The three most important elements of literature are the
plot, character and setting. When preparing for your novel, it is always much
faster to write your novel by figuring out these element in the reverse order.
Figure out your setting first so you can set up the environment that your story
will occur and a backdrop for the hell you plan to raise. Next create fantastic
characters who will raise the hell. With a setting and characters, the plot
will practically write itself.
The process of creating a physical setting may be as engrossing
as Creating a Fantasy World or as easy
as using settings that are already in existence. But either way it will involve
confining your writing space by choosing a time, a mood and specific locations.
Pick a place – anyplace for your
novel. Let’s say I decided
to go with the plot about how a soldier (Matt Griffins) learns of treasure that
has been stolen after an invasion into one of Saddam Hussein’s lost homes. He
sets out on a mission to help one of Hussein’s daughters, who has been left
destitute and ostracized and hunted (Let’s call her Rashida), recover it. Of
course my story will need to be set somewhere in Iraq and a city in the US
where they can confront the powers that are trying to prevent them from
succeeding.
It’s time to figure out a time period for your novel. Knowing
the time period of your novel before you start writing will help you avoid
making mistakes especially when it comes to history and technology. You don’t
want to be writing about the 15th century then suddenly one of the
characters uses a graphite pencil (invented in 1565) – reviewers will eat your
book alive. Make sure to specify in your notebook the year, the time duration
of your novel (does it take place in the course of six months), the season and
weather. For the plotline
above, the year will be just after Saddam Hussein’s death (April 2003). The
most impact would be for the book to happen right on the day of Saddam’s
hanging 9th. Usually temperature in Iraq around that time has a lot
of high winds, sandstorms. If they’ll be there its going to get much hotter in
May, June and August (highest heat).The more real the setting, the more
believable it is.
Create a mood for your
novel by using the physical setting to manipulate the reader’s feelings. Close
your eyes and imagine the place you feel is the creepiest. Is it the cemetery,
or is it a little suburban town where everything looks too perfect to be real –
plastic smiles and gingham dresses. Is it great grandma’s spooky house with the
curtains closed, hidden corners, the eerie clock’s ting and the dark furnishing?
You can inspire loneliness, nostalgia, menace, dread, anger all in your
writing. Think of what you would like the reader to feel when they read your
book. Are you going to cheat them with a sunny day and a teenage –filled Miami
beach then bash them in the head with a serial killer who stalks beach goers. To
set up conflict locations for Matt, Rashida and their detractors, the story
would happen in a ravaged part of Iraq (Ad-Dawr) to show the direness of
Rashida’s situation and the effect of war. Conflicting Ad-Dawr it with the opulence
of a sky scrapper filled Washington DC (which by the way means I can make it a
powerful politician – the first lady is looking like a particularly juicy
villainess).
Getting location
specifics (natural and manmade geography) will probably require some sort of
research unless you’re a well versed native of your setting. Location Specs you
need may differ with what you think your story you need but it is always
important to have a research sheet containing the basic geography of your
primary location. The most important categories are landforms (caves, canyons,
hills, mountains, beaches etc), water sources (rivers, lakes, ponds etc), amenities
(school, hospital, supermarket, gym, farms) and infrastructure (roads, streets,
bridges, ports). Ad-Dawar is right next to the Tigris River, 15 Kilometers from
Tikrit so there are many coastal landforms that would come in handy when Rashida
is trying to hide from the occupying forces.
Even as you create your
setting remember that not everything you know will be lumped into the book. The
information is more for you to know and for the reader to experience (as
opposed to get encyclopedic knowledge on). Setting must be woven seamlessly
into the novel. Paragraphs upon paragraphs of flowery descriptions and your overwhelmed
reader will be skipping pages. Instead reveal the setting as the character interacts
with it (the more dramatic the interaction, the better). Describe the
supermarket not when your character goes to do their daily shopping in it but
rather when the shooter enters it. For instance I would describe Ad-Dawr in
bits and pieces as Rashida and Matt travel through it rather then narrating.
When describing objects;
describe character’s experiences with them rather than just the sight. Instead
of ‘the room was brightly lit’ make your character blink at the blinding light.
Make the character taste, smell, hear and touch your setting. Don’t talk of
Persian carpets unless your character knows them. Instead let them feel how
soft it feels, she can’t help curling her feet into it. The of course her
snooty sister can point out that she got that ‘cheap Persian thing’ on her last
trip to Egypt.
I'm sure you're going to create a knockout series.
Always
Jan
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