How to Set the Scene: Selecting the Ideal Location for Your Scene
- Authors Aflame
- Jul 25, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Sep 20, 2019
By Gen Gavel
Story Settings vs. Scene Settings
Just as your story setting sets the general mood for the entire narrative, each individual scene will set the mood for the current events. Story settings are broader and more thematic, while scene settings tend to be more specific and dynamic.
Of course, story settings and scene settings very often overlap and intertwine. If the setting of your story is Middle of Nowhere, Montana, naturally your scene settings will (either entirely or mostly) be in… Middle of Nowhere, Montana.
Unlike story settings, however, scenes are required to have personality.
The Specifics of Scene Setting
Montana might be untamed and a bit dramatic, but the farm, with its prickly corn crops, diesel fumes, and old barn worn to splinters, is downright exasperating. Your character is experiencing the detailed personality quirks of your overarching setting. Aunt Velma’s house is a haven away from hell. With her AC going, and her creamy 1980s drapes—vacuumed twice a week for 30 years—drawn tight, the dust of the farm feels miles away.
Again, in the winter, Montana is cold, but ice fishing in Uncle Pete’s makeshift hut is downright glacial. And sitting by the fire that evening, with Rover on his feet, radiating peace, your character starts thinking maybe Montana isn’t so bad, after all.
Scene settings are really the individual flowers in the story garden. They are the nuances that bring the whole picture to life. And so it follows that, in order to fully support and give life to your big, thematic setting, it is important to select the right setting for each scene, not just a setting.
The Right Setting
Just as your story setting is related to the story’s theme (and if it isn’t, read here) your individual scene settings will support and strengthen your current POV character’s dilemma or decision. Selecting the right location for a scene to take place, happily, is not a random process. And it is usually quite easy.
You’ll want to choose one or all of the following:
📚 A setting that mirrors
📚 A setting that speaks
📚 A setting that builds
Settings that Mirror
The classic rain on a sad day, the wind whipping the hair of the woman who cannot make up her mind, the suburban life that feels like a prison to the man who is afraid of growing old. These are mirrors. They reflect the inner workings of the character. This emotional mirror literary device can slide all too easily into cliche-ville, but, when used well, it is a highly effective tool.
As you try to place your next scene, think about which one of your possible locations presents creative mirroring opportunities.
You don’t have to be blatant about it, and there does not have to be anything inherent to the location that screams the same emotion the character is feeling. You write this in.
First, get inside your character’s heart and mind. Aha, he’s feeling depressed. Which setting gives you a chance to mirror that sad feeling? The tiny farm office with the fluorescent light that hums incessantly. That’s a good choice. Or you could go with the cornfield when the cicadas have landed, or Aunt Velma’s beloved house—only now he’s realizing it isn’t so comforting without her in it.
Whenever possible, choose a setting in which you have the chance to mirror the character’s current feeling or predicament.
Settings that Speak
Whether or not you have a setting that reflects the predicament of the character, making sure your setting has something to say is fun and important.
Say you’ve chosen a bright, cheery setting even though your character is gloomy. You’ve done this for a reason, and you’re pretty sure you can make it work. You’re right; you can.
A setting that speaks does so by offering an opportunity for change or enlightenment within the current predicament. So, your character is feeling hopeless, but he is surrounded by hope.
A fledgling flock of sparrows literally bursts from their nesting box the moment he lifts his head from where he’d buried it in his hands. This is the setting speaking. The extreme juxtaposition (dynamic contrast), just like in real life, offers the character a chance to see himself differently. How does life just keep going on as normal, after Auntie is gone?
You can work innumerable potential plot points or minor character shifts into a scene simply by pitting your character’s mood against his setting.
Juxtaposition is not the only way a scene can speak. Perhaps you have established a fairly ordinary setting, and your character is simply sitting there processing the events of the summer, trying to decide if he should purchase that one-way ticket out of here. The beige curtains that used to be so clean now have a layer of dust clinging to them. The AC is still on, even though the nights are cool now.
He grabs a sweater. It smells of Uncle Pete and that gosh dang tractor he loves. The character closes the tab and shuts down his computer.
Right. He sighs. Uncle Pete needs me. With Aunt Velma gone, that poor guy was lost. Perhaps this was his mission: save the family farm.
He got all that from his surroundings.
Any setting can speak.
Settings that Build
This one is a little less flexible. A setting that builds is a setting that has the power to
1) Add a building block to your thematic development.
2) Further develop your character’s driving need or desire.
To add to the thematic development, a scene-setting must directly reflect and exaggerate the story setting.
Story: Montana is untamed.
Scene: the new horse beats down the barn door and causes a full day of havoc and over $4,000.00 in damage. Your character is blamed.
To develop the character’s driving need, a scene should hint at the big pay off at the end. Your character wants the city life, but he needs to save the farm.
Story question: will he be able to fall in love with his family farm and find it was what he needed after all? Scene question: is there anything at the farm that he enjoys? There’s your setting.
Put him in a place where he’s comfortable or happy. Put him in the fresh loft at dusk. Or take him to the basement where there are boxes of memories. This setting is precise.
If you put your character in the same, old, dusty setting but you want him to get an epiphany about the delights of farm life, no matter how realistic that might be, the reader will be confused.
Don’t Forget the Descriptions
A scene is only as good as the reader imagines it to be. You might see the birds bursting from their nesting box, but have you written it in a way that is easy for the reader to catch?
Description gets a bad reputation when authors describe scenes and people using ineffective words or sequencing, not when they simply take the time to paint in their reader’s mind the images that they see. Don’t be afraid to pause and describe your scene. Just be sure that you have the most powerful setting for your current events and that you are describing the location with a precise selection of sensory words.
Choosing the perfect location for your next scene is as easy as knowing what your character needs and finding the setting that most supports it. You will find writing often becomes easier when your settings start pulling their weight.
Gen Gavel — Editor, Havok Publishing
Lover of meaningful stories and powerful connections, Gen writes and edits with one goal: to draw people together by the power of fiction. She has had several short stories published online and in print, has co-edited a teen authors anthology, and enjoys editing flash fiction for Havok Publishing as well as full novels for her private clients.
www.facebook.com/Gen-Gavel-Editing
“Where Am I? Setting the Scene” Darcy Pattison, Fiction Notes. Accessed June 9, 2019
“8 Steps to a Perfect Scene” C. S. Lakin, Live Write Thrive. Accessed June 9, 2019
“How to Craft Immersive Setting Descriptions” Well-Storied. Accessed June 9, 2019 https://www.well-storied.com/blog/how-to-craft-immersive-scene-setting
Comments