What we see is profoundly influenced by what we
feel. The same should be true for our characters. Filtering a scene through a
character's feelings can profoundly influence what the reader "sees."
In the below ‘snippet,’ I take an
ordinary setting and filter it through Layla’s eyes.
Layla opened the door and stepped
inside. Sunlight drifted through the lace curtains and reflected on the shiny
wood floors. A burgundy couch sat to her
left with gold crocheted blanket across the back. A coloring book and box of
crayons sat neatly on the polished end table.
The faint odor of a spicy
aftershave drifted toward her. She
opened her mouth to scream but it froze in her throat making it impossible to
breath. This couldn’t be happening.
Tears burned a path down her cheeks. She tried to step out of the room – out of
the nightmare. A gust of wind pushed into her deeper into the room and slammed
the door shut.
The room seems ‘cozy’ nothing from
the description would prompt Layla’s response so the reader knows that Layla is
seeing the room differently. Something about it triggers fear.
The reader will continue to read
to see what about the room makes Layla so scared.
Thanks for stopping by. See you next month.
2 comments:
Thanks for showing how important the setting can be. I tend to ignore setting if it is longer than a sentence or two when I'm reading. But setting can be critical to the mood of a scene as you've shown.
Great blog post! Setting is an essential ingredient of scene structure.
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