, including fantasy novels, in my own region, past, present, or future, whether they have a sense of the landscape or not.

What most bothers me as a substitute for true evocation - though this isn't a landscape issue - is when authors throw brand names or pop culture references around as a way of establishing era or context, without doing anything with the evocations, figuring the names are enough. Stephen King is particularly bad about that.

[scribblerworks]

Using brand names and pop culture references.... yeah. For myself, I call that "writing by shorthand". But you have to understand, I never learned shorthand - it's just a bunch of squiggles as far as I'm concerned, squiggles that tell me nothing.
:D

[sartorias]

When I read, I like seeing the setting through someone's eyes--so if the POV is a war leader, I like seeing the landscape in terms of defense and offense, with hints of other senses. If the POV is a painter, I want to see the landscape as a potential painter, and I love it when I get different viewpoints on the setting from different characters.

[scribblerworks]

I hadn't considered it quite that way, in terms of specific interest of a particular viewer. I may do some of it instinctively myself, but I hadn't really looked to the particulars.

Cool! Thanks for mentioning that!

[sartorias]

It's different when there is a narrator, of course. Then, I wonder what the narrator wants--what they are choosing to show means something for the story's arc.