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| The spooky old farmhouse in Secret in the Mist, illustrated by Danika Corrall |
By Linda Wilson @LinWilson
In an article by Jessica Redland, bestselling author of stories of love, friendship, family, and community, such as Healing Hearts at Bumblebee Barn and The Start of Something Wonderful, Redland wrote, “If a setting is developed really well in a novel, it has the power to become a character in itself, as memorable as the hero whose journey you’ve followed.”
Setting can offer readers:
An escape – Our books invite readers and listeners to leave their world and venture into a world of our making (The Lord of the Rings series)
A sense of familiarity – We create a setting that they can identify with; in a series, they can become so fond of the story’s setting, they will want to return to it again and again (Harry Potter books)
An education – A rich setting can open up new worlds (Chronicles of Narnia)
Develop your Setting
The first two books in my Abi Wunder series, Secret in the Stars and Secret in the Mist, take place in Pine Hill, a fictional town loosely based on my home of four years in Purcellville, Virginia. Because both stories take place in and near my neighborhood, I already had a picture in my head of the setting I wanted to create when I began Book 1. Here are some ways a fictional setting can be created from real life.
Draw a map – My map began with my true-life neighborhood. Across the road from my house was a tiny patch of water where marshy plants and a bull frog lived. There were horse stables down a dirt road, farms with horses in pastures, and about 1-2 miles down the road was the tiny town of Round Hill, made up of two stores—a small grocery store and a hair salon. A two-room farmhouse and barn from the 1800s sat abandoned across the road from my house, and the real-life ruins of a flour mill well-known to Purcellville residents, was a stone’s throw away. As the stories evolved, the fictional parts of the setting were woven in.
Use interesting facts connected to your setting – Quaker families settled in the Purcellville area in the 18th and 19th centuries. Research about the Quakers helped create a big part of the plot as well as added texture to the setting. For example, the ghost was a Quaker. Research provided the information I needed for the clothes she wore and the furniture and goods that were in her home in the old farmhouse, which included dishes, a doll, and a pouch that contained U.S. postal stamps from her day.
Operation of the flour mill in the story - Abi and Jess, the two main characters, ride their horses to an old abandoned flour mill. Today the mill is in ruins, but the two friends take a brief trip back in time and see how the mill operated back in the ghost’s day during the 1800s.
Use the senses to bring your setting to life - I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here. We know that using the senses is important with all kinds of writing. We need to remember to include them.
A True-Life Setting Imagined
The marsh:
Up close, the marsh teemed with life. Cattails and tall grasses shot out of the water. Leafy green plants grew scattered around the edge among different size rocks. Dragonflies skimmed the surface. And the sounds. Abi’s ears were filled with the buzzing and clicking of cicadas and crickets, and even the occasional croak of a bull frog.
The old farmhouse:
Partially lit by moonlight, the building was small, about the size of a large shed. A leafless tree bent over the roof, its crooked branches seeming to strangle the small structure.
To the right of the front door moonlight reflected off of one small, thick-paned window. A rickety porch step led up to the postage-stamp-sized porch.
The flour mill:
The walls of the old mill were only as tall as Abi’s knees. The bricks had taken on a faded ashen tone, their edges worn and crumbling. Over time, silent vines had woven their way through the structure’s uneven nooks and crevices. Bright green moss tinged the crumbling bricks and nearby rocks.
A large half-crescent piece of metal stuck out from the thick undergrowth. Jess pointed it out. “That’s part of the old waterwheel. Farmers used to haul their wheat and corn here. Dad told me that the water in the river turned the wheel, which powered heavy stones that ground the farmers’ crops into flour. But the mill burned down a long time ago and this is all that’s left.”
While at the mill, Abi and Jess take a trip back in time:
In seconds, the creek went from a modest gurgling stream to a great surge of water.
A wooden structure about the size of a small house had taken the place of the ruins. Buckets of water spilled from the spokes of a large wooden and metal wheel, operating in complete silence.
Shocked at this sudden transformation, Abi remembered what Jess had told her about the mill and how it operated. But that was back in the 1800s!
“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Abi whispered to Jess.
Creating an Imaginary Setting
If your setting isn't based on a particular place, Redland suggests cutting out pages from magazines, creating a storyboard in person or on Canva, or setting up a Pinterest board, which can help with inspiration. Creating storyboards and Pinterest boards are great, but I enjoy thinking about my story while doing hands-on projects such as drawing maps, sketching pictures, allowing me to envision what my ghost looks like, creating storyboards on a bulletin board and on poster board, and cutting out pictures and hanging them on my board for anything else I need to envision.
You will discover what creative process works best for you. The goal: put your effort into creating vivid settings which your readers and listeners will remember long after your story is finished.
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| The Spanish version of Tall Boots is now available on Amazon! |
2 comments:
Linda, thanks for this detailed article on creating a setting in your fictional story and using maps is so helpful. How interesting that when you lived in Virginia the area was rich in history and you were able to bring that into your story! In an article on Literary Hub, the author referenced Elaine Scarry on setting: It is impossible to create imaginary persons if one has not created a space for them.”
Lovely quote, thank you Karen!
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