Story Components: Setting

Setting is my favorite part of a story. I believe that by building the world through which the story passes allows me to truly escape into the narrative. The more imagery the better for me. Sometimes the setting is sparse, and for good reason, but I would still like to feel the surroundings.

Setting, for me, has two critical components: space and time. Space describes the world, the light or dark nature, city or woodlands, smelly, damp, hot or cold, really anything that describes the world through imagery. The description of space sets your mood as the audience, but you know what a smelly, damp city feels like so you know how that can impact the characters, giving you insight to their minds without having to overly narrate.

Setting is not required for a story but it can make one come alive.

Time is less straightforward but just as space gives implications of mindsets, time does the same. Just think of the differences you feel or fill in between “a black man was running across Mississippi” if the year was 2055 or 1855. Implicit biases and your own past creep into the story individualizing it for each reader.

These implications where you become a part of the story are what I love about setting. Without it you can lose interest since there is nothing to fill the parts of your brain associated with spatial awareness. You have no skin in the game if things just happen to characters. It would still technically be a story, but not engaging unless you personally are able to closely relate to the events. 

That is also a special note, setting is the first element in this series that isn’t required for a story to be a story. It is embellishment to tune the story, a tool for the author to manipulate how the story impacts the reader. Personally, I like to add setting to random chit chat stories. You can tell your co-workers about the meal you had last weekend and add imagery, time of day, all sorts of flair to make it shine instead of just factual details of the meal. This builds a conversation worth having and builds stronger relationships, because no one wants a boring friend, they want people with real lives.