Setting

In writing fiction, setting is a tool which I think can be easily undervalued. Setting is any means whereby the author gives indication about the space in which the events in the novel take place, whether this is a single room, across the globe, or in alien galaxies.
          

  As I’ve studied writing over the years, I’ve found that authors have a lot of advice about setting the scene. For example:

·         Don’t interrupt the story to tell the audience where they are

·         Find creative ways to set the scene – straightforward telling gets old after a while

·         Don’t start a novel talking about the weather

           Now as long as you have authors, novels and publishers, you’re going to have writers who break the rules. There will be writers who interrupt themselves to give you a tour. This is a bad idea, since you want the reader turning the pages as they follow your story – not trying to pick up the lost thread when you find it again.

Sometimes describing the scene as it is will be the most efficient way of getting information to the reader. But this is probably not going to be very interesting. If you can show them what it is as your protagonist or antagonist goes about their work – in short, multitask – you can give them the essence of the setting and keep them interested in the story at hand.

Talking about the weather is cliché, and I don’t recommend it unless it is important to the story. If, for instance, that twister Jeb and Earl are talking about is the same twister that Dorothy was sucked up into last week when she claimed to have seen munchkins, and men made of straw and metal – then yes, I’d say this would be a good place to talk about the weather. If, however, you take a good 500 words to tell us that the sun was shining, pare it down and keep the plot moving forward. Remember, conflict drives the plot forward.

One question buzzing around your head may be whether setting the scene is necessary. In answer, I’d like you to take a look at the passage below.

“Tara glanced over her shoulder down the dirt path. There was nothing there.  Turning her attention forward, she strode onward. Tara knew that she had to find some shelter before the night was out. The woods could be dangerous at night.”

            Not necessarily very exciting. We have a woman wandering through the woods alone at night. This passage is simple reporting, the author is letting us know what happened. But the intention is that the scene is supposed to be tense, if not foreboding or frightening. Let’s see if some details can’t give some life to this piece of prose.

“Tara glanced over her shoulder down the dirt path. The moon shone from the heavens, dousing the earth in a weird, otherworldly light. There was nothing there. Turning her attention forward, she strode onward, feeing the gravel bite into the bottom of her soft-soled sneakers. She couldn’t see far into the trees on either side of the path, and they pressed in towards her, stifling her breath. A piercing howl sounded and she stifled a scream. The echo sounded all around her, refusing to settle in one spot. She didn’t know what a wolf sounded like, but this sounded otherworldly. Tara knew that she had to find some shelter before the night was out. The woods could be dangerous at night.”

            Hopefully this second example proves my point. While the first paragraph reported what happened, this second paragraph drew the reader in. What any author is striving for, when they write, is to get the reader involved with their book. How do we do that? We aren’t reporters or we would be looking to write for local columns. Writing fiction is something different. The key to engaging readers is that whether they like the protagonist (Hero) or not, they must feel some kind of sympathy for him.
           

 Giving the reader tangible details is always a great way to draw them in, if used in moderation. In the first paragraph, the woman looks over her shoulder. But if we don’t know what she sees, the usefulness of this information is limited. We might think she’s a little nervous, that’s all. But in paragraph 2, we start seeing talk about “Weird, other-worldly light”. Even though they can’t see anything dangerous yet, the reader’s internal radar begins to ping with danger signs. Something isn’t right. What’s worse, the reader doesn’t know what isn’t right yet, leaving him in suspense.
           

 The other important thing setting does for a novel is that it gives the reader emotional context for the story. To be clear, the setting is more than the physical surroundings. It’s the description of the physical surroundings as well. I could mention that the protagonist is standing in an empty room and move on with the story. But that isn’t specific enough for the reader, unless I want them to be unsure about what to feel.

If I mention light filtering in through old glazed windows and thick dust on the floor, I could give the reader a sense of forsakenness that the room might have. If, however, the windows are boarded over, large holes in the floor, and one door which is now locked by an unseen enemy, you may well guess that this is supposed to be a place where the characters are going to feel terrorized.
           

 It’s important enough that I’ll say it again: specific, tangible details will draw the readers into the story, if they are used in moderation. Drawing attention to specific elements will provoke reactions by the characters and the reader.

Conflict drives a story forward. Characters are the agents whereby the plot is enacted. But without a setting on which to act out this story, the characters are standing on a blank canvas, acting out their scene in pantomime – though they speak and move their actions may not have much depth without a space to perform in.