Authors use story setting to describe the environment, time, and place for the reader, which provides more context and engages the reader. When readers are engaged in your story’s settings, they will be actively reading and invested in experiencing the narrative and how it will unfold. Elicits emotional response in the reader.Without the setting of a story, there may not be as much meaning to be gleaned since setting provides context. An effective story setting connects the characters to the plot, and ties together the story’s themes and events.
4 elements of setting how to#
Related: How to Become an Author Here’s why the setting of a story is important:
Whether you are learning how to write a nonfiction book or write a novel of a fictional story, the setting of a story is crucial to that story’s development, and the reader’s experience, for a number of other reasons. It is also important because it improves the reader’s experience and adds to the story’s development with plot, mood, and characters. The setting of a story is important because it provides the reader with context on the time, place, and environment that the story takes place in. Show the readers the setting of a story through powerful writing and the use of literary devices. If I were to show you that the sky is dark, there’s a cold drizzle outside, the wind is gusty, and that Sarah’s inner thoughts reflect that, “Even the weather knows how I feel,” we have some insight into the depressed state of the protagonist. If I were to write about the Volkswagen-musty with the strong smell of stale sweat hanging heavy in the air, the plot thickens. If I were to talk about the old Volkswagen Beetle that Sarah was sitting in as she was bouncing down a bumpy back alleyway in Manhattan, you’d know where she was. Let’s go through another setting of a story example, and how it relates to the experience a reader has. There are many stellar examples of story setting written not only in fiction novels, but also in non-fiction books as well. Notice the bolded words, and how they help the reader envision the place, social environment, and time of the story. An honest-to-God castle in the heart of the west.” How could she not? she asked herself as she hugged her arms to her chest and drank in the wild, soggy view from her window. Here is an example of the setting of a story from author Nora Roberts, who is describing Ireland in The Dark Witch: “The cold carved bone deep, fueled by the lash of the wind, iced by the drowning rain gushing from a bloated sky. Where does it take place? What’s the social climate? What time period is it? What important events are happening in the world? What are the social norms and expectations? What’s the weather like? What season is it in? These are all questions that serve a purpose in the story’s setting. In short, the setting of a story has an important purpose in providing the reader with context on the narrative, such as describing the when and where of the setting.
What is the setting of a story’s purpose? Many mistakenly believe it is only the backdrop to the story when, in fact, it includes everything that has to do with the social environment, place, and time. Each component in story setting helps to build the narrative’s mood, plot, and character development. The setting of a story is the context in a scene or story that describes the elements in which a story is taking place, including time, place, and environment.
4 elements of setting driver#
The setting of a story is a powerful driver for hooking book readers into a story.ĭoes your story setting help tell your story? Does it deepen your plot and enrich your characters? Does your setting engage the reader by setting the mood and increasing the emotional connection to your characters?Īll of these are important questions that you should be asking yourself if you are crafting the setting of a story.īut, getting your setting “properly written” can be a hit or miss.
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