The Importance of Setting
Setting often receives less attention than other story elements such as Problem and Character, and it does in this document as well.
But setting is more than just the backdrop of the story; plot and character are shaped and limited by the choice of setting. Settings:
• Provide much of the verisimilitude of the story, making it real and believable to the reader.
• Provide excitement and color. Much of the joy of fiction is to allow the reader to travel to other times, other places, and even other worlds.
• Establish mood and tone.
• Provide a source of symbolism and meaning for the story.
A Scene’s settings ties characters and their actions together. Generally, unless you unite your protagonist and antagonist at one place and time, there is no conflict.
Confined settings increase dramatic tension: for example, Murder on the Orient Express, or Titanic. Setting also establishes the framework of beliefs and scope of action which some characters are more comfortable in. A cowboy belongs in a western setting in ways that a ballet dancer or biochemist don’t. But placing characters in unusual settings can create or increase drama.