setting

Action Scenes: Adding Uniqueness

One of my pet peeves with action scenes, whether in film or book form, is repetitive action. I can only watch the same chase so many times or read endless thrusts and parries for so many pages. Keep action scenes interesting by making them unique.

Adding Unique Elements

Every fight, explosion, or gunshot needs to have at least some level of uniqueness to it in order to keep the various scenes from all blending together. If a reader comes to an action scene that sounds too similar to the last one, the likelihood that they will start skimming is high. Skimming a scene can lead to putting down the book all too quickly.

The Princess Bride is a great example of making every action scene unique. Granted, the writer takes that to a level of silliness that may not be appropriate for all stories, but dissecting how the scenes differ can still serve as a great lesson in how to add unique elements.

Every action scene in The Princess Bride has a unique element, whether it be odd weaponry like Count Rugen’s torture device which is not-so-uniquely (but humorously) name The Machine, unusual locations like the Fire Swamp or the eel-infested waters near Florin, interesting people who unexpectedly get involved the action like the disillusioned Miracle Max, or a surprising goal for the action such as Count Rugen not actually wanting to kill Wesley after his capture, at least not right away.

Accomplishing this level of uniqueness, in level of variety if not level of absurdity, consider all the aspects of the scene.

Use different settings for fight scenes within the book, or at least within close proximity to each other in the story. Repeating a fight scene location may be integral to the story, but other elements can be changed to make it a unique scene overall.

When considering locations for an action scene to take place, consider how different settings can create interesting challenges for the characters. For example, going into a gunfight from a stairwell presents different challenges than bursting through a window. Line of sight will be frequently obscured, it will be more difficult to catch up to the other person, and the person being chased has multiple opportunities to exit the stairwell and escape.

It may also be possible to pair the setting with specific characteristics of the participants for an added layer of uniqueness. If a character has a physical limitation, choose a setting that will play to that weakness when appropriate. The same may work for particular fears, aversions to locations, etc.

Participants

Vary the number of people involved in each action scene when possible. The main character may need to be in every scene, particularly if the story is told from that character’s point of view, but the other participants can be changed up.

This not only changes the actual faces involved in the scene, it changes what skills and abilities are brought to the action. Consider the goals of the scene to determine which sets of skills or persons will best serve that intended goal or outcome. Reading about the same skills or techniques being performed can get boring, so try to highlight different abilities in each action scene.

The number of participants also changes the flow and composition of action. A one-on-one fight will play out much differently that two groups battling, as will an unbalanced number of participants.

The type of participants involved can also make a scene more unique. Consider both physical types and skill types, whether realistic skills or fantastical skills. Size differences can have a major impact on the outcome, or the level of believeability of the outcome. David and Goliath-style action is a common trope, but it still needs to remain within the reader’s capability to suspend disbelief.

Tempo

Change the tempo of scenes that happen consecutively. The nearer they are to each other in the story, the more need there is for them to have differing tempos.

A chase scene has different pacing than a single explosion. A chase is long-lasting and the focus of the action, while an explosion is short-lived and the focus will be largely on the aftermath of the action.

Tempo can also refer to whether the main tension is an undercurrent, such as emotional tension building between two people through small actions, or direct action such as a screaming match that erupts during a meeting.

Tempo is an important consideration when building to a main action scene. Layer different tempos with a trend toward escalation when building to a large event.

Weaponry

Utilizing different weapons in action scenes helps avoid repetition of moves or actions. A spontaneous fight will use items lying around the setting, providing a very different feel than fighters trained to use particular weapons.

Even in action scenes that require specific weaponry, such as military stories using professional-level firearms, a situation may arise where the character is unable to use her normal weapon, must engage in physical combat, or is forced to improvise mid-scene.

Learning a new weapon or set of weaponry also provides opportunities for uniqueness. The same is true for fighting styles.

Goals

Create different goals for each action scene, or for scenes close together in the story timeline. A change in goals will often necessitate slight changes in the other elements of the scene. Rescuing someone requires different types of action than wantonly killing everyone in the room.

When planning scenes, aim for a variety of goals that will create a need for more unique scenes within the story. Always trying to accomplish the same goal can easily become routine and uninteresting to the reader.

As we wrap up this series on action scenes, remember that every action scene should have a purpose and move the story forward. Creating unique action scenes that reveal important information will keep a story moving and entertain readers.

Setting: Show vs. Tell

Show, Don’t Tell is a common bit of advice in creative writing. It is especially important when describing setting.

Explaining Description

Young or new writers often try to tell the reader too much about the environment a character inhabits. This often happened by giving one concrete detail of the setting then explaining what this detail means, such as, “The sofa had a tear in the arm rest, which had been there for years because Agnes’s mother couldn’t afford to buy and new one and never had enough time to attempt fixing it with her meager sewing skills.”

This might sound fine at first glance, but there are better ways to share this information with the reader without being so wordy and direct. Consider what this piece of description is telling the reader:

The family isn’t wealthy
The mother works a lot
The mother lacks traditional “homemaking” skills
The house/contents are worn and in need of repair

To make description effective and well-integrated into the story, avoiding big blocks of “telling,” its important to consider how the character experiences the information you’re trying to communicate to the reader.

Here are some examples of how this same information can be shown and integrated into the bigger story.

Agnes collapsed onto the couch. She blindly reached across the arm of the couch in search of the remote and her fingertip caught on the ever-present hole in the fabric. She frowned at is, just as her mother always did. Agnes wished she her after school job was enough to help her mother buy a new couch, but even with her measly paychecks, they were still barely covering the bills. The one time Agnes had suggested she quit school to work more still made her shiver when she thought about it. Her mother’s slap had been completely unexpected. She’d yelled that she wasn’t working double shifts just so Agnes could end up just like her. A strange mixture of hurt and shame filled Agnes as the memory swept over her. She stared at the hole. Maybe she could fix it. She scoffed and shook her head. With what sewing skills? Her mom had been too busy working as a kid to learn something like that.

In this paragraph, the same information is given to the reader, but through Agnes’s thoughts and experiences. It delivered over time, at a more natural pace, as well.

Overindulging in Description

Description should not be overindulgent. It should be relevant to the story and situation. Long passages of elaborate description may have been the style in past eras, but in today’s world readers have shortened attention spans because there are so many pressures on time. Building a detailed setting with endless description will bore most readers and may even cause them to abandon the book. Trim down description of setting to what is relevant to the scene and to what provides useful information to the reader.

Description should orient the reader in the setting, letting them explore the setting with your character in a way that reveals insights about the character, his or her life, what is important to a character, etc.

Consider how to reveal information about a family’s dynamics through setting by having a teen look through the kitchen cupboards. If the sole box of cereal in the cupboard is on the verge of going stale that reader will begin to question how fit the parents are, whether there is enough money to meet basic needs, or if there are issues of abuse or neglect taking place.

You might present the opposite information to the reader by describing cupboards filled with healthy foods and ingredients and the character’s favorite items. This will suggest at least comfortable wealth, attentive and educated guardians, a caring environment, etc. Most likely, your character will have a home life that is somewhere in between these two extremes, but it only takes a few carefully crafted sentences to show that to the reader.

Use setting to help tell readers a story rather than directly telling the readers where the story is happening as information separate from the story.

Setting: Creating Unique Settings

Writers can use worldbuilding techniques to create unique settings.

Start With the Basics

There are several important aspects of setting to consider:

Layout and geography
What lies beyond the immediate setting
Politics, laws, and governing system
Culture and traditions
Weather
Local plants and animals
Jobs, economy, imports/exports
History, enemies, and allies
Folklore, urban legends, etc.
Details only locals would know
The hero’s feelings and opinions about the place

All of these elements will affect a character’s views, way of thinking, actions, choices, and lifestyle and may affect the path of a storyline.

One you have at least one item for each element in the list, consider how each one might affect the character or story, and whether that effect is beneficial and moves the story forward or if it simply adds another layer of richness.

These elements can be integrated into a setting as minor or major elements, depending on what the scene needs. Folklore may be relevant in a non-realistic storyline out a child who’s gone missing under mysterious circumstances, but only mentioned in passing in a realistic setting where adults reminisce about childhood fears. A mixture of major and minor elements give a setting depth and uniqueness.

Develop the Details

Details make the difference in worldbuilding, whether high fantasy or the corner coffee shop. The level of detail often depends on the genre. Unless the color of every mug in a coffee shop is relevant to the story, leave it out.

Developing an intricate system of magical spell-creation ot introducing a non-realistic world readers are not familiar with requires a higher level of detail so the reader can understand the process or place.

Details MUST be relevant, no matter the genre.

Let’s use food as an example to see how something relatively simple and easy to overlook can be an important detail in providing information about a character through setting.

What characters eat can indicate location, such as putting coleslaw on pulled pork sandwiches, which is common in the south but a strange combination in the southwest United States.). Food can reveal income, such as a character having a cupboard full of Ramen noodle packets or a collection of delicious wines in a built in wine fridge. Food could also inform the reader about personality quirks. If all the food in a character’s fridge is yellow, the reader will start considering why.

Irrelevant details have the potential of confusing readers because they cause them to look for hints or twists where there aren’t any. These can later appear to be plot holes or sloppy writing. Remember the advice that if you mention a gun in scene 1, it better be fired by someone by the end of the story!

Add Layers

Once you have the foundation of your setting and world and are starting to add details, do so in logical layers.

Consider a real-world worldbuilding example: Choose the city relevant to the story line>choose a professional that makes sense for the location and character>choose a neighborhood with access to amenities that will help progress the story>choose frequently visited locations that provide opportunities for conversations, action, or conflict>develop hobbies that allow for character growth>etc.

Now consider a paranormal worldbuilding example: Choose a mythology base>tweak the base to suit major plot points>develop main powers/beasts that provide conflict between two or more groups>develop rules for powers/beasts that keep winning from being too easy>develop goals for each opposing group>develop individual goals that clash with others’ goals of the group’s goals>develop individual power/beast uniqueness that needs to develop> etc.

In every genre there is a logical progression to worldbuilding and every element added should impact the characters and story in a meaningful way

Setting: Worldbuilding

Fictional settings, whether modern-real world, historical, sci-fi, fantasy, or paranormal, require some level of worldbuilding.

Setting should transport the reader to a particular location and not feel like it could have taken place anywhere. To accomplish that, some level of worldbuilding is needed in every story.

Worldbuilding is creating a fictional world that still feels realistic.

Details make all the difference in worldbuilding and keep a setting from feeling generic. Worldbuilding should highlight unique and quirky elements and integrate them into the storyline and character profiles.

The amount of worldbuilding needed depends on genre.

Realistic, Modern Settings

While these types of settings typically require the least amount of large-scale worldbuilding because readers are familiar with the rules and concepts of the world, it is still needed on a small scale.

Consider the mini-worlds within a setting, such as the culture of an apartment building or workplace or neighborhood. Each of these settings will have specific rules that guide interactions, a history that has helped develop its culture, an atmosphere linked to the people and culture, and a character developed by its physical components.

Each worldbuilding element will then interact with the characters and story, such as the tone of an office making a character feel either welcome and inspired or fearful and anxious. Address pertinent elements in description and exposition, or use dialogue between the characters to share thoughts and opinions on the mini-world and how it affects the characters.

Don’t expect characters to automatically understand a setting just because it exists in the modern world. James Pietragallo, co-host of Small Town Murder, mentioned on a podcast episode that he couldn’t get into the TV series “The Office” because he had never worked in an office and didn’t get the culture.

Historical Settings

Historical settings require a great deal of research, because historical fiction readers will catch mistakes and be put off by them. Research should be conducted on two levels, at least: era-accuracy to get historical facts correct and daily-living accuracy get the small details right.

The most obvious elements to be researched for a historical setting are elements, such as clothing, socio-political events and impacts, transportation, and technology. Many of these elements are affected by less-obvious research areas, such as available social services, laws regarding various aspects of life, how the justice system functioned, healthcare and knowledge of diseases and treatments, and similar topics.

Before developing a story line, consider how the time period will effect the events your characters will engage in. Female business owners were uncommon prior to the 1900s in many countries, and even then the types of businesses women would own were often limited. If a female business owner married, business ownership could transfer to her husband in many situations, which could make a woman think twice about marrying. Make sure your storyline will actually work in the time period you’ve chosen by doing thorough research.

Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Paranormal Settings

Non-realistic settings offer the greatest opportunities for worldbuilding, demanding creativity and organization. Whether working with futuristic machines, dark creatures, or mythological beings, it is important to develop an organized and functional world for them to inhabit.

Research is an important worldbuilding technique for these types of worlds, but it is only one component. Depending on how closely you plant o follow establish science, mythology, or folklore about worlds and beings in a setting, research needed may vary. Even if you plan to vary from what is already established, it’s a good idea to start at common ground so readers have some familiarity before introducing new or different elements.

The second component of non-realistic worldbuilding involves development or rules and structures. Even though these types of stories do not exist in the “real world,” they still need to be realistic enough that the reader can understand how it operates and by what rules characters make decisions or interact. Rules should provide organization to the world and allow readers to make judgments and have expectations about character actions and choices or what may or way now happen. Once rules and structures are developed, they should be followed in order to avoid confusing or frustrating the reader.

Along with creating a non-realistic world that makes sense to the reader, the same types of worldbuilding techniques needed in realistic settings should also be applied in order to develop the necessary mini-worlds of community or neighborhood.

Setting: Integrating History

The history of a setting can easily be overlooked during development. Not thinking about it can create lost opportunities to enrich a story.

The history of an area influences nearly all aspects of a society. Not only can the land itself change, it can be changed by people or other forces.

Consider major events like natural or man-made disasters, wars, significant political events, major religious movements, large-scale societal changes, and the physical history of a place.

Much of the landscape of Europe was changed during the two World Wars, with some town ceasing to exist or being rebuilt after clearing the rubble. A centuries-old town suddenly made new could drastically change how people interact with the setting and with each other. It can change the tone of the area and create sentiments of hostility or hope.

Parts of New Orleans and surrounding areas still have ruined or abandoned buildings destroyed by the 2005 Hurricane Katrina, and how that natural disaster was dealt with changed many lives and attitudes.

Areas that have experienced unrest on turmoil may have physical markers of the struggle, events to commemorate it, or an air of secrecy if it is a history the residents are not proud of. July 24th isn’t a special day in most of the United States, but Utah hosts Pioneer Day celebrations that day to commemorate Mormon pioneers arriving in the valley. There are also many events that spoof or mock Pioneer Day, such as “Pies and Beers Day” or “Pies and Queers Day,” in the area, which highlight the tension present in the state.

Major historical events impact generations and can shape or alter society in a specific area.

Historical fiction requires a great deal of research, of course, but modern fiction should also make use of important historical influences. All aspects of life are influenced by the time period a person lives in. If a story has multi-generational characters, the history of a place can be a great way to show the effects of history on a place and its residents. Old biases and prejudices may be perplexing to younger who didn’t experience race riots or have only experienced acceptance of LGBTQ persons.

Consider how each historical element affects daily life, worldview and self perception, opportunities and choices of your characters. Work to weave these influences into the overall storyline and into the character’s backstory, current self, and motivations and goals for the future.

Setting: Climate and Geography

Climate and geography can effect a character’s life in a variety of ways, and making use of those impacts can help you create a fuller environment.

Climate

The most basic ways that climate affects a character is adjusting everyday details like choices in clothing, what activities are available, possibility for adverse conditions, feelings toward weather or impacts on mood, and ability to spend time outdoors.

On another level, climate can effect a character’s worldview. For example, harsh climates often create harsh existences. Characters must struggle against the elements for survival as well as regular human problems. This can create physically and emotionally tough characters. Easier, softer environments may mean a character is less prepared for harsh situations or has a more optimistic or positive outlook.

Climate also affects the hobbies and skills a character might develop, as well as what opportunities or knowledge he or she might have. You won’t find many year-round ice rinks in the hot, Southwestern United States, but in colder northern states many children grow up playing hockey rather than soccer.

Being vague about climate is not a substitute for research and planning, so don’t just ignore it. Not only will you miss out on opportunities to create a character with more depth, your scenes may feel a little lackluster.

Geography

What part of the world a character inhabits affects a wide variety of setting aspects.

The physical location will determine what types of plants and animals live in the area. It’s hard to have an alligator as a means of disposing of a body in Idaho, but an all-too-real possibilities in coastal Louisiana.

Geography al effects characters’ access to other areas, such as living in an isolated cabin in winter where the plows don’t maintain the roads, or different types of ecosystems. Physical location will also determine what dialect a character uses, though you don’t want to overdo it with regionalisms or colloquialisms in dialogue.

It’s also important to consider whether a geographical location has pronounced or “drug-in” views on politics or religion, a unique culture, or social structures that are not mainstream, and whether or not a character will fall in line with those aspects of their location or not. Researching these setting aspects also offers up great opportunities to make the setting more unique and memorable.

Manmade geography should also be considered when developing a setting’s geographical location. Dams, buildings, and monuments not only change the natural geography but can influence how man’s influence on nature is perceived.

Dig into the climate and geographical location of your setting to see what elements can be used to enhance the setting, characters, and story.

Setting: Mood, Tone, and Atmosphere

Setting can help determine the mood and atmosphere of a story. These should vary throughout a story when the setting and other factors change.

First, a few definitions, because it’s easy to confuse these elements”

Mood is the emotional feel of a scene, created through specific language meant to put the reader is a specific emotional state.
Tone is the way the author expresses their attitude toward the setting and scene through their use of narrative devices such as description and vocabulary.
Atmosphere is the combination of mood and tone, and is created through the author’s specific attitude or approach to writing a scene.

Carefully consider the words you use, the tempo of your sentences, and the point of view and perspective used when writing a scene.

Description

How a setting is described can change the way both readers and characters perceive the scene and how characters interact with the setting. If the scene has a fearful element, characters will move through it more slowly and the reader will read more slowly so as not to miss anything.

Description also helps to develop the tone of a scene. Use words that match the atmosphere you are trying to create. For example, a bird who chirps creates a different feel than one who squawks or caws. Textures, smells, and lighting can also be used to create a specific mood and tone. Use all five senses to fully develop a scenes description.

<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://<!– wp:paragraph –> <p>Tone words<a href="https://examples.yourdictionary.com/tone-examples.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">https://examples.yourdictionary.com/tone-examples.html</a> include words like cheerful, nostalgic, melancholic, arrogant, etc. </p> Tone words include words like cheerful, nostalgic, melancholic, arrogant, etc. Mood words should go beyond expressing feelings involved in the scene and describe movements, actions, decor and more.

Description of the covered bridge in Sleepy Hollow has a much different feel than description of the Love Lock Bridge in Paris. A well-worn blanket suggests it has been used and cherished while a threadbare blanket suggests lack of funds and support.

Tempo

Match sentence tempo to what is happening in a scene. Use a quick tempo for an intense or frightening scene by writing shorter sentences, using high-impact words (single descriptors rather than multi-word descriptors), limit extraneous details not absolutely needed, stay focused on the action, and avoid long sections of dialogue.

For slower tempo scenes, focus on using longer and more fluid sentences for calm or contemplative moments. Description and internal dialogue can help slow the pace when you want the reader or character to pay particular attention to something, or to give the reader time to process the scene more fully.

Certain types of action can change the tempo of a scene as well. Fast or frantic movements create anxiety or a feeling of need. This may include things like searching for something, running, shifting, or pacing. If, however, a character in engaged in slower movements, a calmer feeling will pervade the scene. Low-tempo actions may include reading, lying on a couch, strolling, folding laundry, or cooking.

Point of View

Consider which point of view will create the right feel for a scene. First person is very immediate and can cause emotions to feel more intense and immediate. First person also puts the reader in the middle of the action or emotion as it is happening. For romances or personal stories, this ca help the reader feel they are experiencing the story with the characters and create a stronger atmosphere.

However, first person may be too much for some topics or events, such as those which may have triggering effects for some readers. First person can also be too limiting if the reader needs to know details happening around the character but not necessary within his view or awareness.

Third person provides distance and an wider view of events, but also has it’s pluses and minuses. Third person typically allows for more thorough description because the character does not necessarily have to be physically taking note of scene details in order to share them with the reader. It can also provide a buffer between the story and reader when there are difficult subjects or events. If the emotions or actions of a scene need to be close to the reader in order to set the right atmosphere, third person may provide too much distance and weaken the mood and tone.

There will, of course, be different types of scenes throughout a story that might have conflicting point of view needs. Consider the story as a whole and determine which will work best for the majority of scenes and be flexible with other scenes.

Setting: Incorporating Time

Time is an important factor in the development of setting because it is linked to so many other aspects of a setting.

Time and Technology

These two elements are intricately connected because technology changes with time and getting the pairing wrong creates anachronisms the reader will most likely notice. Technology can also impact the events of a story, such as being able (or not able) to contact someone easily by cell phone or the ability to find needed information.

When writing in your own time period, or one you have lived through, it’s easier to get the technology right. Any time you venture from familiarity, take the time to thoroughly research what was available in a time period. Not only will this create a more realistic setting, readers can develop respect for your hard work and you will increase your credibility when readers learn new things about a time period.

When writing crime, technology is critical to get right in order to be believable. Don’t just consider when a technology was developed, but also when it became widely available in cities and rural areas and what public perception of specific technology was during that time. DNA profiling became available in the early 80s, but required a much larger blood sample than is needed today and was more limited on what it could determine. It was could also be more hindrance than help in trials because so few members of the public understood what it was and either didn’t understand it or distrusted it even into the 90s.

Time and Society

Time also factors into self-perception and social rules. Self perception is all too often closely linked to how others treat a person. Throughout time, minority groups have been treated with varying degrees of respect and equality. Consider how the experience of a 1950s black woman applying for a professional job would be very different from a white teenage boy in modern times. The different way they experience life impacts how they see themselves and what trials and they will face.

Multiple studies have been conducted on how young Black and white children perceive beauty, goodness, and intelligence based on race. The social environments they grow up in significantly effect how they see themselves and others even today. Create realistic social environments by studying how a particular time period effected those living in it, especially in particularly volatile areas.

Time and Profession

Time period also limits opportunities for certain races, genders, religions, and other groups. Be sure to research historical rules, laws, prejudices, and customs of a time period. Elizabeth Blackwell was a British physician and the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States in 1849, however it wasn’t until the 1972 Title IX of the Higher Education Act prohibited federally funded schools from discriminating based on gender.

Time should also be considered in sports, education, and careers. It’s important to know how long it takes to become a lawyer, professional athlete, business mogul, PhD, etc. and plan your timeline and the ages of your characters accordingly. Steer away from “genius” or “prodigy” characters unless absolutely critical to the story. This overused trope doesn’t hold the appeal it once did. If you must have a 22-year-old billionaire, it’s much more realistic that he or she inherited that wealth rather than built it on his or her own.

When writing in any time period other than the present, don’t forget to consider other aspects like fashion trends, politics, generally available knowledge, and other elements that are dependent on time as well.

Setting: Place and Location

Place and location impact a story by how characters interact with the setting and how it shapes their worldview.

Go deeper than just city, suburbs, or country when locating your character within a fictional world. Consider both place and location. Place is a broader term that defines a space or an area, while location is a more specific point where a specific town/neighborhood/building/etc. is physically located. So a place might be the mountains, while Emerald Lake is near Estes Park, Colorado is a location.

Place can also describe how a person lives within a space, such as an empty desert or isolated cabin. Defining place in this way can help you establish how it will impact the story and character. For example, living in seclusion limits interactions with people but may shift a worldview to one more peaceful and patient. Living in a bustling city may give a character energy and enthusiasm to achieve a dream.

Location can be used to create physical limitations and/or opportunities for a character as well. A character in search of an opportunity to share his art with others will have more opportunities in a city or town that values art and has a strong artist community. A character in search of a job outside of agriculture might face a great deal of frustration and disappointment in a small town that mainly relies on ranching for financial support if she is stuck there and can’t explore other locations.

Place and location should affect the story and characters differently depending on the situation. Consider how the same location of a small town with a close-knit community who has strong conservative values would have on a character coming home. A character coming home after a stint in prison for drug possession will be received and affected quite differently than a character who returns to announce an engagement and acceptance to law school.

Location also has an affect on a character’s thoughts and behaviors. Walking into a twentieth-floor office for a first day on the job may inspire anxiety and cause him to make mistakes while going out with friends for a fun night might inspire confidence and excitement.

Interactions with other people change in different types of location and choices may even be very different. Hanging out with people a character has known all his life makes him feel comfortable and let his guard down, maybe to the point of revealing something he wouldn’t or shouldn’t tell anyone else. Meeting someone on vacation could lead a person to inflate their status or lie about certain aspects of their self or life because they believe they will never see the person again.

Place and location almost act as another character in the way they can influence both characters and story. Carefully consider both to use them to their full potential.

Setting: Social Environment

Social environment is an important aspect of setting and should be considered when developing characters who will inhabit that setting.

The social environment a person exists in affects his her thoughts, actions, and decisions. Consider the following aspects and how they will affect characters and story.

Education

While an individual character’s education level is important in developing her dialect and way of speaking, it’s also important to think about the general level of education that exists within the setting. Areas with lower education levels may rely more on superstition, experience, or generational knowledge. Areas with higher education levels will turn toward academic knowledge, research, and expert opinions. Education level can effect choices, options, and modes of problem solving.

Social Structures

Social structures in place within a setting can effect resources available to a character or the community. Settings that lack strong social structures such as access to healthcare or education can be a source of struggle or limit options. When effective and easy to access structures are in place, the setting may provide support and help.

Societal Institutions

Similar to social structures, the presence of absence of social institutions can help or hinder character options and choices. The five basic social institutions are family, economic, religion, education, and state. Consider how the presence of absence of each of these effects how a character exists or moves through a setting.

Social Status/Class

A character’s social status or class will play a part in their worldview and many other aspects. It’s also important to think about how the general social status or class of a setting impacts the overall story. A setting that it predominantly high, low, or middle class will operate by different rules than a setting that is more mixed. If there is a large divide between classes, there is potential for strife between classes and movement between classes can be a source of conflict.

Social Circles

Social circles exist in every setting, but the impact they have on a story of character varies. Consider whether circles are fluid, stagnant, or restrictive within a setting. Whether or not a character belongs to a circle, is always separate or outside a circle, or desires to change circles will effect how they exist in that setting.

Social Solidarity

Linked to the importance of social circles, the solidarity that exists within circles can effect a character or the story arc. A strong group of friends or family gives support and encouragement, and may lead a character into occasional trouble. Friends or family who are flighty or unreliable may turn on a character or leave him stranded when they fail to follow through. Faith in social groups will allow the character to move more confidently in the setting while perpetually questioning how much a character can count on others will make her more hestitant within the setting.

Natural vs. Artificial Environments

The physical type of environment a character exist in will determine what types of experiences he will have, what relationship to surrounding she may experience, and whether the environment is supportive or antagonistic toward his goals. Each type has pluses and minuses. Artificial environments may grant access to advance resources while creating a disconnect from nature. Natural environments can be plentiful and physically invigorating, but they are also unpredictable and unstable.

Deterministic vs. Nurturing environments

Settings can be constructed in a way that pushes a character toward a specific role or outcome, or it can encourage exploration and growth in a variety of directions. Deterministic environments often breed feelings of rebellion and mistrust of authority while nurturing environments act as a resource for discovery and expansion.

Personal Networks

Lastly, the network of resources and support systems available to a character within a setting can have major effects of the story and the way the character exists in the setting. Limited networks offer minimal support, even if it contains one or two strong elements. They are far outweighed by elements that are not supportive or discourage change and growth. Personal networks may include family, friends, work or professional resources, education resources, healthcare resources, and more.