"The road to hell is paved with adverbs." -Stephen King
*******
Recently it occurred to me that I could do more with the setting of my story. Granted, the setting isn't crucial to the plot--although maybe that is my problem. Maybe it should be. Or is it okay if it isn't?
I mean, I need it to be somewhere with a high school where there are students who are not very tolerant of differences. Oh wait! That is every freaking high school. I need it to be in a city/town where parents worry about keeping up appearances. Oh wait, that could be anywhere as well! Okay, I guess I want it to be on the big lake. Or I suppose it could be the ocean. Hmm. Doesn't really matter which it is. I mostly just want some large body of water. And a cemetery. But that is a lot of places as well. And I don't want it to be a huge town, but it can't be a podunk nowhere place either. (Nothing up in the U.P. : ) That's for you, Mark!)
Is it better to just imagine a place so I can make it whatever I want? Or is it better to locate the story in a real city? And if I put it in a real place, does it have to be accurate? I mean, can I mix imaginary and real? Do I have to get the street names right and all that?
I'm afraid I have little budget for an information gathering trip. Although, if I did, I'd make sure I located the story somewhere wonderful and warm! With great beaches.
The Internet gives me lots of information, but there is nothing quite like actually going somewhere and walking the streets and smelling the air and tasting the food.
So, are there good stories where the setting isn't all that important? I guess I can think of a few. Maybe they tend to be more character driven books instead of plot driven books.
What do you do when creating a setting for your story?
9 comments:
Sarah;
I think it depends on the writing. In my case, setting is important, but it could be Anystream, USA or Everyfield, etc. Specicfic place is not as important, unless I write about a specific stream or place. "The Flowing Well" could have been any 1950s-60s bait shop and I think that's what connects with my readers. To me "setting" includes landscape, contents of a store, layout of a school etc.
I think you could use Spring Lake and your school as a setting. You know the town's smells, the odd members of society, who's who, etc. I would draw on all that experience. You can make up a town name, high school, families, etc.
Or maybe you don't need setting. What about Julian and the "shoes?" That's more character driven.
Probably not much help.
I won't be much help either. I think unless it's a story meant to be set in a specific city, where known landmarks are important, and you don't mind risking offending the local residents, it's probably best to make up a town in a vague location. Just my 2 cents. At least that way you have full control of it and its people. An' what da heck is wrong wit da U.P., eh? --Mark
Absolutely nothing is wrong with the U.P. And actually, now that I think of it, Marquette wouldn't be a bad location. But too cold. Spring takes too long to come up there.
And I think maybe you are right. Maybe making something up is the best way to go. I can base it on what I know but make up all the names and such. I almost should make a map then. Else I know I'm going to forget where I said things were located some ten chapters earlier. You have no idea how much time I waste paging back and forth trying to figure out how I described somebody or something earlier in the book.
Sarah--
I agree that it depends on the writing. There are some things that belong to a specific place at a specific time. But there are other pieces where an exact, real place might not be necessary. Sometimes it's just important that you capture the flavor of a place without all the specifics. Mirror Creek is a fictional location with some locations based on the town where I grew up. I had worried about stealing the exact name of the ice cream parlor, but it has since gone out of business. Someone even asked me once where Lancaster (one of the other towns) was located and all I could say was that Lancaster is about 30-40 miles away from Mirror Creek. There's no pinning it down on an actual map.
Also, I once heard an author talk about a mistake that he made (or noticed) in a book about New York City. A museum had been placed on the wrong street and the incorrect information really stuck out to the folks who knew. I think if a writer picks a well-known place, he/she has to be especially careful.
But like you, I've struggled with the setting. I can't draw you a picture (even if I could draw) of the layouts of Meg and Julian's houses. I did, however, realize that I had them walking to quite a few places, not an easy feat in the town I had imagined. Maps are handy, even if it's just to keep track for yourself.
Listening to: AFI "Sing the Sorrow"
Word Count: I have to admit that it hasn't changed much. Soon to increase, however. :-)
Hey r.e.--
How is the novel group going? I'm jealous, you know. Wish I lived closer to you!
And yeah, I think you are right. I'd better just create an imaginary town. Actually I already did, but I wondered about changing it because I was having a hard time picturing it in my head.
Think I'll stick to imaginary.
BTW, did you ever check out the writer t-shirts at cafepress.com? Some of them make me laugh. (Procrastination: It's CRACK for writers.)
Sarah--
Wish you were closer too! The novel group can be time-consuming, but it's going well. It was interesting to hear them talk about a part of my novel that had been written so long ago. I hadn't edited it too closely because I wanted to keep moving forward. Some of the mistakes they pointed out are things that I'm much more careful to avoid now. But there were many helpful comments, too. A lot of stuff to chew on. I've put the manuscripts away so I can keep going forward without obsessing over that stuff.
And no, I haven't checked out the t-shirts yet. They sound like great fun. I'll definitely have to do that.
Off topic: I keep juggling 4 novels in my head, writing them in my head all the time but rarely keying anything into a word processor, but the continuous thinking about it is, well... either (a) enlightening, or (b) just so much wheel-spinning. But the end result is the story and characters become much fuller and rounder. Eventually I will "discover" something about a character or event that (IMHO) makes the story more interesting. In other words, I think I have my work cut out for me at Glen Lake. --Mark
Mark,
How do you keep 4 novels straight when you never write anything down? I'm always afraid if I don't jot something down--I'll forget it. I've got a journal for each of my novels and I write bits and pieces in them on and off. Sometimes it's fun to go back and read some of it. And of course, a lot of it is for me, and will never go in the book, but helps me figure out who the characters are.
The best little plot thing I read lately was to ask 3 questions. Who are your characters? What do they want most? What is the worst thing I can do to them?
I have found the last two questions very helpful for getting a handle on the main focus of my plot.
I don't find it all that hard to keep them all in my head. I don't keep very good notes. But! I think that allows me more creativity in the long run. I let them bake. (But who lets bread bake for 15 years and more?) I sat down for a week in da U.P. one time and wrote several chapters of my "Trinity" story, then rediscovered an outline I'd written a few years before, and everything I wrote was ENTIRELY different. Hopefully better.
I've finished first (second and third) drafts on two novels, and the other 2 are maybe 1/3 done. It gets easier to keep track of everything as the years (and decades) go by. But at least I do have something to show for it all, and hopefully I'll finish them all, maybe in retirement.
As for your 3 questions about your stories. I know one of the best suggestions I've heard was "tell your protagonist NO!" Don't let things come easy. Make her struggle. Give her conflict. That's what makes the story worth reading. OTOH, this was from a friend who wrote one novel where he set so many stumbling blocks in front of his heroine that it became distracting, and even cruel of him. I kept feeling the writer's hand in there, meddling and forcing the issue. So I think it can be overdone. --Mark
Post a Comment