Basics of Writing: Setting

Welcome back to another Basics of Writing post. This week my topic is setting, and it is something I have actually been thinking about quite a bit lately. Let's be honest, I only really thought about the most basic details of setting in the past, but that's changing now.

First, though, let's look at the definition of setting. Here's the definition according to dictionary.com:

noun
2. the surroundings or environment of anything:
The garden was a perfect setting for the house. 

5. the locale or period in which the action of a novel, play, film, etc., takes place:
The setting of this story is Verona in the 15th century.

 Setting can refer to place, as in specific and definite location of a story. This means the planet, continent, country, state, city, neighborhood, street, etc. What details of setting ground the story into a sense of space.

Setting can also refer to time. This is relevant because the concept of time can have an effect of technology, speech patterns, class, race, and gender norms, traveling methods etc.

Finally, setting can alter the mood or emotional scale of the story. A story set out in a dilapidated manor in the middle of a gloomy forest already adds a sense of isolation, loneliness, bleakness, and possibly even danger. Likewise, a story set in a sunny coastal tourist-filled town or city might seem a little more jovial and filled with life and excitement.

Obviously, setting can and should be a rather important part of the writing process, but I only really focused on locations if they were needed for a fantasy scene or two in the early stages of my writing. My original setting for Souls Unknowing was a made up place in Pennsylvania, but since I spent 95% of the story at the boarding school, I never cared to delve any deeper. And as for the Project Death series, the setting is unimportant to most of the narrators. They live in these facilities that aren't actually on Earth.

What I'm saying here is that setting is an area I need to focus on more. Currently it is one of my weakest points. But in my planning for the Souls Unknowing rewrite, I am doing research on locations and trying to make my school seem more realistic by giving it a sense of community. The same can be said for work on Project Death: Redemption, as the narrator was human and obviously did have a home and friends.

So, what's important when writing about setting?

There are numerous possible answers, but it all boils down to what is important for the story. In a city or out in the countryside? Does the reader need to know that the location has stores or houses or plants? You want to paint a picture of the surroundings but that picture will vary depending on your narrator/POV.

Think about it: would a painter observe the world in the same way as a detective? No. What about if the narrator happens to be blind or dear? How does that change how the setting is written? A teenager would not see the same world as a senior citizen. These are all points to remember for any writing project.

When writing urban fantasy, the setting is very important. It is why the genre is called urban fantasy, because the city is almost like a character too. So for UF a writer needs to write the city with enough detail that the reader believes everything. This is true regardless of whether the city is real or imagined. Books like Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock series make New Orleans come alive, with the addition of vampires and other paranormal creatures, while Jennifer Estep created the city of Ashland, Tennessee at the border of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia, which feels just as real as New Orleans in the Jane Yellowrock books. Plus Estep has a way with describing the food in the region that just makes you hungry for some good Southern barbecue.

With epic fantasy, which takes place in a completely made up world, everything still needs to feel real. Maps can come in handy for this genres. There should be cities, towns, villages, forests, plains, mountains, deserts, whatever fits into the created universe. The setting can be vague and general or very specific and detailed. Setting defines other important aspects of world-building as well, including trade, religion, weather, race, temperament, clothing, flora and fauna, and even government. All of this just to make a believable world.

Science fiction likewise can use reality and imagination. The setting could be on a known world, a created world, or just on a spaceship. Just like with fantasy, there are so many elements to be utilized to make the world feel real. This is especially true if alien races are involved as well.

Historical stories need to be aware of not just the location but also the time. As mentioned above, setting is not just about places but also era and atmosphere. England in the 1800s would be quite different from America at the same time.

See what I mean about how expansive setting is? I have a lot to think about with future novels, and it's all thanks to thinking about these Basics of Writing posts.

Next week: Relationships in stories. See you then.