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Settings
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Steroids
by DiAnn Mills
A
h, setting, the frail stepchild of fiction. How often we
neglect this vital member of story, insisting character,
plot, dialogue, and emotion are so much more
important. We dress her in rags, have her clean the chimney,
then criticize her for lack of purpose.
Setting is the environment where story takes place.
A strong setting challenges character, plot, dialogue, and
narrative by adding a twist in the character’s journey to reach a
goal. True setting makes the character’s goal harder to obtain.
Consider the setting of your novel as an antagonist. Assign
traits that defy the protagonist’s goals and raise the stakes.
Stop the character from moving forward by establishing
a barrier that ensures temporarily defeat. The adversity of
setting can be obvious or hidden but include it in ways
that forces your character to acquire new skills, make tough
decisions, and accept responsibility for those actions. This
is a process that builds momentum and challenges the
protagonist to think and work harder to survive.
Without conflict and tension, the reader is cheated and
finds it difficult to stay engaged in the story.
An example of an antagonistic setting is a protagonist who
has a manicured garden enclosed by a ten-foot stone fence.
The area is her source of tranquility, and she spends hours
there. A villain follows her into the garden and traps her inside.
Her peaceful domain now becomes her torture chamber.
To reveal setting, look to characterization, plot, dialogue,
narrative, symbolism, and emotion. It’s fresh, alive, and full
of spirit.
Establish the time, date, season of the year, and the culture
of the characters in the story. Use sensory perception to root
the protagonist into the surroundings. Show just enough
points for the reader to envision how the setting looks, smells,
sounds, and tastes, and feels. If the writer tells too much, the
reader will skip the description and move on to the action,
and the reader might miss a detail. When the character
experiences the setting and the adventure contained there,
the reader will experience it too. If the protagonist’s journey is
easy, the reader will lose value for the story and the writer.
A character who lives in the setting will not make the same
observations as a visitor. Note the emotions that differentiate a
seasoned character from a novice in a specific environment. The
seven universal emotions, according to Tonya Reiman in The
Power of Body Language, are surprise, fear, anger, sadness, disgust,
happiness, and contempt. Move your characters around in the
setting and initiate those universal emotions. Use active verbs
and muscle-laden nouns to show more about your character.
The setting in your genre gives the plot power.
Romance
Consider a romance set on a Caribbean island. What looks idyllic
with sun-kissed days on white-sand beaches and nights filled with
the perfume of exotic plants can turn into a nightmare when a
tropical storm threatens the safety of young lovers.
Suspense
A suspense novel builds momentum when the protagonist
chases a villain into a dark building. Or the protagonist
discovers his boss is a villain.
Southern Writers 9