While important in real estate, setting is also a major factor in writing. Location can be just background, a stage full of flat props that are just there, or it can almost be a character in itself. Now some stories you want the background to well, fade into the background. You want it to be anywhere or any time with no clear distinction.
Other times you need it to set the mood, atmosphere, time period or state of mind. It can be a very useful tool as you work through your story. it can even let the reader in on the private workings of your character. For example, lets go back to Bob.
I know, I beat him up a lot here, but he has had an entire week to rest.
So, Bob has had a crush on Cindy for years. He sees her at the comic book shop every week and they always share a short, pleasant conversation. It is the highlight of his week, yet he has always believed she was out of his league, or seeing someone else, or not really interested in him. (Our Bob has a few self-esteem issues.)
But then one day, she asks Bob if he wants to join her for a friendly game of bowling. She was supposed to go with a girlfriend, but she bowed out at the last minute and Cindy still has the lane reserved.
It might not be a date, but Bob is up for spending more time with Cindy. So he says yes.
Now at this point in the story we may know that Bob’s parents were killed even if we don’t know the details. We may know that His Aunt was killed by an escaped lunatic. And we may have hinted to our readers that the slug monster general is setting up his headquarters close to Cookie’s Bowl-a-rama. Cindy’s offer may be our way of getting Bob to Cookie’s.
And emotionally, we may suspect Bob is nervous. he may be wondering if he is just substituting for Cindy as a friend. He may wonder if it is a date. He may be wondering if sometime during the evening he can figure out if Cindy is dating someone else and/or might be interested in going out on a date with him. He may even regard this as a sort of pre date interview.
But let’s use the setting.
It could be a generic place where Bob and Cindy have their first not quite date. It could be that we just need Bob there and this is how we get him there, but for the sake of this story let’s say it isn’t.
It’s not just A Bowl-a-Rama. It is Cookie’s Bowl-a-Rama. Where his Aunt took him to bowl once a week, every week after he came to live with her once his parents died. In fact, the last night he spent with her was at Cookie’s. The next morning he went off to school and came home to find the police surrounding her house. And on each visit to the Bowl-a-Rama she pointed out the wall of trophies from the bowling league, many of which had his father’s and grandfather’s names on them. She told him when he was old enough he could join the adult league and add his name to the trophies to the wall. She even pointed out a special Mega trophy where the MVPS of each years winning bowling team had their names inscriped and points out his father’s and grandfather’s names as well as the empty space where his name could one day go. He promised her he would try to get his name there. But, while Bob is a good bowler, he never joined a league. In fact, he hasn’t been back to Cookie’s Bowl-a-Rama since his Aunt was killed.
In this case, the setting is going to have an impact. He may be nervous and excited about the ‘outing/possible date’ with Cindy. But there is so much going on. A general bowling alley is one thing. But as soon as Bob sees that giant Neon chocolate chip cookie roll into the bowling pins, knocking them over on the big 1950s style sign out front it’s going to hit him. This is Cookie’s Bowl-a-Rama.
Bob saw the neon cookie take down the pins and the electronic blue and white flashing proclaiming ‘Strike!’ reminding him of the police cars around his aunt’s house when he came home from school that day.
The flashing neon edged his excitement over his potential date with the heavy feeling of disappointment and regret. he promised Aunt Mary that he would join the league and add his name to the trophies, but after she died, he just couldn’t go back. He felt like a failure.
Bob thought he would feel sad, but instead he was flooded with a slew of happy memories from the many hours he spent with Aunt Mary and the praise she offered for his many strikes and high scores. He was happy here once and knew it would be here that he won over the fair Cindy.
Because the location was a specific one, you can add more about your character, edging it in slowly. (remember we talked about not doing a data dump in a previous post?) And because this location was so important each step he takes, you can wiggle a little more of his past into the scene. Does it look the same as when he was a kid? Does it seem the same until the laser lights kick in for laser bowling, throwing him completely off his game? Is he easy and confident or a bundle of nerves and repressed memories. Because of this specific location, you can work in so many more complex bits in to Bob’s character.
And how is he going to feel when the slug monsters attack? Will Bob want to run until he sees the Slug Monster General oozing his way towards the giant trophy bearing both his fathers and grandfather’s names on it. The one he swore to his Aunt that he would add his name to?
Will that be the reason he decides to stand his ground instead of sensibly fleeing?
While this is a very specific place, it can be more general. A school hallway feels one way during the day when it is filled with students and teachers. It feels quite different at midnight when the building is empty and dark. It can also feel different when you are 16 to when you walk the halls at 36. It can be your old school or contrasted with the school you actually went to. The character’s perception of the building can change based on a number of factors, but it can also be in your setting as well as his mind.
The bell rung, echoing off of the tiles despite the day being long over. He wondered if it would continue ringing every hour all through the night. In the dark empty corridors, John thought he heard the rustle of paper and the sighing of lost students from years gone by. did ghosts attend night school?He shook the thought off. He was here to get a file and nothing more. The fact that the school was empty was a plus. No one would question him. No one would hear his echoing footsteps or hear him sneeze at the industrial cleaner mixed with that strange school smell made up of old textbooks, chalk and that indefinable something else that mixed in and that no cleaner could ever erase. Still without the jostle of the other students around him, the hall felt cavernous, gaping around him in echoing darkness. Part of him wanted to turn on the lights even though he knew he couldn’t, that they would bring too much attention. The rest of him wanted to leave them off, afraid that if he did, the school wouldn’t look as he expected. Tonight it felt like an alien place. He heard a whispering sigh and jumped as a streamer fluttered off of a handmade poster, wiggling through the air to crumple soundlessly on the floor. His mouth went dry even though he mentally blamed the air conditioning vents and shoddy glue as the joint culprits. He hurried his steps and was relieved to see the office door come into sight. Then he froze as he heard an unexpected sound.
Now where you take this can be anywhere. The school could be haunted. There could be someone else going after the file he is there to steal. That depends on the story. But it is the location that matters. During the day, this school is one thing. At night it could be as spooky as any haunted house. It could be his school, it could be a school anywhere. If you need a date, there could be one picked out in glitter on the poster, or in the office. Or you can change the details and make it a classroom building from an 1890s boarding school if you wanted. The details of the location can affect your story.
Your setting can be just a backdrop or it can interact with your characters. The setting tool can be used as deeply or as lightly as you want. And it can change appearance not only based on time of day, but also on the characters. One character may think of haunted halls when walking through a school at night, another may revel in the torment they inflicted on their fellow students when they were in school. Or remember a crush on a teacher or the day the water pipe burst and turned the common area into a swimming pool.
Your setting can be terrifying or comic, or anywhere in between depending on how your character sees it. It can change over time. It can set mood, and a host of other things. It could be a place that changes little over time to provide continuity. It could adjust over time to show differing times in the same place. It could be a major player.Or it could be anywhere at anytime in a place that changes so little and has so little interest that it fades away into nothing. Regardless of the path you choose, treat your setting like a character. Decide if it is going to be a bit player or a star. It can be one of the most useful tools you have to show details that might otherwise be lost.
Ten til Midnight 