Post-From-The Past, March Archives

from photo archives, historic Fort Macon, Emerald Isle NC 2017

"Atmosphere is a term used in literature to describe the mood of a piece of writing, which is usually created by how the author describes the setting and background, as well as the characters and events within the story. The author creates his or her atmosphere in order to give the reader subconscious impressions about the narrative." --reference.com

The atmosphere in March sure has its own flavor doesn't it? Milder weather, unfolding leaves, emerging daffodils, and--happy days--the bluebirds are back! We know that atmosphere plays a big part in our stories as well, something I was reminded of when I pulled the following post, first published in March 2013, out of the archives. I'm glad for the refresher. Maybe you'll glean a little something out of it, too.

And so, from March's archives...
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Friday, March 8, 2013
Setting, Landscape, Atmosphere--How Are They Different?

"In every piece of fiction...setting is one of the three major elements--along with characterization and plot--that the writer must weave together to create the narrative." --Connie C. Epstein

Setting

Oh, the fun of setting--imagining where the story takes place, how characters respond to their surroundings, drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells that connect the reader to the written word--it's the world-building side of the writer's craft. I've been immersed in the subject this week as I've brainstormed ideas for my WIP. Along the way I've sought the wisdom of others to help open up that world. Helpful thoughts on the subject:

"There are lots of things you can do with setting. Setting adds color to the story. Setting affects characters. Setting lends authenticity to the narrative, and paints pictures in the imagination of readers." --Nancy Lamb, The Art and Craft of Story Telling.

"Settings..aren't just backdrops. Just by where you have the action happening will tell a lot about the action itself and the people involved." --Ansen Dibell, Plot

"Setting grounds your writing in the reality of place and depicts the theme of your story through powerful metaphor. Without setting, characters are simply there, in a vacuum, with no reason to act and most importantly, no reason to care. Without a place there is no story." --Nina Munteanu, scribophile

Landscape

And yet, expanding on the idea of setting, I came across the concept of landscape, this from Elizabeth George in her book Write Away: "On the surface, it would appear that landscape and setting are the same creatures, identical twins given different names just to confuse the beginning writer. This, however, would not be the truth since setting is where a story takes place--including where each scene takes place--while landscape is much broader than that...Landscape in writing implies much the same as that which is implied by the word when it's used to refer to a location in a country: It is the broad vista into which the writer actually places the individual settings of the novel, sort of like the canvas or other medium onto which a painter has decided to daub color.

"You need to think about the landscape of your book because if you're able to make the landscape of place real, you can make the land itself real, which gives you a leg up on making the entire novel real for the reader."

Atmosphere

But there's more. If the nuanced differences between setting and landscape are not enough, what about the idea of atmosphere? Janet Burroway in her classic, Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative Craft, puts it this way: "Your fiction must have an atmosphere because without it your characters will be unable to breathe."

"Like many of the terms that relate to the elements of fiction, 'atmosphere' has more than one meaning," Burroway writes. "Sometimes referring to subject matter, sometimes to technique. Part of the atmosphere of a scene or story is its setting, which includes the locale, period, weather, and time of day. Part of the atmosphere is its 'tone,' an attitude taken by the narrative voice that can be described, not in terms of time and place, but as a quality--sinister, facetious, formal, solemn, wry, and so on...As we need to know a character's gender, race, and age, we need to know in what atmosphere she or he operates to understand the significance of the action."

Setting, landscape, atmosphere. Separate entities yet connected.The first puts you in the action. The second contains the story's broader vista. The third enables the characters to breathe. Had you ever considered the varying distinctions? How so? Will you imagine your setting with a different understanding now?

photos courtesy of sxc.hu

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And now back to the present, an additional source on the subject includes an article titled Creating Atmosphere in Fiction, by Esther Newton (found here). In it, Ms. Newton says, "To be successful a short story or or novel needs to develop a strong sense of atmosphere. This draws your readers into your story so they can imagine this world you are creating. It also sets up expectations for them and gives them information about the characters they're likely to meet in your story." She follows up with six categories for developing that atmosphere. They include: setting, description, five senses, weather, time, and first person viewpoint. Another good refresher resource!

What do you find to be the easiest ways to create atmosphere in your writing? What comes hardest for you?

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Place and Proving Grounds: 10 Links for 19th Century Life

photo courtesy pixabay.com

"Every story would be another story, and unrecognizable if it took up its characters and plot and happened somewhere else...Fiction depends for its life on place. Place is the crossroads of circumstance, the proving ground of What happened? Who's here? Who's coming?"--Eudora Welty

Crossroads (n)--"the place where one road crosses another." At the crossroads--"in a situation where a choice must be made." My personal crossroad direction in writing this time around has taken me to 19th century Ohio. I see the potential of circumstance swirling around my character, the landscape of her proving grounds. She's surprising me in some ways while she whispers her story in my ear, but she's got her feet firmly planted in the times and circumstances of place. So far I've not allowed myself to get too mired in the details (I've already spent enough time there). But here are some resources I'd love to pass along to others who might be looking for just the right 19th century detail for their story, too.

1. Library of Congress. "American Memory" source.

2. Godey’s Lady’s Book, January 1864. Internet Archive

3. Civil War Collection and Archives

4. Household Cyclopedia. General Information  in the Useful and Domestic Arts, 1881

5. Cornell University Making of America Collection. Digital library of primary sources in American history. Browse magazines and documents.

6. Ohio Memory

7. 19^th Century America. Primary documents, timelines, maps and more

8. Ulysses S. Grant Homepage. Photos and more.

9. A Portal to the Victorian World

10. Victoriana Magazine. Contemporary magazine transporting readers back to the Victorian age.

So far so good in my goal to just get that messy first draft down on paper. Words aren't necessarily flowing fast but neither are they drying up. Place is helping me listen: Who's here? Who's coming? Place is unfolding and determining and challenging me to go deeper.

What part has "place" played in your writing recently?

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What Inspires Your Setting?

On morning walk, March 2014

"For most novelists the art of writing might be defined as the use to which we put our homesickness. So powerful is the instinct to memorialize in prose--one's region, one's family, one's past--that many writers, shorn of such subjects, would be rendered paralyzed and mute." --Joyce Carol Oates

The sky was magnificent on my walk the other day (glad I had the camera with me!)--and for some reason it seemed to draw me into my surroundings in a way I hadn't experienced before. Thoughts began to flow. Suggestions whispered. Possibilities for connecting dots in my story leaped forth. What fun. I didn't know "they" lived over there! Who would have guessed "that" character's house was just around the curve? And the pine grove between the two? Turns out, it's begging to be included, too.

Of course, the actual setting in my story will be fictionalized, but my, how my neighborhood is helping me "see" it. I can pretend I'm walking in my character's shoes as she lives, struggles, fights for that which is most important to her--all while being drawn into the drama and misfortunes of the times in which she lives (it is historical fiction, after all).

 "If you're lucky," writes Elizabeth George in Write Away, "the place in which you live is a place that resonates with you. If that's the case and if you can remain alive to and aware of the details that make that place unique, you should certainly consider using it for a setting because you'll more than likely be able to render it and not merely report it."

This works for the writer in me that immerses herself in an era of history. But what about the writer who builds her own world, fictionalizes a setting far different than her own reality?

It's all in the details. As Donald Maass says: "The great novelists of the past and the breakout novelists of today employ many approaches to setting, but all have one element in common: detail. A setting cannot live unless it is observed in its pieces and particulars."

Alex, at Write World, contrasts the advantages of real locations vs. fictional settings in his article, "Location, Location, Location: The Fundamentals of Choosing a Setting." In it he says, "There are two sides to setting: logistics and soul. If a character gets on a specific bus route, it's probably a good idea to research if such a bus actually exists, but this is only one side of writing about setting. The part that is infinitely harder is understanding the spirit of location, what makes it tick, what motivates its citizens, and how this culture matches your story. Whether your place is real or made-up, this will be your greatest challenge in writing setting."

"Real location" writers and "world builders" have more in common than not.

Additional tips on setting come from Moira Allen's "Four Ways to Bring Settings to Life" (at writing-world.com) where she suggest we reveal setting through motion...a character's level of experience...the mood of your character...the senses.

And what about the writer's own setting--the place in which we actually write? Take a look at Joy Lanzendorfer's Writer's Digest article, "5 Writing Lessons Inspired by Famous Writers." Ms. Lanzendorfer garnered inspiration by visiting the homes of such writers as Jack London, William Faulkner, and Emily Dickenson. A sample:

"In 1879, Robert Louis Stevenson stayed in a hotel in Monterey, CA, after traveling from Scotland. He didn't write anything of note while there, but the scenery, Spanish influences, and a local legend about buried coins later went into his most famous book, Treasure Island."

What has inspired your settings? What locations have influenced you? Do you draw from real places or build your own worlds? And have you written out of homesickness as Joyce Carol Oates suggests, or drawn from the deep well of imaginary places?

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Setting, Landscape, Atmosphere--How Are They Different?

"In every piece of fiction...setting is one of the three major elements--along with characterization and plot--that the writer must weave together to create the narrative." --Connie C. Epstein

Setting

Oh, the fun of setting--imagining where the story takes place, how characters respond to their surroundings, drinking in the sights, sounds, and smells that connect the reader to the written word--it's the world-building side of the writer's craft. I've been immersed in the subject this week as I've brainstormed ideas for my WIP. Along the way I've sought the wisdom of others to help open up that world. Helpful thoughts on the subject:

"There are lots of things you can do with setting. Setting adds color to the story. Setting affects characters. Setting lends authenticity to the narrative, and paints pictures in the imagination of readers." --Nancy Lamb, The Art and Craft of Story Telling.

"Settings..aren't just backdrops. Just by where you have the action happening will tell a lot about the action itself and the people involved." --Ansen Dibell, Plot

"Setting grounds your writing in the reality of place and depicts the theme of your story through powerful metaphor. Without setting, characters are simply there, in a vacuum, with no reason to act and most importantly, no reason to care. Without a place there is no story." --Nina Munteanu, scribophile

Landscape

And yet, expanding on the idea of setting, I came across the concept of landscape, this from Elizabeth George in her book Write Away:

"On the surface, it would appear that landscape and setting are the same creatures, identical twins given different names just to confuse the beginning writer. This, however, would not be the truth since setting is where a story takes place--including where each scene takes place--while landscape is much broader than that...Landscape in writing implies much the same as that which is implied by the word when it's used to refer to a location in a country: It is the broad vista into which the writer actually places the individual settings of the novel, sort of like the canvas or other medium onto which a painter has decided to daub color.

"You need to think about the landscape of your book because if you're able to make the landscape of place real, you can make the land itself real, which gives you a leg up on making the entire novel real for the reader."

Atmosphere

But there's more. If the nuanced differences between setting and landscape are not enough, what about the idea of atmosphere? Janet Burroway in her classic, Writing Fiction, a Guide to Narrative Craft, puts it this way: "Your fiction must have an atmosphere because without it your characters will be unable to breathe."

"Like many of the terms that relate to the elements of fiction, 'atmosphere' has more than one meaning," Burroway writes. "Sometimes referring to subject matter, sometimes to technique. Part of the atmosphere of a scene or story is its setting, which includes the locale, period, weather, and time of day. Part of the atmosphere is its 'tone,' an attitude taken by the narrative voice that can be described, not in terms of time and place, but as a quality--sinister, facetious, formal, solemn, wry, and so on...As we need to know a character's gender, race, and age, we need to know in what atmosphere she or he operates to understand the significance of the action."

Setting, landscape, atmosphere. Separate entities yet connected.The first puts you in the action. The second contains the story's broader vista. The third enables the characters to breathe. Had you ever considered the varying distinctions? How so? Will you imagine your setting with a different understanding now?

photos courtesy of sxc.hu

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