Lesson 4: use of setting

Think of setting as a tool, rather than an actual occurrence
Put some "setting pointers" in early on
Think about how you intend to deploy your setting - what is it to be used for
- No impact (eg generic big city, or desert)
- Stage set only. Set the scene initially and then tell the story
- Local colour. Use throughout story but don't provide colour for its own sake; its use must contribute
- Atmosphere. Make clear what a character is feeling but also make the reader feel the same (pathetic fallacy). The setting can take on human characteristics, or be described in the light of the characters current emotions
- Contribute to action. Characters are influenced by the setting (eg a race track)
- Major contributor to the drama (eg snow storm, flood, fire)
- Central symbol. Setting casts a spell that affects everything in the story (eg Titanic)
Don't use description for its own sake: antithetical to story
Use to set era eg pre or post cellphones
Setting can set physical movement or emotional movement
Make a choice of what you are using as a setting and stick to it
Point of view
- First, second, third
- First can be effective in that (eg) Watson is the first person but Holmes is the main character. Holmes can surprise us without our requiring the explanations that would be required if Watson was also the Holmes figure
- Third person requires the writer to consider to whose thoughts does the main character have access (Free indirect discourse)
- With second person, you are the protagonist. Writing in the second person is supposed to be more immediate (Note: I am very uncertain about this as the lesson ran out of time)

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Lesson 4: use of setting