What is a Story Setting and How to Work With It.

Stories don’t happen in a vacuum, well, unless you write sci-fi space opera. But even in the deadly vacuum of a space there is something. This “something” is setting.

When we talk about setting, we refer to time and space where the story is happening. It could be anything.From present days on our planet, to a galaxy far, far away from the “Star Wars” universe. Wherever and whenever your story happens, one remains true, setting defines how your story will play out.

Let’s look at what the setting is and how we can use it to create a compelling short story.

Setting Components

Although I said the setting is time and space, let’s break it down into smaller parts.

• The World.
• The Time
• The Place.
• Tone and Atmosphere.

The World

The big background of your story. This part of a setting defines how the world, in which your story happens, is working. I speak about monumental elements. Laws of nature. Magic, if it exists. How society works in this world. At which planet/planets, or spaceship, or country events happen. There is a lot you can play with here.

World Creation.

First part of it is super fun. Pour any single idea about your story world on the paper. The most silly one, including. Be like a little kid flipping over their box with toys. Everything that might be in a story. Though don’t dwell deep in any idea for now, just initial thoughts. Okay, dwell but a little. If you have ideas for a plot popping up alongside with world ideas, it’s even greater, write them down too, then set aside all of it for a moment. Now we need to pick a path.

See, worldbuilding is like walking in the woods. If you follow the track, you will be nice and fine. If you lose it though, Bilbo, well I hope elves will find you and dwarves, before spiders do. To keep yourself on track, pick the world elements which would be relevant or complement your story. It is especially true for short stories.

Think about this like about stuffing a spaceship with goodies. You have a finite cargo capacity. Any useless and irrelevant things you should toss through the airlock. You came up with ideas about 5 intelligent species? How many of them used in the story? Do you even need them? Everything irrelevant should walk the plank.

Some ideas of questions you should ask yourself when building the world.

• This is our world? Our world, but an alternative version? Brand New World?
• If it is a new world, does it have the same laws of nature as our world or is it differ from them? Just in case if you know physics well and can do some crazy stuff, unlike me.
• Do supernatural forces exist in your story? Magic, spirits, ghosts, etc.
• Do I have any sentient species besides humans? Do I even have humans there?
• Does society have some interesting features in the place where the story would occur?

Give a short, simple answer on each question. Come up with your own, because this little bunch does not even close a list of all questions you could ask. But remember to keep it relevant to the story you want to tell and keep it simple.

How it affects the story.

It determines which obstacles your character or characters could encounter throughout the story. Means they have to solve them. If they need to fight someone, technological development of the world would determine which weapon they would use, from sword to gun.

It decides how social interactions would work. Do your character honor social norms and traditions, follow them or rebel against them?

It could decide a conflict in the story. Is it an environment? Society? Or something else?

Play around in a world building sandbox. Release your inner cool babe and build a sand castle, get wild. But remember that you write a short story. Is no need to get too deep in your world to make a story work. For my first story what I did was: criminal syndicates exist, space travel exists, space engines work on a mix of fuel and magic runes. That was everything I did for my first story. That was enough.

The Time.

That’s the easy one. It is a historical period when your story happens. Doesn’t matter if it ours, or alternative, or a new world.

Establish.

There are two ways to establish a period of time where your story is set.

First one is name the year. Say when the story happens. The 14th century AD or the 3rd era of middle-earth, or the 10000 years of king undying rule, all of it will work just fine. Though with last two it would be hard to relate for some time.

Second way is to drop age specific items, if time paradox isn’t a thing, of course. Drop a bunch of items that could be in abundance at that time. Build up a close environment accordingly, about it later. Create a space that could exist only in that period. It works well in any setting. If it was our world, we would know when the story happens pretty fast. In a brand new world we can’t pinpoint it as accurate but we already would know a bit about setting and have some ideas, which is always good.

How it affects the story.

It mostly affects something if we set the story in our world or alternative earth. It narrowed how well developed both technologies and society could be. Beside this it could help with immersion. But beyond not a lot, if to be honest.

If your story doesn’t require a specific timestamp, don’t bother with it. Keep it simple.

The Place.

The place is an immediate environment of a story protagonist. It could be a city where heroes grew and where story events happen. It could be a spaceship in a deep space. It goes down to the individual’s room. This part of the setting is by far the most closely tied with a hero of your story.

How to establish.

For the start, think about a place where a story happens. As I stated above, it could be the city where your hero grew up, spaceship, cave or good old dark forest. Think of the history of the place, what people or creatures live there. Think why your protagonist could be there. If they lived, there would they usually do. It could sound silly, but such mundane things give me a lot of crazy ideas for the story. It also helps me to build up the next thing on the list.

Individuals places. Houses, taverns, rooms. Decorations of the story. Think about their layout. What fills up the space of those places? In which state those places are. It could be quite important and tell the story of its own.

How it affects the story.

It could be the reason for a story to happen. Societal conflict within the environment where the hero lives in. Or natural disaster. It doesn’t matter what exactly but place your set the story could be a source of the conflict by itself.

It could provide help or become the obstacle on the hero path. The wide river to cross. The thick bushes to hide from the enemies. Use surroundings to spice up the plot.

The place could highlight characters. Personal room or quarters could provide a peek into the character’s mind no less than a good dialogue or choice in a pinch situation. Show details. Maybe the protagonist’s room is messy and unorganized beside the single spot that kept irritatingly neat and clean. Or an entire room like an operational room, clean, sterile. Items that kept for memory, or one that can show what proficiency character has.

Work with the immediate surroundings carefully. Maybe you don’t have a space for a big worldbuilding experiment, but you definitely should pay attention to details inhabiting your story setting. Devils always lay in details.

Mood

It’s what the story feels like. It kinda part of the setting, but it combines other parts and plot, plus communicating all of it to build a certain emotional state — the mood.

To create the mood, look what you already have in your sleeve. What emotions surroundings invoke? Political situation in society in your story (if relevant). What surrounds your character is hard to feel super positivity in a gloomy surrounding. Above all else, about what your story is.

Your story mood should match the plot. It is a tool to reinforce the impact of it. If you write dystopian, it shouldn’t be all rainbow and sunshine. But mood can shift as the story unfolds. If your dark gloomy story ends with the epic win of your protagonist, you can shift it from desperate to righteous triumph.

Nailed mood is one more opportunity to make readers feel the story. Make them feel the emotions of a story. It would reinforce each single point of your plot.

Conclusion

Here we go. Four horsemen of a setting. Time, World, Place, and Mood.

Experiment with them. Go fool ham with them. They are great assets in creating decorations for the story. If you get stuck with a story that doesn’t want to work how you want it to, work with a setting. I did it myself recently, and that worked magnificently well.