Setting Mr. Rainwater

What is it? The setting of a story tells the time, place, and time period from the beginning to the end of the story. Setting can include specific information about time and place (e.g. Boston, Massachusetts, in 1809) or can simply be descriptive (eg. a lonely farmhouse on a dark night). Geographical location, historical era, social conditions, weather, immediate surroundings, and time of day can all be aspects of setting.

Why is it important? Setting provides a backdrop for the action. It’s an essential part of a story's mood and emotional impact. Careful portrayal of setting can convey meaning through interaction with characters and plot. For example, in Jack London's Call of the Wild, the setting for Buck's adventures changes frequently, moving from a civilized environment to a wild and dangerous environment. These changes of setting are crucial to Buck's development as a character and to the events in the tale.

How do I create it? To create setting, provide information about time and place and use descriptive language to evoke vivid sights, sounds, smells, and other sensations. Pay close attention to the mood a setting conveys.

Examples... Refer specifically to place and time: "In the early weeks of 1837, Charles Darwin was a busy young man living in London." —David Quammen, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin

Examples... Provide clues about the place and time by using details that correspond to certain historical eras or events: "Because the nights were cold, and because the monsoons were wet, each [man] carried a green plastic poncho that could be used as a raincoat or groundsheet or makeshift tent. With its quilted liner, the poncho weighed almost 2 pounds, but it was worth every ounce. In April, for instance, when Ted Lavender was shot, they used his poncho to wrap him up, then to carry him across the paddy, then to lift him into the chopper that took him away." — Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried" (A short story about the Vietnam War)

Examples... Describe the inside of a room where a scene takes place: "The walls were made of dark stone, dimly lit by torches. Empty benches rose on either side of him, but ahead, in the highest benches of all, were many shadowy figures. They had been talking in low voices, but as the heavy door swung closed behind Harry an ominous silence fell." —J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Examples... Describe the weather and the natural surroundings: "And after all the weather was ideal. They could not have had a more perfect day for a garden-party if they had ordered it. Windless, warm, the sky without a cloud. Only the blue was veiled with a haze of light gold, as it is sometimes in early summer. The gardener had been up since dawn, mowing the lawns and sweeping them, until the grass and the dark flat rosettes where the daisy plants had been seemed to shine." —Katherine Mansfield, "The Garden-Party"

Examples... Weave details about setting into the descriptions of action: "During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher." —Edgar Allan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"

Self Check Ask yourself these questions to help you recognize and understand setting: Where is it? When is it? What is the weather like? What are the social conditions? What is the landscape or environment like? What special details make the setting vivid? You don’t need ALL of these, just some!!