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How to Write Unforgettable Settings: the Right Location

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As writers, we often underestimate the power of setting. Who didn’t want to visit the Hundred-Acre Wood? How much of our Bilbo-love is wrapped up in Hobbiton, my precious? And whatever you might think of the Twilight series, the ho-hum town of Forks became a little more interesting because it was the perfect home for Meyer’s vampires. In every genre, the right setting, well-written, is an invaluable piece of the falling-in-love-with-a-book puzzle. To explore this a bit more, I’m introducing a series on Creating Unforgettable Settings. Today’s tip:

CHOOSING THE RIGHT SETTING LOCATION

When it comes to writing, we jump through all kinds of hoops to draw our characters perfectly, to make sure our plotlines are flawless with no holes or inconsistencies. The setting, on the other hand, is often an afterthought. This is a mistake, because the right location makes all the difference. Here are some tips for choosing the best setting for your scenes.

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000046_00067]

1. First of all, if the story really could take place anywhere, don’t over-think it. Keep it simple, and go with a general location that works.

However, there should be places within that setting that are important to the character. Melinda’s janitorial closet in Speak. Or the forest outside District 12 for Katniss in The Hunger Games. Those sacred places should reveal something about the hero: her desires or fears, her true character, her Achilles’ heel. When individualizing your setting so it reflects upon your characters, ask yourself these questions: Which specific part of the setting is most important to them? Why? What should that area reveal about them? Build your setting around the characters and their conflict and you’ll create a place that readers will want to re-visit.

2. Make sure your setting comes fully-stocked with challenges, because…let’s be honest: the perfect world actually sounds pretty boring. Characters need problems to overcome, and the setting is a natural vehicle for conflict. Look at Middle Earth. Black, chasm-ridden mines. Midge-filled marshes. The Paths of the Dead. When deciding on a setting, choose one that makes sense for your characters but one that also makes things difficult in some way—specifically difficult for your hero, if possible. Is he afraid of heights? Throw some skyscrapers or narrow mountain passes in there. Does he suffer from seasonal allergies? Set the story in spring. Specifically design your setting to complicate your hero’s life, and it won’t fall flat.

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000046_00072]

3. One of the most important aspects of a strong setting is your character’s emotional connection to it. The stronger a character’s connection to her world, the stronger a reader’s connection will be to that world. To strengthen this connection, first choose a setting that perfectly fits your character, then show the character interacting with that setting. For example: South Dakota isn’t on my list of places to visit, but Laura Ingalls Wilder was smitten with it, and through her eyes, I could see its charm. However, a negative connection can be just as strong as a positive one. In Katherine Paterson’s Jacob Have I Loved, lead character Sara Louise hates living on Rass Island. But in describing how detestable it is, Paterson creates a crystal clear view of the place, and the reader comes to realize that the setting is only ugly to Sara Louise because she’s so miserable herself.

Describe your setting through the point of view of your character—its beauty or ugliness, prosperity or poverty, desirability or loathsomeness. Show how the main character is emotionally-connected to the setting and your reader will share that connection as well!

More help with settings:

Part 1: Choosing the Right Location
Part 2: Describing the Setting
Part 3: Layering the Setting
Part 4: World Building

 

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Comments

  1. beyondtourism says

    Good post. I have say setting (description) is not my strong point. But this has given me some great ideas for my novel and how to use my setting, a colony ship in space, to great effect.

  3. Julie Musil says

    I love writing about settings! I don’t know why, but it’s just this thing about me. I have to be careful not to write too much about it. These are such great tips, thanks!

  5. Traci Kenworth says

    I agree! The perfect setting grows out of the character. For me, you can’t sit them just anywhere, they need a place to call home, somewhere to cherish, and fight for.

  6. Laura Pauling says

    Depends on the story. Some settings demand to be likened to a characters and others need to be background. It’s important to know for your story, which it is. Great post!

  7. Sharon K. Mayhew says

    You are so right! Setting is sooo important. I carry a travel journal with me when I travel so that I can jot down details. I also take a camera with me. It’s a great way to record details…

  8. Mysti says

    I agree that setting isn’t one of my biggest strengths either. It’s often an afterthought–more distinctly–good minute descriptions of setting are not my strong suit.

    Really want to work on that-thanks!

  11. Jenny says

    This is great! I think that you’ve made a *really* important point re: the setting doesn’t have to be completely made up or exotic–Laura Ingalls Wilder was a great example.

  14. Becca Puglisi says

    I’m so glad this is resonating with more than a handful of people, lol. The setting is usually one of the first things that come to me with a new story, but I know it’s not high on the priority list for a lot of people. Shannon Hale and Shannon Shinn are masters at creating vivid settings, imo. Thank you, Deb, for pointing out another author whose name isn’t Shannon…

  22. Heather says

    This is awesome! I’m kind of odd. My stories usually develop out of a setting so it becomes integral to the story, almost like another character.

  23. writtenwyrdd says

    Great post and thanks for sharing! I’ve always considered the setting, particularly in speculative fiction, to be a character in and of itself. In the spec fic genre, it’s always important (unless you are writing a romance, which can underplay the world to a large degree).

  27. Melissa Alexander says

    Oooh, I love setting. To me it’s as important as my other characters, because it *is* a character. Setting helps set mood, and it adds a delicious later of realism to the pie. I also use it to show a lot about my characters — how they view their setting changes as they change.

  32. Matthew Rush says

    I love this post. Probably because the setting was the entire inspiration for my novel, and I hope that I’ve done as well as I can at making into a character of it’s own.

  33. Lale says

    Great advice- I’m definitely copying this to my writing folder. 🙂
    I must say that I wholeheartedly agree on not complicating the setting if it could be set anywhere- and from my reading experience, I think this also applies to your character’s background in some ways. For example, (non British) people seem to frequently set their books in/have characters from the UK, which is often quite irrelevant- especially when they don’t even speak in an authentic way! It’s done beautifully in some recent books (such as Anna and the French Kiss) but actually made me dislike others.

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