Setting: How Important Is It?

I’ve often wondered how important setting is to a story. And like many things I have come to learn as an author, it depends on your plot, characters...well your book. Sometimes the setting is of very little importance while other times the setting becomes such an integral part of the story it becomes almost another character.

When I wrote "The Spirit of Christmas" the setting really was of little consequence. In fact, I never once mentioned where this story took place. It can be assumed it is in the United States probably near a big Eastern city, but I never once mention where exactly. The reason why was because it really wasn’t important and because I didn’t want to be boxed in by placing my story into a specific location. When I was writing “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Your Wedding” I started off with a location. Most of the action took place in NYC and in Poughkeepsie, NY. But I started to feel stifled by the setting and the story slowed down. So, what could I do? I axed the setting. When this book comes out this summer, you won’t find a reference to location. It’s gone. I realized the reader will get an idea about where it is located without stating it specifically and then I can write the location description without having that boxed in feeling.

Just so you don’t think I am setting-o-phobic, I wrote a novella this fall which will be released this summer called Return of Summer. In this story the setting was of immense importance to my characters. When I first started writing this story, I had an idea of what I wanted my heroine to be. She was going to be witty, joking all the time, and emotionally stunted. But in time as I visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina again and researched the area in great detail, I came to realize Arianna would be the embodiment of her island home. She would have this wild, free, and mystical persona. It is something that really draws the hero to her. And it is in essence the location which brings these two characters together. Setting was of the utmost importance to this story, and I am so glad I took the time to incorporate it so intensely into this novella. It made it something special, something to remember, something to read over and over.

~Cindy K. Green~