Establishing the setting at the beginning of a story is no easy task. Imagining a science fiction world involves thinking about every aspect of how it differs from ours in sights, sounds, scents and even tastes and feel.
Rather than fully imagine such a world, some writers instead create a quick, unformed facsimile of their own. For example, they start the story with the line, “She awoke in a white room”. The white room is the white piece of paper facing the author. This is known as “white room syndrome”, a term coined a few year ago at the Turkey City Workshop in Austin (a group that has included authors William Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Lewis Shiner, Rudy Rucker and Walter Jon Williams).
They officially define white room syndrome as “an authorial imagination inadequate to the situation at end, most common at the beginning of a story”. In short, because the science fiction world wasn’t fully imagined, it can’t support the story that unfolds from it.
Sometimes this occurs because a writers’ inspiration for the story is from a setting in which he found himself. If the writer takes some extra time to think about and develop this world, however, such inspiration can be put to good effect. This is the case in the non science fiction story “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
White room syndrome also can occur because some writers believe that they should simply start writing and let the world evolve from there, a la the Beat writers’ approach. Sometimes this technique does work, but all too often the writers misses the full potential of this kernel of a setting that is planted in the opening line. Even worse, the writer creates an inconsistent setting because he haphazardly creates a new world.
The lesson here: Think a lot about and fully develop your setting before committing to it.
You Do It Re-imagine a setting you now frequent. For example, if sitting at a coffee shop, imagine what it will be like a century from now. How will the sights differ? What new sounds will there be? Will the smells be the same? What of taste – will coffee taste different and will other foods exist? What about touch?
Visit my Web site about writing science fiction, Inventing Reality. (c) 2008 Rob Bignell
Tags:
opening, scene, setting
Posted at: 10:08 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
| 
| 
del.icio.us
Many readers choose science fiction over other genres simply for the imaginative landscapes and the adventure of exploring these environments. These environments make up the story's setting, or where when and where the story occurs. Setting then is the story's time and the place in which the plot unfolds. Sometimes it's referred to as the “scene”.
For example, in "Star Trek: The Original Series", the setting typically is the 23rd century and various parts of the starship Enterprise, such as the bridge, sickbay, engineering and transporter room. The various locations that the landing party visits on the planet also is part of the setting.
Setting helps shape your story's color and mood. The conflicts the characters face hinge on the setting and the situations it creates for the characters. On occassion, the setting itself must be transformed as the main character resolves his central problem.
Setting is high art in science fiction. That's because the setting typically is a time and place that doesn't exist - the future, a lunar colony, a ship travleing between the stars. The challenge to science fiction writers is to create a background that is believable.
There are several ways that writers can make their science fiction setting believable:
n New devices and discoveries should not contradict what science knows today. Science fiction readers often play what is known as “The Game - they scrutinize every story, looking for scientific or technological errors. Consider Bill's critical response to my story, “Boundaries” (though I think he misread some of the story, some of his points are well taken).
n Every background detail should advance the story. If it’s not important to the story, get rid of it. Exotic detail for the sake of being exotic is unnecessary.
n Avoid explaining how the machinery works. Just show what it does. Limited explanation should be used only if it will advance the story.
n Be thoroughly familiar with setting of your story. This requires a working and researched knowledge of ecosystems and machinery before making extrapolations. Know more than the reader, but don't leave out important information necessary to the story.
n Remain self-consistent. As soon as one detail contradicts another, the story falls apart. For example, in a society lacking energy resources, the variety of food available would be limited as transportation of staples between regions wouldn't be possible. Miss that detail, however, and the setting won't seem believable.
More generally, when describing the setting, follow these basic rules:
n Give concrete details of the place. Appeal to as many senses as possible. All of us live in a world in which we constantly see, hear, smell, taste and touch. So also should your characters.
n Ask how your main character would perceive this place. Write a description of the setting from that viewpoint.
n Divide descriptions of the setting into three sections. For example, start with the foreground, then in the next couple of the sentences go the middle and at paragraph's end to the background. Or try left-center-right or sky-eye-level-ground.
Sometimes in science fiction, masters of their craft create a "meta-setting", which is when the author’s perspective colors the selection of words and phrasing used to describe a scene. A meta-setting adds texture to your writing and can help express a thematic point to your story.
You Do It
Write a 250-word description of what your house or apartment will be like in 25 years. What appliances and electronics will be there? What pictures will hang on the walls? What foods and beverages will you find in the refrigerator (or whatever it is that replaces it)? What will be the view from the windows? Try to appeal to...
[More]
Tags:
five senses, scene, setting
Posted at: 08:27 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink
| | del.icio.us