Landscape Characterization

            In in heart of the forest, Jamie could feel the immense darkness pressing upon him...NOW WHAT??

           J.R.R.Tolkien, was quoted as saying that he didn't write Lord of the Rings as a metaphor, but as a story yet It speaks volumes for him as a writer that no matter how many times you read the Lord of the Rings, you always find something new and ingenious. After reading Lord of the Rings for the third time I paid attention to his descriptions for scenery, having learned that his love for nature showed in his writing, I quickly realized that Tolkien loved nature so much that he actually turned it into a character. 
          I  was never a fan of writing descriptive scenery; I would spend most of my time focusing on action or conversation, feeling that any effort in description was a distraction for the imagination (which is code for "I was lazy") But as I followed the veins of reasoning within the pages of descriptions laid forth by Tolkien I realized that descriptions can be a type of characterization making your landscapes come alive.

         
  I'll give one example. After the Hobbits hurriedly left Buckland they escaped into the dark forest, which legend said was alive. As they walked, Tolkien spared no words as to the description of this forest. To somebody not paying attention to whats going on they would miss an amazing piece of character development and implementation. If you carefully read, you will find that the forest is alive, not an Ent (like Tree-Bard), but Ent-ish, a dark sinister entity that hated mankind (and Hobbit-kind). Old Man Willow an old tree so powerful it had spread  its influence into almost every part of the forest subtly shaping the landscape and herding the Hobbits right to him so he could trap them and kill them. Every shrub, thick grass, rolling topography, stream, thorns and pricks described artfully lead the hobbits to an unknown doom, and nothing was reviled until they were saved.         

            My mind was blown at the time and helped transform my writing. I first asked myself  "How do I turn my landscapes into a character?" A writing Technic I enjoy called A-sketching (named after Hans Christian Anderson) helped but it wasn’t until I learned the importance of supporting characters that I figure out what I was doing wrong, I was main character-multitasking. Tolkien was so subtle in his description that you weren't aware the Hobbits were being herded until someone told you about it. Your landscape doesn't have to be alive to be a character, it just needs too interact with the main character, to add or take away from him or her. 

Lets continue with my story from above. I want the dark forest to be more then dark and foresty, so I’ll make a list of what I know is in a forest. Trees-tall ones, dead ones, new growth, old plant matter on the floor, the branches and foliage blocking out the light, shadows, beams of light peaking through, thumping rabbits some where, frogs, bugs, birds, wind blowing, rustling leaves, ect, ect, ect. This seems to be enough. Now armed with information I’ll write it again.

In in heart of the forest, Jamie could feel the immense darkness pressing upon him, holding on to his very breath as he let it go. As he squinted around he could barley make out the shapes of  what looked like soldiers slowly marching towards him. He shook the image out of his mind as his eyes adjusted to the dark, leaving trees where the solders once stood, yet the appearance of marching didn’t stop. (I learned that Jamie has an active imagination so I when with it)

Moss and lichen covered boughs and foliage were scattered on the forest floor like barbed wire, and barricades. Above him the lofty heads of the gray old trees swayed slowly in a breeze that Jamie couldn’t feel, but could hear. The trees creaked and groaned  in there march.

 “Ouch!” he screamed

  A thorn bush caught on his pants, digging through the denim to scoure  his soft skin. He worked to dig the burr from his jeans, but as he fought with one another would take its place. The thorny bush scratched his hands as he worked, and he was sweaty.

 “I’m so hot” he muttered. Even as he acknowledged the rising temperature he started sweating more. “Argghhh!, ITS SO HOT!” he yelled in frustration as he ripped the last burr off. ( Remember, my main subject is Jamie, not the forest I tied the forests characterisation in with Jamie's imagination, I’ve added some stress to Jamie, now lets have some fun with him by using a techec call “metric prose” it alot like poetry or even song writing, using alot of repetition in a metered way. If done right you can get a lot more emotion out of a scene taking the reader for a ride)

          He mopped his face off with his shirt. The air felt thick, the darkness closed in again and the trees marched. He took a step and heard his pants rip. He cursed as he wiped his eyes again, he could feel the roughness of his now damp shirt scratch his forehead and cheek. It was so hot in the dark, and the damd trees wouldn't stop moving, and creaking.

“Stop moving!” he yelled as he mopped his face with his sleeve, pulling at his pant leg that was caught by a dead branch, it ripped free. And he stumbled around the dark cluttered forest floor, the trees creaked and moaned their laughter at  him as he tore at his shirt to catch the torrent of water coming off his head. The trees marched to the tune of an unseen wind, pressing the darkness ever closer to Jamie who knew if the heat couldn't  kill him, the air would.

He knelt down and placed his face on the ground, he didn't know why he did it, he was tired and hot and dizzy from the lack of good air. His eyes were closed, he knew the trees were still marching because he could here their song, so he didn't care to open them. Finely he did, and saw light. (lets let the poor guy go now)

The light was faint, but real, and not to far away. So Jamie took as big a breath as he could from the cool, stale floor; stood up slowly, never looking away from the source of the light, and ran.

I stoped here because I could have kept going and made a real story out of it, forgetting my whole point of why I was writing it in the first place.... anywho, I didnt use everything in my list because i found what I needed to make me happy and make Jamie stressed, which was my point.

 I hope this was helpful. If you have questions feel free to email me at www.nobillyhere@gmail.com and I will do a post on your question.