HOW TO WRITE A PERFECT SETTING

FUNDAMENTALS OF CONTEXT, PART I

Model Railway Diorama of Maeklong Train Market

Let us now turn to the last of the Big Three of our Story formula: Setting (what I also call Context).  

At its simplest, Setting is the Time and Place, the Where and When of a Story.   

Setting often gets short shrift in our learning about Story — especially if you’re writing fiction that doesn’t have a lot of worldbuilding.  Because of their centrality and their flash, the other members of the Big Three — Character and Conflict — tend to receive most of the attention, are the favorite children — which is wild considering the enormous power that Setting wields.