{"id":587,"date":"2014-05-28T11:51:21","date_gmt":"2014-05-28T15:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/?p=587"},"modified":"2021-07-17T18:08:59","modified_gmt":"2021-07-17T22:08:59","slug":"where-its-at","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/?p=587","title":{"rendered":"Where it\u2019s at"},"content":{"rendered":"

First appeared on Uncommon YA<\/a>, May 26, 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Definite<\/a>

Definite Evan Territory<\/p><\/div>\n

In the waning days of the Old South, a feisty beauty battles for her plantation. A family is blizzard-bound in a malevolent hotel, high in the Rockies. An eleven-year-old discovers his true destiny far beyond the cupboard under the stairs. At first glance, these three books\u2014Margaret Mitchell\u2019s Gone with the Wind<\/em>; Stephen King\u2019s The Shining<\/em>; and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer\u2019s Stone<\/em>, by J.K. Rowling\u2014have little in common. Sure, they all feature strong characters and potent drama, but beyond dynamic plots and people, one essential element unites these books. In each, setting is key.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no excusing the dreadful stereotypes in GWTW<\/em>, but Mitchell does succeed in creating an unforgettable setting in Tara. The Shining<\/em> simply wouldn\u2019t work minus King\u2019s focus on the isolation of winter, The Overlook\u2019s creepy rooms and ominous topiary figures. Much of the wonder of Rowling\u2019s work comes from Harry\u2019s introduction, and ours, to intricately drawn places: Hogwarts, Gringott\u2019s, Diagon Alley. Her expert world-building crafts settings both believable\u2014and crucial to the work\u2019s success. Setting\u2019s like that; it transports us, is a fundamental part of the reading experience. No story would be the same if it unfolded somewhere else. <\/p>\n

Admittedly, setting extends past place to era (including societal norms), season, even time of day. These details converge to create the world of a work. But for the purposes of this post, let\u2019s keep it simple. Let\u2019s call setting the where and when. Most vital in creating setting are the senses. Every author hopes to immerse readers in place; we do this through detail. If I make you shiver along with my character as he crosses town in a snowstorm, I\u2019ve made a connection. Pulling you in via setting, I invite you on my character\u2019s journey. I show you what he\u2019s seeing; I give you a chance to smell, to touch\u2014and be touched by\u2014his surroundings. <\/p>\n

Good writing requires showing not telling, and that\u2019s certainly true of setting. In The Namesake<\/em>, I don\u2019t tell you the attic is dark. Instead, Evan says, \u201cIt\u2019s like wading through ink, chilled ink.\u201d<\/em> We feel the dark, the cold; we\u2019re engaged via two senses. Setting lures us with detailed description. And I love enriching my characters\u2019 worlds by weaving in bits of my own. In my current manuscript, the protagonist, Teddi Alder, describes a late night park stroll, saying, \u201cSylvan Park is a rainforest tonight. The tree frog serenade’s playing full volume.\u201d<\/em> That detail\u2014straight from my own midnight walk\u2014creates specificity, a sense of noise, of heat and humidity, effectively placing Teddi someplace real. <\/p>\n

So sensory detail is central to creating setting, and setting is crucial to any story. The trick is balancing setting with momentum. While it\u2019s tempting to linger in setting, description should never feel gratuitous, should never cause pacing issues. To ensure just enough detail, I employ a poet\u2019s tool in crafting setting: economy. I work to pare each moment to the necessary, to describe setting in brief yet memorable ways. My own work may not exude the antebellum sweep of Mitchell\u2019s, the frigid terror of King\u2019s, or Rowling\u2019s singular magic, but the places I create are as vital as the people who inhabit them. <\/p>\n

Speaking of setting, what better one could there be for a writers\u2019 workshop than The Mark Twain House<\/a>? I\u2019ll be offering a four-part workshop series for teen writers this July 14-17. <\/p>\n

Like my author page<\/a> on Facebook!
\nFollow me on Twitter<\/a> and check out The Namesake<\/em> on Goodreads<\/a>!<\/p>\n

Buy the Book:
\nPurchase The Namesake<\/em> on Amazon<\/a>, Barnes & Noble.com<\/a> or find it on Indiebound<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Reviews
\nPublishers Weekly<\/a> praised my novel as \u201can introspective debut.\u201d
\nKirkus Reviews<\/a> called the book \u201ca memorable, disturbing story, carefully wrought.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First appeared on Uncommon YA, May 26, 2014. In the waning days of the Old South, a feisty beauty battles for her plantation. A family is blizzard-bound in a malevolent hotel, high in the Rockies. An eleven-year-old discovers his true destiny far beyond the cupboard under the stairs. At first glance, these three books\u2014Margaret Mitchell\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,10,4,53],"tags":[21,11,36,15,13,44],"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions\/744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stevenparlato.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}