3 Reasons Why Setting Is So Crucial To Our Stories
Setting. The backdrop to our stories, where the action and adventure occur. A number of different elements can fall under the setting umbrella, from region to climate, building to time period. But why exactly is setting so important?
Couldn’t you argue that characters are more vital to a story? Isn’t the conflict driving the story forward more exciting to write about rather than the setting? While these elements are key ingredients of stories, setting has a valuable part to play.
Three reasons why we believe setting is a crucial part of our stories
1. Setting Can Act As Transportation
Setting can play a crucial role in a reader’s experiences of our stories. It can transport, entrance, and capture their imaginations. Readers often want to feel like they’re right there in the world of the story, that they’re about to embark on an adventure. That’s why it’s so important to bring our settings to life through world building. You need to write about our setting in a way that brings it to life for our reader.
What would Harry Potter be without Hogwarts? The creativity, the detail, the wonder of the setting, is an enormous part of the franchise’s charm. We’re transported away from reality and become immersed in this world of magic and new experiences. Spend time considering how you can transport your reader through your words.
2. Setting Provides Context
Settings provides readers with context, a backdrop for which the action takes place. If we don’t know details such as where a character lives, or the period we’re being transported to, how do we connect to the story? How can we place events in relation to the world they’re happening in?
Through setting, we can also portray mood and atmosphere. Whether we are transported somewhere where the sky is full of black clouds, or a beach on a perfect summer’s day, these snippets of contextual detail help set the mood for a scene and build anticipation. It provides the context the reader needs.
A clear setting helps us locate a particular scene or piece of action. We know exactly where something is happening, and this allows us to paint a vivid image in our minds. We can envision the action taking place and immerse ourselves in this world.
3. Setting Reveals Detail
Setting might be important because it refers to the location of our story, but it can do other things too. It can help develop other elements of our stories, such as character.
For example, why has your protagonist chosen to live in the rural countryside? Maybe they’re after a sense of peace in their life. Why do they prefer to spend their time in their auntie’s cosy flat rather than their parent’s mansion? Setting can reveal so much about our characters and help us get to know them better. Consider how you can show your reader more about your character through the setting your place them in.
Are You Struggling With Setting?
Whether it’s inviting us to explore a new world, or giving us clues to a character’s background, setting is a valuable element of stories. It brings everything together, helps us see a more complete picture of the world we’ve created.
Setting Writing Prompts
Creating a setting or a new world can be challenging. If you’re unsure where to begin, these writing prompts will help release your creativity:
Where does your protagonist live? Describe anything that springs to mind, from the town to the specific building.
Describe your protagonists’ dream house, including as much detail as possible.
Your protagonist discovers a deserted planet. What does it look like?
Using every sense other than sight, write about your hero or villain’s favourite place in the world.
How can you create atmosphere with your setting?
Open up Google maps and pick a country you’ve never been to, zoom in on a town, a street and write about what you see.
Pick a location you know well, and then add external elements to bring your setting to life. For example, add weather, add characters, add mood or tension – how can you show these things through the setting? Or, how can your character reflect the setting?
You could even turn these prompts into writing sprints. Set a timer and write non-stop till it goes off. See what you uncover, what ideas emerge. Keep going, keep building that world until it comes to life in your mind.
What is your experience with setting? Is it something that you struggle with? Or is it one of your favourite elements to develop? We’d love to hear your thoughts!
