Writing Assignment #2

SETTING

Setting

Tune into your senses!

Learning about setting is very interesting.  To learn about settings you must be very observant and use your senses; all six of them (sight, sound, smell, hear, touch, taste, and common sense).

Look around and really see.  Don’t just notice, but see.  Look at the cracks in the sidewalk.  Do they look like someone’s portrait or the outline of an animal?  Look at the trees, what color is the bark?  What color are the leaves?  Are all trees or their leaves the same color?  How many shades of green can you count?

(In the country of Ireland, they say there are 44 different colors of green.  How many are there where you live?  Many be more?)

Setting, don’t just include the visual, it also includes sound.  We live in a world of sound, and it is all part of the setting of your possible story.  Sit quietly for five minutes and write down every sound you hear.  Did you hear a truck outside your window drive pass?  Did you hear the furnace or air conditioner kick on?  Can you hear the cat walking up the stairs?  The dog outside barking?  Record this sound information, but don’t just notice, listen.  What does the truck, cat, dog, or furnace really sound like? Does it roar? Does it shutter? Is it hushed?  Put words to what you hear, it is all part of setting.

In today’s world, we often have trouble smelling the things that are around us, and at times, we close ourselves off to smells that are offensive.  However, only when we use all are senses can we fully interpret the world around us, even if it does smell bad.  What does your school, workplace, or home smell like, really? Don’t just sniff, smell!  Take five minutes out of your day and focus on the scents around you.  Write down what things smell like.  Don’t write, “It smells like a flower” or “It stinks!”, I don’t know what that smells like.  But, if you write, that the scent is soft and sweet, or bitter, now I better understand what that scent is, because I understand, for me what soft and sweet or bitter means.

Do this with all your senses, including common sense.  What is common sense?  It is the basic understanding of things around us.  We could see a car and “imagine” it might fly, but our common sense tells us differently.  We might see a field and “imagine” a castle, but our common sense “knows” it is just a field (at this period of time).

Make sure in settings, unless it is part of your plot, that you explain things in their most common understanding of your reader, so your reader will really get it.

To better understand setting, you really need to “tune in” to your senses.