Food in your story's setting

EstherMayRose · Jun 24, 2018

izzybot said: ↑

I agree with this. I think there's a style where a lot of 'unnecessary' detail (quotes because it's subjective, of course) is just par for the course, and in that case, describing food -- and whatever else -- doesn't stick out. But I know that for my style, which tends towards the more minimalistic, that's not the case.

In this series I like, there are two scenes where the characters have conversations over food, and we get their verbatim orders. Both of those scenes have always really bothered me, because no matter how many times I read them, I have no idea why the food is supposed to be important. Why was this given more space than a told "... everyone ordered their food and ..."? What am I meant to glean from knowing that this character likes his bacon almost burnt and this one gets her eggs runny? It's a mystery to me.
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I got told once (admittedly by a bunch of eleven-year-olds) that I wasn't putting enough detail into my book because I didn't specify what type of biscuits a character was eating. I notched it up as another problem with school writing technique: too general. (In this case "include lots of detail".)

ChickenFreak · Jun 24, 2018

EstherMayRose said: ↑

I got told once (admittedly by a bunch of eleven-year-olds) that I wasn't putting enough detail into my book because I didn't specify what type of biscuits a character was eating. I notched it up as another problem with school writing technique: too general. (In this case "include lots of detail".)
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I have to agree with the eleven year olds. Specific biscuits or no biscuits.

CAROLINE J. THIBEAUX · Jun 25, 2018

EstherMayRose said: ↑

Re the symbolism, IMHO, symbolism has to pull its weight. It has to serve some other purpose as well, otherwise, it just looks pretentious. So, as long as it's clear why the food is there, and it serves some kind of purpose plot-wise (and no, I'm not saying the scene has to hinge on it, just having two characters chat over a meal is fine), I'd say using food as a symbol, especially if it's important to the MC, is a good idea.
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yes. It just adds that extra layer to the story. Does not have to be the main course.

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Food in your story's setting

EstherMayRose Gay Souffle Contributor

ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

CAROLINE J. THIBEAUX Member

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Food in your story's setting

EstherMayRose Gay Souffle Contributor

ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

CAROLINE J. THIBEAUX Member

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