He found more bones. More broken armor and shattered weapons. All of them had their faces turned back toward the sun, their arms grasping for something they would never again feel.
If you've listened to any discourse about film, video games, or even art in general, then chances are you've heard of the concept of environmental storytelling. While it's more challenging to do in writing prose, that doesn't mean this concept can't be useful... especially if you're someone who has had a problem with showing rather than telling your audience what you want them to see.
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| When details can be important, but you want that importance to be subtle. |
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When The Environment Adds To The Narrative
The idea behind environmental storytelling is that aspects of the environment that your reader (or viewer, or player) enters contribute to their understanding of what is going on without you explaining what it means directly.
As an example, take the introductory passage above. The presence of the warriors who came before is a bit of creep to add to the scene, yes, but all of the corpses appear to have been trying to escape from the end of the tunnel. Does that mean the monster down there allowed them to leave, but only once they were too wounded to be a threat? Is there a poisoned air in the cavern below that takes a while to kill those exposed to it? Or were these warriors meant to be human sacrifices, and those who tried to leave were killed by guards above?
We don't know... but just stating this detail as a fact puts it into the reader's mind. It shows them something about the environment, but without explaining the meaning (in the moment, at least). This primes the reader to be looking for an explanation, or to seek out something to make the earlier passage make sense. As such, they're going to be paying close attention as they look for further clues.
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| Everything is part of the environment... everything. |
Another example is something that would make sense in the world of gaming... where the environment is something players have to actively interact with to understand the unfolding narrative.
Say that in the palace there is a small shrine near the Hall of Kings. A headless statue of a huge man sits with its hands out as if to hold a blade, but there is no sword there. A plaque simply reads, "In memory of the Lion Prince." Who is this? What does it mean? Well, we don't know, but again, that's added to the ongoing narrative as something that exists in this world. Then as the characters travel and explore the world further, they find an order of knights who all wear stylized helms in the shape of roaring lions. It is tradition for these knights to never remove their helms, or to let others gaze upon their faces. As the narrative goes on, a player may find that a particular sword has been handed down among the masters of this order... a sword of huge size that was purportedly wielded by their founder, who came from the West bearing many wounds. Those who see this sword may note that it is made of the same star steel carried by the royal family of the nation their quest began in to this very day. This implies, even if the narrative doesn't outright state it, that the Lion Prince left the land he was born to, traveled far to the East, and became the head of an order of warriors who adopted his heraldry, fighting style, and personal honor code.
Now, in a game, this could be left in the background as an Easter egg for players to discover if they wish to. But in a film, a novel, and so on, the mystery of the missing prince (and any possible legacy he may have left behind) should be part of the story you're trying to tell. It doesn't necessarily need to be the A plot of your book, but a strong B or C plot is probably a good idea.
A Light Touch Goes A Long Way
Environmental storytelling places a lot of trust in your audience. It expects them to be curious, to analyze what they read or see, and to dig down beneath the surface and connect dots. However, not everyone is going to pick up what you're laying down, which is why it's important to have a character to summarize important points once revelations happen, or events are set in motion.
A good way to think about environmental storytelling is to consider it in terms of a mystery. All the clues should be there in the text, and present for your reader to pick up on. Whether it's pry marks around a lock, or a spat of mud high on a wall where it shouldn't be, or a bruise on a body that hints at foul play or secret abuse, the clues to figure out what happened should be on the page for your readers to see as they follow along with the detective. And when the scene happens where everyone is brought into the drawing room, and the detective reveals the mystery, the audience can follow the clues (and understand the meaning) as they're laid out.
The difference is that with environmental storytelling in general, your reader might be the only one trying to deduce what's happening. Still, the clues need to be present, because that is how you get active readers to follow your breadcrumbs!
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