Unit 1 lesson 5 how to create a n effective, believable setting

2.  To create setting, provide information about
time and place and use descriptive language to
evoke vivid sights, sounds, smells, and other
sensations. Pay close attention to the mood a
setting conveys.

3.  Learning to create a vivid, believable setting for
your story is a skill that requires practice.
 Here are some ways to master that skill:

4.  1) To portray setting in both fiction and non-
fiction, refer specifically to place and time.
For example:
"In the early weeks of 1837, Charles Darwin
was a busy young man living in London."
—David Quammen, The Reluctant Mr. Darwin

5.  2) Provide clues about the place and time by using
details that correspond to certain historical eras or
events.
For example:
"Because the nights were cold, and because the monsoons
were wet, each [man] carried a green plastic poncho that
could be used as a raincoat or groundsheet or makeshift
tent. With its quilted liner, the poncho weighed almost 2
pounds, but it was worth every ounce. In April, for instance,
when Ted Lavender was shot, they used his poncho to wrap
him up, then to carry him across the paddy, then to lift him
into the chopper that took him away."
—Tim O'Brien, "The Things They Carried”
(A short story about the Vietnam War)

6.  3) Describe the inside of a room where a scene
takes place.
For example:
"The walls were made of dark stone, dimly lit by
torches. Empty benches rose on either side of him,
but ahead, in the highest benches of all, were many
shadowy figures. They had been talking in low
voices, but as the heavy door swung closed behind
Harry an ominous silence fell."
—J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix

7.  4) Describe the weather and the natural
surroundings.
For example:
"And after all the weather was ideal. They could not have
had amore perfect day for a garden-party if they had
ordered it. Windless, warm, the sky without a cloud.
Only the blue was veiled with a haze of light gold, as it is
sometimes in early summer. The gardener had been up
since dawn, mowing the lawns and sweeping them, until
the grass and the dark flat rosettes where the daisy plants
had been seemed to shine."
—Katherine Mansfield, "The Garden-Party"

8.  5) Weave details about setting into the descriptions
of action.
For example:
"During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in
the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung
oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing
alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of
country; and at length found myself, as the shades of the
evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House
of Usher.“
- Edgar Allan Poe “Fall of the House of Usher”
Adapted from: http://udleditions.cast.org/craft_elm_setting.html

9.  Remember that although using these strategies proves to be very
effective, the most effective strategy is closing your eyes
envisioning the setting yourself and relying on your five senses to
paint a vivid picture for your reader.
 Have fun with creating your setting and letting your reader into
the world of your imagination.