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| Sharon Wildey Calle |
After a week's vacation in the "Land of Enchantment" (New Mexico), I have come home inspired and ready to write.
My only challenge... How do I recreate the diverse and magical spirit of this environment as a setting for a story?
Literature has long been inspired by place. The Grapes of Wrath, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird- each of these transports us to a very specific time and environment.
Much is involved in scene setting. To give a true sense of place, one must incorporate the following: physical environment, people, culture, language, and history. It is challenging to not let your setting interfere with (or upstage) your plot. It must be seamlessly woven in between your characters' actions and dialogue.
As I sort through my photos, maps, and free brochures, I think of the people I met, the cultures I experienced, the landscapes I hiked through. I'm not ready to resign my memories to a scrapbook or picasa gallery just yet.
But I am ready to share this adventure through storytelling.
What are some of the ways you incorporate a sense of place into your writing?
Are there certain children's books/authors that you feel do this exceptionally well?
I can think of a couple of historical fiction novelists who did a great job of incorporating setting with plot and character - just about anything by Scott O'Dell and then there's Elizabeth Speare's THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND.
ReplyDeleteI loved ISLAND OF THE BLUE DOLPHINS! I look forward to checking out Elizabeth Speare's book, too.
DeleteSetting is my Achilles heel!! Such a hard thing to pull off seamlessly. I think the important thing to do, is not to make it seem like a 'list' of objects or quirks that place you in a scene. You need to pull out what's unique and create a real backdrop. Stephanie Perkins does an awesome job with setting in both her books ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS and LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR. She captures both Paris and San Francisco in such a subtle way but you still get the flavor and feel of both - almost as is they are characters in the novels themselves.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the recommendations, Robin. I agree- when done well, the setting can feel like a character.
DeleteI really enjoy a fun and unique setting-- like Alecatraz in Al Capone Does My Shirts. I agree with Robin that setting is a hard thing to do well. As long as it fits in perfectly in the background, it is wonderful-- but if it starts to become like a list or overwhelm the plot, I find myself feeling annoyed as a reader.
ReplyDeleteBrianna, It is so important to not let the setting upstage the plot. I have read books like that, too. Not so fun to read!
DeleteWhen I work on setting, I literally close my eyes, lean back in my chair, and watch my characters move through their environment. I watch them doing mundane activities as they move through their day. Move from room to room in the house, classroom to classroom in the school, etc. I try to become as familiar with their environments as I can before I write the scene, then incorporate what I learned as organically as I can.
ReplyDeleteJudy, I love your visualization exercise. Instead of forcing the characters to fit a certain mold, you sit back and see what unfolds in your mind's eye. We could all do more of this when writing.
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