The Reading Rainbow theme song really had it right.
One of the best parts of reading is the way books open up new worlds to us, whether a story is set in an unpronounceable ancient kingdom, the far reaches of outer space, ancient history, the distant future, or even the real world but maybe somewhere we’ve never been. It’s an incredible experience to be immersed in an unfamiliar setting.
Still, I’m not sure that all aspiring authors give quite enough thought to setting. The best worlds are more than just the trees that dot the hillsides or the stars in outer space.
Here are some of the most important elements in creating a memorable setting.
A sensory palette
When writers think cinematically, they often think solely about the dialogue and neglect that the author of a novel also needs to be the director and cinematographer. Readers need clear physical description to help them visualize their surroundings.
Great authors are able to immerse the reader in their novels by describing the precise way the blades of grass on the hillsides wave in the wind, the pungent smell of ale in the taverns, and the roars of the crowds in the coliseums.
There’s a reason J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling detail so many meals in Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Appealing to a reader’s sense of taste and smell is very immersive and evokes specific feelings in readers. And J.K. Rowling especially has a phenomenal talent for including small clever details in Hogwarts that contribute to a fully realized world that makes you want to visit.
As a writer, you have powers that go beyond even a 4-D film director. When you immerse a reader in specific sensory experiences throughout a novel, the setting will feel more tangible and vivid.
Change underway
The best settings are not static, unchanging places that have no impact on characters’ lives. Instead, in the best worlds, there is a plot inherent to the setting itself.
It could be a place in turmoil (The Lord of the Rings), a place that is resisting change but where there are tensions roiling the calm (To Kill a Mockingbird), or a place where an old era is passing in favor of a new generation (The Sound and the Fury).
Basically, something important is happening in the broader world that affects the characters’ lives. There are forces outside of their control, and the things that are changing in the world interfere with the characters’ lives (or the characters themselves may have a huge impact on these events).
Great settings are dynamic. Change is happening, and we have the sense that things will never be the same again.
Personality and values
There is more to a great setting than just the change that is underway, however.
A great setting has its own value system. Certain traits are ascendant and prized, whether it’s valor and honor, justice and order, or every human for themselves. It could also be a place where normal values and perspectives have become skewed or inverted due to outside forces (Catch-22).
There’s a personality and an outlook to these settings that throws us off kilter and makes us imagine how we’d react if we were placed in the same circumstances as the characters. They make us wonder if we would have the personal constitution to thrive within such places.
And, best of all, seeing places with unique values makes us look at our own surroundings in a brand new way.
Know and understand the values of your world. Who is a hero in this world? Who is a villain? Who are the celebrities? What are the religions? What is the government, who is in charge, and how are the laws decided?
Once you know the values, you can place your characters in line with these values or in opposition to them.
Unfamiliarity
Most importantly, a great setting shows us something we’ve never seen before. Either it’s a place that most readers are unfamiliar with and have never traveled to (The Kite Runner), or it’s a place that we are all too familiar with but is shown with a new, fresh perspective that makes us look at it again (And Then We Came to the End).
Whether it’s a bar in Tennessee or a family’s living room on another planet, you, as the author, have to take us someplace that has a sense of uniqueness and specificity. You have the ability to take us behind doors that are normally locked to us or that are unreachable because of time or distance. You can give us a glimpse of life that we can only receive through your novel.
Know this above all: What is in the world of your novel that your reader hasn’t seen before? Even if it’s meant to be a familiar setting, how does the setting show everyday places in a new way?
What do you think makes for a good setting? And what are some of your favorites?
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: May 27, 2010
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Art: The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
You got through that whole post without mentioning Atonement? 🙂 I'm impressed.
Sierra Godfrey says
I like it best when I can smell and feel the setting on my skin, even though all I've done is read about it. And I like when I don't realize that I even feel those elements.
That is tough to convey, for suresies, but using non-visual wording helps.
Kristan says
Great post. In particular, the "Change Underway" section grabbed me because I'd never thought of that. Now I'm considering how that works in one of my WIPs.
Fave examples of good settings: Harry Potter and Narnia come to mind right away. Kite Runner, as you mentioned. HUNGER GAMES!!! And, with some help from my GoodReads account: Martian Chronicles. Brave New World. Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.
Josin L. McQuein says
The best stories are those that handle setting as though it were a character. Places have personality and the best writers get that.
Houses without people in them degrade quicker than those lived in. You can argue that it's because there's no one to make repairs, but it's also because there's no soul to them anymore. There's no light in the windows or sound so they're blind and deaf.
Terrain isn't a backdrop and shouldn't be treated like one. It requires navigation because of rises and dips. There are snaggling brambles and tree branches that can tickle or torment.
Surfaces have texture. They reflect light or shatter it, sometimes they devour it.
Setting is such a key component to the tone of a story it bugs me when people shrug it off as though it were no more than the shoebox used to house a first grade diorama of the Cretaceous Period.
Writing isn't taking snapshots, it's orchestrating a moving picture of the grandest scale.
Angela Ackerman says
Great post as always, Nathan. I think one of my favorite setting-rich novels is 'Troll Fell' by Katherine Langrish. It's steeped in sensory language and every scene has been written with careful thought of the emotions it brings out and the tension it creates.
Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse
averyoslo says
"The Grapes of Wrath" comes to mind. Hostile environments bring out the extremes in characters, and from this you get a whole pot of delicious conflict.
shawn smucker says
I really like that thought about the setting changing along with the characters, or in contrast to them.
Remilda Graystone says
Wow. Never really thought about it this way. I'm going to need to look at my story again with this post in mind.
My favorite setting would have to be in Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus series. I loved every moment I spent in that book.
Thanks for this post!
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
A couple favourites:
Duncton Wood – you come to know every inch of that forest as the moles do. The leaves, the ground litter, the trees, the tunnels, the changing feel of the earth, the Stone…
Shadow Country – the setting, the Everglades in historical Florida, saturates the entire story. It shapes it and shadows it and pervades all that happens. The story and the setting are inescapably linked.
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
Though if I could add in a non-fiction book, I'd throw in Jonathan Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Everest: now that's a setting that shapes a story.
jjdebenedictis says
I think a sufficiently alien world has to show readers how it's a little like home.
Just as readers care about the protagonist after we recognize a sliver of shared humanity with him/her, we care about the world of the novel only after we begin to see how it's like ours.
D. G. Hudson says
Favorite setting: the world of Arrakis/Dune. This setting evolved and changed as the desert planet was transformed into a fertile world.
A great setting makes one feel as if they've been there. We feel the wind, the dryness or moisture in the air, or we feel the damage of a virulent sun as in the Riddick stories, or the Thomas Covenant series (sunbane).
Our senses are titillated when the setting and its description meld together.
Excellent info, Nathan. Love these Tues & Thur writing posts!
Steppe says
A lot to consider in that posts.
A big hmmmm of attempted deep thoughts here. Setting verses action has been my main concern as I start a second revision draft of a book-3 and a prologue to book-1 to add a coherent prologue suggesting the core inner struggle between a group of five characters who have united as small group in a time-mafia conspiracy to survive their own rather mundane lifes. Have to give that post a few looks.
Ken Hannahs says
A setting does, I believe, two things: 1. It is the bit of prose where poetry is most applicable. Florid description that sounds like music is mostly found in the description of scene or character. 2. Good setting is paramount for the reader to suspend disbelief — especially important if you aren't writing realistic fiction.
To me, setting is where writers are most able to flex their literary muscles and experiment with fascinating metaphors and curious word choice. You won't get that in dialogue, nor will you get it in action. Setting scenes is the place where the author has complete freedom to do whatever she/he likes.
Favorite examples of setting, perfected:
Banville in THE UNTOUCHABLE. Incredible book. I can almost smell the stench eminating from Boy's room. I know of no other author that has described a black dress as a "beetle's carapice," and meant it as a compliment.
Atwood's HANDMAID'S TALE. This is the first thing I thought of when Nathan mentioned "personality and virtues." Atwood weaves a haunting tale in this dystopian world, and the worst part is, we can SEE IT. I think in another dark world is Phillip Roth's THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA.
Krakauer's INTO THIN AIR. When people say that they couldn't stop reading because it felt like they were abandoning the climbers on Everest, your settings are spot-on.
Poe's "The Raven". Poetry, yes, but incredible and vivid scenery. There isn't much, but what is there is so vivid that I like to imagine it as some of the best. Similarly, also check out some of the short stories like "The Cask of Amantillado" for some good ol' fashioned grotesquery!
Rowling. I mean, let's be honest, she does it so well.
Anyway, there's tons more, but these were the ones that came immediately to mind.
Ted Cross says
People get tired of hearing Tolkien's name, I suppose, but no one has done it better.
Nancy says
Terrific post, Nathan–you always make me think–thanks…I guess! 😉
Avonlea is more a character than a place in the Anne of Green Gables books–it made me want to go to PEI. The Limberlost in Gene Stratton Porter's Freckles, Girl of the Limberlost, and The Harvester made me curious about a place in my own state–Indiana…
Josin, your comment "Writing isn't taking snapshots, it's orchestrating a moving picture of the grandest scale" is inspiring–thank you!
bcomet says
I love this topic, Nathan, and what you wrote.
The setting must hold and touch and weave into the story and its characters. When it does, it can transport the reader with a clarity that can be magical.
I am at a turning point in a WIP where the characters move to a new setting. Before I can continue writing, I have to understand how this new setting will support the characters in their story arcs. I need to let this world open up in my imagination and show itself to me, the writer.
bcomet
Marian Allen says
Love the picture of Mono Lake on the post!
I love settings that take me into the world of the story, whether that's 18th Century Belgium, 25th Century space or Cousin Louise's kitchen.
Some of my favorite books for setting are MOBY DICK, Kim Stanley Robinson's MARS trilogy and Mervyn Peake's GORMENGHAST trilogy. And, of course, anything by Edward Rutherfurd.
Jess says
One of my favorite examples of a dynamic setting is found in THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES. The way Kidd writes about South Carolina is so beautiful that it takes me right back, yet she added the racial tension of the 1960's and created a world wholly unfamiliar and fascinating to me. The lives the characters lead are intriguing enough without that particular social element, but by putting her characters in situations where they had to confront and react to racism in all its many forms, Kidd transformed an interesting story into something that stays with you and changes the way you see your own life.
Ed Miracle says
In China Mieville's Perdido Street Station, the city throbs and hunkers and wheezes as much, usually to greater effect, as the characters.
Julie says
Eva Rice's The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets boasts my favorite setting of any book: 1950's London, with dazzling parties, dramatic manors, and the indescribable allure of well-written pasts. It's not my absolute favorite book, but the way Rice makes England a separate character blows me away every time.
Emily White says
The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. That setting was its own character and it helped to change (or destroy) everyone in that book.
Verification word: hanabl
Should I be scared?
Claudie says
Some of the best books I've read are those where setting, plot and characters are so deeply intertwined it becomes hard to distinguish one from the other.
Every place has a personality of its own, and it gives rise to unique attitudes and beliefs. I find that when you take the time to develop your setting, plots and characters emerge by themselves.
jujohnson says
I'm not into long flowery setting descriptions. I confess I skim those paragraphs…even in great setting books like LOTR.
The book I'm reading right now is set in Venice and Instanbul and I think this writer evokes very distinct impressions of place without being heavy handed.
I think that might be because it's very character centered: description is based on their sense experiences, their impressions, their interactions in their environment. It's woven in.
I like this kind of setting approach the best…seems light and effortless..yet draws you in…
Terry Towery says
Whatever the hell Josin said way up above — I agree with that. 😉
Leis says
Patrick Suskind's PERFUME-THE STORY OF A MURDERER is another example of superb use of 'setting' as character.
Outstanding post, thank you Nathan.
Caledonia Lass says
Psshhh… my problem is too much setting sometimes. But that is a drawback to being a fantasy writer. You want to share EVERYTHING. Every aspect of the world, how it was created and so on and so forth.
And I love keeping my places in turmoil. Hehe!
Jen P says
The River in Huck Finn.
Plainsong by Haruf.
Blackbird House or The Glass House by Alice Hoffman.
Tom Clancy – I've never been in a submarine, but I feel like I have.
And now I consider it, I think this is the one element I did not take to in The Time Traveller's Wife – because it kept shifting.
Your post (plus Josin's comments) make me realise how important setting is to me but I've never appreciated it. I have butterflies. Having this enlightenment is an 'aha moment' and will add to my WIP no end. Thank you.
Marilyn Peake says
I agree. Settings can make a story extra delicious and intriguing. Some of my favorite settings that add significantly to the story are those in: THE POISONWOOD BIBLE by Barbara Kingsolver, the world of the pink house in THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES by Sue Monk Kidd, ENCOUNTER WITH TIBER by Buzz Aldrin and John Barnes, the game rooms in the ENDER series by Orson Scott Card, most of John Steinbeck’s novels, so many more.
I belong to several amazing writing groups. One is a unique type of Travel Literature writing group, run by William Reese Hamilton, in which the goal is to develop the setting as an important and integral part of the story, as Hemingway and others used to do. William Reese Hamilton has been published in major literary journals, and his writing is exquisite. He knows how to develop a setting with incredibly descriptive language that adds significantly to the story. Here’s a sample of his writing, a short piece published in the SmokeLong Quarterly: CROSSING THE ORINOCO by William Reese Hamilton
Krista V. says
Donald Maass has a good chapter about setting in his latest, THE FIRE IN FICTION. It has some great pointers – I highly recommend it.
As for settings I enjoy, there's nothing quite like a richly layered fantasy world for me. I happen to be reading Janice Hardy's THE SHIFTER right now, and it has a fantastic Istanbul-esque setting (at least, I find it Istanbul-esque).
I also love it when writers take us to the most important places in a story, when they trade in the generic locales for the super-charged ones. Why have that scene in the hallway when you could have it in the third-floor bathroom that everybody knows is Johnny Daring's secret lair? Why settle for an alley when there's a sewer – that's directly under the Library of Congress, no less – three blocks away?
Marilyn Peake says
Josin,
I love novels in which the setting is so major, it becomes a character. In HOUSE OF LEAVES by Mark Z. Danielewski, the house was in many ways the main character. I found that novel rather awesome to read.
Jordan says
Mono Lake, eh? I thought that looked like the locale from the Sasquatch documentary I saw last night.
Like jujohnson, I actually don't care for a lot of setting. When a setting is dynamic and involved in the plot, that's great, but when a writer is trying waaaay to hard to make it a character (or just too much in love with the world s/he's created), I skim or stop reading. I just did this the other day—the setting was actually the only "character" that even merited much interest by page 50.
But, then, setting is the bane of my existence as a writer. No matter how much I try to put in, my readers/CPs seem to want more.
Thermocline says
Every book within Terry Pratchett's Discworld series has a slew of interesting settings that force themselves upon the characters. Part of Pratchett's magic is being able to create all these places that feel familiar and strange at the same time.
J. Koyanagi says
I'm going to second China Mieville's PERDIDO STREET STATION and add Jeff VanderMeer's VENISS UNDERGROUND. Oh, and George Orwell's 1984.
V Man says
I like your blog.
Elie says
I love the miniature world of The Borrowers, and the way the characters interact with the larger human world. The change of scale is compelling.
abc says
Joshua Ferris does a great job of making the setting (an office space) a character in Then We Came to End. The halls, the cubicles, the bookshelves, THE CHAIRS. I can't think of a better example of the setting being so instrumental to the story.
treeoflife says
They've been said already, but I'll second "Into Thin Air" and "Dune".
I'll add "Pillars of the Earth"… you could really understand the world they lived in.
Laurel says
You broke my brain a little bit citing LOTR, TKAM, and TSATF all in one sentence. The trifecta!
The Hobbit has one of the most pronounced examples of this, IMHO. Mirkwood Forest is a character as much as a setting.
Samuel says
To ask a stupid question: what is the 'setting'? Do we mean the milieu or community i.e. the peopled world surrounding the characters?
If so, then I think one of the reasons I love post-war South African literature is because the writers are fortunate – fortunate! – to be living through such interesting times.
The Pollinatrix says
In my WIP, the setting more or less plays the part of a character, so I've thought a lot about this. I really like the way you've laid it out here.
The literary settings that have done it best for me as a reader are Pern, Oz, Green Gables and surrounding area, Pi's boat, and Abarat.
Eric says
The Great Gatsby
The opulence of West Egg / East Egg set against the slums of the valley of ashes that borders. The green light across the bay, haunting Gatsby from Daisy's dock. The massive eyes of the Doctor Eckleberg, watching overall like God.
The opening of Chapter Three, describing Gatsby's parties…just wonderful.
Marsha Sigman says
My fav has to be LOTR. Who can top that as a setting that you would actually want to live in? Where honor is currency and your best friend an elf.
I would move to Middle Earth if I could.
Susan Kaye Quinn says
I particularly like the idea of the setting having a sense of change, movement towards some altered state. It is THIS now, but it used to be THAT, and it's on its way to THIS future. A sense of history as motion. Nice.
Mira says
Great post and great picture. Very well said.
Can't argue LOTR, but Harry Potter books do this as well. The Wizarding world is real. Hogwarts exists. 🙂
Terry Stonecrop says
Jane Smiley's, The All-true Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton and Kurt Vonnegut's, Galapagos come to mind.
A great post! Lots to think about. Thanks.
Jil says
Nostalgia can also be a setting's attraction. A lake similar to where you once spent summers, a mountain you climbed or a country you visited-a city in a different time or a college. Sometimes the setting is the main reason I pick up a book. A boring, or personally depressing one, can cause me to put a book down no matter how good the story may be.
When I begin to write a new novel, the setting is the first thing I think about as that is where I will be spending the next few year.s
Livia says
A lot of good science fiction have great settings. Dune, Orson Scott Card's novels (Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, Pastwatch), etc…
Although I do have a theory that great "setting-driven" books have a higher risk of not-so-great sequels. I've seen this several times in science fiction, where the first book is an amazing story in a fascinating world. But once you get to the sequel, we've seen the world already and the characters and plot arc aren't enough to carry the second volume (or they just get plain weird).
heather says
I, like so many others, have never really looked at the setting in such a detailed fashion. Of course I know how important it is and the kind of role it can play – or fail to play – in a story, but man, Nathan, wow! That's a whole lotta 'I never even thought about that before' info.
So here is my question. My wip isn't set in a fantasy land, or some strange new world. It's pretty much set in the world we live in. There will be a few things going on beneath the surface of this plain old Earth-as-we-know-it in my story, but nothing like you talked about. Have I done something horribly wrong? Do I need to rethink my entire environment and make it less normal?
heather says
Oh, and I really love the settings for R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms books, specifically the tales of Drizzt Do'Urden. I might be the only one to think this, but man! That guy can paint a picture and tell a story.