For a story to be successful, it must come alive on the page. With Description & Setting, writers learn how to make every detail count as they create believable people, places and events. Another book in the popular Write Great Fiction series, this valuable reference:
-Shows writers how to master the challenging--and often overlooked--subjects of description and setting -Offers hands-on action-and-results exercises that allow readers to incorporate lessons into their own work -Provides busy writers with accessible information through sidebars, exercises, checklists and more
With clear examples from popular fiction and tips for specific genres, bringing a story to life has never been this easy or this fun.
Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
Lots of good info., January 8, 2009
By
Michael J. LarameeI'm happy with the content...
Learned lots of new and interesting stuff..
MJL
A great book for any writer, December 17, 2008
By
S.C. Waletzko (Phoenix, Az USA)
Decription & Setting teaches you to take two dimensional words on paper and turn them into a three dimensional world for your readers to explore. All the great dialogue, plot twists, and character development in the world can't save a character standing in front of a white backdrop. The book encourages writers to become masters at setting the stage. Description & Setting prods writers to keep their work as vivid as possible and offers helpful hints on how to incorporate sensory information into text. A great read and an ever better resource, this book and the Write Great Fiction series are a great tool for any writer.
Absolute, must have!, August 13, 2008
By
Joseph P. Mashburn Jr.There are many words I could use to say how critically important this book is to aspiring writers. Buy it!!! It will more than pay for itself.
Good book, June 28, 2008
By
Christoph W. Brinkmann (Illinois)
Like the other "Write Great Fiction" books, this one focuses on the elements listed on the title, description and setting. While the criticisms some others have had are sound, this is by no means a terrible book, and certainly it is not as awful as some would make it out to be. As for the criticism that there is "nothing new" in the book, that's easy. The author makes the assumption (as he should, seeing as how every other good author who has ever written a non-fiction work on any given subject would do the same) that the reader knows nothing, or little about how to write descriptive passages but wants to know more, so having "no new information" is an empty criticism. He isn't writing his book for people who already know the concepts, he is writing for those who don't know but want to learn them. The "nothing is new" criticism is like a math teacher being critical towards a new math book that comes out since it offers "nothing new." Obviously the math teacher already knows the concepts that are covered in the math book.
But I have spent more than enough time on that. This book will teach you how to describe aspects the reader can see, hear, feel, touch and smell, thus bringing them into the story. It will teach you how little description is too little, and how much is too much. It will teach you how to get the reader to paint a mental picture of the world you create in your story. It will teach you how to apply the other aspects of writing fiction, such as plot, dialogue and character development and how they relate to description. It will teach you how to create a single sentence that is chock full of information that the reader needs to know to understand the context of your story. That is what the author intended, that is what he does, and that is why this book is worth the money.
Very Informative, March 19, 2008
By
Mark D. Dixon (Canton, MI USA)
This book covers from A to Z on writing descriptive scenes, and more. Besides the nuts and bolts, it provides many great ideas above and beyond what I had expected. If you're thinking about writing fiction this an excellent prerequisite for you to read before you begin writing a page. It helped me tremendously in the wordsmithing required to "paint a picture" for the reader, from the most intricate details, to the, what not to do's." It's worth every minute. Very good to keep for reference as well.
