So much to learn from here! I'm particularly struck by the idea of tying place to the conflict or stakes in the character's story. That has opened up a new way of thinking for me. When I was a teenager, I lived in places of big, smack-you-in-the-face beauty -- the southern coast of Brazil, and St. Croix, USVI. Such places are hard to look at an inch at a time, and I haven't come up with a way to describe palm trees and masses of blue and green without using very worn phrases. But I could contrast those places with what was going on in me. Thank you so much, @Mary Tabor and @Eleanor Anstruth for your wisdom and generosity!
I love the idea of place as the third character. As an essayist, I find place is the first thing to go, that is, it's the aspect that I don't focus on as much. I know many do, and do it well, but I think I forget or minimalize it because I've been turned off by overly descriptive writing. But this is my reminder to get it back into the pot. Thanks, Mary.
Great post and thank you Mary for introducing Pam Houston's story to me years ago. I wonder if using particular "place-orientated" or "time-orientated" terms that can't be used elsewhere, deters readers. I'm thinking of dialects, for example. I don't mean the over-use of them, just added to set the flavour of place and time.
Great use of examples, Mary! I really enjoyed this and found it very perceptive. Thank you! I especially valued this: "We need to tie the “setting” detail to the character and the conflict that’s always the strong stake in a short story, novel or memoir."
I don't think there's any finer prose than the first chapter of Ulysses. Mary, you make such a great point about how quickly and deeply Joyce places us in Dublin. Not only in Dublin's present but in its past also. And Joyce also sends us to a dictionary to look up some words and phrases, both Irish and a little Greek too.
So much to learn from here! I'm particularly struck by the idea of tying place to the conflict or stakes in the character's story. That has opened up a new way of thinking for me. When I was a teenager, I lived in places of big, smack-you-in-the-face beauty -- the southern coast of Brazil, and St. Croix, USVI. Such places are hard to look at an inch at a time, and I haven't come up with a way to describe palm trees and masses of blue and green without using very worn phrases. But I could contrast those places with what was going on in me. Thank you so much, @Mary Tabor and @Eleanor Anstruth for your wisdom and generosity!
I love the idea of place as the third character. As an essayist, I find place is the first thing to go, that is, it's the aspect that I don't focus on as much. I know many do, and do it well, but I think I forget or minimalize it because I've been turned off by overly descriptive writing. But this is my reminder to get it back into the pot. Thanks, Mary.
Great post and thank you Mary for introducing Pam Houston's story to me years ago. I wonder if using particular "place-orientated" or "time-orientated" terms that can't be used elsewhere, deters readers. I'm thinking of dialects, for example. I don't mean the over-use of them, just added to set the flavour of place and time.
Great use of examples, Mary! I really enjoyed this and found it very perceptive. Thank you! I especially valued this: "We need to tie the “setting” detail to the character and the conflict that’s always the strong stake in a short story, novel or memoir."
Thank you for another writer's treat.
Good advice all around.
I don't think there's any finer prose than the first chapter of Ulysses. Mary, you make such a great point about how quickly and deeply Joyce places us in Dublin. Not only in Dublin's present but in its past also. And Joyce also sends us to a dictionary to look up some words and phrases, both Irish and a little Greek too.
Yes! Too many go short on the locale. Where a character lives is another character.