Seeing the scene
I continually ask myself what separates really good writing from writing that’s good or just mediocre. There’s never any one definitive answer. Depending on the type of writing and the subject matter, there can be one or more differentiators.
That said, something that I find really makes an article or a story stand out is how the writer describes a scene.
Use your senses and your words
It’s amazing how much people don’t see. Or hear. Or smell. Or feel. In fact, I often shake my head in disbelief at how people seem to turn themselves off when they’re in public. They look ahead or down, never seeing what’s on the peripheries or above them. Which is unfortunate, because there’s a lot to take in. Most of it’s bland, but some of it is interesting.
For whatever reason — paranoia, curiosity, having read the Hardy Boys Detective Handbook to many times, a combination of the above, or whatever — I’m usually quite aware of my surroundings. I tend to notice things that other people miss. It keeps me on my toes, and sometimes provides me with some interesting fodder for what I’m writing.
I call it seeing the scene. Look carefully, absorb, and make note. It’s not just a matter of using your eyes, either. You should try to use all of your senses — sight, sound, touch, smell, and (where possible) taste. Don’t limit yourself to just the scene. Try to focus in on a person, an object, an interaction, or something that you can effectively describe and which will improve your narrative.
Training yourself
A subplot in one episode of the TV show Hill Street Blues involved an actor researching a role by accompanying officers from the precinct where the show took place on their rounds. One of the detectives tried to teach the actor how to read the street — notice anything out of the ordinary or which stood out as suspicious. In that case, it was a man wearing a long coat on a hot summer day.
When surveying a scene, try to find that sight or sound that’s out of place. It could be the person in a long coat on a hot day, or a student intently reading a book while a raucous scene unfolds around him, or a woman standing in a sea of black umbrellas wearing a brightly-coloured poncho.
It takes a while to acquire that skill. Time, and a lot of practice. And you need to practice. How? Try walking to the library or store and back, and then writing down what you saw. Or sit in a public place and watch — not just the people but the entire scene — and focus on something interesting or out of place.
Stay away from cliches
It’s easy to fall into the trap of using the same kinds of descriptions for something that so many have used in the past. Like, for example, talking about dark clouds and leaves blowing in the wind when describing a coming storm.
Why not do something original instead? Say you are describing a coming storm. Talk about the wind blowing a discarded cellophane wrapper and the sound of it scraping against the pavement, or the smell in the air that accompanies rain. There’s so much happening, no matter what the scene, that you can pick out something fresh or beyond the ordinary.
Keep it real
At least, if you’re writing non fiction. I’m sure the temptation exists to make up the description of a scene or something happening in the scene. Resist that temptation. Keep it real. Keep it honest. Even if the scene appears to be boring, use your writing skills to make something about it sound more interesting.
Keep it relevant
Simply tossing in a description of a scene or an object or a person won’t work. What you add to your article or story should be relevant to what you’re writing. If, for example, you describe an old man in a stained raincoat shuffling through a shopping concourse and he has nothing do with the story (or the thrust of your story) then writing that scene is just a waste of time.
Always make sure that something you’re describing is relevant to what you’re writing. If not, leave it out. Don’t try to shoehorn a great scene into an article or story in which it doesn’t belong. Save it for another piece of writing.
Look at the smaller pictures
Someone once told me that every big picture is made up of a bunch of smaller ones, and that those smaller pictures are as important (maybe even more so) than the bigger one. For me, a driving idea behind seeing the scene is to zoom in one of those smaller pictures on a larger canvas.
Regardless of how you do it, though, effectively describing a scene can add additional colour and life to something you’re writing — whether it’s fiction or non fiction. Seeing the scene is a skill that takes time to acquire, but it’s definitely time that’s well spent.
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