In a post on Writer’s Digest, Elisabeth Eaves offers advice on how to use your setting to build your plot and enhance characterization. “When plot and character are rooted in a setting, the story becomes an inseparable whole that imprints itself on the reader’s brain,” she writes. Her advice includes:
- Do your research. “You can learn more about a location from a walk in a park than you can from days of reading,” Eaves says. “A one-hour meander can tell you that noisy magpies live in the trees, or that the food carts give off the smell of fried oil, or that kayakers in bright jackets go paddling by.”
- Ask what could only happen here. Identify unique features of your setting and brainstorm situations that could occur only there. A crime committed during Mardi Gras in New Orleans will have a different set-up than one that occurs in a deserted beach town. Characters who live along a river will encounter different dangers than those who live in the mountains or among farmlands.
- Ask who would live here and why. Ask how your location would shape a person’s character. “Someone who’s lived in a rural setting for 30 years might have developed a strong sense of self-sufficiency and a skill set that includes driving a tractor,” Eaves notes. “A small town could instill civic pride in some citizens—but drive away others who want the anonymity of urban life.” If a character is new to town, ask what drew them there and if their expectations are met. How do they feel about this change?
- Show the big picture. “We may all be unique beings, but we’re also products of our time,” Eaves writes. “Characters’ values, goals, and beliefs are shaped by historical forces much bigger than themselves.” What effect have cultural, political, or historical forces had on your characters? Have they experienced opportunities or hardships? Are their beliefs challenged?
