Tips on Writing Setting Description

Introduction

Setting descriptions are the bane of my existence. I think a big reason for that is because when I'm reading, I don't really care what things look like. I gloss over setting descriptions without really meaning to so I can get back to the interesting parts of the story.

Despite that, my setting descriptions have gotten significantly better in the past year or so. I started writing the first novel that I intend to publish, so whereas I usually would give basic descriptions and call it a day, I started forcing myself to improve for the sake of future readers' experience. I've put together a list of things that help me so hopefully people in a similar boat can learn something, too.

1) Interesting Locations

This one is probably obvious to a lot of people, but bear with me. One of the big problems I had with setting descriptions is that I, myself, didn't care what the environment looked like. I viewed the description as a chore that I had to go through to get to the thing I actually wanted to write about. Choosing locations that I was engaged with helped out a lot.

If there is an instance where the location of a scene doesn't matter (characters just need to have a conversation, an item needs to be ed off, etc) it might help to choose a setting that is significant for another reason. For example, say the main character's parents own a hardware store. Maybe the store itself doesn't have any significance, but the character's relationship with their parents does. You could add details during a scene here to hint at something that becomes important later on.

A) Does the character work there? If so, for how long? Do they like it, or do they feel obligated to do it?

B) If the character doesn't work there, do they visit often? Do they help their parents when they need it? Do they drop off food for their parents? Depending on the character's relationship to the store, they may instinctively know where everything is, or they may be just as clueless as someone shopping there for the first time.

C) You could also hint at this relationship based on how the character's parents react to seeing them. Is it a welcome, but common part of their day? Is it a pleasant surprise? Are they confused? Maybe they assume something is wrong, or are annoyed that it took their child as long as it did to visit.

You could also pick a location that gives the reader significant information in a seemingly insignificant way. Maybe there's a cork board outside of a restaurant that mentions an event that becomes relevant later in the plot. Maybe a character has a bad reputation, so you want to set a scene with them in a heavily populated part of town to highlight how everyone stares at them, whispers as they by, etc.

The novel that I'm working on takes place almost entirely in one town, so I use locations to build a mythos around the town itself. I put emphasis on who owns what businesses, how long certain buildings have been around, etc. There are a couple scenes that involve characters sitting at a coffee shop, and I did that to highlight how popular the shop is. My characters either consciously avoid or get caught in an "early morning rush," "mid-morning rush," or "afternoon rush." I also describe different pastries and drinks to add a bit more smell and taste into my descriptions.

2) Reference pictures

This advice is pretty common, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway. If you're not sure how you want things to look, or have a general vibe of what you're going for but are having a hard time coming up with specifics, pulling up a reference picture or two can help a lot. For recurring locations in my book, I keep a folder in my phone full of pictures that I associate with different places:

It makes coming up with specifics, as well as keeping track of what I have and haven't mentioned before, a lot easier.

3) Write a list of details ahead of time, then play with how they fit together

This tip is a specific exercise I do before I start writing. I'm familiar with the writing advice to include as many senses as possible, but because descriptions don't come naturally, it often reads like a checklist rather than an actual scene. What I've started doing is this:

A) I make a list of every single thing a character could possibly note about a scene. I include things like the temperature, how humid it is, noise level, anything they might smell, and everything they see. If they're eating or drinking something, I'll note what it might taste like. This is when those reference pictures can come in handy.

B) I look through my list and check if any of my descriptions go hand-in-hand. For example, I may have noted that the room the character is in is hot, and that it's loud around them because a lot of people are talking. When I'm writing the scene, I can mention these in tandem by describing that it's hot BECAUSE there are so many people in the room. Since there are so many people in the room, it's plausible a fair amount of them are sweating, and I can mix a mention of that with another smell that I noted on my list.

For example, there's a scene in my novel where a character is walking down an old alleyway. When I made my list of descriptions, it looked something like this:

• Old buildings

• Things are dirty

• Ants and spiders on the buildings

• Cooler than the main road, still pretty hot

• It's humid enough for her to feel the air?

When I sat down to actually write the scene, this is how I weaved everything together:

It’s cooler here than in the open streets, but the buildings also insulate the alley’s humidity, forming beads of sweat on her forehead as she follows Raphael past overturned trash cans and over puddles that Virginia doubts are entirely composed of water. Spiders spin their webs within crevices of cracked bricks.

I exchanged the character "feeling the air" to her sweating, since they're largely the same thing, and the second one comes across more naturally. Also, the specific mention of ants wasn't important in the grand scheme of things, so I left it out.

4) Make every detail as specific as possible

This is another one that seems kind of self explanatory, but it's something I hadn't been using to its full potential. If a character knows/would notice specific details about something, it's almost always worth putting those specifics in the scene. It will produce a much stronger image than keeping things basic.

See this example:

He follows suit, jumping over as many crops as he can.

Vs

He follows suit, jumping over as many bell pepper leaves and tomato vines as he can.

Both of these sentences work, but the second one adds more details for readers who are familiar with those plants and know what they look like. Not to mention, something like what plants people can grow hints at what time of year it is and where in the world they are.

Here's another example:

The forest protects her from the brunt of the sun’s heat, at least, and muggy air heightens the smell of trees and nearby flowers.

Vs

The forest protects her from the brunt of the sun’s heat, at least, and muggy air heightens the smell of pine trees and hints of mint and citrus from nearby flowers.

Pine trees have a very particular smell, so adding that detail creates a more visceral picture than not specifying the tree. You could also name a different tree in order to change the vibe altogether. Also, while the reader may realistically know what flowers smell like, giving them something more specific to imagine will likely lead to a better experience.

5) Mix it in with dialogue and introspection

Another thing I struggled with was keeping a sense of place once things started happening. I would get so wrapped up in dialogue and character emotions that I'd forget to remind readers where everything was taking place.

I've gotten better with this by reframing it in my mind: I'm not reminding the reader where things are happening. I'm relating the setting to what the character is going through. Framing it like this makes it easier for me to make the setting an active participant in what's going on instead of just existing in the background

Something in particular that I like doing is relating the setting to a memory, and sometimes using that memory to make the character associate their surroundings with a certain emotion.

For example, there's a scene in my novel where a character is walking through a garden, and I include this sentence:

One of Virginia’s high school friends started a horticulture club, and she exposed Virginia to enough of it that she recognizes tomatoes, bell peppers and strawberries, though the rest remain a mystery.

Another thing about this particular scene is that another character runs through this same garden a little later, and him describing the same plants as her was a way of me foreshadowing that these two characters had the same friend in high school. They haven't interacted at this point in the book, so them having a shared element of their past is pretty significant.

Here's another example:

Every car in the neighborhood costs more than Virginia’s dad has made in his entire life, and the paint on every house gleams under the midmorning sun. Of the few people strolling along the neighborhood's brick sidewalk, clean enough to look brand new, their clothes draw so much attention to themselves that Virginia’s lack of flamboyance marks her as an outcast.

Although there isn't much concrete description in this excerpt, it does highlight how out of place the character feels, and why she feels that way. She's not used to new, shiny things, and she's a little frustrated that people in this part of town get to live so well while her dad is perpetually struggling financially.

6) Reuse locations and expand on previous details

This tip in particular has been a huge help with making my stories feel more cohesive, and getting through scenes faster because I don't have to come up with a brand new setting every time. If you keep having characters visit the same locations when they could theoretically have an interaction anywhere, you can choose different details than you did before so the reader knows even more about the environment. You could, conversely, note how things have changed since a character was last there, especially if plot events will have led to a change in the setting.

For this purpose, I've gotten into the habit of keeping a list of details that I've mentioned about certain locations so I can A) avoid repeating them and B) either expand on or contrast them in interesting ways.

Conclusion

I hope some of the things I mentioned can help you improve your writing! Figuring them out has definitely helped me.

If anyone's interested, I could make a follow up post about character descriptions. I feel like I'm significantly better with those :joy:

Have a good day!