If you describe a ‘glum’ character, for example, you could pair this with describing words that intensify the root image, ‘to darken’: In the darkening evening he slouched towards the town centre, glum, hands thrust in pockets. I’ve never lived in a big city, but I’ve never been more than an hour and a half from one either. As a gal who’s lived in big cities most of her life (Denver, San Diego, Las Vegas), small towns are somewhat foreign to me. Things may be more amped-up in the big city, but you’ll still find great people there, amazing things that expand your horizons, and memories that last a lifetime. We authors have our jobs cut out for us, to correct stereotypes on both sides. Something like that.
My current small town (which I adore, BTW–not small-town-bashing here), population 900, has experienced more than one murder in the time I’ve lived here. Before I started writing it, I chose between two different settings. Ostensibly, the subjects I was writing about had important implications for the entire country: telecom, energy, infrastructure, post- 9/11 recovery (along with the occasional piece about a pilfered mac-and-cheese recipe). Unless of course, you’re writing about murder, theft, and mayhem.
Describe the scene from the viewpoint of one of the active protesters, then describe the same scene from the viewpoint of a jaded academic watching from the sidelines who is skeptical. Upscale acquisitions may be discouraged. The details about Bunny’s clothes are an early clue to Bunny’s character, as it later emerges that although he claims his family is wealthy he perpetually borrows money from his friends.
I think this is one “niche” I’m filling that the traditional Christian novels are not. Helping to Change the World...Word by Word. Learning how to describe places and people lucidly is a vital skill for all fiction authors. It’s worked out great and I love writing these stories. I think we most often see big cities portrayed/glamorized on movies and in TV as if that is THE life to have, so it’s kind of interesting that there aren’t a lot of those settings in the CBA. Recently a faithful blog reader posted a question in response to my post on setting. When you’re describing a place or a person, think about the specificity of the describing words you choose. As a writer who comes from a small town, I prefer reading about small town life. Not especially. That said, I have noticed a trend of city settings in historical romance, especially turn of of the century era. and that big cities are just a bunch of little cities all crammed together. “NEXT!” Here, I’m a person. But the New Era Is Different. 89). Effective descriptive words show mood and character in addition to appearance. Whether you’re describing a ramshackle old building or a vivacious, sprightly character, use descriptive language that conveys nature or character along with appearance. Because every city, Chicago or Smallsville, KS, is made up of the same people–Christians, atheists, liberals, conservatives, hard workers, and drug dealers. One of my readers posted on my Facebook author page today, lamenting the lack of contemporary Christian books with urban settings. I think authors can make both big cities AND small towns look idyllic, when in reality, they’re both just filled with people who make mistakes, love, lose, grow, learn, etc. Tamela, you’ve raised some interesting thoughts in my mind and made me think more intentionally about setting. Your small town could be a coastal town or a southwest desert town that is almost entirely abandoned. ‘Minute’ (from Latin minutus) means ‘chopped small’. And they see small town settings / farming communities as quiet, and perfect for an escape. A smart-aleck colleague urged me to write, “Hill City is neither.” I chuckled but ignored his advice, partly because I was new to the Journal, but mostly because I didn’t think Hill City deserved the disrespect. The book never saw publication for many reasons, but suffice it to say, travelogue is very tricky to write. One of the things that’s frustrated me for years (and fellow Christian fiction readers in the ‘burbs) is that Christian fiction acts like cities don’t even exist. Don’t. (I’m talking myself into a story here…lol). Sorrowful (from Old English sorgful, ‘sad, anxious, careful, distressing, doleful’). Which is probably why people say big cities aren’t friendly. I would have said the opposite. Maybe it’s a preference thing… or maybe that’s gonna be my niche… making people fall in love with stories about the city as much as I love them… though I do write suspense. Barbara, if the trips make an impact to the story, why not? “Hi, Ms. Laura. This contrasts to farm heroines, who are often shown doing chores. I’m going to have to think more about what you shared here as I craft stories.
The heroine might consult the cook about dinner, but does not stand over the fire herself. I enjoy reading about city life too. (For example, many antidotes from my teen missions trip to NYC made it into my novel in some form. Why so much crime in the bad parts of Chicago? I do love small towns and most of my stories have been set in them. I prefer bigger cities myself… love being lost in the city’s noise…. To give your writing descriptive power, build on your descriptions. Are there synonyms that are stronger or have more effective connotations or associations? I’ve written both a small-town series for Harlequin’s Love Inspired (called Dry Creek) and a 4-book urban series for them (Sisterhood of the Dropped Stitches). It was a rare occasion to not see or get a hug from someone I knew. Other than friendliness, spaciousness, and familiarity, what are some other advantages of a small town setting? Theresa, you seriously made me laugh out loud! I grew up in a rural village. Everywhere. Blessings. Gus couldn’t go anywhere without encountering someone he knew or who knew him. Jesus shepherds His sheep who call upon Him. Small town people can be materialistic and concerned with “keeping up with the Joneses” but the culture itself is much less money-oriented than a city vibe. I return to Chicago frequently to visit family, and my small-town-born-and-bred friend likes to cite me the latest murder statistics before I go. I’m happy to be settling into that niche. It’s nondescript, the opposite of descriptive. One of the important functions of description in narration is that it gives us information about the viewpoint character doing the describing. Excitable (from Latin excitare, ‘stir up, arouse, awaken, incite’). This is ineffective as description for two reasons: Eye colour doesn’t give us any information about a character’s personality (although red eyes may suggest a character has been crying and red irises are a clichéd sign of supernatural malevolence). When we moved here, people did tease my husband about having to relearn how to hold a gun.
I don’t favor one over the other. Also, as I started to write about Gus Carpenter’s interactions in Starvation Lake, I quickly realized that I didn’t have the advantage of metropolitan anonymity. At its core, the story was less about telecom policy than people struggling for control of their lives.
If a house looks abandoned and neglected from the outside, describe further signs of this abandonment on the interior. In the story that is out now, A Home For Her Heart, I wanted the group to attend a baseball game–it was fun to find out that while my team was the New York Giants–they played the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, because that’s what they were really called in my timeframe. NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks with author Catherine Lacey about her new book. The smaller community has so much life, history and story in it. In The Secret History, Tartt first describes the overbearing character Bunny thus: ‘He wore the same jacket every day, a shapeless brown tweed that was frayed at the elbows and short in the sleeves, and his sandy hair was parted on the left, so a long forelock fell over one bespectacled eye. Daddy’s friend immediately traded the car in for a lesser model. The key is to give us characters we care about and relate to, no matter where they live, what time period they’re in, etc. As an exercise, take all the adjectives in a paragraph of your writing and find their origins in a dictionary. Unpaved roads, often muddy, didn’t help buggies or pedestrians. That said, I do think thrillers set well in urban settings as do other genres. I have lived in apartments near D.C., and now I live in a mid-sized town. Maybe, in some ways—and certainly to a writer like me—they’re not all that different after all. I’m certainly no Faulkner conjuring Yoknapawtapha County, but I strive to use the invented past of the surroundings to inform the narrative present. Small towns are often populated primarily by people who have lived there all their lives. As you know, a popular pretext for a CBA heroine is the “fish out of water” situation where a privileged woman suddenly must cope with life on a farm. A fearful character entering a crowded house party might describe the noise and action in terms that suggest being overwhelmed.
The second is set in an ethnic neighborhood which functions as a small town for my character. I’ve had someone say to my face that Chicago was Sin City (I am aware of its many problems! Because of this transitory element, it’s hard to maintain long-term friendships. I enjoy small town life, and I never go for a walk that I don’t get to speak to some of my neighbors. At times these scenes romanticize the big city, but there’s always a bang, a plot twist, something you don’t expect. Filtering description via characters’ viewpoints gives you a way to sketch in and develop characters’ personalities and outlooks without explicitly telling the reader what a character thinks or feels. Vociferous (from Latin vociferari, ‘to shout, yell, cry out’). Much can be gained from its inhabitants. […] Laube hat sich im Artikel Novel Settings gefragt, warum es so viele Kleinstädte in christlicher Literatur gibt und ob man in einer […]. So I could see how a neighborhood within a big city could feel like a small town, but maybe more so in the past than today, when there was less mobility and diversity. So count me among those who pray that a big-city setting is not a death knell for a Christian novel! Describing Words. My characters come and go, but so far most of those who leave still live in a nearby neighborhood and they still show up in new stories so readers can find out how they are doing as time goes on. Vivid writing is especially important when describing a place — whether to describe a vista for a travel guide or flesh out a scene in a novel.
True Crime Has Been Having a Moment for Three Centuries. Big cities tend to attract people looking for professional opportunities and money. I know the difficulty of trying to avoid a travelogue. Today, some readers think modern cities are scary, but historical cities don’t seem frightening.
I agree with what Jeanne and Jenny Leo said that I would never look down on someone because of the car they drive (to me, that says a lot about the person, not where they’re from!)
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