Description & Setting: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Believable World of People, Places, and Events (Write Great Fiction) (Paperback)

~ Ron Rozelle (Author) "One of the first things I learned about the difference between good and bad writing is that good writing is not entirely dependent upon the..." (more)
Key Phrases: specialized fiction, clutter rule, sensory description, New York, Ellis Island, Lake Ouachita (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

For a story to be successful, it must come alive on the page. With Description & Setting, writers learn how to make every detail count as they create believable people, places and events. Another book in the popular Write Great Fiction series, this valuable reference:

-Shows writers how to master the challenging--and often overlooked--subjects of description and setting -Offers hands-on action-and-results exercises that allow readers to incorporate lessons into their own work -Provides busy writers with accessible information through sidebars, exercises, checklists and more

With clear examples from popular fiction and tips for specific genres, bringing a story to life has never been this easy or this fun.

About the Author

Ron Rozelle is the author of three books and teaches creative writing at workshops and universities.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Writers Digest Books (March 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 158297327X
• ISBN-13: 978-1582973272
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,315 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good book, June 28, 2008

By	Property of an Enigma (-----) - See all my reviews

Like the other "Write Great Fiction" books, this one focuses on the elements listed on the title, description and setting. While the criticisms some others have had are sound, this is by no means a terrible book, and certainly it is not as awful as some would make it out to be. As for the criticism that there is "nothing new" in the book, that's easy. The author makes the assumption (as he should, seeing as how every other good author who has ever written a non-fiction work on any given subject would do the same) that the reader knows nothing, or little about how to write descriptive passages but wants to know more, so having "no new information" is an empty criticism. He isn't writing his book for people who already know the concepts, he is writing for those who don't know but want to learn them. The "nothing is new" criticism is like a math teacher being critical towards a new math book that comes out since it offers "nothing new." Obviously the math teacher already knows the concepts that are covered in the math book.

But I have spent more than enough time on that. This book will teach you how to describe aspects the reader can see, hear, feel, touch and smell, thus bringing them into the story. It will teach you how little description is too little, and how much is too much. It will teach you how to get the reader to paint a mental picture of the world you create in your story. It will teach you how to apply the other aspects of writing fiction, such as plot, dialogue and character development and how they relate to description. It will teach you how to create a single sentence that is chock full of information that the reader needs to know to understand the context of your story. That is what the author intended, that is what he does, and that is why this book is worth the money.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Budding Author, July 26, 2007

By	Pheenix (Seattle - USA) - See all my reviews

After starting the journey of becoming a published author years ago, I've come across many "self-help" books on how to write a novel, and my experience is that 90% of them are a load of rubbish. This one fortunately for you and me, is not.

If you're serious about becoming a writer and you've already begun the journey, then this is one for the collection. I'm not positive that you will come back to it afterwards like Solutions for Writers by Sol Stein or your English Grammar reference book, but it will help you write/tell your story better.

Specifically it gives you examples of how to:
1. Show vs Tell (a common problem with most new authors)
2. Description (description for literature vs description for popular fiction)
3. Characters
4. Timing
5. Grammar (a very brief section that you'll probably already know if you've been writing for some time now)

There is other useful info as well, but these are just a few.

Lastly, unlike most authors in this genre, he does not solely reference his own books. He uses a wide range of writers encompassing literature as well as popular modern fiction.

40 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Sloppy thought mars this effort, April 21, 2005

By	LitTeacher (Newington, CT USA) - See all my reviews

The other volumes in this series have all been excellent, but careless editing and some wooden writing weaken this book's advice. Spelling errors (Wurthering Heights, racquet for racket) and weak prose (Rozelle likes to split infinitives with adverbs) weaken credibility, and some of the advice is questionable. Rozelle favors using adverbs to clarify prose instead of finding strong verbs and specific nouns. He also tends to use older books for examples, many at least 15-20 years old. This is especially true when he discusses genre fiction in superficial terms. Some of the book is irrelevant, too, discussing characterization without relating it to setting or description. I'd suggest Monica Wood's book on Description instead of this one.