More setting

Previously, I discussed the sensory details part of building your setting.

Time (and season)

Of course, that is not all that setting is. Setting is also the time (of day for scenes; season or year for stories) things are happening, too. Inasmuch as the weather or anniversaries or daily patterns impacts the character you should include it.

As she flipped the calendar to March, her gaze drifted over the number 10. They’d have to trek to Abel’s mom’s place again for the annual recounting.

Weather is also important if it is disruptive to plans

This blasted late winter storm was going to cover the prisoner’s tracks if they didn’t get the dogs and get going

or an echo or counterpoint to the character’s mood.

She pulled aside the curtain and sighed. Rain. Of course. Wasn’t there a song about rain on a wedding day being bad luck? Or was it good luck? She shook her head and turned back to her dress spread across the bedding.

Time Period (and culture)

Also, the time period and culture are parts of the setting. What are the mores (pronounced more-ay, meaning the morals and principles by which people conduct themselves) and the patterns those add to a person’s life? This would include morning preparations, meal patterns, belief systems (and the rituals of said belief system).

“Wash your face and come down to breakfast,” Ma shouted. “And don’t forget your school bag. Did you put in the new slate?”
I gasped as I tossed the ice cold water from the basin on my face. Then I patted dry with the rough cloth and replaced it on the hangnail in the wall. I grabbed my father’s Union Army pack, which now served to hold my school books, and tossed it onto my shoulder before swinging down the ladder from the loft.

Any detail that shows how the people are organized in the society — class differences in clothing or speech, attitudes about and practices of education, differentiation because of special abilities, etc.

“Back, urchin!” he snapped at the bedraggled child, wearing a shirt at least four sizes too big. “This is the King’s Road, and you aren’t even fit to shine his boots.”

Even if a character disdains these things, or doesn’t know the patterns, their interactions that come from doing or not doing the “correct” thing are giving readers more details about the time period and culture. It is often enough to show these moments. It is not necessary to tell the entire history of a kingdom or how a ritual came to be practiced in order to give readers a solid sense of setting. If that history is relevant to the plot, however…

As always, though, avoid long explanatory passages explaining; info-dump will turn off your readers.

~ Lara

Availability: Contact me to discuss your editing today. Space is going quickly. ~ LZ