In a new article for Writer Unboxed, Beth Havey continues her examination of place in fiction. “Think of place as the establishing shot in a film, or the curtain rising to reveal a stage setting,” Havey says. “Like these visual introductions, our written beginnings should gradually unfold, using the tools of dialogue and description to orient the reader to place as well as character.”
Havey says creating a sense of place helps orient your reader and triggers their imagination to begin filling in details. “Place enhances our work, allowing the reader to bring memory, feelings, and past experiences (negative and positive) to the page,” she writes. “Place opens the reader’s eyes to the usual, but pulls the reader in more and more when events and characters living and moving within that place are not usual, are beyond normal, are the amazing creations of your imagination.”
Havey shares some examples from one of her novels and from Joan Didion to show how a sense of place can pull your reader in to your story.
