Setting is more than geography. It is the essence of a place.

The focus may be as narrow as a child’s room or as broad as the

Sahara Desert. Either way, the features you choose to highlight

will make–or break–the setting of your story.

Setting can influence plot, advance the action, and help

reveal character. How, you ask, can a mere place accomplish so

much?

The answer lies in your word choice, not only the what but the

why and the how of things.

When establishing setting, use specifics rather than

abstracts, i.e. daisy instead of flower, a weathered cabin or a

freshly painted two-story, rather than house. You get the picture.

Scents, sounds, the texture of a place, the tempo, the

lightness or thickness of the air, the presence or absence of

personal belongings in a room, the presence or lack of order are

all details which can add substance and bring feeling to the

setting of your story.

Use details sparingly. Don’t bombard the reader with a

“grocery list” of items. Choose those details which will enhance

the spirit as well as the description of place.

Beginning and even some not-so-beginning authors commonly make

two serious mistakes when they create settings:

1. Once research is begun, there is the temptation to use all the

   material you’ve gathered. Don’t. A few details will give a

   sense of time and place. Too many details will bore the

   reader and lose her interest.

2. The second mistake is to dump all the information on the

   reader at one time. This is a second cousin to the above and

   can result in a geography or history lesson rather than a

   story. It is also one of the quickest ways to lose a reader.

   Let the dissemination of information develop naturally, when

   needed.

Filter the information in during the course of the story. Let

your research be brought out during interaction between the

characters and the judicious use of narrative. A small amount may

be given during dialogue, but resist the temptation to have one

character “lecturing” the other, especially if those details are

ones that the second person would reasonably know.

Make the setting fit the plot. Just as plot can determine

setting, setting can also determine plot.

Setting can provide an ideal device for motivation. A

character may fear dark places if she were lost in a cave on a

family vacation. What if now she must face going into a mine shaft

to find her little brother? The total darkness of the mine, with

its eerie sounds and musty smell, can greatly add to the suspense

of the moment and heighten the conflict she faces.

Dialogue and perhaps some sparingly-used dialect can set the

stage. Use well-chosen words and phrases to give a sense of

believability to your characters and setting. A child who grows up

in a barrio will talk differently than one who grows up in an

affluent suburb.

(Note: Look how the components of story-writing–setting,

character, dialogue, plot–influence each other. In well-written

stories, they are inextricably intertwined.)

Children and young people respond to texture, smell, taste,

color, and sound. Use as much sensory detail as possible in your

story. Be sure, however, to make these details an integral part of

the story, not just words thrown in a random or not-so random

intervals.

Consider a story where much of the action takes place in a

teenage girl’s room while she struggles with a decision.

Our teen protagonist Stephanie needs to make a decision about

accepting a date from a new boy in school. She finds herself

attracted to the boy’s obvious intelligence, but recognizes that

her own already shaky social standing may very well drop if she

accepts a date from a boy viewed as a nerd by the other members of

her class.

What does Stephanie’s room say about her and her possible

choice? Do posters of popular teen stars plaster the walls? Does

she make her bed or leave the sheets rumpled in the center of the

bed?

Does a stack of school books occupy one corner of her desk?

What about other books which hint at a girl who has a passion for

reading? Is there a framed certificate for her induction into the

National Honor Society? Maybe a report card is tacked to her

bulletin board showing that she earned a 4.0 average.

We don’t need to know what color the walls of Stephanie’s room

are painted, unless they are an unusual color, such as black. In

that case, we might reasonably ask why would a young girl choose

such a bleak color.

Are you beginning to see how we’ve picked which details to

use, which to leave out?

Setting is as integral to a story as plot, character, and

dialogue. Use it to enhance the other components and your readers

will say, “You really bring the place to life.”

What more can a writer ask?