Think about your current work in progress, or your last book or story if you’re in between projects. What was the setting of your story? Your book or story might have several settings. To be clear, by setting let’s consider the standard definition. Setting is the time and place where your story happens. The setting you choose for your story is a vital element. You might be writing across more than one time or place but you can’t tell a story without a setting.
There are different ways to lay out the setting of your story. You can write it in a descriptive form or you can let the characters unveil the setting through their dialogue. With dialogue you don’t have to be too descriptive or detailed. You can let a conversation flow between characters exposing just enough to let the reader use their powerful imagination.
For example, you don’t have to give the exact time, weather report, or location when you use dialogue. “It’s a hot one out tonight, isn’t it Margaret? How about a cold beer for me and my friend?” Maybe something simple like this paints the picture better than a long description: Sweat began to moisten the collar of her t-shirt. She ducked into the Red Pony Saloon for a quick meal and stiff drink. It beat sitting at home tonight. At least their air conditioning worked!
Some writers prefer the long description of setting to supplement the dialogue. Stephen King is well known for his long descriptions. Precise description is found in some of the greatest poetry. Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass is a perfect example. The great thing about the element of setting is that in great fiction it can actually take a deeper meaning. If you watch some classic movies you’ll find that setting can also be a metaphor for the times in which they lived. In literature you’ll see a perfect example of that in Steinbeck’s Cannery Row.
How do you best use the vital element of setting in your writing? Have you used it as a metaphor in your own work? It’s worth deep consideration in order to learn more and improve at the craft of writing. In great fiction, the setting can make all the difference.
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