Imagine you are reading a gripping story—the mystery is really deep and the characters are intriguing: lots of mind boggling twists and turns to confound your mind. You have no idea what the characters will do next. Now, wouldn’t you be even more vested in the plot if you knew where this story was taking place? What about when it was taking place? And how about the weather and the surroundings where the story is taking place? A setting of a story is all about creating the runway where you can land your piece of perfectly planned plot.
Think Time:
Let’s have a read of this example:
Sally began to get excited about the lake house vacation as she felt the car slow down. Her sisters left home for universities in different countries three years ago, and they hadn’t gotten a chance to meet since. As the car swerved right, she looked at the lawn in front of the house. Dying to go inside the house, she ran out of the door even before the car could halt.
Can you tell the time in this story? Is it taking place in the morning or night? Which year is it? Which season of the year is it? Doesn’t the absence of time references make the story seem unmoored? Time could refer to the time of day, year or even a period in history.
Now imagine the same story when you have used the time setting properly. How does the appearance of the story change?
Sally began to get excited about the lake house vacation as she felt the car slow down. Her sisters left home for universities in different countries three years ago, and they hadn’t gotten a chance to meet since. As the car swerved right, the white wonderland greeted her eyes and she saw the sprawling fields covered in eight inches of snow. They shone golden as the setting sun reflected upon them. It couldn’t get better than this, she thought to herself as she checked for the signal on her mobile phone. Dying to go inside the house, she ran out of the door even before the car could halt.
Doesn’t this story feel clearer and better? You know the characters, the time setting of the story – winter evening – and also the year this is taking place in – the twenty-first century.
Think Place:
The small waves below began to rise. The salty water pushed against the only floating platform that was available to stand on and lightly splashed onto our faces. Farther, the howl of the wind was beginning to get louder. With a shudder, I thought to myself if this was the end of it, as the waters climbed up to my ankles.
Where do you think this story is taking place? The ocean? All the descriptions make it seem that way, isn’t it? But what if it was on land? A great wave could have brought the sea onto the land, and where there used to be streets, a great big salty river could now roam. Doesn’t the entire plot change then?
The small waves below began to rise. The salty water pushed against the only floating platform that was available to stand on and lightly splashed onto our faces. Farther, the howl of the wind was beginning to get louder. With a shudder, I thought to myself if this was the end of it, as the waters climbed up to my ankles. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a car being towed away by the current; it was going in the direction of the tallest building that I could behold. Using a pole that was hanging on its side, resting on the platform where we were, I vaulted onto the roof of the approaching vehicle. The others jumped on too.
Now we know for sure that the setting of this story is not the ocean but in fact land, probably the middle of a city, overrun by the sea.
Think Weather:
In any story that we write, there is always a reference to weather, whether it plays a main part in the plot or not. It could be a stormy weather, a dull one or even a snowy one. Without the idea of what the outside looks like, the setting could be quite incomplete. Even if it plays no part in the story in hand, the weather still manages to make things lively.
Memorising the X mark on the map, we continued onward. The sun beat down upon us with all its might, but we were not discouraged. Streams of sweat ran down our faces and our T-shirts stuck to our bodies. The only thing any of us paid attention to was the fork at the end of this seemingly endless quest. That was where the real test started. Which one we chose would make all the difference.
Do you see how the focus of this story is the quest that the main characters were on? The weather has been mentioned, but instead of taking the focus away from the main plot, it enhances it; it makes it more challenging and exciting.
Think a State of Mind
Sometimes the setting of the story is more of a state of the mind. Pathetic fallacy is used often in settings like this in conjunction with the setting of the weather. The mood of the story is borrowed from the natural world around it. Are there scary storms in a comedy? If a story has someone undergoing a trauma or some kind of an internal struggle over something, do we describe the weather as sunny or bright? No, right? Therefore, a vivid description of what is happening outside helps create the mood of the characters inside.
The roof began to tremble even harder than my hands as I dived under my blankets. The deep rumble that had begun far away was now right on top of my house. I was transported back to that day when my favourite pet died. The words bearing the news were thunder in my ears. The entire floor quaked jolting me back to the present as the thunder growled even before the lightning had finished flashing.
Clearly, we can hear and feel the thunder as well as know what the narrator is feeling at that point in the story. We also know that this painful memory is going to play a crucial role in the plot. However, weather can also be used for a regular description of the outside just like time and place.
There you have it – how to create the right setting for your story. Remember, your reader should see what you imagine. If you can create the right setting, you can tell the story right.