Want to know how you, as a writer, can wave your magic wand and suspend your readers’ disbelief while you weave them into your fictional world like a fine strand of vicuña wool?
SETTING.
Setting is one of the most important foundational writing elements required in fiction writing.
Here are 3 types to consider and work with.
Temporal Setting
Temporal setting is time-specific.
This is the period or era in which the story takes place.
Temporal setting also includes cultural settings.
Examples
Present-day Africa vs. Victorian England vs. Renaissance Italy
1960s America vs. 1990s America vs. present-day America
Novels that use temporal setting
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell (Adapted to film by The Wachowskis (Lana and Lilly)—A metafiction, historical fiction, contemporary fiction and science fiction novel that spans different time periods and locations with interconnected stories
1984 by George Orwell—A dystopian novel set in the fictional superstate of Oceania, a totalitarian society under constant surveillance and propaganda, where individual thought and freedom are suppressed, primarily set in a fictionalized version of London
Spatial Setting
Spatial setting is location-specific.
This is where—in the world—your story takes place.
Examples
Switzerland vs. Italy vs. China
Rome vs. Venice vs. Naples
Novels that use spatial setting
Narnia in The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis—A portal fantasy novel set in the fictional realm of Narnia, a fantasy world of magic, mythical beasts, and talking animals
The Emerald City in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum—A children’s novel set in the magical world of Oz, about a girl who wants more from her life than the one she has on her family’s farm in Kansas, only to find that there’s. no place like home.
Environmental Setting
Environment setting, like spatial setting, is also location-specific, but more fine-tuned, even intimate
Examples
The protagonist’s home vs. workplace vs. studio
A mountain cabin vs. a car’s interior vs. a seedy motel room
A novel and a short story that use ONLY environmental setting
Room by Emma Donoghue (Adapted to film w/ Jodie Foster & Jacob Tremblay)—A young boy and his mother are prisoners in a single room since his birth, with the story told from his perspective
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman—A short story that details a woman’s descent into madness as a result of patriarchal constraints: being kept in a single room with no way out
Questions
What’s the favorite setting you’ve used in your own fiction?
What’s the setting in one of your favorite novels that you STILL think about?
Want to know more about how to write and use setting in your fiction?
https://lnkd.in/gXY2fJyb
Sending you mad writing mojo…
Happy writing!