Lure Your Readers Into Your Story
- Olivia
- Sep 14, 2015
- 2 min read
Building a work of fiction often depends on the building blocks of scene. Sandra Scofield in The Scene Book explains that the scene is "the most vivid and immediate part of the story, the place where the reader is the most emotionally involved, the part that leaves the reader with images and a memory of the action"(Scofield, 3).
Some of the ways to pull the reader into your scene are to provide well-developed descriptions of the setting. Descriptive settings can introduce the reader to your setting by giving them the lay of the land, uses the five senses, provides intricate details, and sets or reflects the tone of the story.
One way to hone your descriptive setting skills is to take a familiar story and employ the above mentioned techiniques to describe a scene in the story. I chose to look at writing a descriptive setting for the Bennet sister's as they prepare for the ball at Netherfield in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice:
The crisp scent of freshly laundered fabric wafted through the air as the maid reverently laid out this evening’s attire on the heavy mahogany console at the foot of the canopied bed. The antique wooden piece walled off the garden of bed linens that draped the frame of the bed. Sea blue blooms embroidered into a field of cream climbed to the top of the four treelike posts of the bed. Late afternoon sunlight shone through the leaded glass window, bathing the serene blue walls of the bedroom. Elizabeth Bennet sat in front of the vanity, her knees drawn up to her chest, calves pressing into the cool dark wood of the oval table as her sister Jane pinned her hair. A pile of tangled ribbons nested atop a stack of crimson leather books like so much sugary frosting crowning an otherwise perfectly good bit of cake adorned the top of the table. Discarded lace rested cockeyed on the frame, crowning Elizabeth’s reflection. On the sill of the window directly behind the vanity perched a wooden, white-washed figure of a cherub with his wings unfurled. He stood above the whispers and laughter the sisters shared as they readied for the ball at Netherfield. His lips were drawn in a knowing smile, as if he were privy to all of the secrets of the Bennet sisters.
Can you think of ways you’ve been successful at describing your setting? Which of your scenes feel the most alive? Leave a comment and share!
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