Setting

[Nikki Katz]

Setting has always been the toughest thing for me to write.  Either I describe the scene ad nauseum, or not nearly enough!! 

Nathan Bransford chatted about setting today:

There are three important elements to a good setting:
Change Underway
Personality and Values
Unfamiliarity

http://blog.nathanbransford.com/2010/05/what-makes-great-setting.html

What do you think? Do your settings reflect this?

[C. Lee McKenzie]

I love to write my setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't. It offers so many opportunities to deepen a work of fiction.

NB is right on. Great post. Thanks, Nikki for finding it and sharing it here.

[Susan Kaye Quinn]

C. Lee - I like that idea of setting as character - I hadn't thought of it that way before. For me I almost think of setting as an ecosystem: how to the pieces all functionally fit together. Why is it important that this part be forest, that be city, and all the spaces in between. Sometimes it takes me a while to fully understand the importance of my setting as it relates to the history, present and future of the place. That's similar to what Nathan was saying about Change Underway - the past of a place explains much of what it is, but it's movement toward the future defines how the characters act in it.

Great topic! :)

[Nikki Katz]

Glad you liked the post :)

I agree that the setting is another character, but I have to admit I've seen some settings that are so completely dark and gloomy that it distracts and detracts from the novel and plot! There's a fine line.

C. Lee McKenzie said:

I love to write my setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't. It offers so many opportunities to deepen a work of fiction.

NB is right on. Great post. Thanks, Nikki for finding it and sharing it here.

[Susan Kaye Quinn]

Yes, I'm not sure I want my setting to brood like a certain sparkly vampire! :) LOL Then again, as long as it doesn't distract ... :)

Sometimes writers use "weather" or a similar "mood setter" to create a mood, and I think that definitely distracts from the story, or just seems cliche. But a truly dark setting might be very appropriate for the mood of the novel.

Nikki Katz said:

Glad you liked the post :)

I agree that the setting is another character, but I have to admit I've seen some settings that are so completely dark and gloomy that it distracts and detracts from the novel and plot! There's a fine line.

C. Lee McKenzie said:

I love to write my setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't. It offers so many opportunities to deepen a work of fiction.

NB is right on. Great post. Thanks, Nikki for finding it and sharing it here.

[Nikki Katz]

More setting, from Beth, on dystopian settings.

Antagonist: This is a dystopia, not a utopia. The setting in some way needs to stand against the character. This could be because the world situation is actively trying to kill the main character (The Hunger Games), or because the world is no longer quite habitable (The Road), but the setting itself needs to present a conflict to the characters.

History: Dystopias are reflections of our worlds that have gone wrong. There needs to be some element of our current world reflected in the new, darker one. It could simply be a reminder of what the world was like before the apocalypse (The Forest of Hands and Teeth), or it could be a driving force of the novel (Life as We Knew It) but this new world needs to reflect something of the old one.

A Stage for the Character: The most important thing about a dystopian setting is that it provides the main character with a chance to rise above the dark world and be a hero. Not only should it present conflict, but the setting also needs to be a vehicle for the hero to become better. In The Hunger Games, Katniss's world was against her--but it also provided her with the opportunity to change it. In The City of Ember, Lina and Doon see the world is wrong, and work together to change it.

http://networkedblogs.com/4n8cI

[C. Lee McKenzie]

Here's something on setting from Meg Chittenden (The Writer, July 2010, pp 22-23). She says step one is to decide if the setting is real or imagined. If it's real try to visit and note details to include in the story. "Sensory details are vital. Use your eyes, ears, nose, sense of touch, and taste to create a mood as well as a picture."

I often use photos or magazine pictures to help when I want these details and can't actually visit a place. Sometimes my places are fictional, but I use details from places I've visited.

[s.d. Lishan]

I like C. Lee McKenzie's reply about writing her "setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't."

Terrific, and great writers like Thomas Hardy and the Bronte sisters certainly make you feel that the setting is a character in many of their books, but I'd like to add that setting reflects character as well. A well-known exercise in the creative-writing teaching world is one that John Gardner talks about in his book, _The Art of Fiction_ It goes something like this: Describe a barn or a lake from the point of view of someone who has just commited a murder. Now describe it from the point of view of someone who has just gotten engaged. The point of the excercise, of course, is that setting will come out differently depending on who is describing it.

Peace, sdl

[C. Lee McKenzie]

This is an excellent exercise. I immediately pictured that barn as two distinct places depending upon which head I was into.

s.d. Lishan said:

I like C. Lee McKenzie's reply about writing her "setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't."

Terrific, and great writers like Thomas Hardy and the Bronte sisters certainly make you feel that the setting is a character in many of their books, but I'd like to add that setting reflects character as well. A well-known exercise in the creative-writing teaching world is one that John Gardner talks about in his book, _The Art of Fiction_ It goes something like this: Describe a barn or a lake from the point of view of someone who has just commited a murder. Now describe it from the point of view of someone who has just gotten engaged. The point of the excercise, of course, is that setting will come out differently depending on who is describing it.

Peace, sdl

[Nikki Katz]

Definitely a great exercise!

s.d. Lishan said:

I like C. Lee McKenzie's reply about writing her "setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't."

Terrific, and great writers like Thomas Hardy and the Bronte sisters certainly make you feel that the setting is a character in many of their books, but I'd like to add that setting reflects character as well. A well-known exercise in the creative-writing teaching world is one that John Gardner talks about in his book, _The Art of Fiction_ It goes something like this: Describe a barn or a lake from the point of view of someone who has just commited a murder. Now describe it from the point of view of someone who has just gotten engaged. The point of the excercise, of course, is that setting will come out differently depending on who is describing it.

Peace, sdl

[s.d. Lishan]

And of course you can creatively revise (what I call riffing) Gardner's assignment. It doesn't have to be a barn or a lake you're describing, or a murdering or just engaged person who does the describing. You can have a bird describe a forest, and then a snake, a hunter, or a little lost child. You can have a child describe a house and then his/her adult self describe the same location many years later. Etc., etc., etc. I'm a big believer in exercises to catapault and inspire one into a piece of writing. If it keeps you sweet words flowing, it's all good, I say.

Write on,

sdl

C. Lee McKenzie said:

This is an excellent exercise. I immediately pictured that barn as two distinct places depending upon which head I was into.

s.d. Lishan said:

I like C. Lee McKenzie's reply about writing her "setting as if it's a character in the book. It may not actually speak, but it does have a strong voice about the mood, the people who inhabit it and either fit there or don't."

Terrific, and great writers like Thomas Hardy and the Bronte sisters certainly make you feel that the setting is a character in many of their books, but I'd like to add that setting reflects character as well. A well-known exercise in the creative-writing teaching world is one that John Gardner talks about in his book, _The Art of Fiction_ It goes something like this: Describe a barn or a lake from the point of view of someone who has just commited a murder. Now describe it from the point of view of someone who has just gotten engaged. The point of the excercise, of course, is that setting will come out differently depending on who is describing it.

Peace, sdl

[Nikki Katz]

Another great resource - 5 tips for writing a better setting. 

[Nikki Katz]

And using your senses to create your setting:

http://fictionwriting.about.com/od/crafttechnique/ht/setting.htm