Ok so I'm having a really hard time decribing things, well like rooms or settings. I tried finding a website or pictures of victorian houses that might help. The story is in the 11th centery, its actually 119 england and scotland. I can't figure pout how to describe like the homes, the things in the room. anyone know spme websites that would help, or even a website with pictures of old interior desgin so i could get an idea?
Well it depends on what kind of person it is, is it a rich family or a poor family? If it's rich, expect alot of well sewn mattresses, full beds, and other furniture. If it is a poor family, expect not much but a mattress, and maybe a table.
Most houses will have only one room, and the floor will most often consist of stamped ground. Your average citizen won't have much more than a couple of hay beds, maybe a wooden table and a bench, as well as a fireplace (very simple, and it would demand a coverable hole in the roof so that the smoke can leave the house). There won't be many windows, and in reality they're just holes in the wall (no glass). It was also quite normal to have animals inside (a cow for example) so the people could benefit from the body temperature. The houses would for the most part be dull and boring. Your characters would have to be carpenters or such if you want their houses to have a little more stuff in them
I'm hoping those were just typos, because your post is extremely confusing - the dates you give sound Medieval, but Victorian was pretty much last week in comparison. I'm not committing to a reply until I know for sure which one you meant.
lol ok so I'm trying to write a scene where this Lord goes to another Lord's home and is waiting in his study. But I can't figure out how to describe it. Like furniture and what not, I can't find any websites to help me get an idea what to write. And thanks guys that does help a lot.
I'm thinking medieval? EDIT: The house I described was for your average citizen in the 11th century. A lord would live in much more luxurious quarters, and the Victorian age would be much different as well.
I'm glad you finally 'said' DESCRIPTION in your subsequent post, deary. Reading the word as you had originally written it reminded me of a guy I know with a lisp ('decription') --whom I love dearly . It also kinda sounded like trying to break / decipher a secret code --'decription' LOL! Any'who', keep reading lots of stuff, and writing too, of course. Oh, and it's 2nd century', if you're talking about sometime in 119 A.D. Sorry, I don't know much about Victorian / medieval ... 'that period' architecture / home-fittings, but Google usually does the trick. Just focus on a relatively specific time, place and socio-economic setting of the home you want to describe. Good luck. -------------------------------------------------------- Be good, wise and strong --or don't be at all
I recommend reading other books that take place in a setting similar to yours. You can pick up how to handle the description based on the past efforts of the authors of your choice.
Sorry not very godo at explaining things, thansk guys I'll do that. I tried google and din't get much
so is it 11th Century or 119 AD ? 119 AD is Roman era Britain - 11th Century is 1000s so Anglo Saxon/Vikings and Norman - try the Jorvik Centre under images . Think Shapwick covers that time period. Scotland don't hope for much during the 119AD time think that is still Pictish- Birnie excavations maybe your best bet for that time frame. 11th Century would be Macbeth, Duffus Castle, Portmohomach excavations maybe,
Perhaps you could watch a film set about that time? Maybe the recent Robin Hood which has quite a lot of shots of domestic scenes in a manor (in the sort of place where a middling lord might have lived). Most film-makers are reasonably fastidious about these sort of things so their recreations are likely fairly accurate (ie where possible, let others do the work for you). So long as you're not aiming your book at students of medieval interior design, I'm sure this approach should work pretty well.
In eleventh century England people were sleeping on hay and going number two in the bushes. A lord would likely have a wooden roundhouse or, in the case of our Norman overlords at the time, it's likely they may have a stone castle. But there would dirty hay, filth and unpleasantness even in the most homely of castles. It's unlikely that a Lord would have something as plush as a study either. Your typical Norman Castle would have consisted of very few rooms, including but not limited to a banqueting hall (and you'd be surprised how small some of those could be) a bedroom for the lord and a chapel. You'd also expect kitchens and various different boltholes for when angry saxons or welshmen invaded. The bulk of the residents of the castle would live within the walls but in tents or wooden huts. If I were you I'd read up on the time period you're looking at. If you want to set your story in the pre-conquest days of 10000AD or so I might suggest reading Raven Bloodeye by some guy whose name I can't remember. It's pretty naff but very well researched and it'll give you a rough idea of how people lived during that time.
So, are we talking about 119 (2nd century), 1019 (11th century) or 1879 (Victorian, 19th century)? If it's the first, there won't be a lord and no one will have a study. If it's the second, there would be a lord but still no study. If it's the last, then the lord will have a study.
11th century, thanks guys. Ok so no study, hmm...where would they greet their guest in? Like what room would they greet the guest.
I would suggest you do some background research on the period you are trying to portray, not only to get the house right, but for the details of what life was like in that time.
Whatever interior 'space' they're standing in. It doesn't have to be given a demarcating name. Once you come in through the threshold of the front door, you're in. "Welcome to my humble abode. Watch the chicken crap as you step through." But seriously, I don't know what this ... foyer / reception / lobby / vestibule space was formally called. .. Maybe, vestbule? ---------------------------------------------------- Be good, wise and strong
ditto the advice to read work by good writers set in the time frame you want to use... study how it's done by those who know how to do it...
You may want to rethink the time period that your story takes place in if you want to use Victorian era homes and such. For description purposes, for homes anyways, Google Image search "victorian architecture" That will lead you to other searches suggested by Google that will help you as well. Victorian Furniture also lends good pictures to describe from. Good luck (I'm a student of architecture myself)
Also the entryway could probably just be called the entryway lol. But a good place to start (as it is in the same era) would be the Jane Austin books.
Don't even think of writing about a specific historical era without doing research. The reason that you can't describe a room is that you don't know how the people in the era you're writing about actually lived. Find out how they lived. Research! You have probably read novels set in the era you want to write about, and you're wondering how those writers managed to do it well and you can't. The answer is research. Those writers did RESEARCH. There's no shortcut for this. Learn about your era. Learn about your subject. Then write.
