The Writers Circle: Writing on Location


This week’s topic is:

Have you ever needed a change of scene in order to write a scene in your story? Have you needed to go to a place that resembles the one you are writing about? How does your physical location impact the story you’re writing? Does being in a location similar to the one depicted in your story help (or hurt) your storytelling in any way?


Just for Fun: Technical Failure

Just for fun, write a scene in which all technology suddenly fails to work (perhaps for an extended period of time). How do your characters react to the sudden lack of technology? How does the world in your story change without modern technology?


Just for Fun: Discovery

Just for fun, write a scene in which you describe your character’s reaction to a big, new discovery. There are no limits to what this discovery could be — perhaps it’s a scientific discovery, or a medical breakthrough, or a discovery during a criminal investigation.  Does your character buy into the initially available information? Or is he or she skeptical?


Setting Expectations



Does that mean I wasted all that time?




Setting is not a Place, it’s an Emotion

To new writers, setting is passive, to place the reader geographically. A few prosy sentences and move on. To experienced writers, it’s seminal to the plot, an extension of the characters. Here’s what how-to-write books say:

“Setting is an important element of literature because authors use it to establish the atmosphere or mood of the piece.” (Writing from A to Z )

“Don’t tell us what it’s like. … Let us come to our own conclusions. Is it scary? Imposing? Barren? Evoke the mood by the description, not be telling us…” (Noah Lukeman)

“Setting can help to portray a swirl of emotion… When a reader senses that setting is being used to reveal something important, there is no danger of its being what one student calls ‘the stuff you skip’.” (Janet Burroway)

They all agree setting isn’t intended to objectively describe a location, rather to buttress plot and characters.

Close your eyes and describe the scent of the flower bed that borders a scraggly front lawn, the dreary London day, the sound of the subway. Each of those images mean little outside of the reader’s experience, connections to other parts of the story, and motivations. The flower bed tells us the person living inside the shack hasn’t given up. The dreary London day juxtaposes the character’s mood. The subway sound means new beginnings, hope. Readers don’t care a lot about the setting except as it affects the story. (I stipulate James Michener is an exception, as are nature writers).

Let’s try an experiment. The setting is a park. What do you see (don’t peek)?

Most readers expect this:



…but the description that follows, through the eyes of the main character, says this:

Its a tree in red

The first is no surprise. The second informs us about the state of mind, the experiences, the temperament of the character. S/he completely misses the beauty inherent in the trees and nature, thanks to a raging thirst that makes everything look deadly.

Another example–think of the Country Western song. The lyrics are often tragic, about loss and failure, but the feeling evoked by music is upbeat–man’s ability to overcome, to get up despite being knocked down again and again, to find happiness against all odds.

That’s how to write a scene. It’s not what the room looks like, it’s what happens there that matters.

For more about settings, check out Jurgen Wolff’s blog here.

More on settings:

Writers Tips #82: 7 Tips on Time and Place from Donald Maass

How to Describe a Character’s Neighborhood

How to Describe a Landscape


Follow me.


Just for Fun: The Playing Field

There are many occasions in history when the world comes together to compete in sporting events (The Olympics, World Cup, etc.).  These events have many reasons for existing, of course, but the end result is that teams or individuals who differ ideologically come together to compete in sport.  How might such an event be held in your current (or past) works of fiction?  Describe what you’ve done in your works here in the comments, or put together a quick paragraph or two giving an example of how sports or other competitive events (spelling bees or chess matches, for example) might level the playing field amongst your characters and their societies.