Writing Active Setting Book 1: Characterization and Sensory Detail by Mary Buckham Page A
Authors: Mary Buckham
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non-existent Setting of their stories and make it work harder. That’s my wish for every writer who takes the time to study Active Setting .
READY TO START ?
Throughout this book we’ll be looking at how you can ramp up elements of your story by how you use or do not use your Setting . In this book w e’ll take an overview of why Setting matters to a story and see examples from published authors showing you in a variety of genres how they maximized Setting in their novels. Setting is more than describing a place.
Note: Active Setting means using your Setting details to work harder and smarter.
First , I want you to focus in on what seems like a basic assumption :
Your reader has never been in your world — wherever your world is.
I don’t care if it’s New York City and most of your readers live in Manhattan ; your reader has never been in your world. T he Setting and world you’ll be painting on the page are more than a travelogue or a list of street names.
Not everything that a character sees , smells , tastes , or touches need end up in your final manuscript , but it’s a place to start. For example, a POV [point of view of the person whose thoughts, emotions, background , and world view the reader is experiencing the story through] character that is miserable in a school environment will not see or notice the same items as a POV character who finds school a sanctuary and the center of their world.
Think of you as the author focusing the reader on what’s key about the world Setting of yo ur POV character and then bring that info rmation to life through your word choices, the details , and how you thread these details together.
Remember that the details you choose to share must matter .
Do not focus your reader on something that is not pertinent to your story. Why? Because you’re wasting an opportunity to make your Setting wor k harder. Too much narrative, which is what Setting can be in large chunks , slows your pacing.
Example : You’re showing the reader a room in a house. That room and the details in that room should show characterization or conflict or emotion or foreshadow ing or be there for a reason instead of simply to describe placement of objects in space.
Remember, you are not just working with objects in space — you’re creating a world. When we make characters interact with the space they’re in, we can make those few words work as more than just descriptors and turn them into ways the reader can get a grasp on the world as the character experiences it .
Poor example : Sue walked into her mother’s living room, past the couch and the coffee table to sit down in a chair.
What is the above sentence showing you? Revealing to you? Letting you experience? Not much, it’s simply moving a character through space.
Rewritten example : Sue walked into the gilt and silk living room of her mother ’s home , gagging on the clash of floral odors : lilac potpourri, jasmine candles, lavender sachets. Did her mom even smell the cloying thickness anymore? Did she ever try to glance beyond the draped and beribboned window coverings that kept the room in perpetual dusk? Or was she using the white - on - white colors and velvet textures to hide from the real world? With a sigh Sue sank into a designer chair and hoped she could crawl out of it sooner rather than later.
O r
Sue walked into the heart of her childhood home, remembering playing cowboys and Indians behind the worn tweed couch, building tents draped over the nick ed coffee table, hiding behind the cotton drapes that were now replaced by newer blinds. Her grandmother used to shudder when she deigned to visit the house , but Sue’s mum didn’t care. Now she’d no longer be knitting in her easy chair or patting the sagging couch for a tell-me-all-about-it session.
See? The details painted allow you to experience a lot more than simply seeing a room. That’s the power of Active Setting
READY TO START ?
Throughout this book we’ll be looking at how you can ramp up elements of your story by how you use or do not use your Setting . In this book w e’ll take an overview of why Setting matters to a story and see examples from published authors showing you in a variety of genres how they maximized Setting in their novels. Setting is more than describing a place.
Note: Active Setting means using your Setting details to work harder and smarter.
First , I want you to focus in on what seems like a basic assumption :
Your reader has never been in your world — wherever your world is.
I don’t care if it’s New York City and most of your readers live in Manhattan ; your reader has never been in your world. T he Setting and world you’ll be painting on the page are more than a travelogue or a list of street names.
Not everything that a character sees , smells , tastes , or touches need end up in your final manuscript , but it’s a place to start. For example, a POV [point of view of the person whose thoughts, emotions, background , and world view the reader is experiencing the story through] character that is miserable in a school environment will not see or notice the same items as a POV character who finds school a sanctuary and the center of their world.
Think of you as the author focusing the reader on what’s key about the world Setting of yo ur POV character and then bring that info rmation to life through your word choices, the details , and how you thread these details together.
Remember that the details you choose to share must matter .
Do not focus your reader on something that is not pertinent to your story. Why? Because you’re wasting an opportunity to make your Setting wor k harder. Too much narrative, which is what Setting can be in large chunks , slows your pacing.
Example : You’re showing the reader a room in a house. That room and the details in that room should show characterization or conflict or emotion or foreshadow ing or be there for a reason instead of simply to describe placement of objects in space.
Remember, you are not just working with objects in space — you’re creating a world. When we make characters interact with the space they’re in, we can make those few words work as more than just descriptors and turn them into ways the reader can get a grasp on the world as the character experiences it .
Poor example : Sue walked into her mother’s living room, past the couch and the coffee table to sit down in a chair.
What is the above sentence showing you? Revealing to you? Letting you experience? Not much, it’s simply moving a character through space.
Rewritten example : Sue walked into the gilt and silk living room of her mother ’s home , gagging on the clash of floral odors : lilac potpourri, jasmine candles, lavender sachets. Did her mom even smell the cloying thickness anymore? Did she ever try to glance beyond the draped and beribboned window coverings that kept the room in perpetual dusk? Or was she using the white - on - white colors and velvet textures to hide from the real world? With a sigh Sue sank into a designer chair and hoped she could crawl out of it sooner rather than later.
O r
Sue walked into the heart of her childhood home, remembering playing cowboys and Indians behind the worn tweed couch, building tents draped over the nick ed coffee table, hiding behind the cotton drapes that were now replaced by newer blinds. Her grandmother used to shudder when she deigned to visit the house , but Sue’s mum didn’t care. Now she’d no longer be knitting in her easy chair or patting the sagging couch for a tell-me-all-about-it session.
See? The details painted allow you to experience a lot more than simply seeing a room. That’s the power of Active Setting
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