The Importance of Place and Setting

When writing a novel or short story, it can be easy to forget that the reader does not see the setting showing clearly in the your mind. Building the setting and putting the reader in that moment and place takes careful consideration. Speaking as both a reader and writer, tossing someone into a scene that they cannot picture or place in the timeline of the novel is like dropping someone in the ocean and telling them to swim to the nearest island. But where are they? How do they find a sense of direction?

Readers need guidance and one of the ways to drive their fear, desire, anger, or heartbreak is through setting. Here is an imperfect example from the novel I am currently writing:

Ben's grieved howl responded in horror. As his brother dropped to his hands and knees and emptied his starved stomach onto the hardwood floor, Mike bit down on his tongue and held his white fists in the air before punching through the drywall to his right. A large photo of the smiling family watched over the motionless bodies. Their father lay face down on the couch, a gaping wound to his side emptying every pint of blood onto the now slick floor. Betty Sue was motionless beneath him, a large oozing bite to her left arm while her blue eyes stared toward the ceiling. Her arms hugged John's back, their only comfort found in one another those final moments.

Mike leaned his forehead against the wall as sobs overtook his body. Between wails, his chest heaved for breaths, and his cries sounded foreign to his own ears. He squeezed his eyes closed tightly, unable to view the room that held so many memories. The quilt their mother sewed years ago hung on the couch, now stained a deep red. The coffee table their father built for their fortieth anniversary. Family chronicles captured in photographs beamed from surfaces and hanging frames. Pain struck like bolts of lightning from his chest as he tried to block out the image of their death seared to his lids.

Yes, your characters drive your story. Yes, their joys, disappointments, successes, and pains pull your reader in. Just don't forget: the setting is just as important. A young woman passes by a coffee shop, remembering that first day she met her lost love. An elderly man leaves the home he shared for fifty years with his wife. A mother stands in her son's room the day after he leaves the state for college. All of these places hold significance.

Use the setting! Put your reader in that place, in that moment, and let them see, let them feel. Increase the tension. Kick the drama up a notch. Provide context. Appeal to the senses. Your reader will thank you.

Completion and Continuation

I'm done! Late nights spent with busy fingers and a sleep deprived brain produced a July 1st conferral and, more importantly, eight chapters and a complete outline of the novel growing in my mind. Next challenge? Finish it! When I set to outline the rest of Dead Highway (working title), I quickly found that it would have to be a Stephen King novel type length or split into a series. Chapter by chapter, each brief summary moved my characters forward, but in the end I was left with an undeniable truth: my characters were far from finished.

The biggest challenge I will face is not what I will write but that I will keep writing. I've spent the last two weeks enjoying my freedom and making up for lost time by reading book after book after book. The more I read, the more I feel it: an urge to let loose my characters and see where they take me next. I set goals at the end of my thesis and I will to stick to them.

1. I will write when the urge strikes.
2. I will write when I think I can't.
3. I will write when it's the last thing I want to do.
4. I will take risks.
5. I will "kill the neighbor's dog" and I will own it.
6. I will never settle for easy.
7. I will always let my characters lead and surprise even me.
8. I will set goals, by chapter or by word, and I will meet them.
9. I will finish my novel in the next year.
10. I will finish the series.

Some of these seem very simple. Yet, it can be very easy to fall into the trap where you write what you think will be successful rather than what will be challenging and more rewarding. Do we always measure reward by books sold? I'd like to think that as writers our reward comes from staying true to ourselves, true to our work, and true to the muse that motivates us. Everyone wants to be loved. Successful. A gigantic hit! But how do you measure success if you lose part of yourself to obtain it?


Me? My characters lead. They surprise me. If I can read my own work and be gripped through action or emotion despite knowing what's to come, I know I'm heading in the right direction.

Checking in on Chapter Five

It's been a long while, I know. I've been really focusing on writing, particularly my thesis for my graduate degree. The last two courses for my MA in Creative Writing focus entirely on writing a piece of fiction, whether part of a novel or a collection of short stories. I'll admit it: I was intimidated to actually begin writing a long work.

After I pushed and pulled and yanked and begged that very first chapter out and created the vision I had of the beginning of my novel, I felt a satisfying relief. I can do this! When I read the feedback from my classmates and professor, something clicked and that nail biting, painstaking where do I go from here was gone.

I'm not a writer who outlines everything before I start. Or really much at all period. I know where my novel is heading. I know the big events, the major turning points, and a few of the pit stops along the way, but I write best when I don't box myself in to certain ideas and allow all of that to change as I go. Most of my ideas come as I am writing and I honestly think it makes my writing flow better, both for myself and my readers. The best way I can explain it is that I see each scene playing like a movie and my muse is continually adding on before I fully register what's happening. I see my character creeping down the hospital hallway as I've written, and before I know it, BAM! Movement to his right. It's someone he knows. He's running in the parking lot, passing people with no idea of the danger they're in and suddenly I hear him screaming in warning because he couldn't live with himself if he didn't try, despite the odds against them.

After four chapters and over 11,000 words, I get it. I get the connection with each character and the emotionally draining aspect of living through them. I get the writing, re-reading, re-writing, that's not good enough, that's not how I pictured it, how do I make this clear, would I feel this emotion if I was the reader, did I show instead of tell, etc, etc, etc. I can't tell you how many times I re-read my work to make sure its just right even though I know I'm going to be doing it all over again later. 

I definitely have action down pat. One aspect I am working hard on in my novel is theme and emotion. The whole beginning is a whirlwind of happenings that take place in a very short time span. A couple of hours, tops, and its one of those things where the characters don't have much time to think or second guess their actions because of how quickly things spiral down the toilet. I just reached a point where everything hits my main character like a ton of bricks but he only has a minutes to process it. It's proving very difficult to find that balance of action and emotion and I am eagerly awaiting my professor's feedback now that those realizations have started to hit.

Tonight I will be beginning chapter five and my characters are on the move. I'm finally loving it and feeling the excitement of where I'm going next. Don't get me wrong. Writing is hard. It consumes your thoughts and eats at you when you're not sitting with your fingers on the keyboard. But when you see it coming together and you're finally making good progress, you're on top of the world.