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Topic : Re: How can you explain Scenery? I am writing a story about a character that travels as an ESL teacher and am wondering how you can explain scenery without getting to much into it. - selfpublishingguru.com

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Short Answer

The short answer is:

Write what your character(s) see and interact with.

In your question you have indicated that you recognize that reading descriptions of scenery can be tedious for readers :

"...explain scenery without getting to[sic] much into it."

Modern readers generally do not want to read long descriptions of scenery they've seen numerous times before. That provides a valuable clue to what you should write.

The Longer Answer

The longer answer is:

describe enough that the reader understands where / when the scene is taking place
describe what is important to the scene and the book
describe what has an impact on the character
describe what has an impact on the story itself

Important : Describe nothing more than that.

There is just one more thing which will help guide you to determine how much description to provide about setting.

Consider Your Overall Setting

If you're writing a sci-fi novel based on the planet Fizzil which has two red suns and the ground is purple then you'll need to describe more to help your readers see it.

However, in your case you are writing a novel set in contemporary times on earth.

Readers are smart and can imagine the setting themselves.
So, you can probably describe things very quickly and simply by writing things like:

January 18, 2018 London, England
Fred pushed the door open to The
Mayflower Pub and stepped in.

Hidden Messages Sent By Authors

Keep in mind that anything an author includes / describes which seems out of the ordinary may send a signal to the reader that the thing is somehow important.

If you add something like the following to the previous description, you change the story, even if you didn't mean to:

As the doors closed behind Fred, awareness struck that everyone at the
bar was staring at him.
His eyes raced over the faces, searching.

Fred cleared his throat and looked left toward some empty tables? "Do
I just find a seat for myself?" he asked no one specifically.

A man
standing behind the bar yelled out, "Sure, Yank. Take a seat
anywhere."
Fred took a seat and then slowly raised his head trying to get a look at the man's face. The man had long bangs hanging down into his face, but Fred thought he could see part of a hidden scar.

The Problem

Now a writer may be just trying to set a feeling for the characters and bartender in the bar, but somehow the author has made us focus on the fact that Fred is so interested in faces that we now believe he is searching for someone. It seems to become a salient plot point when in fact the author was just trying to set up some description.


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