During English\u00a0tutoring, elements of story creation are sometimes explored.\u00a0\u00a0Among them\u00a0are plot, setting, character, symbol, and irony.<\/p>\n
When I was in English 12, I was taught that great<\/em> writers don’t develop a story by plot, but rather, by character.\u00a0\u00a0The real<\/em>\u00a0story is\u00a0how\u00a0the main character adapts in the face of a conflict for which he or she is unprepared.<\/p>\n In fact, there is another angle of story development that gets less attention:\u00a0 the setting.\u00a0 A writer who focuses on the setting develops it so carefully\u00a0that the events of the story are\u00a0inevitable.<\/p>\n In every day life we see that people believe in setting.\u00a0 For example:\u00a0suppose, at a family function, there are two people you know don’t get along.\u00a0 You try to keep them separate, so they won’t fight.\u00a0 Therefore, you are trying to control the setting in order to control the outcome.<\/p>\n In studies of fiction, setting gets less attention than character.\u00a0 However, short story writers tend to use setting more than novel writers do, since it’s hard for a character to adapt very much in the duration of a short story.<\/p>\n One time I picked up a book that just contained short stories about voodoo.\u00a0 The setting was always some\u00a0isolated place in tropical America, with lots of machetes lying around to cut cane with.\u00a0 In the stifling afternoon heat, time would pass by slow drip.\u00a0 Throw in a witch doctor and someone with a score to settle, and you have the inevitability of a gripping voodoo tale.\u00a0 It was a great book.<\/p>\n I’m a setting writer.<\/p>\n