Setting

Setting the Story

Choosing the when and where

Every story occurs in some place, at some time. This
guide offers some advice for establishing the right setting for a story.
The setting can be determined by the story, or the story can be determined
by the setting. Either way, the story and setting depend on each other
in ways that some others overlook.

Exploring Settings

Settings are important to readers because a setting can
set the parameters for a story. Even without knowing the plot of a story,
being given the location is enough that readers start to make assumptions
about characters and events. Consider how the following openings start
you along a specific path as a reader:

The air was hot and dry in the Arizona desert. It had been a two-hour
ride into Rio Verde, not so much a town as a collection of leaning
walls and sagging roofs. Two saloons, a general store, a barbershop,
and a livery stable. No bank, no jail, and no obvious reason to exist,
Rio Verde was either dying or waiting to be reborn.

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Castles inspire awe from the outside. Inside, they tend to be cold
and damp.

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The brownstones of East 23rd Street shook every ten minutes as the
elevated train passed behind them. Children played on the sidewalk
and in the street, while mothers stood in doorways or sat on concrete
stairs telling stories about the women over on Tenth, where the homes
had yards and the children played inside.

We anticipate a lot about a story based on the setting. Stories set
on space stations are quite different from stories set on Amish farms.
Castles and condos, ranches and rainforests, the setting gives a reader
clues about the characters and their motives. A writer can either play
into or against those expectations.

The General

Different types of stories require different levels of
detail when establishing a setting. A historical romance and a science
fiction novel both have demanding audiences expecting not only details
about the setting but a great deal of accuracy. Historical novels mention
political circumstances, economic changes, and the greater context of
events. Readers of Western adventures might expect less information.
The Old West was isolated — events elsewhere in the world might not matter
to a small town.

A story about two lovers torn apart by war is affected by which war
the author uses as a general setting. The English Civil War and the American
Civil War are quite different. Certainly a romance set in World War II
is not the same as a story dealing with the Vietnam conflict. It’s easy
to dismiss such comparisons until you begin to consider what types of
people would be affected in each case.

The Specific

Specific settings are more difficult to develop than
the general setting for a story. Often, a story only needs to allude
to the general setting, but a specific setting is exactly what the name
implies: extremely specific. This means you will need to develop details,
some of which might not make it into the final version of a story.

It is difficult to stress enough the value of research. When you begin
to describe a specific setting, fictional or real, readers will demand
accuracy and consistency in ways you might not anticipate. Make a single
mistake describing the layout of the Pentagon or a famous English castle
and readers will complain. There will always be a reader who knows more
about a place or time period than you do, but that’s not an excuse to
make careless errors.

If you create a fictional New York, California, or Minnesota city, you
still need to know a lot about the state and other, real, cities. If
you use a real city as a setting, you need to locate maps of the city
as it existed in the time of your story. Never assume readers won’t notice
minor details. Having a character drive from L.A. to San Francisco means
you need to know the roads taken, the distance covered, and the time
involved.

Making “Sense”

Setting is more than what can be seen by characters.
Places have sounds and smells associated with them, too, and these are
the two senses writers should exploit because studies show sounds and
smells trigger memories. Few settings can be described in terms of taste
or touch, but don’t ignore the possibility that a character might taste
dust or feel warm sand. Think of all five senses when you write about
a setting.

Schools, offices, churches, city streets, and every other setting you
might use have sounds and smells you should exploit. A county fair might
smell of cotton candy, fresh baked goods, and livestock. The midway of
a fair is cacophony of voices, music, and games. Even a perfect silence
is important to mention, since it signals something is strange about
the setting.

People think the woods are quiet, but that’s because they don’t listen.
When you stand still, you can hear branches creak, the leaves rustle,
and a dozen different bird species. The evergreens give off a sweet
scent, carried by the breeze.

Plot and Story

Deciding on a setting does affect the nature of a story
and how the story is told. Stories with office settings are not the same
as stories set in a jungle. While that seems obvious, writers often place
a story in the “wrong” time or place. Even deciding a city is more appropriate
than a jungle leaves the question: which city? Places and times have
visceral effect on readers.

Time is as important as the place, as any reader of historical novels
knows. Chicago in the 1920s is not the same as Chicago in 2000. It is
almost unthinkable to write about 1920s Chicago and not mention organized
crime. You might be writing a crime story, love story, or a coming-of-age
story, but once you have selected 1920s Chicago, some very important
aspects of the place and time will affect the characters and plot.

A story set in pre-World War II Europe is not the same as a story set
in ancient Athens, even if both stories deal with issues of war and propaganda.
The characters would behave differently because they would necessarily
be from different cultures. The roles of men and women would be different,
for example. You select a setting based on what it conveys to the audience,
and WWII has a different set of “meanings” for an audience than ancient
Greece.

Setting as Backbone

Almost a Character

Reality and Fantasy

Gritty Reality

Far-Out Fantasy

Characters and Settings

Setting Chart

The process for developing specific settings is similar
to that of developing characters. You need to consider everything a reader
might ask about the time and place, and then you need to decide which
facts are essential to determine for readers. A good setting is clear
to readers, but that doesn’t mean you need to describe every tile of
a floor or blade of grass in a meadow. What would a character really
notice, and why? If no character would notice there’s a dandelion in
the grass, don’t bother telling readers about the weed.