Perhaps you think your story is universal and could take place anytime, anywhere. Or you’re writing about something that has happened in real life and you think the time and location are a given. In both cases, you’re mistaken. The way you use setting for storytelling will shape the overall tone, atmosphere, and believability of your writing. And it’s about far more than simply saying where and when the events take place.
So how do you make the most of setting in your writing? Here are ten key aspects to consider.
1. Treat setting as a character.
When you describe characters, you don’t just describe what they look like. You also tell the reader about the way they talk, the way they move, what and how they eat, their emotions and innermost thoughts, and what drives them. You may even offer a glimpse into events from their past to explain why they are the way they are and do the things they do.
You can do the same with setting because setting has as much personality as a person. Think about a street in downtown present-day Mumbai during midday, compared to an Irish farm on an early morning in the 1950s: It’s not just buildings and colours versus green hills in the mist; it’s chaos and the noise of the traffic and vendors shouting and the smells of street foods and the oppressive humidity of it all versus tranquility, coolness, a sense of coziness in preparation for the day that comes.
You can use your setting to reflect and reinforce the themes of your story. That’s because setting can evoke certain emotions in the reader and affect the way they see the other characters in the story. And just like the unfolding of events can change your characters, it can also change the setting or the way you perceive it: The Mumbai street becomes joyful when the monsoon shower brings some relief from the heat and washes everything clean; the misty Irish farm becomes sinister because of the secrets it’s hiding.
2. Be specific and include details.
While your reader may be able to imagine what it’s like to be in the setting, including specific details will truly bring that setting to life and enrich their reading experience. They may have seen pictures of that beach in Cape Town but they can only really immerse themselves in the scene once they know about the feeling of the warm sun on their skin, the surprising iciness of the water, the smell of kelp, the taste of salt in the air, the rhythmic rushing of the waves and the shriek of seagulls.
And that’s the secret of vividly describing your setting: Remember all the senses.
3. Do your research.
If your setting is in a real location, readers who have been to the location will know immediately if you haven’t ever set foot in the place. The same goes for a specific time period: There will always be someone who’ll stop reading and ask, “Wait a minute. Did they even have zippers back then?”
For place, if you haven’t been there before, the ideal is that you visit. Spend some time there to experience it in all its different moods. For time, this obviously isn’t possible, so your best bet would be to interview people who were there back then or to look for footage dating back to the time period.
Do your research. Read up about the place and time as much as you can to ensure accuracy and authenticity. This includes trying to gain some understanding of the historical, cultural, and geographical context of your setting. For instance, a woman’s life – and therefore her inner world – in Kabul was quite different in the 1970s from how it would be today.
Even if you’re writing about a fictional setting, remember that real-world settings can offer inspiration. Margaret Atwood has famously said that every horrific event in The Handmaid’s Tale has happened for real somewhere, sometime.
4. Be consistent.
As you describe your setting throughout the story, be consistent in your descriptions. This helps to create a sense of continuity and believability.
However, remember that as time passes, the setting changes. It can be the natural rhythm of life, for instance the changing of the seasons or the different times of day. But setting can also change after a single big event: Think, for instance, of how New York, so famously aloof, had an atmosphere of community in the weeks after the attacks on 9-11 that brought down the Twin Towers.
5. Use setting for symbolism.
Setting can convey symbolic meaning. For example, the environment affects and can mirror the characters’ struggles, conflicts and growth. With the clever use of setting, you can reflect your characters’ internal states: Describing a walk atop a seaside cliff in gloomy weather when the character is grappling with the end of a relationship can convey their inner turmoil without describing those feelings specifically.
Setting can also serve as a metaphor for broader themes in your story. Think of how, in Nordic noir stories, the crime and subsequent investigation usually unfold against a cold landscape that’s a sea of whitish beige, with plenty of scenes taking place in the darkness of night.
6. Consider setting’s impact on the characters.
Everything about us is the product of where we come from and where we are: The way we talk, the way we dress, the way we think, the way we do things, even the way we handle emotions. Naturally, each character in your story is affected by the setting too, in different ways. Setting impacts their behaviours, values and perspectives but the way they interact with the setting is the product of who they are and what they think too.
7. Consider setting’s function in the plot.
Just like setting impacts everything about the characters, it can contribute to the plot. A prolonged drought in a rural area, for instance, will affect the decisions that the characters make: Maybe the main character realizes the only way to survive is to leave the family farm and go seek his fortune in the big city. Or maybe he decides to stay and suffer one setback after another until it finally rains again.
When you plan your story, think about how the setting might present obstacles or opportunities for the characters and how it might play a role in the different conflicts and resolutions. Also consider how changes in the setting can affect the characters and the overall narrative.
8. Remember cultural sensitivity.
The world is full of diversity. When you write about real-world settings and cultures, take into account that they’re unique and complex, with nuances you might not understand unless you’re from that culture. Be aware of these and avoid stereotypes.
If you want to write about a specific setting but you’re not from there, you’ll need thorough research and interviews with people who do understand every nuance of the culture. It’s also a good idea to make your main character someone who is not from there and sees the culture through the eyes of an outsider who doesn’t understand all the nuances but is learning along the way.
9. Find a good balance between description and action.
Describing the setting is important. However, using descriptions of setting too often or when they’re not necessary can also slow down the pace of the story. If the dog appears only this once in the narrative, going on for several pages about it running through the meadow isn’t going to make the story better; it’s just going to leave your reader wondering what the point of it was.
So, while you’re writing your rich descriptions of setting, remember that something actually needs to happen too. Ask yourself how the description contributes to the story and if you don’t have a good answer, you may have to delete that bit.
10. Show; don’t tell.
Even when describing the setting, it’s important to remember the golden rule of writing: Show; don’t tell. You don’t have to spoon feed your readers descriptions of what the setting is like. They can discover much of it for themselves – and will most likely prefer doing so – through the characters’ observations, experiences and interactions. So, instead of simply describing all the sights and sounds of that busy Mumbai street, let the character try and make their way through the traffic, feeling the sweat from the heat, to go buy a plate of vada pav from a food stall on the other side.
For more context on the topic of setting in storytelling, listen to this episode of The Ingenium Books Podcast with guest Gila Green.
