We hear a lot about using setting as an actual character in your book, to help create a more immersive experience for your reader or to layer in additional conflict and obstacles for your protagonist. In an article for Writer’s Digest, Liz Michalski offers her advice on using setting as a character.
When setting is a character, it “speaks to readers, revealing secrets and emotions and feelings in ways the living characters may not be able to share,” Michalski says. “And it carries a double load, rooting the protagonist in place and giving readers a glimpse at their internal landscape.” An evocative setting requires the same care and planning that goes into your characters, and you have to make them work together – or put them in conflict.
Michalski’s advice includes:
- Make a strong first impression. “If you can see the backdrop to your story, by all means, go with it,” Michalski says.
- Select a specific season. How do the seasons affect your characters’ activities and moods? What aspects of your setting are available or unavailable as the seasons change?
- Use your senses. “Whether we’re aware of it or not, we’re all influenced by our environment as we move through our day,” Michalski writes. “Every sense detail you include is a chance to be purposeful and shape how the reader experiences your story.”
- Turn up (or down) the temperature. Like the seasons, temperature affects your characters’ actions and moods. “It’s a nice one-two punch—your reader gets both a description of your character’s physical world and a look at what’s happening inside them,” Michalski says.
- Share site-specific details. Again, your setting description should influence and reflect your characters’ moods. Driving on a sunny day is a very different experience than driving through a downpour at night. Play with the way weather and setting can distract your protagonist or make their obstacles more difficult.
