Where in the world is your story?

Have you ever started reading a book thinking it was contemporary fiction and then 2 … or 3 … or 4 chapters later realized it was historical?

Or maybe you’ve spent the first several pages trying to figure out where the story takes place — big or small city, where you live or in a foreign country?

What do issues like this do to your reading experience?

Does it jar you out of the story when what you thought was really isn’t?

Do you have to step back and reassess before you can dive into the next paragraph?

How do you keep from jerking the reader out of your story? How, instead, with every word you write, do you submerge the reader in your story — seeing, tasting, touching, and experiencing the world you’ve created for them?

Parts 1 and 2 of this series discussed how to hook your reader and create a leading character your reader can bond with. Part 3 of this series will add one more piece to writing a story that will keep your reader reading.

Let’s look at story setting.

When someone decides to read your book, she probably has a general idea of the story world she’s about to enter. Even if you have created a fictional city that city must exist either in a fantasy world or in the real world. You want to give the details needed to ground the reader in that world. A fantasy world will require more details to help the reader create that world in her own head.

Setting includes:

• Story era — if you’re writing historical fiction, it’s important to establish what year the story occurs, and do it early in the first chapter.
• Physical place such as in the city or on the farm, in the mountains or on the beach, etc.
• Country or region — unless the story tells me otherwise, I assume the story takes place in the country I live in. So to get 5 chapters into the story and suddenly discover the story takes place in France will throw me out of the story. If the country (or region) is critical to the attitudes and culture of your story, establish early on the country where the story takes place.

Drop these details into your story a little at a time, rather than create a paragraph that reads like an information dump.

Story setting is more than a place.

In addition to the physical details of your world, establish the routine world of your character. James Scott Bell in his book Plot & Structure puts it this way: “What is life like for the Lead?” (speaking of the lead character)

Let’s look at Kathy Nickerson’s Thirty Days to Glory.

“Elmer Grigsby woke with a catch in his get-along. Cold air had crept under his covers and shaken hands with his rheumatism. When he pushed back the army blanket covering his face, light glared through the grimy window and exploded in his head. He groaned and retreated under the blanket again.

Eventually, the gnawing in his belly grew stronger than the agony in his bones, so he stuck one foot out to test the temperature. The cold stung all the way through his gray socks. He reached beside the bed and pulled out a second pair. They were green and heavier, but badly in need of a wash.”

These few sentences give the reader a beginning glimpse into the daily world of Elmer Grigsby.

Please remember that while you must hook your reader in the first paragraph, these other tasks occur over the course of the first act of your story.

What is the setting of your present WIP? Leave your comments below.

Related reading:
Six Tasks to Accomplish with Act 1 of Your Novel
Six Tasks to Accomplish to Keep Your Reader Reading