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Setting RSS FEED
Understanding and Developing Setting in literature
by Stuart Leventhal
The setting is the depiction of the physical environment and circumstances that prevail at a place, at the time a story is unfolding there.
“Write what you know about.” Is the advice that the so called authorities are always shoving down a new writer’s throat. And, I only halfheartedly agree with this limiting notion concerning creativity, because it is directed primarily at new writers who are still honing their craft and it is obviously easier to work on developing ones skills while swimming in familiar waters. When it comes to setting, particularly, it will be much easier to explain, to someone else, a place that you’ve actually been to and know intimately. That’s not to say a creative writer can’t set a story or tackle writing a scene set in New York City’s Garment District just because he’s never actually stepped foot in the Big Apple. One can do research and muddle through as long as your setting isn’t the driving force behind the whole story.
On the other hand, if you are writing about life on the Bayou of Mississippi for instance, and your main purpose is to expose interesting aspects of the local lifestyle and give your reader a glimpse into the daily grind, difficulties and unique pleasures of living on a wet marsh then plot and themes may be taking a second seat to the setting of your piece. In this case, it would be wise for a writer to spend some time in the swamp lands, considering, getting the setting correct is very important, as the setting is the driving, developing primary element out of which the plot, themes, conflicts and all the other elements of this story will spring.
If you’ve never been mountain climbing, can you describe for your reader, the metallic taste of the crisp, blowing, thin air at the top of Mount Everest, the physical exhaustion of having climbed and clawed up and the exhilarating feeling of elation as you experience the breath taking and awe inspiring views of Nepal or Tibet that few people will ever know? Can you describe scuba diving in the Caribbean, if the deepest water you’ve ever swam in was a three foot deep backyard swimming pool? At some time in your creative writing career, no matter how much you try to live by the adage of, ‘write what you know’, you will eventually find yourself faced with the chore of creating a setting mostly from your imagination and If you are lucky, aided by research. To say it can’t be done effectively or shouldn’t be attempted is ridiculous. Science fiction writers have to create believable settings from almost scratch all the time. Historical writers set their stories based mostly on research from text books combined with their own intuition.
A creative writer needs to develop the ability to see everything, hear everything and feel everything then be able to describe it all, vividly painting images and stimulating his readers’ other senses; hearing, taste, smell and touch, using word craft.
Yes, the setting is simply the time, place and atmosphere where a story takes place. But great settings are much more. Generally, the setting is thought of as a physical description of local but a perception of a time period and a specific location can be very enlightening to the reader as well. A good creative writer strives to do more than just inform his readers about the conditions and details that exist and define the place where the story takes place. The good creative writer attempts to stimulate his reader’s imagination and emotions so they feel involved and can thus experience the place, as the story is unfolding, right along with the characters.
Literature and storytelling are basically a depiction of what happened at a specific location at a specific time. All the other elements of a story; plot, characterization, theme…lose their focus and meaning if there is not a firm grasp of the place, time and atmosphere that prevailed when and where the story was or is taking place. The setting creates the mood of the piece. The moral codes and customs that prevail within a society that occupies a certain location, during a specific time period, often sets up the theme of the story. The setting, itself can be the overall reason for the conflict that drives the plot as in stories set during war time. The setting can also help to define the characters.
The behavior and decisions characters make are often as much a result of the environment they live in, as of their own personalities. The environment in which a character lives, gives the reader insight into why the character acts a certain way. A person living in a slum reacts differently to the same stimulus as a man or woman living in a penthouse suite.
The setting can affect how a reader views the characters of a story profoundly. If a character is used by the author to describe his surroundings, the way in which the character chooses to describe his environment reveals glimpses into his make-up, such as his educational level and economic status compared with the educational level and economic situation of his contemporaries. If the character feels he doesn’t fit in with his surroundings this can cause tension which motivates the plot and springs themes.
One of the main objectives of a creative writer is to show his readers a new world or give us a different take on a world we thought we were intimately familiar with. It’s always delightful to be able to go someplace we’ve never been. When immersed in an unfamiliar setting, the slightest new discovery can be thrilling; every step can be taken with passion and every turn full of expectation. When creating a world, the writer obviously must describe the look of the place, the smell, the weather, the season. After the base physical elements are described he must then delve deeper, establishing the social environment, divulging the values the current society lives by. Are there laws, unique to this time period and place? Do the people adhere to specific customs or rituals? Do they live by special codes of conduct? What is the atmosphere? Is the place, a city or town in turmoil? Is it a time of booming economic growth? Is it a time of unshackled, freedom of expression or a time of political, racial or religious oppression?
The best creative writers know that a good setting is much more than just a handful of paragraphs in the beginning of a short story or the first few pages of the first chapter of a novel which establishes a reference point for things as they were at the time the story began. To create great settings, one must go beyond picking an obviously dramatic place and time to set one’s story such as Manhattan New York during the time of prohibition or an island in the South Pacific Ocean with a volcano that has recently become active. Yes, trudging through the treacherous tropical rain forest at the foot hills of the Himalayas of India’s diverse Assam valley while hunting a Bengal Tiger who has developed a taste for human flesh, certainly sets a scene. There is definitely all the beginning aspects for a potentially, great, memorable, literary setting. But the author is not done yet. A great setting goes on developing as the story unfolds. Great setting have direct impact on the main characters’ lives, they direct the plot and help to produce the themes.
Great settings are pivotal to the existence of the story. Change the setting even slightly and you have created a totally new story. Picking a setting that itself is in the midst of a major change can help a new writer get the feel of creating a truly great setting. An era of a time and place that is trying to resist change while its ideals inevitably, slowly, slip away in favor of the emerging new generations ideas and values. If you want your settings to stand out, you have to develop settings that are more than static, settings that are evolving, as your characters evolve, as life itself evolves.
Creating Great Settings by Stu Leventhal
One can look at a town as a visitor does, the focus being on the hospitality, friendliness of the locals and most assuredly the opportunity for quality entertainment. Or you could look at the town through the eyes of its fore founders, their vision and whether or not the place has lived up to their hopes and dreams. Or, you can view the same town through the eyes of a delivery driver rating it on accessibility, street structure and the amount of traffic on certain key delivery days. A returning war vet may view the same place much more intimately and with vivid sentimental fondness. A pillar of the community, standing in front of the best French restaurant in town, holding his date’s silk gloved hand while waiting for the valet to pull up with his sparkling, convertible Mercedes may have a much different view point of his current surrounding, compared to the homeless beggar squatting just a dozen feet away by the main door holding his baseball cap upside down while pleading for nickels so he can purchase a cup of coffee.
The story’s Setting, itself, is frequently the conception of a story. A powerful Setting is also, often the motivation for why and how stories move forward, developing naturally out of the place, time and circumstances which prevail. The setting creates the mood at the start of the tale. The mood and how it develops or doesn’t develop throughout the story may represent the theme. The overall mood of a place at a specific time and how that mood effects the emotions of the characters is often the real reason behind the characters motivations which determine their actions consciously and unconsciously. Man’s struggle to fit in with his surrounds, to change his surroundings and futile attempts to dominate his surroundings can make for powerfully emotional story lines. The yokel business sensation trying to fit in with snobbish debutants, a man or woman of a minority race trying to make their way in a society full of prejudice fears, a plane wreck leaving a small group of survivors to fend for themselves against the fierce elements of Mother Nature; are easy examples of where setting is the dominate gist of the story.
Let’s take the story of a young, male, native Korean aspiring athlete trying desperately to make the varsity basketball team. If we set the tale at an all-male, military boarding school located in the hills of Montana it would be an entirely different story from the same story line being set at a financially, neglected, city ran, racially diverse, high school servicing the projects of Harlem. The plots and themes would naturally develop in totally different directions. Now if theme is to be defined as the central idea of a story then the above example demonstrates how a simple change of setting produces a totally different story. The plots may even remain very similar but the two tales will be totally unique from one another based on the mitigating circumstances of each particular local. No good writer can dismiss the power that these two, particularly decisive, settings would have on a coming of age, male, Korean athlete trying to fit in with each particularly different group of class mates. The different settings would influence not just the plot and themes but also the way the characterization is developed and the dialogs exchanged and how life itself is viewed as well as how life’s lessons are taught, learned, received accepted or denied.
For a home can be a dwelling described beautifully as a realtor would describe it to a potential buyer; highlighting the Jacuzzi, the exquisite view and the large closet space. Or it could be described as the place from one’s youth, with every nook and cranny, splinter and broken shutter racked with sentimental memories of children frolicking about and simpler times. Great setting, consist of much more than the physical appearance of a place in time. Great settings delve even past mood and perception. Great settings take the reader some place they’ve never been and yet it seems so familiar there. We become the sword welding knight of Sir Arthur’s Court. Our mouths grow dry and our arms grow week as we struggle to stay afloat, clinging to a single plank of wood, all that’s left of our capsized sailboat. We break out in a sweat and swat at the flies buzzing around our head, our legs curled uncomfortable underneath the weight of our torso nervously awaiting the dreaded next charge of the enemy.
The story’s Setting, itself, is frequently the conception of a story. A powerful Setting is also, often the motivation for why and how stories move forward, developing naturally out of the place, time and circumstances which prevail. The setting creates the mood at the start of the tale. The mood and how it develops or doesn’t develop throughout the story may represent the theme. The overall mood of a place at a specific time and how that mood effects the emotions of the characters is often the real reason behind the characters motivations which determine their actions consciously and unconsciously. Man’s struggle to fit in with his surrounds, to change his surroundings and futile attempts to dominate his surroundings can make for powerfully emotional story lines. The yokel business sensation trying to fit in with snobbish debutants, a man or woman of a minority race trying to make their way in a society full of prejudice fears, a plane wreck leaving a small group of survivors to fend for themselves against the fierce elements of Mother Nature; are easy examples of where setting is the dominate gist of the story.
Let’s take the story of a young, male, native Korean aspiring athlete trying desperately to make the varsity basketball team. If we set the tale at an all-male, military boarding school located in the hills of Montana it would be an entirely different story from the same story line being set at a financially, neglected, city ran, racially diverse, high school servicing the projects of Harlem. The plots and themes would naturally develop in totally different directions. Now if theme is to be defined as the central idea of a story then the above example demonstrates how a simple change of setting produces a totally different story. The plots may even remain very similar but the two tales will be totally unique from one another based on the mitigating circumstances of each particular local. No good writer can dismiss the power that these two, particularly decisive, settings would have on a coming of age, male, Korean athlete trying to fit in with each particularly different group of class mates. The different settings would influence not just the plot and themes but also the way the characterization is developed and the dialogs exchanged and how life itself is viewed as well as how life’s lessons are taught, learned, received accepted or denied.
For a home can be a dwelling described beautifully as a realtor would describe it to a potential buyer; highlighting the Jacuzzi, the exquisite view and the large closet space. Or it could be described as the place from one’s youth, with every nook and cranny, splinter and broken shutter racked with sentimental memories of children frolicking about and simpler times. Great setting, consist of much more than the physical appearance of a place in time. Great settings delve even past mood and perception. Great settings take the reader some place they’ve never been and yet it seems so familiar there. We become the sword welding knight of Sir Arthur’s Court. Our mouths grow dry and our arms grow week as we struggle to stay afloat, clinging to a single plank of wood, all that’s left of our capsized sailboat. We break out in a sweat and swat at the flies buzzing around our head, our legs curled uncomfortable underneath the weight of our torso nervously awaiting the dreaded next charge of the enemy.
Story Settings, Book Settings
by Stu Leventhal
Many creative writers view the setting of a story as a onetime quick decision that they need to decide at the beginning of their story; Pick the date of when the story happens, pick the location, country, city or town and they are all done. Great creative writers realize that every time their characters move to a new place, even if just walking, from the dining room after a big, family, holiday meal, into their Grandfather’s study, they now have a new setting to develop or contend with. A child could describe his Pop Pop’s study as cold and unfriendly, the lighting poor, the furniture made of heavy, hard wood with dark, creased, cranberry leather upholstery, trimmed with brass buttons, very adult and antique with everything being seriously symbolic of something. “I always thrust my hands into my pockets whenever I was called into my Grandfather’s study.” Explained Cody. “I didn’t want to risk touching something of importance or value that would lead to a scalding or worse, clumsily breaking some trinket that would earn me a strapping.” Changing rooms changes the atmosphere from a fun, frivolous gathering of relatives, sitting down to enjoy a holiday feast to a new, heavy tone more appropriate for a serious conversation between an adult and an intimidated child.
A flirtatious conversation conducted at the crowded dinner table, between a male and a female teenager can take on a totally different context if instead played out alone, on the front porch, underneath a starlit or moonlit sky. A horseback ride through a meadow on a sunny day changes dramatically when dark clouds drift across the sun and a thunder and lightning storm erupts. The year and town may have stayed the same for all of these scenes but these are all new different setting that could drastically affect the direction of any story depending on how the author handles them. But not only does every single scene have its’ own setting. Settings themselves do not stay the same. The good settings are always evolving. The famous lyrics of ‘Ol’ Man River’ sung by Paul Robeson’s for the Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s stage production musical ‘Show Boat’ paint a picture of an unfaltering, unchanging, uncaring and unforgiving River:
Your ideas! We write it!
YOU TAKE THE CREDIT!
A flirtatious conversation conducted at the crowded dinner table, between a male and a female teenager can take on a totally different context if instead played out alone, on the front porch, underneath a starlit or moonlit sky. A horseback ride through a meadow on a sunny day changes dramatically when dark clouds drift across the sun and a thunder and lightning storm erupts. The year and town may have stayed the same for all of these scenes but these are all new different setting that could drastically affect the direction of any story depending on how the author handles them. But not only does every single scene have its’ own setting. Settings themselves do not stay the same. The good settings are always evolving. The famous lyrics of ‘Ol’ Man River’ sung by Paul Robeson’s for the Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s stage production musical ‘Show Boat’ paint a picture of an unfaltering, unchanging, uncaring and unforgiving River:
Your ideas! We write it!
YOU TAKE THE CREDIT!
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Ol' man river,
Dat ol' man river He mus'know sumpin' But don't say nuthin', He jes'keeps rollin' He keeps on rollin' along. He don't plant taters/tators, He don't plant cotton, An' dem dat plants 'em is soon forgotten, But ol'man river, He jes keeps rollin' along… Fraught with pain, sorrow and disgust, sung with true emotion the singer holds back his anger as he expresses his frustration at realizing the river, that means |
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so much to so many is uncaring, unaltered and seemingly unaffected by man, “He jes keeps rollin along.” Deep down, the author is using the river to represent the earth spinning and spinning as he raises the age old question of whether or not man’s existence even matters. Is everything we do insignificant? Will we be long forgotten after we’re gone? What’s the point of all the drama, all the pain and suffering, all our struggle, hopes and dreams? The earth keeps spinning like ol’man river jes keeps rollin along.
The song ‘Ol’ Man River’ also points out how settings are much more than just physical characteristics of a place. Settings are what people make of them. If you are planting and farming corn along the riverbank, the areas meaning may be mostly connected with you’re earning a living off the land. You don’t pay the river much mind unless her water level climbs high and she threatens to flood your crops. If along the same river bank is where your father taught you to fish and hunt as a small boy, you may attach a twang of sentimental value to those banks. If the river bank is the setting for a story you are writing, about an outdoor wedding. The tone and feel of the place may be a little more jovial and less sinister than the cold and heartless, unforgiving Mississippi River Paul Robeson sings about.
Great settings are often picked because they are unusual and thus will peak the audience’s interest. In ‘Show Boat’, the setting is a theatrical boat that travels along the Mississippi River, docking to put on shows. This is obviously not an atmosphere that the common reader would be familiar with. But it is easy to see how this setting offers a lot of opportunities for an assortment of story lines. Time periods used in literature are frequently chosen by their authors based on their intense historical controversy; wars, political transition periods, times of social change, etc. which naturally add excitement, drama and meaning to any story. ‘Show Boat’ is set in a time period when America’s South was reaped with severe racial prejudice and oppression. Author Edna Ferber, whose book also titled ‘Show Boat’ which the famous musical was based on, met with Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern, before she would sell them the rights to make their musical play. She wanted their assurance they would not turn the story into a frivolous show, about the entertainment industry along the river, filled with gaudy show girls. Hammerstein and Kern assured the author they had no intention of sugar coating her major themes dealing with racism and they kept their word; which was a gutsy stand to take in the 1920’s. Themes like racial prejudice plus writing songs that addressed the question of man’s very existence; well that’s just about as big as themes can get. Add a tragic love story or two to the mix and you’ve got a hit musical!
Mastering setting means more than just picking out an interesting place and time during which to base you story. It entails showing how different characters interpret that particular location at that particular time. Let your readers discover your settings from many angles; a child’s view, an adult female’s view, a retired confirmed bachelor’s view, a politician’s view, a drug addict’s view. Describe your scenes as well rounded and real as possible. Remember, any place and time can become exotic when in the hands of a talented, creative writer.
The song ‘Ol’ Man River’ also points out how settings are much more than just physical characteristics of a place. Settings are what people make of them. If you are planting and farming corn along the riverbank, the areas meaning may be mostly connected with you’re earning a living off the land. You don’t pay the river much mind unless her water level climbs high and she threatens to flood your crops. If along the same river bank is where your father taught you to fish and hunt as a small boy, you may attach a twang of sentimental value to those banks. If the river bank is the setting for a story you are writing, about an outdoor wedding. The tone and feel of the place may be a little more jovial and less sinister than the cold and heartless, unforgiving Mississippi River Paul Robeson sings about.
Great settings are often picked because they are unusual and thus will peak the audience’s interest. In ‘Show Boat’, the setting is a theatrical boat that travels along the Mississippi River, docking to put on shows. This is obviously not an atmosphere that the common reader would be familiar with. But it is easy to see how this setting offers a lot of opportunities for an assortment of story lines. Time periods used in literature are frequently chosen by their authors based on their intense historical controversy; wars, political transition periods, times of social change, etc. which naturally add excitement, drama and meaning to any story. ‘Show Boat’ is set in a time period when America’s South was reaped with severe racial prejudice and oppression. Author Edna Ferber, whose book also titled ‘Show Boat’ which the famous musical was based on, met with Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern, before she would sell them the rights to make their musical play. She wanted their assurance they would not turn the story into a frivolous show, about the entertainment industry along the river, filled with gaudy show girls. Hammerstein and Kern assured the author they had no intention of sugar coating her major themes dealing with racism and they kept their word; which was a gutsy stand to take in the 1920’s. Themes like racial prejudice plus writing songs that addressed the question of man’s very existence; well that’s just about as big as themes can get. Add a tragic love story or two to the mix and you’ve got a hit musical!
Mastering setting means more than just picking out an interesting place and time during which to base you story. It entails showing how different characters interpret that particular location at that particular time. Let your readers discover your settings from many angles; a child’s view, an adult female’s view, a retired confirmed bachelor’s view, a politician’s view, a drug addict’s view. Describe your scenes as well rounded and real as possible. Remember, any place and time can become exotic when in the hands of a talented, creative writer.
