Not as much as developing the setting, more as showing it. I hope that is okay to be placed here. In my story, my characters are walking through a city. Is it best to stick to the perceptions of my characters or can I also switch to a narrator if I ran out of dialog. Basically my characters (two sisters) are walking through their hometown that has nearly turned into a ghost town, in silence. I am stuck on how to show the town.
This depends on the overall POV you have chosen for the story. If you're in 3rd person omniscient, you can wax rhapsodic about the town outside the rational perception and engagement of the two sisters. If you've chosen 1st person or 3rd person limited, then you need to stick to what is rational for them to perceive and notice.
I think I have 3rd person limited? I am not very sure what it is, I am very new to the writing and just started doing it because it seemed like fun Would it help if I shared a bit? If that is allowed. Ryd walked down the street. No cars, barely any people, every look around only showed a near absence of life. Her head turned from left to right and back as if she was watching a tennis match from close by. As the life around her had gone, the energy in her eyes started to as well. No sounds, buildings covered in dust, not even a stray cat walking through. “Ryd…” “It hasn’t even been a week since the explosions, and almost everyone left town already.” “Can’t blame them. People are afraid, afraid that it will happen again. No one knows a thing about what happened exactly, even the best scientists can’t tell what caused the explosions. They’re looking for safety in the areas set up by the military a few days back.” Ryd stopped, gazing through a window as tears build up. Her eyes fell on a woman sitting on a couch, trying to feed a baby, probably her own child. Hopefully her own child. Is that 3rd person limited? The whole story is written like that. It might not be that good yet, but I like to believe that I am learning and improving with the feedback I get here
