Setting

Establishing setting is an important part of any writing process. The author must decide where and when the events will unfold before starting the piece. Setting helps the reader understand the characters and their actions, and can add another layer to the story. Here are a few things to keep in mind when developing the setting for your piece:

• Setting is not only where a story takes place — it is when, what time of year, the socioeconomic background of a character, etc.

• Setting can be another character in the book. It can play a role in a character’s fate, such as if a story takes place on a lake and a character drowns. The author may have been describing this lake throughout the story—at first it is calm and placid, but by the end it is mysterious and menacing.
• Think about how a character interacts with the setting. We can tell a lot about a character by how they respond to their surroundings. To make it interesting, describe how two characters respond differently to the same place.

For more on setting, see Howard Frank Mosher's essay "Creating a sense of place".