Just add mess

Writers know they have to have a setting for their stories to prevent their characters floating off into space.  But how do we make those settings real?

It's about adding messy details.  If our story is set in the real world today there's lots of mess around us.  Looking out of my window, I can see the white van man vehicles parked on the pavement, half-blocking the road.  Rooms have messy details too.  Having bought four new bookcases over the weekend, I'm sorting through the books that have lain in piles for far too long.  It's an interesting exercise.  

Arranging them in order showed me just how many personal and spiritual development volumes I have.  And I can trace my life history through their titles.  Back in the days when my parents were still alive and I was working full-time in jobs I hated they were about finding the right job.  Later, as I eased into part-time work and tried to find ways out of a life of paid drudgery the emphasis changed to books on finding my life purpose.

Looking at my fiction, I've rediscovered all the classic SF written by women authors that got me into the genre in the first place.  Looking at my books, I can see how they reflect my life development.

Providing the same detail for a character can tell the reader subtly about their life and character.  We might introduce a casual mention of them flicking through a particular book, or looking at the books and thinking none of them help him or her now.  We absorb these details subconsciously and it helps us to build a richer picture of the character.

Playing a character's favourite song can show the reader their age and if it's an old song, add to their history.  Showing us their house with grubby paintwork or dust piling up in the corners reveals that they're not house proud.  Perhaps this is a person who doesn't value possessions highly.

Empty sweet wrappers in a chracter's car, a pile of unopened bills tossed untidily onto the hall table, overflowing clothes closets are all descriptive messes that allow us to understand a character better.

So when you're designing your setting, just add mess.