Choose Your Camp: 3 Ways to Transport Your Reader

Camp NaNoWriMo begins in April! In the spirit of friendly camp competition (and inspired by one of our favorite scenes in Scott Westerfeld’s Afterworlds), we asked our friends to Choose Your Camp. Today, Mónica Bustamante Wagner, author of the forthcoming series, Frosh, offers her method of transporting readers to another reality:

Can you imagine Anna and the French Kiss set in a small, rural town? Or Harry Potter going to school somewhere in the Sahara Desert? There’s nothing wrong, obviously, about setting your book in a small town or the Sahara Desert, but I think it’s amazing how much identity the setting can give to a book. This is why I chose the Setting Cabin. I feel sometimes we writers take settings for granted, and they could use some love today…

When we read, we usually want to be transported to another place and learn about other realities. So I think it’s important to make the reader feel they’re already in that place. Apart from using vivid and original sensory details, it’s nice to show emotion when the characters experience these places. It’s awesome how much you can learn about a character when you see things under their perspectives. (Okay, I swear, I’m not about to jump to the Character Cabin—I’m just sayin’.)

Anyway. An example: Jack and Nina go to the same garden, and from Jack’s POV the garden could be described: 

“Itchy grass covered The Royal Garden, and the stupid lilies were shedding their pollen, making me sneeze non-stop. It didn’t help that the rows of flowers were half a mile long. The sun was high in the sky and I was sure that if I didn’t run to take cover under the ant-infested trees, I’d leave grandma’s picnic with a horrible sunburn.”

But from Nina’s POV it could be written:

“The Royal Garden was half a mile of bliss. Rows and rows of flowers bloomed under a warm sun, and the grass felt soft and dewy under my feet. Birds chirped over the lush canopies, beckoning me to stay here forever.”

Also, it’s nice to show the setting instead of telling us about it. For example: instead of saying 

“The waves were big and dangerous,” 

You can say something like, 

“The waves swelled, towering over the fishermen’s ships, crashing and exploding against the pier.”

And don’t forget to ground your readers early in the scene. For instance, imagine you’re reading a chapter that starts when Paul decides he’s finally going to kiss Mary! They’re talking about something oh-so-romantic, and if the author hasn’t grounded you, you’ll probably start to picture things on your own. 

What would I imagine in a scene like this? My brain would go to my concept of romantic places. I’d think they’re in a restaurant, at night, and their table is illuminated by a candle… But then! The author writes something like, “Paul opened his locker and grabbed a textbook.” 

Then I would be like, What? But, but, but I had imagined they were in a restaurant! So I would feel lost, and like I’m not part of that love story anymore. Makes sense?

Summing up:

Make the readers feel like they are where your characters are. Use sensory details and show emotion.
Try to show the setting instead of telling us about it.
Ground the reader early in a scene.

Mónica Bustamante Wagner was born in a Peruvian city by a snow-capped volcano. Growing up, books were her constant companion as she traveled with her family to places like India (where she became a vegetarian), Thailand (where she almost met Leonardo di Caprio), France (where she pretended to learn French), and countless other places that inspired her to write. She’s the author of the forthcoming NA trilogy, Frosh (The Studio/Paper Lantern Lit, Fall 2015) and is represented by @Lauren_MacLeod.

Top photo background by Flickr user Leah Borchert.