Setting Is More Than Mere Time And Place

Not all books have or need a strong sense of place. But setting can create an entire feel for a book, adding to the message the author is creating.

One of the most important decisions when creating a novel is choosing where and when your story takes place. When used well, the place and time you situate your novel adds to the book's theme, characterization, plot and tone.


Where It's At

Plenty of novels describe their setting as if it was a separate entity from the rest of the story. Which is alright if strong characters or superb plot are carrying the story.

But as long as you're putting your characters somewhere and some-when, why not tie those to the rest of the story?

For instance, fantasy and science fiction both have a fictional world fictional world as a backdrop. This world ties inextricably into what happens in the book.

Do the humans need oxygen equipment to breathe because they have to live underwater or in a hostile atmosphere? Do the peasants barely make a living because their feudal world locks them into their role? Clearly either world creates a good deal of the story.

Other genres can be enlightened the same way.

Horror novels tend to have dark backdrops. Which is usually because they're horror. But don't just make it dark because most horror novels are set somewhere dark.

Instead, try pushing the limits by taking an ordinary, mundane, "safe" place, and turning it into a horrible place. As long as it's adding to the plot and characterization. Don't just do it to flaunt the "rules".

In the same vein, if your characters are cold to each other, don't toss them on a tropical island. It'll feel out of place.

Give your setting a purpose. Let it help illuminate your theme, your plot or your characters (or all three). Use it to help us understand how your characters feel and act, and it will play a much larger role in making your novel complete (and widely read).


Not Just Another Pretty Sunset

Have you ever read a description of where a novel was set and wondered what difference it made? I have, too.

Even if your backdrop is a magnificent mountain range, or tranquil beach, some detail needs to be added to make it real and memorable.

Look at a famous painting. The artist uses composition to tell a story. Same with any great photo. Yeah, maybe there's a gorgeous mountain range in the background, but the jagged dead tree just off center is telling the story. Or the little boy alone on the beach building sand castles.

Give your readers something to remember about the setting (and if it's a mystery you're writing, toss in the occasional clue to throw them off). Make it significant, and we'll be far less likely to skip the boring detail. Because it won't be boring.

In the same vein, if your story is set somewhere with historical significance, don't just blindly toss in bits and places of history. Use them to increase our understanding of the character and his or her plight.

If it adds nothing to the story, then don't mention it!


It's How Big?

Ever read a description of place and wondered just how all those disparate parts fit together? Was that a two-storey building or a hundred-and-two? How far away did you say the river was from the overlook your heroine's poised on?

You need to make the various parts of your setting relate to each other. How big is the building compared to the truck parked in front? If the building is a tiny cottage, the difference is much smaller than if the truck's in front of the Empire State Building.

If your character is feeling small, make the backdrop seem huge, to emphasize that sense of minuteness.

If, on the other hand, your character feels powerful, shrink that mountain range down by describing the Indian Paintbrush blooming on the nearest slopes where the character likes to take walks. Small details of a larger place make that larger place smaller and more accessible.

Again, use this to add to your novel's overall theme and tone.


Sense and Sensibility

No setting is really complete unless you not only see it, but feel it, smell it, hear it and taste it. The five senses give your description depth, your sense of place more reality (even though it's fiction).

Don't do this artificially; no laundry list like She smelled the dying roses walking beneath the brutal sun, heat enveloping her. Dust sat on the back of her tongue, tasting metallic, while bees whined in her ears.

You've stuffed all five senses into one sentence, which, while it illuminates your location, also overloads us with detail. Choose one or two senses at a time, then use them to relate how your character's feeling. Let's rewrite that scene above.

She smelled the desiccated roses, the weight of the sun beating her down just like the dying breath of her mother inside the house. Heat swirled around her, suffocating her until she could barely draw in another choked breath.

By using just scent and touch, we get an idea of how this character's feeling. Relating the background to what's going on in her mind - the reference to her dying mother as if it, too, is suffocating her - gives us a great deal more insight into the character. And we've done it with setting.

Pretty neat, huh?


The Reality of Using Reality

If you use a real location as your locale, beware putting in too many actual details. Places change, and readers will delightedly shoot you down for being inaccurate.

Remember the Twin Towers in New York City? Most of us assumed that landmark would be there forever. A few novels I've read make reference to them, one of which is set in a future where the Towers will never exist.

So what do you do?

If you are using a real place, you have a couple of choices to make it seem like the real place without writing something potentially wrong at a later date.

If your main setting is a neighborhood, but it's near a known landmark, create a fictional neighborhood and use the landmark as is.

Be sure to check that there isn't really a "Tourley Street", or whatever you call your made-up place. Then imagine that area to your heart's content. Be as detailed as you like, because no one will ever be able to find the actual place.

If, on the other hand, the landmark is the main part of your backdrop, rename it or change it slightly, and use a real neighborhood nearby to "set" your story in reality. This way, you won't accidentally insult (or worse) someone who works at the landmark, because - hey - there's no such landmark there.

To wrap it up, be sure you put purpose behind every description of your setting. Even if it's not vital to your novel's plot. You won't be sorry if you do, and neither will your readers.