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.

 

[TinaCole]

I let the characters and action set the scene rather that stop and set scene. ie. "As mary lay on her back, eyes glancing over Bob's shoulder at the crystal chandelier hanging above the bed." rather than ,"A large, elegant chandelier hangs above the bed where mary and bob are making love."

 

[TheGreatOz]

I recently figured out that I limit my descriptions to things that the MC is paying attention to, as contrasted with describing everything around the MC so the reader can see them in context. Clearly both are legitimate. Which do you employ? Which do you prefer?

I think I definitely prefer the former, at least in erotica.. It's pretty critical to my enjoyment of a story. I find scene setting a bit of a distraction.

I like to mostly communicate surroundings and appearances through character dialogue and internal perceptions.

I almost always skip physical descriptions while reading and have little interest in writing much of it. Your characters look like how my imagination will conjure them up and with mine the reader can do what they will with them!

With my current series I have communicated that the mother is 'petite' and not much more, and that the son is 'tall'. I reckon that's plenty!

 

[iwatchus]

I used to give moderately detailed descriptions of characters. I have mostly stopped doing that, I think after a discussion about this on this forum (see we do talk about writing occasionally). I write mostly first person, and I will say what the narrator notices. In my most recent piece, is from the viewpoint of MMC and he is pretty f-ing clueless. No description ever appears of him, other than his surprise that some women find him cure. His only notice of FMC is shoulder length curly black hair and that she is gorgeous, but that is a loving eyes description. He doesn't even notice she is hispanic until 30K in.He will describe certain women as hot, but that is up to the reader to interpret. But I spend a lot of time on what they are thinking about. As Lobster has noted, almost all of my writing is very dialog driven.

I don't think I ever gave a description of any of the three notable characters in my Nude Day story. I realized one day that subconciously I must have based Ellie's appearance and demeanor on a waitress at a restaurant we go to regularly. My SO, despite having read the story twice for me, had no idea

 

[StillStunned]

For things like fantasy and sci-fi, I like to describe a wide-frame scene, perhaps with some background or history, and then zoom in on the character's POV (which is mostly close 3P). For instance:

The UNPV Nescio made its approach to Space Lab 8, gliding closer metre by metre until it was near enough to send its umbilical tube across the empty blackness. The magnetic ring found its counterpart on the Space Lab's airlock, and a minute and seven seconds later the docking was complete. Seals tightened and sensors and communication relays blinked into life.

"Security team ready to cross." SecOne Jen Waldemar stood by the tube. The com unit on her jaw picked up the words, and an instant later brought the reply.

"Noted." The Captain's voice was steady, almost impersonal.

In the tube's harsh light, Jen's khaki uniform -- high-cut jacket over tight trousers that were tucked into soft boots -- contrasted with the white tunnel. She'd made these crossings a hundred or more times, and the idea that she was separated from emptiness by nothing more than a thin layer of rubber didn't worry her.

Or:

South and east of Arnhol, beyond the carefully cultivated estates, a vast empty countryside separated the city from its larger cousin, the Imperial capital of Taridhol. Farmland gave way to scrubby woodland, which in turn became a featureless plain before rising to meet the foothills of the Trada mountains.

It was a lawless country, despite being so close to the centre of power. Successive rulers had sent soldiers into the wasteland to keep the road clear, with only limited success, and no lasting effect. The patrols returned to their barracks, leaving behind them corpses impaled on stakes and swinging from makeshift gibbets, and immediately the vacuum was filled with new robbers, rapists and murderers.

Travel across the plain was rare, as a result, and limited to the old Third Empire road that ran as straight as possible between the hills and crags. It was a venture usually reserved for units of soldiers and heavily-guarded caravans. A pair of travellers astride an eight-legged riding lizard for instance would raise eyebrows, although the words being muttered seemed to fit right in.

"Fuck you, Sligh." The woman was slim, with short, spiky hair and an angry look on her face. Her hands were staying conspicuously away from the short spear strapped to the saddle by her leg, and from the bow-shaped sheath slung on her other side. "Fuck you for dragging me into this mess. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you."

The man she was talking to was sitting behind her, leaning casually against the tall back of the saddle. He seemed unaffected by the woman's words, and by her anger. He gazed calmly over her shoulder at the half-score men and women arrayed before them, shabbily dressed but armed with spears, axes and bows.

"No-one made you come," he replied softly. "I appreciate your company, Avilia, but--"

"Shut up, won't you?" she hissed back. "We're going to die here, and you're going on about appreciation. Fuck you, Sligh, fuck you!"

With other stories, I'll sometimes be a bit more elaborate, and tell the entire opening scene from the POV of someone who plays no part in the actual story. The Black Tomb, for instance, and Lights, Camera, Blood: Ch. 02. After this opening set-up, the POV shifts to the narrator. And from then on, all the description will be based purely on what the POV character perceives or knows.