Why You Need to Use Setting to Enhance Your Fiction

Your fiction writing soars when setting plays an integral role!

Have you ever found yourself watching a movie and being unclear as to where the story takes place?

The story is interesting enough, but the characters could be living anywhere? East coast, west coast, doesn’t really matter?

A clear setting is integral to any successful film, and it’s just as important in your fiction.

Where does your story take place? How do your characters interact with the city itself? In what scenes can details of the setting bleed into the main story? These are questions you want to ask yourself.

Setting plays a major role in all my favorite films. It’s not an accident that Sunset Boulevard takes place in large-scale Los Angeles, and it’s not an accident that Halloween takes place in small-town Illinois.

Think of The Birds. That northern California town of Bodega Bay is idyllic in every way, until birds start attacking people.

Look at how Alfred Hitchcock uses the schoolhouse, the playground, the diner, the bay itself. The town feels real and lived in, and Hitchcock uses it to its full horrific potential.

It’s not enough that you just choose a city to set your story in. It’s not enough to just mention that your characters live in Sacramento, or Chicago, or Orlando, and then move on with the story.

You want the characters to feel like part of the city.

And you want to have a specific reason why it’s set where it’s set. Don’t skimp on setting. Use it to enhance your work, not hinder it.

Try taking these two steps, and see if they help you…

1. Examine the use of setting in your short story or novel. How is the setting introduced? Is the setting mentioned again? What role does the setting play in the overall narrative, and how can you expand its use?

2. For the next three films you watch, take note of the setting. Does it play a role in the narrative? Could the film be set somewhere else? Why?

These steps will definitely help you expand the role your setting plays in your short story and novel!

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Brian Rowe is an author, teacher, book devotee, and film fanatic. He received his MFA in Creative Writing and MA in English from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his BA in Film Production from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He writes young adult and middle grade suspense novels, and is represented by Kortney Price of the Corvisiero Agency. You can read more of his work at his website, brianrowebooks.com.