Where does your book take place? Help your readers more fully understand with a well-crafted, detailed setting.
My dad is not your typical dad. He is a creative force. In my youth, he took me and my siblings to regional theater shows. We toured art galleries. He quoted poetry. And my favorite quote that he’d repeat again and again? This little wonder from one Henry David Thoreau: “This is a delicious evening, when the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore.”
Mmm. Talk about a yummy line of text. Just reading it again gives me goosebumps. Thoreau has nailed down a setting for his famous “Walden” without ever even describing an actual, physical detail about the place. What a master! Thanks for helping me to memorize such an awesome quote, Dad. It’s inspired me to write great settings for the rest of my life.
So how do you master writing about setting? Well, I’m no Thoreau, but I do pride myself on having gathered a few great tips throughout the years. Here’s a quick and dirty list to help inspire you the next time you find yourself writing about your own Walden Pond.
- Welcome the abstract. We get it: the tree is tall. The air is hot. The sky is blue. We’ve heard these things a million times before. But how do these settings make you feel? What are the abstract qualities that only you can nail down for your readers? Does the tree look like it’s aching to pull up its roots and march away? Is the air so hot that it echoes your protagonist’s fiery feelings inside? Does the sky look so pure and clear that our hero might just get carried away on the wind and never want to come back? Whatever your descriptor for your setting, embrace the odd and extraordinary.
- Use Google Maps. What a time to be alive. Even if you’ve never physically travelled to your book’s setting before, you can easily hop on the internet and make a visit from the safety of your own home. Use Google Maps (pro tip: street view!) to get a feel for the land and a more intimate knowledge of insider details. Would your character make a right or left on their way home from school? Would they have a favorite coffee shop in the heart of town? How long would it take them to drive to the next city over? All your setting questions are answered and more.
- Include all five senses. Let’s do a little exercise, shall we? Close your eyes. Do you hear the hum of your dishwasher? The clanging of coffee mugs? What do you feel? Is there a breeze kicking up as you sit outside? Is your A/C broken? What do you smell? Does your dog need a good bath? Did a beautiful woman just walk by in a cloud of Chanel No. 5? All of these little details come together in a way that really nails down your setting beyond concrete, cliched ideas like a “sunny beach” or a “dark and stormy night.” And, yes, you can even include taste. In my last novella, Call It Kismet, I opened with a description of my protagonist eating mint chocolate chip ice cream. To me, it felt like the perfect way to convey that dreamy new vacation feeling and help to transport my readers to a happier place.
- Keep a notepad. Famed comedian Larry David tells a story about how he keeps a little notepad with him everywhere he goes to write down jokes and ideas. One time, he lost the notebook. The ideas were forever gone, never to be replicated in quite the same way or at the same level of quality. This story has always stuck with me and now I keep a notepad (on my phone these days) for all of my own writing ideas. This is a particularly helpful tip for developing your settings. If you are somewhere new or inspiring, why not take a moment to jot down how the place makes you feel? What do you notice or want to remember? Better write it down before you forget it!
- When all else fails, take a quick trip. Who doesn’t love an excuse to travel the world? When we can finally start taking more trips (curse you, Covid), you’ll find yourself blessed with a million more opportunities to write great settings. You don’t even have to go that far. I like to visit my local parks, museums, and even malls (hello, people watching) for some great setting inspo. Bonus points if you take pictures for reference later!
Hopefully one of these tips will get you inspired to write something great. I love to read books as a means to escape my real life, and a great setting is usually key to that experience. So channel that inner Thoreau and shoot me a message when you tackle your next story! I want to hear all about it.
In the mean time, if you want a distraction from your writing, check out some of my other blog posts, like this handy list of 5 great romance movies. Yay!
xoxo
Brittni
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