Do you use/prefer description to create a setting or to evoke the MC's internal experiences?

[JayHawnee]

I don't think, it is that much of a problem to write about something the MC took no attention of in first person, as long as it is written in past tense. One can always argue, that the MC may have registered it later, even if they are things, that are totally invisible to the MC like:

I couldn't see it at that time, but every of those neat little IKEA drawers held a secret. Ropes, cuffs, gags… Enough gear to start a small BDSM boutique.

 

[Areala-chan]

I try to intertwine the two as best as possible. There's an awful lot you can convey about your characters just based on their behavior as it relates to their environment, and I'm still learning and working on doing this more concisely. In Dead Space: Kendra, for instance, never once do I have the narrator specifically say that she's messy, or that she doesn't have many personal relationships, but the first time we see her room on the ship, she's panic-cleaning empty food and beverage containers, and apologizing to the woman she's with by saying she never has guests.

Later in the story, I spent a scene on showing her tidying up her quarters in anticipation of the next time she meets up with her crush, but even then, I didn't focus on any specifics, just had her in her own head while she was stripping and re-making the bed, doing laundry, wiping down surfaces, putting out an air freshener, and taking care of the dishes. Getting into the nitty-gritty of explaining exactly where each piece of furniture was in relation to everything else wasn't necessary; anybody reading will form their own ideas about what the room ultimately looks like. The point isn't the room, it's just a way to convey some character development: the narrator has found someone who makes her realize she's been neglecting some aspects of her life for too long, and now she wants to change that.

I know some people really love description for the sake of description, especially certain fantasy readers, but I'd rather not waste my readers' time with trivialities that don't serve to either move the narrative forward or push the characters towards change.

 

[AG31]

all along a vast spectrum bookended by aphantasia on one end and hyperphantasia on the other, not to mention the synesthesia some readers experience.

Interesting observation. I'm very aphantasic (a word?), and it feels right that I prefer to limit my descriptions of the visual setting to what the MC is attending to. IRL I'm notoriously oblivious to my surroundings, although, of course, I can see them perfectly well.

I also try to evoke ALL the senses, not just visual, which is an inspiration I first learned from Erin Morgenstern’s masterpiece ‘The Night Circus’

I've just learned that people are applying "aphantasia" to other senses, and in the last few years I've realized that I'm also audially aphantasic. I play the flute and this explains my bewilderment when a coach or director would refer to a passage by humming it. I do have an awareness of tunes, like The Battle Hymn of the Republic (also known as She Waded in the Water...), but it's something other than "hearing" it.

 

[Britva415]

I think you can't really draw a clean line between the two cases.

Between showing vs. telling?

Every “show” is accomplished by “telling” something else, and every “tell” results in some kind of a “show,” even if it’s rather minimal and unclever.

So when we talk about “show don’t tell,” we’re really talking about choosing what to tell vs. what to show, and choosing what to tell based on what we’d rather show and how we want to show it.

A story which achieves “only showing” and “no telling” would be kind of like that Star Trek episode, Darmok, with the aliens whose speech can be translated but still not understood because it entirely consists of only culture-specific metaphors and no literal declarative statements. And a story with “only telling” and “no showing” would be like technical documentation with zero spirit or literary craft.

I do think it’s possible to make the distinction. “I tell this in order to show that.” And sometimes a particular passage does both - telling and showing multiple different things all at once.