Describe Setting from Characters’ Perspectives

Novice writers often possess a good understanding of how to write a great description of a story’s setting and of how to present evocative details. Indeed, the ability to create beautiful imagery through words often is a skill that encouraged many aspiring writers to aspire to write a book in the first place.

Unfortunately, sometimes novice writers present great descriptions that don’t really advance the story. The use of such wording, while pretty and emotive in its own right, actually can slow the story and feel superfluous.

Usually the cause for this is the writer showing off his or her talent at penning great descriptions. But to make those appeals to sight, sound, smell, touch and taste truly great, the author ought to ensure they relate to the character in some way. Rather than simply be a lush description of any city or any street or any waiting room that any person could experience, they ought to be details that the story’s viewpoint character experiences.

By doing so, the writer gives the reader a better understanding of the viewpoint character’s motivations and perceptions of the world. The reader then can better grasp the viewpoint character’s mood and can better identify with that character.

For example, anyone visiting a beach can feel the sand between their toes, hear the screech of seagulls, and feel the warm water as the waves crash against their ankles. But writers always should ask how their viewpoint character would perceive the beach. Maybe that character finds sand between the toes scratchy, thinks the seagulls are dive bombing her, and considers the water too cold for her liking. Now the reader is experiencing the beach in the way the viewpoint character does, and we have a better sense of the latter’s personality and intentions.

Such writing does require a bit more effort on the part of the author. But the result often is a better story that the reader can better appreciate – and that always brings many rewards to the writer.

Today’s sophisticated readers generally demand that your stories contain three-dimensional characters, that is, a protagonist who behaves like a real person and who probably grows by learning something along the way. But how do you create such a character? A three-dimensional, or round, character would do the following:

Express multiple emotions
In our daily lives, we rarely express a lone emotion all day or react to all things with the same single feeling. We are cheerful, we are frustrated, we are pleased, we are angry, we are lustful, we are bored. In fact, whenever a person constantly displays only one emotion – sadness or anger, for example – we tend to worry that there is something wrong with him. Except for the most dire of circumstances, such as to show a character has sunk into deep depression, always have a character express a number of emotions, as the plot permits.

Struggle with conflicting emotions
Most of us find ourselves doing what we think is best though we don’t feel like doing it or vacillating between thoughts as our feelings play tug of war inside us: we want to tell off someone but know we need to bite our tongue; we don’t want to attend our loudmouth neighbor’s party but know his good-natured wife will be offended if we don’t. Have your main character grapple with his emotions as well.

Possess flaws
No one is perfect, except for hackneyed story characters. Allow them to make mistakes, to have weaknesses and fears. If they don’t have a flaw, they risk becoming a comic book-like caricature. Make their flaws integral to the plot so that it stands out.

Undergo change
As a real person, you experience and learn something new everyday; though it may not be earth-shattering, it does affect who you are so that the person you are today is not the person you were 20 years ago. In a story, a protagonist ideally will experience and learn something that changes – for the better – his perspective on himself or the world.

Display some unique quirk
Each of us has some habit or subtle tic that sets us apart from others – biting one’s fingernails when nervous, twirling one’s hair when uncertain, winking at others when feeling happy. Your main character also should have some quirk that is uniquely his, that can come to be associated with him.

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My name is Rob Bignell. I’m an affordable, professional editor who runs Inventing Reality Editing Service, which meets the manuscript needs of writers both new and published. I also offer a variety of self-publishing services. During the past decade, I’ve helped more than 400 novelists and nonfiction authors obtain their publishing dreams at reasonable prices. I’m also the author of the Storytelling 101 writing guidebooks, four nonfiction hiking guidebook series, and the literary novel Windmill. Several of my short stories in the literary and science fiction genres also have been published.

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