The Writers Page
Anna Michelle Page
"Hammett took murder out of the parlor, and dropped it into the alley where it belonged."
Raymond Chandler
Painting Story Settings
Setting is story painting - adding color that manipulates character's and scenes, that pulls the reader into an imaginative world of your weaving. Not just a backdrop for action, but an intricate part of a fictional world that imbues a great story with meaning, while imposing the writer's will on the mood and thematic connotations.
I think Jessica Page Morrell says it best, in her book, "Between the Lines," when she wrote, "Setting whispers, hints, and sets the stage for events to unfold."
Research is Key
The key to a impressive setting - Research! Dive-in and learn every aspect of your scene settings - not just the geography. How does setting affect weather, work, home, politics, population, child rearing - the list goes on?
The details - determine the complexity of the story first. A historical novel requires a considerable amount of research, while a contemporary romance is in the here-and-now.
When writing chaos in a real, or make-believe world, mistrust, lawlessness and even death finds its way onto the page. The same book, different setting, you'll read moments of passion, joy and love. Writer's create settings that allow the reader to immerse themselves into a story that chimes with truth.
When to Introduce Setting
The time to introduce the setting is in the first crucial moments while familiarizing the reading audience with the protagonist, writer/character voice, and POV (Point of View). Dialogue, action, and narrative are the three fictional elements that effectively integrate a setting into the story. If the writer doesn't understand the connection between the setting, character and plot, they're unlikely to capture the story's essence on the page.
If the setting isn't working, and is a propelling factor to the events of the story, go back to the drawing board, and explore your vision and purpose behind the plot and evaluate whether the setting works. One idea to connect the protagonist to the setting is to write them into a couple of distinctive settings, ones that prove more dramatic or striking, and then write them into the new locale. Step into the setting and visualize what they see. Do they fit? Does this setting move the plot and character forward?
Early Writing Woes
Early writers gravitate toward placing focus on dialogue and characters. Some place a heavier emphasis on plot, such as fantasy. All three are structurally significant, but recognizing the jolt setting carries will enhance the thematic scope and construct a more sensational and remarkable scene. Catching the reader in a 'gotcha' moment that keeps them reading.
When I first started writing, and even to this day, I rely heavily on dialogue, thinning my descriptions. I've studied to crush anxiety and develop round settings using the five senses and thorough research. On the flip-side, some newbie writers slip into the peril of over-describing. Stephen King states in his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, that a writer must know what to describe, and what to leave out.
If writer’s are character aware, the setting will form in their mind, capturing the surrounding smells, tastes, textures, sounds, and sights the character will acknowledge. The writer will come to think like their character’s. What they'll say, or not say. What they'll pick up, admire, or find disgusting. What they’ll eat, or not eat, in a foreign country? Whether certain sounds agitate them, or it shoots them with a mythological arrow by cupid?
Exposing Setting Through Dialogue
The importance of dialogue in revealing the setting can be vividly experienced when the character’s emotional influences impact how they experience the scene. For instance, anger can twist the joyous enthusiasm one experiences in a roller coaster plummet, while love can turn a meek man invincible as he steps to the edge of a bungee-jump platform. What we think, feel, and perceive is all altered by mood.
Setting Controls Pace
Setting can speed up or slow down the pacing of a story. It’s essential to have a concoction of fast- and slow-paced scenes. The diversity is a must for a well-paced novel. Setting controls pace by:
- Creating Mood & Atmosphere
- Backstory
- Emphasizing themes
- Seduction
- Foreshadowing
- Culture
- Multi-tasking a scene
Setting as the Main Character of Story
Many settings are chosen for suspense, but Sci-fi and Fantasy rely upon the setting as the substantial function of the story, often over plot and character. This is a tactic movie director’s have adopted, such as Beauty and the Beast and Avatar.
I use this style, creating conflict in my transnational relationship romances, generating a clash of cultures as two people from vastly different countries connect, the way we watched in The Karate Kid.
Writing is an Inner Vision
Anne Lamott, in Bird by Bird, says that a good writer views the passing world with empathy, seeing into the eyes of strangers without prejudice. It is by this act, we free our minds to the world of our characters and encounter their solitude, their suffering, their happiness & wonder. Then, and only then, will the writer recognize the misery behind the affluent woman’s veneer, and notice displays of bliss in a world of turmoil and shame among the impoverished.
Write stories the way it dances inside your head. There’s time enough to cut through your prose later and create settings that incorporate the character’s customs and rituals. To salt & pepper the sentences with locations that have climate issues, language barriers, job conflicts, plus sights and sounds that reinforce the story's deeper significance. Then watch as the mediocre becomes extraordinary, and readers are riveted in mingled words of your imagination.
For more advice on writing, read Jane Friedman's Blog: How Writers Can Craft an Effective Setting
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