i want to talk about the best writing advice i’ve ever read, which can be basically summed up as “use the environment”
i read the advice on livejournal (so you can imagine how long ago that was) and it’s always stuck with me. in context it was about writing porn (unsurprisingly), and it went something like:
“use the environment to make a scene feel real. if characters are making love in an office, have them do it on a desk, knocking papers and office supplies around as they do. if characters are making love beneath the shade of a tree, have them feel the grass and roots and bugs beneath their bodies, describe the smells and sensations of nature.”
and this is fantastic advice, even outside of porn. those details can make a scene feel alive, rather than having it take place in seemingly a nondescript void where the characters could be talking anywhere. it makes dialogue scenes more than talking heads, and prose scenes more than just body language.
but you can do it with everything. squeeze every detail out of a character trait or the type of body language they use in canon, or you imagine them using if it’s an original story. emphasize the unique elements of a character’s voice. suggest detail using the details of the objects they use and own.
here’s some SFW examples:
- if characters are talking on a bed, describe the way the mattress moves and shifts beneath them as they move around. describe the blankets. describe the room they’re in - what objects they see as they gaze away from the other speaker. describe how close are they together and how they sit - do they kick their legs over the side of the bed? are they spooning? use objects in the environment - maybe a character teases another one and the other character grabs a pillow and whacks them with it.
- if you’re writing an “Encanto” fic, use the house! use the character’s powers! the house is a sentient and animated object in Encanto, and one of the character’s powers is to heal people with food. those are great details to use in fics - have the house interact with the characters, or have a character get injured and get healed by that character.
- emphasize a dramatic scene by having a character act in a way that’s not their stereotypical characterization. if you’re writing an undertale fic and papyrus is sad or alphys stops stuttering or undyne isn’t shouting, those scenes stand out because they’re not how the character usually acts. if you can make those scenes feel justified and they’re in contrast to the way the character acts in the rest of the fic, they really strengthen how real and in-depth the character feels.
- worldbuild! you have no idea how much more real a fic feels when you have headcanons (or just canon, in an original fic) that don’t serve a direct plot purpose but emphasize that the world is a real place. for instance, say you’re writing a steven universe fic about an older steven and connie. what is their relationship? where are they living? what kind of place are they living in? what are their jobs? do they have children? what is their relationship to the crystal gems now? what do they look like as adults and why? answering these questions can lead to opportunities for story and natural dialogue.
- related to the above, fill in the blanks! it’s not said in undertale WHERE mt. ebott is, so take advantage of that. i set all my undertale fics in japan - so i emphasize that the setting in my fics is japanese whenever possible. dated terminology like “newhalf” that a character might use, wearing kimonos instead of western clothing, otaku merchandise, traditional inns, festivals… setting a fic in a mountainous region of the country, or showing rabbits in a place in the country where there are a lot of rabbits, or writing about the japanese educational system and therapy in japan and being LGBT in japan. every blank you fill is an opportunity for further detail, even in fics that take place in the “real world.”
there’s so many different ways that you can take advantage of this idea. in short, do everything you can to make your stories and your scenes feel unique and distinctive. that’s not the same as “avoiding cliches” or “never using tropes” - cliches and tropes can be useful tools! - but what it means is making a story that feels grounded, where reality is everywhere, where things feel alive.
