New World By Candlelight
Ryan LaSala has a new book out this month so it’s a good time to give a shout-out to a great bit of wisdom he delivered at a literary festival I attended a while ago.
In LaSala’s first novel, Reverie, a series of spectacular fantasy worlds unfold for the main character: the gym transforms into an underground temple, a house shifts into the scene of Victorian romance rife with scandal and sorcery, and much more. He colored the settings he created perfectly with rich sensory details and rules that govern how life works. With so much happening in the worlds he creates, the challenge becomes how to reveal that to readers without it feeling like an info dump.
One gem from his engaging talk on the subject of scene-setting was to reveal all the innovative details of the world to the reader as if they were walking through a dark garden holding only a candle. Instead of spending pages describing every flower, leaf, and bench give readers small focused moments of setting told as the story moves along its journey. Just what can be seen in the small beam of the candle. The reader will still infer the rest of the beauty held there. Then, allow a few rare moments when the full moon breaks through and the larger image of the world is revealed.
We love learning. Wise Words seeks to present a tiny taste of what we’ve gleaned from great teachers. We hope you check out their websites to find future events where you can learn even more:
Presenters: Ryan LaSala, Author of Reverie and Be Dazzled
Host: Salem Literary Festival, 2019
