While conflict and premise of a story are more abstract
ideas, the setting of a story requires more concrete details.
What is setting?
Setting is the time and place in which your story takes place.
- If you write a short story it is best to limit yourself to
a narrow space of place and time.
- If you write a novel or a TV series you can spread your
story over centuries and continents.
1. Time
A story can last over several
periods of time and can go from the past, through the present, and into the
future.
There are three basic fictional
periods. You can use them separately or in combination in a story:
Historical Fiction
If you choose to set your story in
the past, like World War II or Ancient Rome, you are writing a historical
story. This project will require doing some research about that period, its lifestyle,
and events that occurred back then – this will help your story sound more
genuine and accurate to the time period in which it is set.
Futuristic Fiction
If you choose to set your story in
the future – you are writing a futuristic story. Here you have the freedom to
imagine and invent the life that hasn’t occurred yet.
Contemporary Fiction
If your story takes place nowadays
– then you are writing a contemporary story. This is the easiest time period to
use in writing, as you describe a familiar reality.
2. Place
The location of your story will
affect the behavior of your characters and their conflict, due to cultural
differences. Consider the freedom couples in-love have in Western countries
versus the social restrictions couples have in more traditional cultures.
While some conflicts can only exist
in a certain time and place, there are conflicts that are timeless and cross
borders.
Example:
When Jane Austen wrote
Pride and Prejudice in 1813 it was a contemporary romance that described how
social and economic status in 19th-century England affected people’s
marriage choices. Today this story is still popular, but now it’s a historical
novel. In the following scene from
the (1995 BBC TV version), Mr. Darcy (Colin firth) makes his first marriage
proposal to Elizabeth Bennet (Jennifer Ehle) in which he expresses the social
conflict he had to deal with at the time: Elizabeth comes from a much lower socio-economic
rank than himself. Today in modern societies, this conflict is not so
prominent.
Exercise:
1. Consider movies and stories that you are
familiar with – could you define their setting? Are those stories limited to a place and time or do they spread
over several of them?
2. Where and when would you set your story? How
does your setting choice affect your plot?
Share your answers and creative ideas in the comments below.
