Pick a Number – Select a Setting: PICK a NUMBER, #4

By sue viders

WHERE does your STORY take place?

 

This fourth book in the Pick a Number series, Select a Setting, gives any writer a multitude of ideas on how to create a believable backdrop for his or her character's. To do that every story needs a PET.

 

P PLACE where the story happens
E ENVIRONMENT surroundings and ambiance
T TIME past, present or future

 

Select a Setting is a DIY workbook on how to create and develop a memorable setting for your story. It is loaded with thousands of suggestions based on examples from over 500 movies and TV shows.

 

With 16 different categories and four movies examples in each of the nine components of a setting, every writer is sure to find new ideas for new and interesting settings. Sections include: Culture, Environment, Emotions, Geography, Make-believe, Place, Symbols, Time and Weather.

• Language: English
• Publisher: sue viders
• Release date: Apr 7, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201916664

sue viders

Sue is the author of numerous nonfiction books. She has also written extensively for a variety of magazines and newspapers. A national columnist for many years on art marketing in The Artist’s Magazine, Sue has spoken to various groups and organizations both nationally and internationally on marketing and writing for over thirty-five years. She continues to lecture and teach writing onsite at colleges and universities as well as at national conferences. She regularly teaches online through numerous writing groups and organizations throughout the world. When she isn’t busy churning out a writing book for aspiring writers, she explores the complexities of everyday life with her “light bulb” thoughts in her essay book, Out-of-the-Box, now up on Amazon. On the drawing board is the next PICK-A-NUMBER book Finding a PLOT in this series and should be finished soon.

Book preview

GETTING STARTED

Every fictional story needs a PET.

P - place - where the action takes place

E - environment - surroundings

T - time - era in which the story takes place

It doesn’t make any difference what the story is about, how long or short it is, or if written in the first or third point of view; however, there has to be a setting. A bedroom, a castle, a spaceship or even a coffin can be a setting. The story has to take place somewhere, and that somewhere has to be grounded in a specific time and in some type of an environment.

A believable setting is woven not only into the dialogue but also subtlety into the narrative. Nothing turns off a reader more than having to read long paragraphs or worse yet pages of description.

A few words can usually help the reader visualize the setting of the story and give him/her an emotional connection to what is going to happen and perhaps a better understanding of the characters and their actions.

Think of how the setting will help the reader know something about the time and the environment of the story.

Hogwarts - Harry Potter

Middle earth - The Lord of the Rings

Desert - Lawrence of Arabia

Palace of Versailles - Marie Antoinette

The Roaring Twenties - Chicago

Outer space - Gravity

For example, here is Cinderella’s PET:

P - place - in a kingdom far away

E - environment - stepmother’s house

T - time - long ago in the past

After you have the perfect PET, the rest of the story just needs a bit of filling in.

Sue

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P.S. Create your PET carefully, always remembering that different PETS will give you different stories.

CULTURE

When building a new world, you’ll be challenged to make up the various aspects of its culture. When choosing a setting that is different from the place where you live, it is necessary to learn the various aspects of the culture you want to use in your story.

Culture includes the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and the arts.

It also encompasses what we wear, how we wear it, mating and marriage, what we believe is right or wrong, how we treat and raise our children, how we behave with loved ones, and a million other things.

In creating a setting that is not the one you currently live in but want to write about, you need to do your research and learn as much as you can about the time period.

Remember, there is no one thing you can give to your characters in the way of culture that makes them believable. Believability needs to be a combination of the many aspects of your characters’ daily living in their specific society, country or even on an alien planet.

1 - ARCHITECTURE

Famous buildings give a story a certain look and blend well with the emotional elements of the characters.

Palace Bristol Hotel - The Grand Budapest Hotel

Fox Plaza - Die Hard

Sheats Goldstein House - The Big Lebowski

Elrod House - Diamonds Are Forever

What well-known building would work in your story?

2 - BELIEFS

The characters’ beliefs, personal values or their faith all contribute to culture conflict in certain stories.

men vs women - Switch

poor vs rich - Titanic

greed vs love - Avatar

upper class vs lower class - My Fair Lady

What is the cultural conflict in your story?

3 - CLOTHING

Costumes from every generation, era or even those in fantasyland immediately convey the status of the character, such as rich, poor, military, slave or those of a different faith.

empowering - Black Panther

historical - Downton Abbey

fairy tale charm -