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| Love the nature, a bit claustrophobic. |
However, if the description is enlightening, I read on. For instance, if a character walks into a boy's room and the walls are pink, I'm intrigued.
Well, office description can be intriguing as well - if we know what things mean. For example, if we walk into an office describe it having a desk, a chair, a bookshelf, a window, a phone, it tells us nothing interesting. That's what normal, boring people have in their offices. Well, we don't want our characters to be boring, surface creatures. We want to learn more about them... What tells us about a character in an office?
Six things. We'll look at the first three today.
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| Talli's gonna hate me... |
2) Photographs (or lack of) and their frames - I love walking into restaurants and seeing photos of the presidents or actors with the chef. It's bragging, but they probably serve good food. Gandhi on the wall of an office in a simple black wooden frame vs Homer Simpson in plastic glitter frame also speak volumes. What do you think of a lawyer that displays his six-year-old's school drawing on his shelf?
Now that you know this, use it in your descriptions.
Next week, the other three things.
Picture Source: Here
Source: Reading People
Clarissa - You are so right that those little individual touches in a setting can say a great deal about a character. Even something as simple as whether or not there is anything on a character's desk hints at whether that character is or is not comfortable telling you anything about her/himself. For instance, I'm thinking of Agatha Christie's Death in the Clouds (AKA Death in the Air. In that novel, a French moneylender is killed, and Poirot and the police look through her office to find clues to her murderer. What is interesting is that there are absolutely no personal touches at all in her office. A major hint that she has put her personal life/her past behind her, and that ends up mattering in the plot.
ReplyDeleteYes, exactly. That's one of the things I touch on next week.
ReplyDeleteCD
Good things to think of, Clarissa!
ReplyDeleteAnd Top Gear is awesome. So are Bugattis!
Interesting views. You should have seen my bookshelf, and my CD collection >:)
ReplyDeleteCold As Heaven
I love that pic of the leafy office. How strange! Thanks for another great and helpful post.
ReplyDeleteI've read and collected books most of my life. I've read many of my favorites more than once. But most of them just sat there looking pretty. One day I decided to give them all away to a charity that provides free books to those who like to read but can't afford to buy books. I'm not saying this to get any kudos, but rather to tell you not to look at my book shelves....LOL
ReplyDeleteThis was very useful but it makes me wonder what you REALLY think while reading my blog?! :D
ReplyDeleteKeep in mind I'm learning.
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow
I'm not for long descriptions either, unless they're incredibly interesting and, as you point out here, move the story forward or tell us something interesting about the character(s).
ReplyDeleteI love that photo of an office lined with books. It's always been my dream to have a room like that, but don't think I ever will.
Interesting post. I enjoyed it!
Ann
Very interesting post. I think unusual settings are also great because they allow other dimensions of a possibly predictable character to be explored. I like your examples too.
ReplyDeleteThat was one of my weaknesses when I first began writing: I would describe a room that didn't really need it! Who really cares what a person's desk looks like anyway, right? Unless it's unusual in some way.
ReplyDeleteGreat post. ;]
I wish I had taken a photograph of my softboard at work before I left the place- it had a huge photograph of my boys, drawings made by other of them, a handwritten list of phone extension numbers, my mind-maps for the projects I was working on, something that passed for a to-do list, and a route map of the marathon I ran in Jan.
ReplyDeleteWonder what all that says about me, apart from the fact that I love clutter.
Great post, this.
Personally, I am such a big book, CD, and DVD snoop when I go in someone's house and I use this in my writing as well since I think these things do reveal so much about a person. You are also right about the pictures. I hadn't thought about calendars, but it certainly makes sense.
ReplyDeleteLee
Tossing It Out
This is true. I think it is easy for writers to add description scenes without giving much thought what they are there for. We have to have them to an extent - otherwise it would be very difficult for the reader to relate at all - but we should make them push the story forward just as we strive to do with dialogue and characters.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your keen observations!
Alex, I love Top Gear and love the races. Yeah, May has does some amazing numbers in that Bugatti.
ReplyDeleteCold As Heaven, oh boy, would I have had a field day! ;)
Lynda, glad you liked it.
Pat, well, I think it's wonderful that you donated your books. I think it's also interesting when a writer can make the reader stereotype the character and then knock them on their heads completely.
Jules, don't get me started! I have a list of about 100 things... Nah, I don't judge unless I have to - for example, when reading a book, I like to make up my mind about a character - but in real life, I know there are so many factors that make up a person...
Ann, I would love an office like that too.
loveable_homebody, you are so right! Authors have a wonderful opportunity to surprise the reader. They just have to use it.
Amanda, glad you liked it.
Rayna, well, it describes what's important to you. We know you love your marathons and your kids are important to you too. I would actually be more surprised if you told me you had no pictures of your kids or your kid's drawing.
lee, you're just like me. Well, it's good to do that once and a while. It makes the people we visit more interesting. Especially when they find us snooping in their medicine cabinet... ;)
Cruella, glad you liked it. Yeah, honestly, I've become better at this year by year. I never used to care and only described leaves...
CD
Great point about not bothering with the stuff you'd expect. I can't really scan and skip parts... my brain doesn't work that way. I have little patience though, for too much description unless IT MATTERS. You've nailed how to identify what does and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a great post. I'm revising now, so this are things I'll definitely look for.
ReplyDeletehi miss clarissa! i liked what you said. i learn lots from you thats helping me to write better. im a real snooper when i go places and look at everything and ask about stuff. now i could just say hey im not being nosey, im a writer! haha.
ReplyDelete...smiles from lenny
Thanks Clarissa! I hate reading setting description, too. But you're right - if it's used in a different way, it's intriguing.
ReplyDeleteGreat points, Clarissa!
ReplyDeleteThanks, guys, I'm glad you liked it and found it helpful.
ReplyDeleteCD
I wonder what people think about me when they enter my office? Hmmm...paper, paper, everywhere. Gotta do something about that.
ReplyDeletequote_ " Here are calenders you might in my office: one with a picture of the new Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, 365 Daily IQ puzzles, or one with Boxer puppies. That says something about me... especially if I added to the list a calendar of half-nude women. "
ReplyDeleteOver confident, boastful, self-obsessed, superior persona is immediate impression coming over from boxer side of refresh button.
Why multiple questions posed and few answered?
wow, that office in the nature is simply amazing!
ReplyDelete