Everyone's Guide to Wattpad

Scenery

Scenery. It can also be called Visual Aid. No, not glasses. Pictures. Virtual pictures. You are painting a picture in the reader's head.

This element of writing is what creates the background of your story. It is what gives your story some character. Gives the reader a mindset on what's going on!

What is Scenery?

If you didn't catch what I was trying to say above, scenery is the detail in your story.

This element must be used cautiously. If you add too much detail, readers will lose interest. If you lack detail, readers will leave because they can't follow along because there's no picture in their head.

The goal is to find the perfect amount. Once you find that perfect amount, stay consistent. Let's get a bit deeper now.

The Blasphemy of Over Description

Over descriptive sentences are horrible. They make the reader stop dead in their tracks and force the reader to picture what the author is saying. Here's an example:

Persian carpets are spread across the chocolate brown bed frame with purple silk blankets imported from India covering a indigo-flavored mattress.

Whoa! That's a lot. Did you have to stop yourself to picture that in your head? If not, is it at least distracting? How do I see "Persian?" It makes it seem fancy, but it's distracting and makes a paragraph wordy.

If that doesn't bother you, then fine. However, imagine trying to read that for 20-30 chapters. I've tried to. At first I didn't notice it, but over time I was literally skipping paragraphs to get to the good stuff. In the end, I missed a lot of details and stopped reading the story.

Over descriptive sentences MUST be avoided. They make readers impatient and they STILL can't keep the whole picture in their head. Humans are not the smartest things. Yeah, the author can picture the background but your readers might as well be reading Hebrew and Spanish at the same time. Over time, they will forget the landscape.

You know what else it does? It cuts off the readers imagination. If you cut a readers imagination then you lose. Immediately. Might as well sell your phone while you have the chance.

Readers' imaginations are what keeps them glued in. You say "Red rug" and they picture the rug however they like it. It's the same reason why people many people like books rather than their movies.

If you've read the Hunger Games before watching the movie, were you caught off guard that Katniss on screen didn't match the Katniss in your head? I was. You took those words off the paper and made a world in your head based on those words. When you saw a different one, you had...mixed...feelings about it.

That's all on over description. Let's move on to the lack of detail before I get descriptive too.

Lacking Detail

Little detail is just as bad. Having no detail is like eating chocolate without sugar. Nobody will eat/read your chocolate.

Let's copy that example from above and convert it to lack detail.

A pelt is on my bed. It has purple blankets. It looks comfy but it really isn't.

Yawn. It's short. It's dull. It gets the point across but it's choppy. Remember those stories from kindergarten? "The pig is in the pen." This is pretty much the same thing.

Yeah, the reader can imagine whatever they want, but they need a BASE. Give them a starting point. Once they have that base, or starting point, then they will create a picture based on it.

What if I said, "Go write a story. Whatever you want." You're a writer. I'm a writer. We can come up with something, but 90% of the people around you probably can't. However, if I said, "Go write a story BASEd on what you did on the weekend." I bet a majority of those around you could write something or at least think of something. You see? BASE.

Over description or lack thereof. They're both devastating to you story. How about we find the perfect amount?

That Perfect Amount

There's a lot of pressure, but you don't have to worry! There's this thing called editing. We will find that perfect amount. In fact, I'll give you a few tips on detail. However, we still have some work, do we not? That sentence is still yucky. Let's fix it.

My king-sized bed is covered with purple sheets. A white pelt sits on top of the sheets. It looks comfortable, but it really isn't.

Oooh! Does that sound better? Can you picture that a bit better? I can. It's smooth and easy to RELATE to it.

What did I do? I RELATED to it.

This brings us to the tips I will give you. First off, relating.

Relate to the story. Tell it by something you can relate to. You've seen a king sized bed before. You've seen the color purple before. If you can't relate to it, how can your readers?

Be basic. Give them a BASE.

NEVER ASSUME your readers can see the picture the same way you do. In fact, don't even assume they can see the picture. Take this tip cautiously, because you don't want over description.

If you offer someone chili and they decline, don't force them to eat it! Don't force anyone to see things the way you do. Over description is blasphemy! In writing, at least.

What can detail also do? It can foreshadow. It can describe. This element also mixes with other elements. Together, they make art.

How about another example if you're still struggling?

I roll a gold locket between my fingers. It has dents and creases, and it looks like a piece of garbage, but to me it is worth thousands. I pry it with my fingernails and it pops open. A black and white picture of my late grandmother lies in the small circle. It's old and distorted, but I can still make out her black, flowing hair. She was the greatest. I miss her.

When to Use Summary and Scene

At the end of the day, there is a time to go into detail and there's a time to summarize. Really, the purpose of scenery is to help set the tone of the setting, and scenery can be used to help build tension. 

Imagine writing a haunted house story. One of the most powerful tools you might have is going into the nitty-gritty details about how the house looks. The house is likely going to be the main focus of the story, so you will want to provide as much detail as necessary. 

Other times, it is necessary to provide a quick summary. Minor characters probably don't need a lot of detail. Again, I think that if your words don't add anything to the story, you should leave them out of the story altogether. Summary is a great way to transition between two scenes, but if you use too much summary then you risk losing your reader. 

Too much scenery can really slow down your plot, and if the scenery does little to build upon the main storyline, then you are better off leaving the details out.