Interior and exterior are the two different types of settings within story writing. As I mentioned in my previous post of worldbuilding, interior settings are settings inside different places or buildings, while exterior settings are settings that take place outside or in the great outdoors. Using a combination of these two types of settings can make for an even more realistic story world, as they each have characteristics that differ from each other and standout depending on where a scene is being taken place. If you want to get more creative with distinguishing your settings, it can be beneficial to draw attention to subtle details of their environments. Below, I'll explain some clever ways to do this; but first, let's go over why writers should take advantage of utilizing subtle details in their stories versus more overwhelming descriptions.
THE BENEFITS OF SUBTLE DETAILS: "LESS IS MORE."
When it comes to setting descriptions, sometimes writers struggle with keeping a balance between creativity and leaving some things up to their readers' imagination. It's tempting for us writers to "go all in" like diners at a buffet restaurant when we write about our scenes and settings, but not everything needs to be detailed or described. One of the reasons this addictive habit happens is because of the writing rule that many of us writers have had engrained in our creative minds and are so familiar with that still rings true to this day.
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"Show, don't tell..."
Many of us writers have heard this writing rule probably hundreds of times. However, even though it's important to write scenes our readers can visualize, it should also be used with caution. Just because it's important for us to show our characters, their emotions, and the settings of our story worlds doesn't mean writers should never tell anything. In fact, telling can be just as effective and creative for readers under certain circumstances. Telling can help with the pacing of our stories, and especially for more dramatic scenes, such as fight or motor accident scenes. These scenes are more impactful and often happen faster than other scenes. Hence, why it can be helpful to tell the action rather than use lengthy descriptions that slow the pacing of our stories.
Using subtle details can be beneficial because they're kind of like a combination of both showing and telling. These kinds of details can be used in either way depending on whether writers want readers to fill-in-the-blanks or they want to pull their attention, as well as the effect they wish to create in their scenes. Subtle details can be used to paint imagery without going overboard in descriptions. They're kind of like tasty midnight snacks rather than a full-course meal and can be clever ways to hook readers into our stories. There are certain subtle details writers can use in both interior and exterior settings. Let's go over these for each of the two types of settings below. 🔍
INTERIOR SETTINGS: 6 SUBTLE DETAILS
There are six subtle details writers can use within interior settings. These include artificial lighting, natural elements or debris, temperature, sound effects, effects of darkness, and texture. Each of these details can create simple imagery or add special effects to writers' interior setting descriptions.
💡 1. ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING
This first subtle detail is the electric lighting in a room or scene, such as florescent lights on a ceiling or lamps on a coffee table. Different kinds of interior rooms have different types of lighting in them, which can change the mood of scenes within our stories. For example, a character sitting at a desk in a dimly lit bedroom late at night can give off an eerie feeling or a sense of suspense to readers.
🔥 2. NATURAL ELEMENTS or DEBRIS
Natural elements or debris are good subtle details writers can use, as there are several different kinds. For example, a character that enters their house and leaves a trail of dirt on the floor from their muddy shoes, or a wilted rose in a vase by an open window that dances in a gentle breeze.
👂🏽 3. SOUND EFFECTS
Sound effects are a third subtle detail, which allows writers to use the sense of sound. These could be multiple things from the ding of a microwave to squeaky sneakers, to the sprinkling of a shower a character hears in an upstairs bathroom.
🌡️ 4. TEMPERATURE
Temperature is a fourth useful subtle detail that can range from a number of things, such as cool air conditioning blowing from a unit or the warmth of a crackling fireplace.
👤 5. EFFECTS OF DARKNESS
Effects of darkness are a very clever subtle details that aren't always used or thought of among writers, but this doesn't change the fact some things appear differently in darkness than they do in light. An example could be a coat rack hanging with a derby and long jacket that startles a character who mistakes it for a tall man.
🛋️ 6. TEXTURE
Texture allows writers to use the sense of touch. For example, writers could describe a character's sweaty skin sticking while sitting on a leather sofa, or a wool blanket layered over a character in bed that makes him itch.
EXTERIOR SETTINGS: 5 SUBTLE DETAILS
For exterior settings, there are five main subtle details that writers can use in their scenes and setting descriptions, including many of the ones I previously discussed and weather or climate conditions. Unlike interior settings, there will likely be more natural elements writers can use in exterior settings, being that scenes in these settings are taken place outside. There are all kinds of ways writers can describe subtle details using natural elements in the environment of exterior settings. Let's go over eight of these listed in the diagram below. 🔍
SUBTLE DETAILS: 8 NATURAL ELEMENTS
As Russian novelist Anton Chekhov quoted:
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Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.
To me, this writing quote not only emphasizes the importance of showing more than telling, but it also represents the special effects of using subtle details in one's writing. Using natural elements is a very effective way to do this. There are eight natural elements in particular that writers can use to describe subtle details in exterior settings, including fire or lava, earth or dirt, natural light (which includes both sunlight and moonlight), metal or steel, water in all its forms (snow, ice, hail), air or wind, stones or rocks, and lightning.
By taking advantage of these natural elements, it can allow writers to come up with some pretty creative details without going overboard in descriptions. However, this requires writers to be selective of their diction, create evocative images, compare non-related things, and disregard redundancy. One of the cleverest ways writers can use subtle details is to create a sense of place without stating where characters are located. This allows readers to use their imagination and put the puzzle together themselves. Let's look at some examples below. 🔍
SOME EXAMPLES OF SUBTLE DESCRIPTIONS
EXAMPLE 1: WATER
Six-year-old Amy felt like the weather. Liquid worms squiggled down on her side window as she whimpered and tightly hugged her teddy bear, sitting on the backseat behind her mother.
For this first example, readers can instantly catch on that the weather is gloomy and likely raining based on the subtle detail of "liquid worms squiggled" down Amy's side window. They also can figure out the little girl is sad, likely crying, and sitting in a car or vehicle based on the position where Amy is (on the backseat) compared to her mother in front of her without these things being stated. Little details can say a lot in only a few words.
Now, let's look at another one.
EXAMPLE 2: FIRE
Bright, orange fingers and smoke ascended from the circle of stones on the ground. The boy sat on a stump, stuck two marshmallows on the end of a stick, and toasted them until they became brown. His dad rubbed and warmed his hands near the dancing light, sitting on a stump across from him.
Here, in this second example, readers can identify exactly where the characters are located based on the subtle details of "bright, orange fingers" ascending from the circle of stones on the ground and "dancing light" without it plainly being stated the boy and his dad are sitting at a campfire. Okay, now let's shift things a bit and look at an example for interior settings.
EXAMPLE 3: DEBRIS or RESIDUE
Coming inside from the wet, nasty weather, Champion crawled through the pet door with all fours. His collar tinkled as he shook himself in front of Lamar, sprinkling water droplets on his master's white Nike sneakers and the foyer's hardwood floor.
In this last example, readers can identify the wet, nasty weather is rainy based on the subtle detail "sprinkling water droplets," and know Champion's entered a house or building based on the details "pet door" and "the foyer's hardwood floor." Readers can also know Champion is a dog rather than a person based on the details of "collar tinkled," "with all fours," and "his master's white Nike sneakers," again without things being explained to readers.
You know what people say...
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A picture is worth a thousand words...
And subtle details can create the same effect when used well by writers. Okay, finally, let's look at different kinds of weather and how writers can utilize them within scenes
UTILIZING WEATHER IN SCENES
As we writers know, there's different kinds of weather as the diagram above shows, including hurricanes, blizzards or snow, sleet or hailstorms, rain or thunderstorms, sunny or clear skies, windy weather, tornadoes, rainbows, and cloudy or partly cloudy skies. Like I mentioned in a previous blog post, weather can be used to create an illusion of real life, and writers can do this by the most subtle details, as shown in the two examples below.
EXAMPLE 1: TORNADO
Auntie Em stepped outside on the front porch of her farmhouse and widened her eyes at the darkened sky. Her heart sank. A gigantic thread of cotton glided across the field and attacked the wood fence in the distance, snapping it into pieces like toothpicks.
Here, in this first example, readers immediately know what the character Auntie Em is seeing is a powerful tornado based on the subtle details of "gigantic thread of cotton" and the wood fence "snapping into pieces like toothpicks" without it actually being told to them. Describing details about weather and environments rather than stating what the weather is can allow readers to use their imagination for themselves.
EXAMPLE 2: PARTLY CLOUDY
On Wednesday afternoon, the sun winked in my face and played a game of hide and seek behind the clouds while I walked my dog in the city park.
In this second example, readers can identify the weather based on the subtle details of personification "sun winked" and "played a game of hide and seek behind the clouds" without it being stated that it's a partly cloudy afternoon. Again, when it comes to weather, next time, try describing minor details of the weather rather than always stating what it is. It can allow you to include special effects in just a few words.
CLOSING REMARKS:
Using subtle details in our setting descriptions can take writers' skills to a whole another level and is clear proof that many times less is more. So, the next time you write your setting or character descriptions, consider paying attention to details that aren't usually described and implementing some of the above techniques to create intriguing imagery that give readers permission to fill-in-the-blanks or pulls their attention. Okay, that ends this post. If you liked it, please, give it a (heart❤️) and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)
Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻
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