Written by Rachel Lee

Writing Workshop

"Creating a World - and Living With It"
A Workshop for Writers
by Rachel Lee

Your World as a Character:  Rachel Lee

Your world is a character and a mirror of character.

I’m told I write character-driven stories.  If that’s true, it’s because I don’t know what a non-character-driven story would be.  In order for a story to engage the readers, you need engaging characters.

And your setting is both one of those characters, and a mirror of the other characters.  No matter the genre, think of your setting as an actor in the story, rather than just background.  It can act naturally through weather, or by limiting the characters’ choices of where to go and what to do.  It can act emotionally, by shaping the ways the characters see themselves and their lives.  It can act supernaturally with willful intention.  Regardless, your setting is an actor.

The flip side is that your setting also mirrors your characters.  What you write about the setting should reflect what your characters see, hear, smell, taste, touch, desire, and fear.  What’s “out there” in the setting is only important if it’s important to your characters, in their “in heres.”

For example, we can assume your characters pass street signs while driving, but you wouldn’t describe every street sign.  Instead you describe the faded, dented stop sign your hero sees as he’s on his way to break up with the heroine, because it reminds him of the ways his once-solid rules have faded and dented over the years.

That the town hasn’t replaced its faded, dented road signs is an example of your setting as a character itself.  But that your hero notices the faded, dented stop sign is an example of your setting as a mirror of his character.  Your setting has its own life, but it also reflects the lives of your characters.

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