make your own story. you can take any setting, any character, any problem, any solution and then write the vocabulary
Answers
For example, if the main character’s house has an old oak tree out front, don’t waste your time taking copious notes on the shape of the branches and the color of the leaves in autumn. Details like that could apply to any oak tree. Instead, look for details like these…
The bark at the base of the tree looks like an evil witch’s face.
The oak contains an abandoned tree house that the local kids say is haunted by the ghost of a boy who died when he fell to the ground.
Better, right? More atmospheric. Much more likely to make your readers sit up and take notice when you describe the tree.
Or say you’re describing the main character’s kitchen. You don’t need to write the kind of description you’d get from a real estate agent. Just give readers a small handful of well-chosen details…
The bin is overflowing with paper plates and plastic cutlery.
The fridge contains absolutely nothing that is green.
There’s a disassembled lawnmower engine laid out on the kitchen table.
… and they’ll be able to fill in the rest of the picture for themselves. Even if a reader’s picture is slightly different from the writer’s, it doesn’t matter. What really counts in setting is the atmosphere, the mood that a place creates, not a precise inventory of every last detail.
Bottom line? I’m about to run through the various elements of a story’s setting. As you consider each one, don’t start mindlessly taking pages and pages of notes. Instead, look for a small handful of telling details.
Once you know those, the rest of the setting will pretty much build itself – both in your imagination and the minds of your