source

Details bring your setting to life. They reveal the theme and hint at things to come. The trick for creating them is easier than making Rice Crispy Squares, and when done right, equally delicious (or even better, if you happen to hate Rice Crispy Squares).

Read through your scene, open up a blank page, and close your eyes. Now visualize the scene. What do you see? Hear? Taste? Feel? Smell? Move around the setting and make note of everything. How does each detail make you, as your scene character, feel? What are you is your character thinking when she sees, hears, tastes, feels, smells these things? Keep brainstorming.

Pick the strongest descriptions and the emotions associated with them. Tweak them if necessary, to add mood and theme words, and place them in your scene. Don’t dump them in one place. Weave them in several locations.

The advantage of doing it this way is that your creative flow isn’t impeded by trying to work around the action and dialogue already in the scene. When you’re brainstorming the setting, you aren’t worried about those things. Try it. You’ll be amazed at how easy it is, especially if you struggle with setting.
Do you have a trick for creating setting? Do find setting easy or challenging to write?

As writers, we’re constantly reminded to read outside our genre(s). Certain genres are character-based while others focus on plot. If you read predominantly plot-based stories, you’re missing out on an opportunity to see how others develop characters readers love to connect with. Romance, young adult, and horror are a few genres that rely heavily on emotions. Thrillers and suspense are perfect examples for solid pacing. By reading other genres, it will help you further develop your craft, plus they might trigger ideas to use within your stories.

But what about craft books on writing? Have you explored books that don’t focus solely on writing novels and short stories?

We’re all familiar with Writer’s Digest. My bookshelves are crammed full of craft books from the publisher (yeah, I have a little addiction issue). But last year, I discovered a publisher most of us aren’t familiar with—unless you’ve read Save the Cat! by Blake Synder. Michael Wiese Production publishes tons of books that focus on TV and film, and many of these deal with topics relevant to novelists.

The following are books that now live on my bookshelf (all which I love):

Save the Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting That You’ll Ever Need by Blake Synder (I recently ordered the sequel Save the Cat! Strikes Back: More Trouble for Screenwriters to Get into ... and Out of at Elana Johnson’s recommendation. It's in the mail.)

(Seriously, how can you resist this cover????)

Story Line: Finding Gold in Your Life Story by Jen Grisanti

Writing Subtext: What Lies Beneath by Dr. Linda Seger

Symbols, Images, Codes: The Secret Language of Meaning in Film, TV, Games, and Visual Media by Pamela Jaye Smith

Inner Drives: How to Write & Create Characters Using the Eight Classic Centers of Motivation by Pamela Jaye Smith

Have you read any craft books geared toward screenwriters?

(So what does Brad Pitt have to do with this? Nothing. But it got you to look, right? And maybe if you study these books and take up writing screenplays, you might just meet him when you pen his Oscar winning movie. Hey, you never know.)