Avoid White Room Syndrome: 6 Ways to Write Better Descriptions
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 4 июн 2024
- White room syndrome is an easy pitfall for any writer to run into, especially when you’re describing a secondary world. So, it’s important to understand the problem and know how to write setting descriptions-and how to avoid situations when there’s not enough in your writing. But not too much, of course. That’s a whole other can of worms.
We invited author B.H. Pierce to help us talk about white room syndrome, writing vivid descriptions, and writing with aphantasia (an inability to visualize images in one’s mind).
Check out Campfire, a customizable tool for writers to plan, organize, and share their writing:
www.campfirewriting.com/
#writingtips #authortube #writingadvice
//VIDEO CREDITS//
Script and audio by Adam Bassett: / adamcbassett
Video editing by @Hikitsune-Red
Animation and illustration by Cole Field: / acolefield
Featuring B.H. Pierce: / bhpierce203
Read UNDER A PIRATE FLAG on Campfire: www.campfirewriting.com/explo...
//ADDITIONAL RESOURCES//
Five ways to write vibrant settings: www.writingmastery.com/blog/5...
Lee Strauss on white room syndrome: www.leestraussbooks.com/autho...
Things to avoid when you’re starting to write a story: nelsonagency.com/2016/07/9-st...
Vanishing setting syndrome: www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...
//SOCIAL MEDIA//
Facebook: / campfirewriting
Twitter: / campfirewriting
Instagram: / campfirewriting
Discord: www.discordapp.com/invite/6dT...
TikTok: / campfirewriting
Reddit: / campfiretechnology
//AFFILIATE LINKS//
ProWritingAid: prowritingaid.com/?afid=9308
A powerful spell checker and style editor that works wherever you do your writing!
Bookshop: bookshop.org/shop/CampfireTec...
Support local, independent bookstores (and Campfire Technology) by buying books on our Bookshop page.
How do you combat white room syndrome? Do you use one of the methods Brett and I discussed, or something else?
Typically for character design I go to a free TTRPG character maker like Heroforge. Then I can test out a basic look from clothing to scarring. They have a bunch of different fantasy races available too so that's helpful. I think I might have aphantasia as well because I just can't picture any character before I make it.
I use pictures in my campfire notes for characters, usually by finding these in image searches or taking screenshots. I'll save videos of the sights and sounds of a setting that I find here on YT and the like. Travel blogs and foodie blogs are a great way to find out the scents and flavors of a location. Review sites like Yelp can help with scents and flavors as well. These can also help with emotional feelings/senses. For physical touch though, it gets harder to find the best resources for this sense, but usually blogs or reviews of traveling do some good, like describing the legroom of an airplane or the scratchy sheets of a motel bedroom, but other resources like some of the channels here on YT can help with as well, such as channels focussed on medieval subjects, which will describe the weight and feel of different armor types, or channels about space exploration describing how microgravity and space suits feel. Medical resources online might help in describing how certain ailments feel and other physical attributes associated with an injury or illness. Another overlooked resource are advertisements. A lot of greats descriptions can be found in food ads, travel ads, etc.
Videos which focus on languages and teaching English as a second language or teaching another language to English speakers also give descriptions of how words sound, which is excellent when describing accents.
Sometimes I'll describe another person's features if they're similar to the one speaking or POV character (2 aliens of the same species, for example, or clones). Other times, I'll describe what they' re wearing as it makes sense to the scene, and often in conjunction with movement. The reader fills in the rest.
Your channel was great! So sad it's abandoned
I must admit I don't have trouble with white room syndrome when I'm writing, quite the opposite. I have always loved descriptions (for as long as they're well done and not a description dump) because I have always wanted to see what the author's world and characters look like, so I tend to share what my text-worlds look, smell, feel and sound like. I feel good description helps the story move forward in the sense that, if I do not describe the environment, it does not exist, and if the road does not exist, how can the character drive on it?
Of course, there is always the danger of giving too much description, so I try to sneak it in when readers aren't paying attention so they won't notice it. 😝
I have to mention how the characters in my work taste. Got it!
Nice supporting Video footage.
Hey this is criminally underviewed!! i have been wishing for this type of content to show up in my feed for YEARS at this point. please keep up the great work!
Interesting question I didn't think during my writing, but I'm lately completely freaked out since I'm doing the Holy Proofreading.
I have a solid "view" of my characters, theirs armors, theirs pieces of clothing, they are some sort of an extension of themselves (the captain is proud of his armor cause he worked hard to get this position in the army, the wizard doesn't pay attention to his robe but the others give some details cause this robe is a sign of his "cult"...)
But... I think I lack some more visual descriptions of the world itself. Maybe it can be manage with some others choices of word, verbs... or maybe I really need to add more of it.
The moodboard idea will be my savior in the future, I think it has the potential to help me more, + the senses, I descrbie too much with my eyes than with my... nose ? :D
Thanks for the video !
Yeah it's tough, because you don't want to give too much description, but too little can also be a problem. My best advice would be to find a few people who read those character introductions / relevant passages and see what they think! Ask them afterward if they can describe the characters to you. :)
And of course there are plenty of great stories that don't give their characters much description at all, and instead put emphasis on the setting or action. So it also may not be a problem. Depends on what you need you readers to know.
@@AroundTheCampfire Never thought of asking for a description from my beta readers ! that's a very good idea I will use for sure ! Thanks !
This was extremely interesting for a completely different reason: as a language and literature teacher, I come across students who may or may not have aphantasia, and students who obviously cannot extract information from the text, whether its descriptive or not (low literacy). This video gave me the idea to ask them to write short guided descriptions of images (starting with simple objetcs and animals before moving on to people and then landscapes of growing complexity until having to describe rooms and streets) to play a kind of who is who where the colleagues have to read the description and then match it to the correct picture.
It should help them to develop vocabulary but, above all, to start relating the words to visual stimuli. Hopefully, a word will stop being a collection of letters to become a representation of an actual object (or animal, etc) that they can visualise. Unless some of them truly have aphantasia.
Anyway, thanks for the epiphany!
It was very interesting hearing about another person's experience with aphantasia, it makes me wonder if I might actually have it too. Haha ^.^''
I have a hard time actually reaching the word count I set, which tends to be 3000 words. But this current one I'm working on is planning on being at least 10000 words, but I'm around one-fourth of the way there. I also have aphantasia, I think, because I do have a hard time picturing things when I read. It is bad enough that it, combined with my bad memory, stopped me from even getting to the part where Frodo actually leaves the shire because all the names made it so overwhelming especially combined with the prologues. I also don't picture things so much when I write so much, but people actually called it vibrant or something like that before. I think I may have aphantasia is I have a hard time visualizing things to the point that my mind tends to be blank because I'm not actually trying to, and when I do, it takes effort. And even then, it tends to be faint. I specialize in cosmic horror, so the holes in the description can help due to how it is already supposed to be an incomplete description because of the fear of the unknown.
Best thumbnail
That white room scene with Morgan Freeman is from the Backrooms 😅
And that was when _she_ walked in. She was, as I expected, dressed in [describe]. I should have known she’d be trouble from the start - any dame walking into my office at the time of the mid-afternoon had to be looking for one thing, and one thing only: someone to tell her where the nearest gas station that sells Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink is.
Like, seriously, have you ever had that stuff? It’s freaking delicious. I don’t blame her! In fact, I’m going to stop this story right in its gritty little tracks just to tell you how amazing it is, and how, if you haven’t had any before, you should go out and get some. Right now.
No seriously.
Do it.
You’ll thank me later.
Anyway, she strolled into the place and started causing quite a ruckus. I guess her husband also wanted one, so she was visibly upset that most places only had one bottle left. When I suggested she buy one from one place and one from another, she stared at me like I had kicked her kitten into the next week.
“Are you out of your mind?” She stated. “You expect me or _him_ to drink a slightly less refrigerated one that the other, or to not drink them simultaneously? We’re married you nutjob. We do everything together. Everything!”
Then stormed out.
“I wish you well dame.”
Fucking _hilarious_