The Right To Write

"Theater of Mind"

The majority of Wattpad writers feel obliged to impose a certain image of settings or characters on readers. I'm here to tell you otherwise. Why do people always say the book is almost always better than the movie? The way bestselling author, Jerry Jenkins, puts it is any good author knows to "stimulate the reader's theater of mind." It means that you let readers do the work. You let readers imagine what they need to imagine. And giving specific images of what you want them to see defies the purpose of being a writer. 

See, books have the one thing movies don't. Readers can picture whole universes and societies form in their heads because only words can do that. Movies restrict you to a restrictive screen with restricting screen with restricting details; all you can see is what your eyes can.

I'm not saying you shouldn't describe scenes or people. No, no, no, description is vital! I'm saying that you don't have to state exactly how much taller your character is than his brother, or how many inches long his face is. You can describe him in a few distinct words then, your reader will get a vivid enough image. Even explaining his personality may shape his outer self. If you describe him as conceited, readers may imagine a perpetual scowl on his face. This is applicable to settings as well. You could describe a cellar as a gravelly hole, and readers may see it's unfinished or malformed. Also avoid using generic words such as "musty" and "dank" we all know cellars are musty, the statement would only be important if you were implying the opposite. For example, "The stony cellar lacked its dank odor, as if the dust had carried itself away to set the stones into a shining trance." The mood of the setting sets itself apart from usual descriptions by defying itself with its own generic word. Nevertheless, readers are going to have their own views of your description no matter what, and they don't like being forced into meticulous details.

Of course, the "cast" option is on Wattpad for a reason, isn't it? There's absolutely nothing wrong with listing your cast if you feel like readers would want to resort to that, since it is only an option to agree. But repeatedly insisting on how your characters resemble the cast is irritating to readers. Some of us will accept the fact that your character looks like Selena Gomez, some of us won't. Face it.