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Writing Tips:
Setting
Detail is important in creating the setting for your story but too much detail, unrelated to the characters or plot, can sound like an advertisement in a travel book. Too little detail can leave the reader wondering where the plot is taking place. Your plot is connected to your setting. If you are writing about vampires, for example, your plot will be affected by whether the vampires are living in Sydney in 2008 or Egypt in the time of the Pharaohs! Developing your setting may require researching the time and location in which your plot takes place. If your character is stuck in the Australian outback and is surrounded by luscious grass and flowing wells, your reader is not going to be very impressed. All writers need to conduct some research. |
Randa Abdel-Fattah offers
tips on: Setting
Use places you know. If your imagination is a blank, get some holiday snaps and use them. Think of your aunt or uncle’s house and imagine one of your characters living there. And when you’re describing, remember to use all five senses to give a rich and textured feel of what you’re conveying. |
Whatever you want it to be! But whether it's a realplace, or completely invented, you have to know it. Draw imaginary maps of it. Work out who lives where, and how far apart the places are that are mentioned in the story. |
I try to describe the setting for my stories as if it's a film running in my head and I'm trying to record all the details that bring a story to life. Settings can reflect the mood of the character or work against that mood so they're very important. |
Setting is as important as character. In fact, the places in your story are like characters themselves. Know the setting as well as you know your characters. If you have a strong sense of character and a strong sense of place, your story will have a truth to it. Readers will believe that they know these people and have been to these places. |
I like to set my books in places I know, because I think you write better about things and places you know and love. If I don’t know enough about the place I’m describing, I try to go there – I did a research trip to Connemara while writing Scarlett, for example. There’s no substitute for being there, for knowing. I like to picture the places in my mind, even if I change the names and details! |
I usually set my stories in the place where I live. I've always lived in London so the streets and the traffic really work for my characters. |
If you're writing a school/home based story, you’ll be fine because you'll be writing about what you know! But if you're into fantasy and creating an alternative world, you must make sure that you make this convincing for the reader. This means some serious thinking on your part – maybe drawing a map of your fantasy world/country/planet would help? |
I think the setting is important. I know where every one of my books is set, even the fantasies like Spellhorn and Daughter of the Sea. I write about places I know, and I think if I know them then the reader will feel comfortable there, walking the streets or paths with the characters. The setting is almost another character to me. Try describing some of your favourite places, then places that frighten you a bit, places that are exciting or interesting, places where you feel lonely or happy, and imagine how you could work a story into those settings. |
Of no importance. You can set a book anywhere. And you can make your setting clear with the lightest of touches. You don’t need great chunks of description. |
Stephen King says: ‘Description starts in the head of the author and ends in the head of the reader.’ This is spot on. A few deft, descriptive touches puts your characters in the context of their environment, but be careful. Too little description makes the book flat and unrealistic. Too much is self-indulgent. |
Anywhere you like. You are in charge! |
Again it’s much easier to describe somewhere you’ve been than somewhere you’ve made up. |
Not my strong suit. I love to visit beautiful and atmospheric places but they rarely trigger stories for me. Mostly I write about contemporary characters living in urban or suburban settings and I don’t usually describe the place in any real detail. It's something I recognise as a bit of a weakness, but I still haven't really managed to improve that aspect of my work . If places are important to you use them like an extra character in the story. |
Almost all my books are set in a version of Boston. I say a version because with a couple of exceptions I have never called it Boston. Because, like with characters, I prefer to reserve the right to alter the city as I see fit for my story. That way people can’t play “spot the geographical errors” with what I do to neighborhoods, rivers, etc. It is a handy rule to follow: have a specific place in mind when you are writing, so that your descriptions will have crisp detail; then, give it a fictional name so that you can make any changes to it that you need, and nobody can tell you you are wrong. That place is yours, so you say what’s what.. |
A good setting can give you so many ideas - An old deserted lighthouse on top of a cliff, looking down to a beach, cut off when the tide comes in, and a cave in the cliff-face. Now write 5 exciting, dangerous things that could happen using that location. |
The setting for any story is important, but it must never get in the way of the plot or the characters. That said, you have to make it believable in order to create a world in which your characters live. Settings are often where a writer can fall down because they don't know enough about a certain type of environment, and aren't interested enough, or are too lazy to research it. |
Don’t get overly concerned by where the story is set unless that is important to your story. Concentrate on characters, not setting. Remember respond primarily to what happens to characters, not where it happens. |
Spend a little time daydreaming your way around the setting – imagining what you would see, hear, smell, think etc in that place. Having developed a sense of the place, don't be tempted to put all the details in. Light touches work better. |
Describe it - tell us what colours/sounds/smells characterise the setting. What does it mean to the characters? How does the setting influence the story? (Think about what spooky old houses do for the ghost story genre). |
The setting has to be totally believable. Wherever possible set stories in places you know, your street, your school, your town. All the little details you provide will help make the story real and authentic. Can’t remember any details – GO AND LOOK! If you want to write about somewhere else, go and visit – take photographs. If that’s not possible, use travel guides, the internet. If you are writing a fantasy, you have to work harder and really use your imagination. The setting should be as real as your own environment. |
Try to set your books in places you know. Even ordinary places can be made interesting. I think a lot of writers choose to write fantasy because it’s easier to make it up. |
I like to know in my mind where my story is set, whether it be in a town, country or even abroad but it’s not something that is essential to the story line. |
Make sure you can see it in your mind's eye. You should know at all times exactly where everybody is, what the scene looks like, and why you are there. If you can't make this up for yourself, try finding pictures that look like the place or people you want to describe, and use them for reference. |
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