How to Describe Setting in a Story | Descriptive Writing Tips

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Күн бұрын

The two most common questions I get when I teach creative writing workshops are: how do I write better descriptions? And how do I describe setting?
We know sensory details and setting descriptions are important when it comes to immersing a reader in a story, but we struggle with which descriptive details to include. We don’t want to be long-winded and boring, but we also don’t want to skimp too much because it’s important that the reader be able to visualize where the characters are. So let's get into some descriptive writing tips, plus a quick workshop exercise that will help you write better setting descriptions!
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Пікірлер: 50

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

What's the best descriptive writing tip you've ever gotten?? Let me know in the comments!

@thegremlinduke2190 2 жыл бұрын

Hey is okay to be wordy and have long secentes?

@kevywilliams3304 Жыл бұрын

If you spell sentences correctly maybe lol .

@jane.simplywrites 4 жыл бұрын

I think providing the time of day gets forgotten, too. Great tips, Michelle. Noteworthy! Also, I’ve heard the tip “make your setting a character in your story”.

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

That's a GREAT one! And thank you so much!! :D

@rofernk4837 10 ай бұрын

This is a real teaching video, OMG! Showing examples and explaining them is the key. This is Amazing. just with this video I now have a better understanding about setting. Thank you so much. The ring bell is on 🙂

@oliviatinker2862 2 жыл бұрын

I have to say, i love the way you gave examples form novels- it made my inspiration spark! Thank you for this really helpful video!

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 2 жыл бұрын

So glad this was helpful! Thanks for watching, Olivia! :)

@raethefae2653 Жыл бұрын

This might be a detail, but I really love how the background music adapts to the mood of the text???? It's so immersive!

@timwhite794 Жыл бұрын

Excellent. Your comments on context were especially helpful

@tiarailic4086 3 жыл бұрын

2:02 I've never heard my name in a book before! That's cool!

@readerturnedwriter 4 жыл бұрын

These are great tips! I especially love the one about describing what's different for the reader.

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks so much, C!! :)

@Zero-vo7zt 3 жыл бұрын

These tips helped me with my English work you are super underrated

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you so much!! :) I'm so glad this helped.

@mrsmiddleclass4093 3 жыл бұрын

Just found your channel and your advice / homework tips are giving me pause. My mind is so directed to action that settings are hard for me to do. But now I am also discovering that I have not fleshed out my characters well enough for me to do these exercises! 😅 Good thing to find out in this stage...

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 3 жыл бұрын

That's totally okay! Honestly, I get overwhelmed when I read/watch too much writing advice. Just keep working on it! You can always improve things when you revise after the draft is done. :) (Also - welcome and thank you for watching!!)

@CryptoJones 5 ай бұрын

You were mentioned in my freshman writing class. Subscribed!

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 5 ай бұрын

Wow, that's cool! Thanks! :)

@pietruszkapietruszkowa9713 Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for this video, I love writing dialogs and hate describing settings! I would just love to write "so, yeah, characters are in a room" or "and now we're outside, it's cloudy, no wind" and go back to dialog or character stuff in general so any tips about describing anything are appreciated! :)

@KarrGalaxyStudios 2 жыл бұрын

Wow great video! This definitely helps!

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 2 жыл бұрын

Glad it helped! :)

@fridgeghost4017 4 жыл бұрын

"Tie in the weather. Make it match the mood and then edit what you don't need later." It works for me, I'm an over writer and end up cutting a lot but I've gotten rid of lots of useless information and it's helped my "white room syndrome" a lot.

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

Ooh, I like that tip! I do think it's better to be an overwriter and to cut - it's that whole "find the ripest cherries in the bushel" thing. :)

@fridgeghost4017 4 жыл бұрын

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor yeah exactly; plus it got me thinking about what was and wasn't important and what was lacking in other areas of description.

@Manahiill_ 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you

@brit7627 3 жыл бұрын

what if i dont have the vocabulary to do so

@KylaGrace 2 жыл бұрын

You would read more books in your genre to acquire appropriate vocabulary for your story. Make note of words that strike you as new or interesting and use them in your books in moderation.

@mohandash1126 2 жыл бұрын

「あなたのコンテンツはとても感動的です」、

@juniork9998 3 жыл бұрын

That was a good video I loved the way of those authors how they wrote it I need an editor

@juniork9998 3 жыл бұрын

Passive sentences another headache for me

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 3 жыл бұрын

That's a tough one for sure, but the more you write the better you'll get at eliminating them!

@sanjurani4898 Жыл бұрын

Kandungan video sangat baik, tahniah

@cynthiaking5308 9 ай бұрын

Off topic, but what days do you the writing sprints?

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 9 ай бұрын

Wednesdays at 11am ET!

@chillgamingchannel1283 Жыл бұрын

Tip I like: You don't have to dedicate a paragraph at the start of a scene to describe the setting. Let it be revealed by the characters movements through the space so that without even realising it you paint the picture whilst dialogue and action occurs. Rather than have to slog through a description heavy paragraph or two we can get straight to matters of interest whilst touching on setting here and there. That works well for minor settings anyway. I think for really important settings, when they are first revealed, you wouldn't be wrong to give them their moment to wow the reader.

@futurevoid4261 2 жыл бұрын

How to describe houses?

@aarcade6676 3 жыл бұрын

I guess you could summarise it this way: -what's important to the plot? -what's important to the character? -what's important to the reader?

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 3 жыл бұрын

That's it! :)

@patriciascottbess525 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you I was lost florida I go to post University I am 60

@kanashiiookami6537 4 жыл бұрын

"Always leave out the part that readers skip." I don't know who said it, but that quote has stuck with me for years. Best example of why it's necessary? I'm reading a 600 plus page novel that sounded like it will be good. The prologue is 43 pages of unneeded description and I am nearing 90 pages in and still not out of chapter 1. The description is overdone and overboard with every little unnecessary thing being shoved in your face, none of it relevant to the plot because the author just wants to hear himself talk. And none of it is in the correct POV or in character voice. I haven't picked it up in over a week, but I've finished reading 4 other better written novels in that time. (Not perfect, but then I am reading them with a writer's eye and a mind to what I would do differently. But they kept me reading whereas I dread going back to this monster of a boring book.) That is what I can say is the best advice I've gotten for description. Like seriously, I don't usually scan through books, but life is too short to slog through this author's mess as if it actually mattered, and I've found that maybe 4 pages of it are actually useful, and that's 4 pages combined of the bits inside what I've scanned through. So it's a good representation at least of what not to do, because there is world building done right, and then "world crushing the reader" because the author figured just because he loved writing it, that must mean it was okay to turn the reader into Atlas. (In the first 43 pages of prologue let alone the rest of the book.)

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

That is GREAT advice. I think it's easy to convince ourselves that readers 'need' this detail even if we know it's boring. But you're right, they'll just skim if it's dull - so then truly, what's the point of having it in there? Out of curiosity, why are you going to keep reading that book with the monstrous prologue?? Do you think it'll get better?

@kanashiiookami6537 4 жыл бұрын

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor I live in hope it'll get better. I picked it up because it has been absolutely raved about by people as a reference to great character, plot, writing, etc. And I thought that because some other stuff people have raved about was good, it could be worth a look. (How I loved HP, Hunger Games, Twilight (except for the end "battle"), Vampire Academy, Children of Blood and Bone and so on and so forth of books with great characters and plot) But this book so far? Not seeing it. Hence it being sat on my bookshelf for a week while I let other stories take me away. So i do expect it to pick up or get better or something. But I think i might try and make it to chapter 3 before I decide to quit it. (Having had read an entire book that had absolutely zero plot or reason to it when I was a kid, I learned that if it doesn't pick up in the first 2 chapters, it never will. But that book was just shy of 300 pages, this is 500 plus (just had a look at it and realised I posted the wrong number before). I will not repeat that mistake no matter how much someone else loves it.)

@MichelleSchustermanAuthor 4 жыл бұрын

@@kanashiiookami6537 Wowwww that is a TOME. I see what you mean. But yeah, I think you're right - I've rarely (if ever) read a book that started out meh then got better fifty pages in. I think probably because authors spend SO much time crafting those crucial opening pages. A bad beginning doesn't bode well. :/

@KylaGrace 2 жыл бұрын

@@MichelleSchustermanAuthor What is TOME?