I learned a new trick and it seems to be seriously helping me with descriptions of the setting in particular, so naturally I’m going to share it here in case it helps someone else with their writing. Settings are often a struggle for me. I have read books on writing and gone to classes on writing and they always give this detailed list of the things you should know about your settings, and to be frank… these make my eyes gloss over.
I’m not saying you don’t need to know that there are pock marks in the western wall where your character’s father once practiced knife throwing, I’m saying that making a list of these things was not helpful for me. And I’m saying that making such lists turned out to be a waste of my time because they rarely got looked at beyond the initial effort it took to make them.
If these sorts of things work for you, then I applaud you and I am so glad. Seriously. Whatever works for you to get words on the page is what you should do.
So what’s my trick?
Images.
Literal images.
Deviantart and Pinterest are two places you can go to see some seriously beautiful artwork. This does come with the warning that oftentimes you’ll start browsing and before you know it, an hour has past, so make sure you go in with an idea of what you’re looking for.
Now, for this next part, make sure you are looking at FREE images or that you’re not yanking someone’s hard work without somehow paying for it. Artists spend just as long on their craft as we writers do ours, so be respectful.
What I do, is I start a Mood Board on Canva.
I do love Canva. You can have a free account and do a lot with it. A lot of my marketing images and things come from Canva.
Anyway, I start a Mood Board on Canva. They even have Mood Board templates you can use.
Using the images that I stumbled across in my DeviantArt/Pinterest dungeon crawl (with permission if they are not free) I then fill that Mood Board. OR, I use MidJourney to help me create some images.
Yes, Midjourney is an AI art generator. Yes, I understand there is a huge debate going on about AI in the arts. No, I’m not going to expound on this debate. Suffice to say, budgets are tight and if I could hire a flesh and blood artist to do some of these then I most certainly would. These images are for my personal use as I write/edit my drafts and I have found them supremely helpful.
I digress.
Here you can see a Mood Board that was made for a setting in Nora and the Winter King. Notice that I’ve paid particular attention to specific rooms, and that there is a distinct feel that all of the rooms follow. Identifying what is working for this setting is important. In this case, it’s a lot of stonework, a dusty and neglected feel while still be cozy in places.
Oftentimes the very act of creating this mood board is enough to settle me into the scene I’m about to write, but having it on hand to reference as I go through the draft is helpful. Especially if I’m coming back to a setting that was left behind or returning to the work to begin edits.
Anyway, that’s my trick. It seems to work better than making lists, at least for me, and it allows me to sort of “sit” in that setting and feel it.
Happy writing, everyone!
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