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Reading
is something I have always enjoyed. I still remember the intense excitement
I had as a child when library day was close. It was It was very early on in my life that I realized that reading gave me pleasure and writing gave me fulfillment. In fact, I still recall the very first story I had written in Grade 1. It was a heroic tale of a ghost trapped on a pirate ship unable to escape because he never learned how to swim when he was alive. The poor ghost finally escaped the confines of the ship by learning how to fly. However, somehow I doubt that Stephen King would consider me to be competition based on this tale. One
thing I have learned over the years about my reading style is that
I am not one who wishes to be drowned in description. I really hate
reading a story, novel, or book that has more pages written on the
As
a reader, I am more enthralled with plots, storylines, and characters
than I am about what the sink looks like. Usually by the fifth page
of any novel, I have mentally envisioned what the inanimate objects,
houses, and communities look like. Most authors' descriptions of the
furniture, rooms, and other areas are never duplicated in my mind
as they see it. I am an interpreter: I prefer to stick to the characters
and allow their personalities to reflect what I think their surroundings
will be. It is the characters who create the surroundings through
their personalities, rather than through paragraphs based on the theme
by which the furnishings were fashioned. There are a few authors who
are quite capable of There is nothing more frustrating for a reader than to spend most of each page reading about where a table is placed next to a chair, possibly near a fireplace and all the colors, details and timelines of their existence. This much detail is just time-consuming for the writer and the reader. It is distracting from the characters, which to me, is the main reason to read a novel. Maybe I am just a people person who dislikes detail. I would prefer to read pages and pages of dialogue rather than pages and pages of what color a footstool was in its previous life. You
have to understand, I am not speaking of the setting. I am speaking
of the long-winded settings whose pattern is found I realize that it is not easy (as a writer) to please everyone and nor should one attempt to, but I feel that as a reader, I know what I like to read. I mean, if you have Shane and Mary on a runaway horse, do you really care about what types of flowers, trees, birds, and grass they are passing before they might tumble to their deaths off the cliff ten feet away? If Sherry and Doug are standing before the doctor awaiting news of something life-saving, do you really care about what brand name the stethoscope is or how many chairs are in the waiting room area? See
what I mean? What you really want to know is what is said and Let's try a test. You read each paragraph below and see which one suits your creative mind more. The story that produces the most vivid setting is the winner.
The wind blew hard against the window as if wanting to come crashing through the 18th-century wood frame. Liza looked over to watch the leaves flying helplessly outside. The hurricane was getting nearer -- she could feel the cold seeping in through the cracks. Looking around her bed, Liza gripped tightly to her rose-patterned quilt and her white cotton sheets, and she pulled them up close to her chin. Her
soft chamomile-scented pillow fluffed up tightly behind her neck Liza brushed her brown hair out of her eyes, still clutching her flowered quilt close to her chin, trembling as the winds began howling as if a pack of wolves were howling their warning.
Liza realizes a hurricane is coming and is getting closer. Her heart pounds with fear. Her thoughts are scrambled and uncertain, as she has never experienced this type of terror before. What does she do? Does she remain in her 18th- century wood home hoping it survives unscathed? Does she flee? Where will she go? Liza trembles with uncertainty. Moments pass and the wind picks upspeed and strength. Liza makes a decision and runs. I
am betting that both scenarios created different pictures in your
mind. I envisioned the first story as a bedroom. My mind focused The second story concocted the face of Liza. I could envision her fear, the way her eyes looked, the way her lips trembled with such a decision. But, of course, these are my interpretations and I am sure your scenarios weren't quite the same as mine. However, I am betting the results were quite similar. And
that, dear readers, is my point exactly. Novels that address the In any case, the whole point to this article is that, regardless of how little or how much a writer may create description in their stories, I am going to interpret the story my own way anyway. I would just rather do it based upon the personalities of the characters rather than pages of description that could otherwise be put to better use. |
such
a thrill to be able to walk into a room filled with books written
for a variety of ages. It was the only place I could sit undisturbed,
reading a book intended for an older audience. The library was freedom
from age confinement. It held no barriers and opened my mind up to
all possibilities. As a child, I enjoyed this immensely. I spent a
vast amount of time in this timeless room. 
