Setting

by author Jessi Kirby

I think it’s safe to say that for most writers, stories begin with the characters. The people whose stories will unfold on our pages are foremost in our minds. But what comes next? For some it’s plot. For others, maybe a singular, climatic scene of the story. For me, it’s always been setting. I can’t begin to write a story without a clear picture in my mind of the world in which it takes place.

In fact, I’d go as far as to say that setting is every bit as important to a story as its plot or its characters. We are creatures of our environment. How a character sees his or her setting, the details they notice, and the emotion those details elicit in them are hugely effective tools for characterization. The same view of the ocean may evoke awe in one character and sorrow in another, depending on their respective experiences. A stormy day can seem like a good reason to cozy up with tea and a book or a good reason to curse the weather depending on a character’s mood and motivations. No matter what the setting is, seeing it through our characters’ eyes is like catching a glimpse into their inner worlds in a subtle but powerful way.

As writers, we get to choose the most important glimpses for our readers to see. But first, we have to see the world clearly in our own minds.

How to do this?

Ideally, go there. It doesn’t have to be far. Maybe it means exploring around your hometown with an eye for different details than you’d normally notice, or going to a new place with your character’s sensibilities in mind. If you have the opportunity, take a research trip! Pack your bags and notebooks and go to the place you want to write about. Soak up every sensory detail you can and write it all down. Every bit of it. Map out and visit the places you want to include in your story, but let yourself explore too. I had the chance to do this for my second novel, and it made all the difference.

If you can’t get there in person, there are plenty of ways to go there virtually. Google maps and Bing maps are excellent ways to see far-flung places from all different views. You can get the overall layout of a place in the aerial view, or look up the same place in different seasons and watch how much it changes. You can even grab some snacks and “drive” the route of your character’s road trip from the comfort of your couch. I know, because I “drove” through parts of New Mexico, Texas, and Arizona this way, and I got to see that I didn’t necessarily need to include the entire route in my research trip. Online possibilities for research are endless and time-saving, for sure.

But there are some of us out there (or maybe it’s just me), who like good old-fashioned touchable resources: pictures, posters, maps, etc. It helps to have these things around to go back to, or to look up at while you’re writing. I have two giant corkboards in my office. One is a crazy patchwork of the index cards that are my plot. The other is a visual board, covered in pictures of the places I’m writing about. The pictures come from all over—my own camera, calendars I’ve used or bought on clearance, old photo books I’ve dug up at used bookstores, magazines, you name it. When I’m stuck on the little details of a place that I want to include or the mood I’m trying to convey, I have these visuals to refer to. And usually, I can find the inspiration I’m looking for.

Which brings me to the most important thing I can think of about writing setting. The setting you choose for your characters should be one that inspires you to write about it in a way that is real, detailed, and true to the characters who move around within it. Ultimately, that’s what matters most.

Jessi Kirby is a former English teacher and librarian. She lives in Crystal Cove, CA with her husband and two children. MOONGLASS, a contemporary YA set on the shores of her home, is her first novel. Her second one, IN HONOR, will be released May 2012 by Simon & Schuster.

MOONGLASS by Jessi Kirby: When Anna was little, she and her mother used to search for sea glass, but since they looked at night, they called it moonglass. Now, ten years after her mother’s mysterious death, her father is working as head lifeguard on the same beach where her mother grew up and her parents first met and fell in love.

Reluctant to get close to anyone (including her father) and not pleased about having to start at a new school, Anna begins to spend more time alone, running the length of the beach and wondering about who her mother really was. After meeting a lifeguard named Tyler, she slowly lets her guard down and together they start exploring the abandoned houses that dot the beach.

But when learning more about her mother’s past leads to a painful discovery, Anna must reconcile her desire for solitude with ultimately accepting the love of her family and friends.