Good setting?

Snowball2695 · Feb 14, 2012

I've been stuck recently while writing a Slice of Life Romance story that I've been working on a while.
I can't come up with a good setting.
I figured I'd need to nail this down before I go any farther seeing as the setting kind of matters.
Like, a lot.
Help?

stormie · Feb 14, 2012

"Anywhere" would be my answer, as long as you make it interesting.

readitnweep · Feb 14, 2012

If in doubt, it may be best to stick with the time and places you know. Weave in some familiar setting.

jaksen · Feb 14, 2012

readitnweep said:
If in doubt, it may be best to stick with the time and places you know. Weave in some familiar setting.

Agreed. I like 'abandoned' settings, perhaps because of where I life. An old farm, an old barn; a forgotten church tucked into a wooded area, the dirt road to it still slightly visible; a defunct factory; a section of town bought years ago by the state for a prison complex and cordoned off by barbed wire and then never built so there are these closed-up stores and houses and ...

Sorry...I get carried away...

Buffysquirrel · Feb 14, 2012

I think readitnweep makes a good point. If the setting really doesn't affect how the story plays out all that much--eg, you don't live in a college town, and it needs to be a college setting--then choose somewhere you know.

Clueless · Feb 14, 2012

I don't know, some types of slice of life books depend on the setting. While the characters and plot are extremely important, the environment is part of what develops a character. Someone who has grown up in a town is going to act differently than someone who just moved.
In most of the slice of life books I've read, the setting becomes important to the character, and henceforth the story. Also a lot seem to deal with school life, but again, the different levels affect the story line.
I think that the setting can be a good way to set the mood of a novel. I've always loved city settings because of this. The city can portray such a wide variety of emotions, simultaneously at times. Maybe I'm biased as a city kid, though.

Silver-Midnight · Feb 14, 2012

It really depends I think. You can either set it in places you know, or do a bit of research, and see if that helps. I think either or would work out. With my current MS, I think I'm going to finish it first then go back and work my setting (along with a few other things) a lot better.

The Lonely One · Feb 14, 2012

Whatever is organic to the characters. I'd say start with characters, then maybe setting will come more easily.

Jamesaritchie · Feb 14, 2012

Wherever you live. Writers think of places they've never been as romantic and esoteric, but few readers know anything about where you live. To them, it will be romantic and esoteric.

Linda Adams · Feb 15, 2012

Pick the place where you live, or have lived. I was surprised at one of the ideas I was able to come with that was location specific -- and I wasn't even researching the location at the time.

GFanthome · Feb 15, 2012

readitnweep said:
If in doubt, it may be best to stick with the time and places you know. Weave in some familiar setting.

Agreed - or make up some place. I don't think you have to mention any particular city. Just make it your own - unless the setting is integral to the story.

Grunkins · Feb 15, 2012

When in doubt, go with a carnival.

jaksen · Feb 15, 2012

No matter what I'm writing, I like most of the settings to be somewhere I've been - not specifically, but in general. For example, I know what a coffee shop feels like, so I could write about a coffee shop set practically anywhere. I know the feel, sights, smells, sounds, etc.

I know what a pine forest is like - in any season, but am unfamiliar with a southern swamp. I could research swamps, but I'd prefer to write about a quaking bog. I know what those feel like.

I usually write about the environs with which I am familiar. I'm writing a short story set on a spacecraft orbiting the moon, Enceladus...

Okay, there are always exceptions.

Good setting?

Snowball2695

stormie

storm central

readitnweep

jaksen

Caped Codder

Buffysquirrel

Clueless

Going on a mental vacation.

Silver-Midnight

The Lonely One

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

Jamesaritchie

Linda Adams

Soldier, Storyteller

GFanthome

At the computer, opening a vein

Grunkins

Grand adventurer of the couch

jaksen

Caped Codder