Contributed by Karen Cioffi, Children's Writer
Setting informs the reader of the time and place of your story.
It can include the period, the physical location, the climate, and the social surroundings.
But it can do a lot more.
An example of this is the middle-grade book "Walking Through Walls." It’s set in 16th-century China, and speech, descriptions of behaviors, clothes, trades, food, and more all add to the authenticity of the time period.
This allows the reader to get a feel for the environment the protagonist lives in and helps immerse the reader in the time period.
Your setting descriptions can be powerful.
1. It takes a village to raise a child.
Okay, the #1 tip heading is a stretch.
What that means is it takes all the senses when describing setting. Don’t limit it to just one.
It seems that most authors stick to the scenery—what can be seen. While this is an important sense, the reader will become more involved if there’s more to ‘feel.’
To make your setting come alive, your fictional landscape, use as many senses as you can. You should include smell, touch, sound, and even taste if the story allows.
In "Walking Through Walls," the protagonist Wang is walking home:
Wang ambled back to the cottage. He noticed his favorite flower, the lemon lilies, in full bloom. They draped the landscape. Hmm, they smell so good.
While that passage doesn’t go into detail, it brings the smell of the lemon lilies into the reader’s mind, bringing another sense into the picture.
Here’s another scene from "Walking Through Walls":
Tired and hungry, Wang trudged through fog thick as porridge.
This gives the reader a bit more insight into Wang’s journey. Again, while it’s not explained in detail, the fog might have felt damp on his skin. Maybe it left beads of water on him. The reader has something more to picture and imagine than just a fog.
The senses can also help to bring backstory into the story. Through taste, smell, and even texture, the character can remember people or times from their past, enlightening the reader about important elements of the character’s history.
2. Use your character’s emotions to describe settings.If your character is in a good mood or reflective, he will sense the world around him much differently than if he’s in a bad mood or angry.
Going back to Wang and the lemon lilies, if he’s happy, he might bend down and pick up one of the flowers, bring it up to his face, and take in the sweet odor.
If Wang is angry, he might trample over the lemon lilies, grumbling under his breath.
How the character reacts to or describes his surroundings will add an element of emotion.
3. Treat your setting like part of your story.
Your setting can create a deeper experience for the reader. Using rich details will help the reader dive further into the story, feeling like she’s there.
It helps the reader understand what the character is feeling and what he’s facing.
Here’s a passage from "Walking Through Walls":
Slowly, his gaze traveled up and up and up until he could see no further. The mountain loomed above him like a never-ending wall. Its thick, giant trees left little space between them for a trail.
This gives the reader a pretty good picture of what Wang was facing, bringing the reader into the story.
4. Add just enough setting description.Okay, you’re a writer, and writing every little detail about a setting may come easy. You might want to capture it from multiple views or describe every color.
Well, if you add too many details that aren’t important to the story, the reader may get bored and skim over that section.
This may lead the reader to wonder what other sections she’ll have to skim over.
While you want to keep the setting descriptions within limits, the description or detail you include should do more than show where the characters are, if at all possible. Think emotional state, symbolizing, evoking a memory, etc.
Going back to Wang, looking up at the formidable mountain foreshadowed the difficult journey he had begun.
Like the rest of the story, the setting description should move the story forward.
The setting and its descriptions help create a connection between the reader, the character, and the story.
But…
If you’re writing a children’s picture book, you can ignore the above.
The illustrations in a picture book fill in all the setting descriptions. They show the emotions, surroundings, and characters… they show what the story text doesn’t say.
It’s a whole different writing experience.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Cioffi is an award-winning children’s author, working ghostwriter, rewriter, and coach (picture, chapter, and middle-grade books). If you need help with your story, visit
Writing for Children with Karen Cioffi. You can check out Karen’s books HERE.You can connect with Karen at:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karencioffiventrice
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kcioffiventrice/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karencioffikidlitghostwriter/
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MORE ABOUT THE BLOGGER
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the multi award-winning author of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. She is also a marketing consultant, editor, and author of the multi award-winning #HowToDoItFrugally Series (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTXQL27T/ ) of books for writers including "The Frugal Book Promoter" (https://bit.ly/FrugalBookPromoIII), and "The Frugal Editor" both offered in their third editions by Modern History Press. Others in that series are "How to Get Great Book Reviews Frugally and Ethically," and two booklets, both in their second editions also from Modern History Press. The booklets, "Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers" (https://bit.ly/LastMinuteEditsII) and "Great First Impression Book Proposals" (https://bit.ly/BookProposalsII) are career boosters in mini doses and both make ideal thank you gifts for authors. The one on writing book proposals is also available as an Audio Book. "The Frugal Editor "(https://tinyurl.com/TheFrugalEditor), was recently released in its third edition. It is the winningest book in this series for writers.
Carolyn also has three frugal books for retailers including one she encourages authors to read because it helps them understand what is needed to convince retailers to host their workshops, presentations, and signings. It is "A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques" (https://bit.ly/RetailersGuide). In addition to this blog, Carolyn helps writers extend the exposure of their favorite reviews at https://TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com. She also blogs all things editing--grammar, formatting and more--at "The Frugal, Smart, and Tuned-In Editor" (https://TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com). Learn more and follow it to get news on her new releases directly from Amazon at https://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile.
