Describing unfamiliar surroundings

[Jabrosky]

I'm generally of the philosophy that description comes most in handy for things that are unfamiliar either to the reader or to the viewpoint character. Given that, what happens when your character ends up in a situation where she's surrounded by unfamiliar doodads?

I have in mind a scene where my heroine, an African jungle girl captured by dwarves, finds herself caged up and "exhibited" at the dwarf governess's dining hall. The dwarves have a culture that vaguely resembles the antebellum American South, albeit more matriarchal. Therefore we would expect their dining hall to have a bunch of mid-19th-centuryish technology and decoration lying around that our jungle girl would have never encountered before. For example, she's probably never seen a chandelier or neoclassical architecture. I don't want to swamp the scene's opening with descriptive info-dumping on the room's alien contents, but I do want to give my reader a sense that they're in a pseudo-antebellum Southern dining hall. How can I do that within the limits of my jungle girl heroine's point of view?

 

[T.Allen.Smith]

My advice is to pick a few items, ones that would be particularly interesting to her while, at the same time, do a lot of work for your setting.

What I mean by "do a lot of work" is that those items you describe establish a lot of information for the reader. For example, if I'm describing a bedroom and I want to convey a sense of wealth or make it seem stately, I might choose to describe a canopy bed. If instead I want the reader to infer a poor occupant, I might describe a bed made of rough lumber with a mattress of hay.

In my opinion, any description you choose should do this kind of work. They should provide more information than simply coloring your background.

So, when you think of the period you wish to represent, what types of furnishings or implements come to mind?

 

[Svrtnsse]

Spontaneously (without spending too much time thinking about it) I'd pick two things to highlight. First, I'd go with the overwhelming sensation of seeing so many strange and unfamiliar things and being in a new and odd environment. Secondly I'd pick one or two objects that she gets hung up on or which make a really strong impression on her - like a chandelier or blindingly white tablecloth or something else that's familiar to the reader but which your character is accustomed to.

In practice I'd go with a short list of random things just named or described briefly along with the sense of unease/wonder at all the new things. This to establish a sense of confusion/panic/stress. After that I'd smack her with something truly wondrous, like the chandelier and give that a bit more space. That way I ought to be able to communicate a bit more clearly to the reader what kind of things she's seeing.

Like this:

There were lots of strange things, knickknacks, doohickeys, objects and junk. As they entered the next chamber/hut/cave/cabin/whatever an enormous contraption of steel and light hanging from the ceiling caught her attention.

I'd probably flash it out a bit more and use different words. The above is mainly to illustrate the principle.

 

[Jabrosky]

So, when you think of the period you wish to represent, what types of furnishings or implements come to mind?

I have to admit that I am not the least bit knowledgeable about the antebellum South. I picked it as a setting inspiration because I wanted my dwarves to come from a swampy country and thought a Southern theme would work very well for that. Sounds like I have some research ahead of me to do.

That said, I picture the room in my scene as having a lot of yellow and white colors, chandeliers, and plump dwarf-women in extravagant frilly dresses.

 

[Svrtnsse]

I have to admit that I am not the least bit knowledgeable about the antebellum South. I picked it as a setting inspiration because I wanted my dwarves to come from a swampy country and thought a Southern theme would work very well for that.

That said, I picture the room in my scene as having a lot of yellow and white colors, chandeliers, and plump dwarf-women in extravagant frilly dresses.

This is actually awesome.

 

[Ophiucha]

For just the 19th century, gas lamps (or chandeliers) and some early industrialization will likely get the point across.

If you're looking to convey a bit of an antebellum theme... I would say the two things that stand out the most, to me, about that era of design is the wood carving and the upholstery. All of the legs of tables and chairs had swirly designs carved into them, headboards were elaborately knotted things. And the upholstery... honestly, it was a dark time in interior design. This was the era of taking gaudy floral or pseudo-Islamic patterns and sewing it into the seats and backs of every chair in the room, then making the carpet and drapes too while they were at it. It was madness.

Forgive the unfortunate implication, but antebellum South? Loved the colour white. Perhaps it came from the neo-classical bit, painting everything white so it looked more like marble. More common on the exterior, but their interiors were a lot lighter than the Victorians'. Could be useful in hinting that it's more antebellum-esque, since the time period makes will make many readers think of England instead of the States.

 

[Jabrosky]

Forgive the unfortunate implication, but antebellum South? Loved the colour white.

Guess I struck lucky with that one then. However, these "dwarves" (actually I may modify them to a fictional subgroup of humanity) are supposed to have brown skin and have a vaguely "mulatto" appearance (albeit with red hair).

 

[Edankyn]

I'd stick to description by analogy. I'm presuming your jungle girl understand colors, shapes and sizes. Carefully done, most objects can be described in simple terms such that the reader would understand what the jungle girl is referring to without having to break character. I'd also avoid big information dumps by introducing the scene slowly during her stay. When I'm overwhelmed by my surroundings I tend to focus on a particular object; maybe your jungle girl has that same issue.

 

[CupofJoe]

Raymond E Feist used the smaller things rather than the bigger to show the differences. I remember a character looking at a blue banded hawk that was just like a hawk on his home world but had blue band on its wings... the strange was just that - strange, but the nearly-normal was more shocking.

 

[icerose05]

I'd stick to description by analogy. I'm presuming your jungle girl understand colors, shapes and sizes. Carefully done, most objects can be described in simple terms such that the reader would understand what the jungle girl is referring to without having to break character. I'd also avoid big information dumps by introducing the scene slowly during her stay. When I'm overwhelmed by my surroundings I tend to focus on a particular object; maybe your jungle girl has that same issue.

I'm going to add to the wonderful advice or Edankyn. Besides describing the jungle girl's surroundings physically, I would also add in the other 4 senses, plus her emotions - I imagine being in a new environment where everything is completely different is quite stressful and overwhelming. I'm sure you would do this anyway, but add in either the curiosity or fright that she feels coming into this new land. Describe also the tastes if she eats or drinks anything new, the smells because it will smell different from the jungle, the new sounds she hears, what something feels like if and when she touches it. This is what I normally do when I'm describing new surroundings, so I hope it helps.

 

[stephenspower]

I think the real trick is having her experience as wildly alien things that we consider normal without her seeming like a hayseed. So I wouldn't start with the dwarves. I'd start with her so you can see new technology and sensations through like experiences of her own. For instance, she might not know a chandelier is, but she likely knows what fire and light are and really all a chandelier is, is fancy candle holder. That's pretty, but it's not impressive except in comparison to other chandeliers. Does her culture exhibit people the same way; if so, she has one reaction; if not, another. And what's the cage made out of? Does she know that or any metal?

IceRose is onto something good too, especially the use of other senses. You might do some research on first contact with cut off tribes to see how those went.