For Writers: A Few Thoughts on Setting

Last weekend I posted at Diamonds Down Under about Australia's quintessential romantic settings, applicable to real life but also as used in romance novels. That got me thinking about how much the setting can add to a romance. In some case it defines the romance...or perhaps the characters and the tone of the romance demand a specific setting. Perhaps it's not a core ingredient like character and conflict and a resolution that leads to a happy ending, but an essential one, IMHO.

I say this despite an interesting exercise conducted on our recent writing retreat. We were asked by our discussion leader to list ten essentials we look for when reading. Setting did not appear on many lists, although items such as colour, layering, depth, atmosphere did, and in my mind these are the things created through setting.

Interesting, some of the writers/readers said things like "I don't care where it's set as long as I'm drawn to characters". Or the situation, the plot, the storyline. Or perhaps they love any story where the dialogue is funny and smart and snappy. I argue that this reader's enjoyment will also be enhanced if setting is well applied. Not with a heavy hand, but as a light veneer to compliment the rollicking adventure or the intense passion or the quirky wit of the characters.

Would Stephanie Plum be Stephanie Plum without Trenton, NJ?

Have you seen or read No Country For Old Men? Could that story have been set anywhere else?

In these and many instances the setting chooses itself, it is part of the characters or essential to the plotline or defined by the situation. My examples: Tycoon's One-Night Revenge required a remote wilderness location to allow the stranded/isolated storyline to work. Tomas Carlisle in The Rugged Loner is an outback cattleman as harsh and unforgiving as his outback home.

In category romance it can even be part of the series guidelines. Quoting from the guidelines posted on eHarlequin.com, Presents are all "set in sophisticated, glamorous, international locations" and all Harlequin Americans are set, where else, but in America. "They're set in small towns and big cities, on ranches and in the wilderness, from Texas to Alaska--everywhere people live and love."

That's the overall story setting. Equally important is the setting within scenes, which grounds the reader by showing where the action is taking place or--better still--draws her into the storyworld so she experiences the action along with the heroine. Setting creates atmosphere and can be used to add texture, depth and sensual detail. Definitely something I look for in my reading and when I examine the authors who I've loved through the ages--from Lucy Walker's outback to Ruth Wind/Barbara Samuel's south-west--I realise just how essential.

PS: I'm giving away two of my books which I feel best exemplify my own use of setting to enhance story, The Rugged Loner and Tycoon's One-Night Revenge, to one commenter on the DDD Blog. Drawn 22 March.

And if you don't win the free copy at DDU, you can buy Tycoon's One-Night Revenge in eHarlequin's Hot Men for Hot Prices promotion for just $2.66.

Labels: giveaway, setting, writing tips