Concrete Nouns and fictional world-building
As young children, we start to learn language by pointing at things and finding out what they are called. Your reader is in a similar position as they start your story, as they know nothing about the world you have created. All readers need the essential details pointing out to them when and where the story is taking place, and why they should care.
Adjectives are very powerful ‘describing’ words, but they only modify the noun that they are attached to, so it pays to have powerful nouns to build your phrases from.
Precise concrete nouns help the reader quickly form a richly detailed, multi-sensory picture with plenty of information and emotional interest.
Adjectives are very powerful ‘describing’ words, but they only modify the noun that they are attached to, so it pays to have powerful nouns to build your phrases from.
Consider the following pairs of nouns:
‘Tree’v ‘Oak’
‘Dog’ v ‘Doberman’
‘Building’ v ‘Warehouse’
How many adjectives would it take to get from ‘Tree’ to ‘Oak’, ‘Dog’ to ‘Doberman’ or ‘building’ to ‘warehouse’?
This is a rhetorical question. It is impossible to match the power of a well-chosen noun just by stacking adjectives. However, these can be used to describe much more specific properties if they are important to your story:
The ‘mighty’ / ‘massive’/’ancient’/’lightning blasted’ oak
The ‘muscular’/’savage’/’cunning’/’vigilant’ Doberman
The ‘abandoned’/’derelict’/’dockland’/’disused’ warehouse
The adjectives in the list above use the associations that readers might already have with oak trees, Dobermans and warehouses as they tend to be used in stories.Precise nouns help the reader to become immersed in your world, and enable you to describe a detailed scene very quickly without slowing down your story and boring the reader.
A small amount of knowledge about different types of tree, dog, building or other features of the real world can help you to ‘fine-tune’ your characters, settings and the moods of your piece:
‘Tree’ v ‘Oak’
As a setting, an oak forest in summer may suggest a landscape of broken shade with sunlight filtering through the leaves in patches, cheerful, idyllic and full of life, but perhaps bleak in winter with the leaves shed and frost on the ground.
In contrast, a pine forest would be imagined as darker and quieter, with less birdsong and animal noises, perhaps creating the atmosphere of a natural cathedral, more remote from the world outside the forest.
‘Dog’ v ‘Doberman’
Using the ‘Dog’ v ‘Doberman’ as an example of character ‘fine-tuning’, the Doberman would create a sense of anxiety in readers due to its use as a muscular guard dog. Compare this with a Poodle, Labrador or Chihuahua! The reason for naming the dog breed here is to make use of your reader’s associations, either by creating fear, or surprising your reader with a ‘cowardly Doberman’ for a more humorous effect.
‘Building’ v ‘warehouse’
In terms of urban settings, a warehouse is normally an everyday working environment, but in stories, these tend not to be the ordinary working environments they are in real life, but lonely, exposed places, often with potential threat.
Can nouns or descriptive language be too precise or detailed?
Yes, if:
- You slow the story down too much
- The language is at the wrong reading level, or too technical
- The detail is irrelevant to the story
- There is a good reason to be vague, i.e. you plan to reveal key details later.
However, many students of GCSE English use bland, general nouns which give the reader insufficient detail to form an emotionally engaging picture of setting or character.
Remember that you are giving the reader a set of instructions for forming pictures and stories in their minds, so try your best to take them on an interesting, imaginable and emotional journey!