Setting the setting

Your setting is where a scene takes place in the story. The setting aids the story, but shouldn’t become the story. Imagine sitting down to a fine meal – the spices enhance the dish, but they do not become the meal. You should provide enough description to help your reader “join” the characters while leaving the reader’s imagination free to fill in the blanks. Use the description to help set a mood, include a significant detail, or give extra insight.

Avoid flat and boring prose by engaging all of the senses into your setting’s description. When you walk into a restaurant, what are the things you notice? You see other diners, you hear the clatter of dishes and hushed conversations, and you smell the aroma of the food. Employ as many of the five senses as possible to give your setting and story a feeling of reality.

Describe features that are significant to the story, either in this scene or somewhere else in the storyline. The pattern of the wallpaper in a room is probably not important to the story unless it shows something about the character(s) – such as a pattern of roses as a character’s favorite flower and a bridal bouquet just having to be roses – or perhaps a pattern of climbing vines might be the beginning of a scene involving a nightmare.

Playwright Anton Chekhov once said, "If there is a gun on the wall in act one, in act three it should fire." In my novel Within the Law, Alli was touched that Tom remembered she collected glass figurines when he gave her a small glass rose so the fact that he noticed her figurine collection earlier in the book was significant. Whereas in Common Bond, Tangled Hearts when Justin noticed the crocheted throws covering Layne’s threadbare sofa he admired the way she had managed to provide a home for her son despite meager finances. Include complete details about the setting only when there is some significance to the story.

As an author you have the right to some artistic or poetic license, changing some facts to make it fit, but bear in mind that too much deviation from reality is liable to work against you. Mention the Statue of Liberty and most people will automatically think of New York City even though there is a similar statue in Paris and several small replicas throughout the world. If you place the statue into another location without mentioning that it’s a replica, be prepared to offer a plausible explanation such as the scene in Planet of the Apes where the statue’s head on a beach was used to indicate a world catastrophe. Putting a fictional place into your story is okay, but if you are relying on something factual, do your research first.


Writing exercise: Whatever the outside weather conditions are where you live, go outside for 5 minutes (or at least to an open window). Describe the weather from EACH of your five (5) senses – What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell? What do you feel? What do you taste?

Writing prompt: Finish each sentence (write more than just the sentence if you feel compelled): The wind picked the umbrella up and ___; The children were sleigh riding until___; The wind howled and I heard___; The icy cold rain soaked through___; The car spun out of control on___.