| Weak Settings | | | | She's been on horseback most of those years. But |
| When I was an instructor for a writing (by | | | | then her father remarries (her mother had died years |
| correspondence) school several years ago, I carried a | | | | earlier) and moves her and younger brother, Chuckie, |
| full load of students and hence read tons of | | | | to Kansas City. Their first home there is a too-small |
| manuscripts. I stayed with that position for over nine | | | | apartment. |
| years. Frequently, I found memorable characters with | | | | The vast, wide-open, dusty Oklahoma countryside IS |
| some of the lesson submissions, and sometime I even | | | | Marcia. It's who she is. She lives and breathes horses. |
| came upon an engaging plot. But many of the plots | | | | And horses and the ranch go together. Like a magnet |
| were sorely lacking in the third member of that basic | | | | she is drawn to a boarding stable that she locates in |
| triumvirate: setting. | | | | Kansas City. Can you just imagine what the smell of a |
| | | | stable would do for young Marcia? Leather, hay, feed, |
| Not a Decoration | | | | horse flesh even the manure. She loves it all. It's all part |
| When talking about setting, I am not referring to | | | | of the setting - the in-depth backdrop for the novel. |
| paragraphs of flat descriptions. But rather this | | | | Setting As Character |
| backdrop must be more than impressions painted on | | | | My point here is that the setting is intrinsically |
| scenery panels like a stage play. The setting or | | | | interwoven into the characters. Nothing is painted on. |
| background must be interwoven with your characters | | | | Or added in for a dab of color. It establishes the story |
| and what they are doing at any given time. | | | | and carries it. The setting is as real as the characters. |
| If you have previously viewed setting as merely a | | | | Do you have to know your setting firsthand in order to |
| "decoration" for your story, I am challenging you to | | | | write about it? The answer is no, you do not. Of |
| think again. I would challenge you to think of the story | | | | course, the more research you can do the better |
| setting as you would a character. This will require that | | | | equipped you will be to write about it. Visit if possible. |
| you plumb the depths of the place. | | | | Stay a while if possible. Read as much as you can to |
| Evoke Reader's Senses | | | | give you a clear background. Talk to people who live |
| As you plumb the depths, create ways in which to | | | | there. Better yet, talk to people who have lived there |
| evoke all the reader's senses in the descriptions. What | | | | for a long time. |
| sounds and smells are prevalent? What is the weather | | | | Sprinkle; Don't Shovel |
| like? How do the people talk? What foods do they | | | | While you can never have too much factual |
| love? If your novel is set in a rather stringent setting, | | | | information on about your setting, you can indeed put |
| can you move about by using flashbacks to another | | | | too much into your story at a time. Carefully avoid |
| place and time? | | | | dumping a shovel-full of information just to impress the |
| Let this background come to life through your | | | | reader. Believe me, it will be skipped over. (Or the book |
| characters' thoughts, dialogue and actions. No matter | | | | is laid down never to be picked up again.) |
| how beautifully you describe a room, a season, a day | | | | Am I saying there will never be a paragraph that |
| or whatever, your reader is apt to skip over it in order | | | | simply paints a picture or sets the stage? No, not at all. |
| to pick up the thread of the narrative. Let the reader | | | | Just make sure that is the exception and not the rule |
| live the setting through that character's experiences | | | | throughout the novel. The key is to steadily stir in the |
| and reactions. | | | | information, here a little, there a little. |
| Consider Your Own Roots | | | | Show, Don't Tell |
| Think about how your own roots (where you grew up) | | | | Pull your reader right into the scene by allowing that |
| colored and affected who you are. Now apply that to | | | | reader to "experience" the place rather than your |
| your characters. How does the setting affect that | | | | constantly telling about it. |
| character and shape and mold his personality? | | | | Take your favorite novel, written by your favorite |
| Personally, I know very little about mountains, or the | | | | author and notate where the setting has been |
| seaside. (sigh) I have lived most of my life in the | | | | interwoven by dialogue, or the character's inner |
| landlocked, flat Midwest. That is who I am. | | | | thoughts, or directly through the character's actions and |
| In my novel Good-Bye Beedee (David C. Cook's Quick | | | | interactions. You will learn much from such exercises. |
| Fox line) the main character Marcia has lived all her | | | | Now go back over your own unfinished novel and if |
| thirteen years on her grandparents' ranch in Oklahoma. | | | | this is an area that needs work! |