Setting with Nancy

Last Workshop with Nancy at Glen Eyrie

Setting is an often neglected character in a story—it can bring the reader into the environment.

The setting needs to breathe as much as the characters do.

Is your protagonist living in the wrong place? It’s part of the story! Their relationship with the setting can grow and change.

Never let the setting be generic! Unless you have a very specific reason. Don’t be afraid of descriptive passages! Weave it into the story.

EXERCISE:
What is the specific setting for your story overall?
Is this setting your protagonist’s ally or antagonist?
It is your job to make sure the reader knows that relationship.

Write a quick paragraph in which your main character expresses his/her feelings about the place (can be to you):
[Insert paragraph here]

DONALD MOSS WORKBOOK (recommendation) (After the first draft!)

Find one symbol, inherent in the place that could point to the answer to the question. (What might you put on the cover of the book?)

Write a paragraph where the protagonist comes upon that symbol the first time:
[Insert paragraph here]
Make little copious details about the places you go. Don’t think that you’re not making progress if you’re not increasing your word count. Specificity and details and preparation are work!

Get some of the experience on you! “You don’t know what you don’t know unless you go there”

Principles of setting a la Angie:

Heighten the tension by putting the characters in a setting they can’t escape them.
Make sure the story couldn’t take place anywhere else.
Remind the reader of the setting at least once in every chapter. Make it subtle, but keep the reader anchored.