Establishing Setting

One thing I've noticed with writers I've critiqued or edited is that some have problems with setting. Establishing setting is important because it grounds your reader in the world you created. If you don't have a good grasp on what your world looks like, it's difficult for your reader to see it. And sometimes writers get so lost in their own story, in how they see it, that they forget to detail that well enough for their readers to see it as well as they do.

But how do you fix that?

It all depends. I know, everyone hates it when they hear that, but it's true. Every genre and every writer is different. In science fiction, historical fiction, and fantasy, the world is detailed a lot more than in other genres. This is because most of the time, the characters are moving in a world that is completely different from what we have experienced. But even though the world's not as detailed in other fiction, it's still important.

With those more detailed worlds, writers have to be careful not to fall into what some new writers face. And that is 'info dump'. This is when you pack in a lot of details about the world that you lose your reader and they grow bored. In this fast-paced world we live in now, readers want stories that move a bit more quickly.

I've written science fiction and fantasy for myself as well as ones I've been contracted for. The way I've avoided dumping too much information on a reader is that I write from the perspective of the character and the world is revealed more naturally. Instead of telling where they are, I show what they're seeing through their eyes. That way the reader is moving through their world and it becomes as though they have seen that world for themselves. That is what you want. You don't want to tax your reader or have them too focused on the details.

There are some masters on setting out there. Some of my favorite authors were adept at establishing setting. Daphne Du Maurier is one of these. One of her most famous books Rebecca is easy to picture. She details the hotel where the heroine first meets her husband. When she arrives at her new home, it's easy to picture the estate. A lot of gothic writers were adept at establishing setting, because they use that to grind in the fear factor. But that is that genre.

Some science fiction writers who are adept at establishing setting is Suzanne Collins with her Hunger Games series , Stephen King with The Stand, and Lois Lowry with The Giver. Some in the fantasy genre are J.R.R Tolkien with Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis with Chronicles of Narnia, J.K. Rowling with the Harry Potter series, and Stephenie Meyer with the Twilight series. I could go on and on with the fantasy list since that is a popular genre in our modern age, but part of the reason why these books are so popular, why they stay with their readers long after they put the book down, is that the reader was able to live in the world that the writers created.

And that is something you, as a writer, have to learn to do -- think like your readers, think about how they will feel while reading your book. Ask yourself these questions: Did I spend too much time detailing every little aspect and not enough on the story? Will this tax my reader? Who is my audience? Once you answer those questions, you will be well on your way to establishing setting. And it doesn't hurt to pick up books in the genre you are writing. That way you can see what you like and what you don't like and start integrating that into your own writing.