Tuesday Ten: 10 Ways to Craft a Sense of Place

You know the basics of setting creation: describe the who, what, when, and where of your character's surroundings. But how do you move beyond a mere list of details to a setting that draws the reader into your story? 

Setting can—and should—accomplish far more than simply setting a visual backdrop for plot. Setting can:

• Create a visual image specific enough that the reader isn't confused by the characters' actions and movements
• Support the plot and action
• Enhance the mood of a scene
• Draw the reader into the story, making it more real and immediate
• Reflect the story's theme
• Assist in character development
• Deliver clues for later use

Thanks to Maureen for suggesting that I create a Tuesday Ten as a more doable alternative to the Thursday Thirty list posts that have been such a success. I’m kicking off the Tuesday Ten as a new blog feature this week with ten tips for how you can craft settings that resonate. Enjoy!
Present the Right Details

1. Choose the specific: When you’re writing (or rewriting) setting, avoid the vague and non-specific.
   Vague: A red car
   Vivid: A candy-apple red station wagon
2. Choose sensory images: When choosing which details to include, make your setting more vivid by appealing to your reader's senses—and move beyond the sense of sight. What does your character hear, feel, smell, and taste? 
   Flat: he saw the ocean
   Multisensory: the taste of salt and smell of rotting kelp rose from the waves
3. Choose the unique: Look for details that are unique to your particular story’s time and place. Does your story take place in particular era? In a specific location?
   Generic: The train pulled into the station
   Unique: The steam locomotive pulled into Liverpool Station
4. Choose details that reflect culture: Differences in culture can help you identify unique details for setting creation. Find details that stand out because of location, such as customs, dress, dialect, and traditions.
   Hum-drum: a man practicing Tai Chi in public, in shorts, in the U.S.—no one would give him a second glance
   Surprising: a man practicing Tai Chi in public, in shorts, in Afghanistan, where men don't usually wear shorts in public—onlookers would react with surprise, amusement, or disgust.
   
   Choose Character-Specific Details
   
5. Choose details that reflect point of view: What would your point of view character notice?
   Ignores character: a 12-year-old boy observes the sunset’s beauty (unless said 12-year-old has a particular reason to be interested in the sunset)
   Builds character:  a 12-year-old boy observes the way the sun reflects off the face of his watch, and the fact that he can make his teacher squint by flashing it in her eyes
6. Choose details that reflect emotions: Color your characters’ observations with their emotional state.
   Normal: a teen girl notices the room is rectangular in shape
   Gloomy: the teen girl notices that the room is shaped like a coffin 
   
   Choose How You Present Details
   
7. Show details through character response: Avoid static description by implying information about setting by how your characters behave.
   Cliche: she stepped into the dark and stormy night
   Novel: she pulled her hood lower, cursing the wind and rain
8. Weave setting specifics into action: Provide details—but avoid lists.
   Static: she saw a set of marble steps leading to the door
   Active: she mounted the curved marble stairs with mounting trepidation 
9. Season your scene: Use simile and metaphor to evoke an in a few words an image or mood that would take paragraphs to describe or explain.
   So-so: the sun hung low on the horizon, a dark red color, and shot beams of golden light through the surrounding clouds
   Vivid & surprising: the sun sat on horizon like a fat red spider on a web of gleaming gold
   
   Select the Best Details
   
10. Be profligate, then prune: How do you come up with great details in a first draft? By coming up with lots and lots and lots of details, most of them crappy. When you start with a laundry list of what your character might see, hear, feel, taste, and smell, you can go back and choose only the best. Ultimately, the best scene-setting is the result of a few, carefully chosen details that evoke a sense of place, not an exhaustive description.

How do you craft a setting that is tight, yet evocative? Share your tips below!