: Re: How important is scenery when you are writing? When you are writing a book (or reading one for that matter), how important is it to closely detail the scenery or the setting? Does it just

@Hamaas631

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I think it absolutely depends on the type of story, and on the writer's goals.

If you're writing a romance, and it takes place in a mundane office building, why waste space on describing the cubicles? If the setting doesn't advance the characters or the plot, gloss over it.

On the other hand, if you're writing something set in another world, and you want your readers to know what it's like to live in that world, you're going to have to spend a good bit of time on description. Hopefully you can work at least some of the details in through dialogue or hints in the narrative, but I'd much rather read a little straightforward exposition than a clunky, unnatural stretch of dialogue in which characters describe things that they really should be taking for granted.

When it comes to reading, I think there's a range of preferences. I know that I skim description, especially if it's set off in distinct blocks of text, but I know others who feel that they can't enjoy a novel unless they they can see every detail of the setting. Just one more thing to make the author's job impossible...

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