Like Rowling, give your setting

1- Give detail.
your • Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
story and Wizardry is a character in
setting itself. Portraits of prior staff
detail – hanging in corridors are
J.K. animated and talk. Stairways
Rowling’ move by enchantment. Even the
ceiling design of the school’s
s dining hall changes according to
Hogwart school events and seasons.
s
2. Use • The word ‘nice’ itself is a good example of a
great (not nice adjective. It’s nondescript, the opposite
of descriptive. If a friend went on vacation
merely ‘nic and described the Colosseum as ‘nice’, you
e’) wouldn’t be any wiser as to how it felt to
stand in an ancient, enormous arena.
adjectives
In Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights,
she describes a storm:
‘About midnight, while we still sat up, the
storm came rattling over the Heights in full
fury. There was a violent wind, as well as
thunder, and either one or the other split a
tree off at the corner of the building: a huge
bough fell across the roof, and knocked down
a portion of the east chimney-stack, sending
a clatter of stones and soot into the kitchen-
fire.’
The use of
effective verbs, adjectives and adverbs push the
narrative in a specific way. As a writer you need to
consider all these ideas when planning your writing.

Here, Brontë has selected verbs such as ‘rattling’,

‘split’ and ‘fell’ to suggest the intensity of the storm.
Adjectives such as ‘violent’ reinforce this idea.

Repeating the sounds in ‘rattling’ and ‘clatter’ -

the consonance of the double tt - gives
a onomatopoeic quality to the description alongside
the destructive movement.

Consonance is the repetition of similar consonant

sounds in nearby words. Here it creates a harsh effect
Learn from vivid story setting –
Charles Dickens’ London
• The public-houses, with gas-lights burning inside,
were already open. By degrees, other shops began
to be unclosed, and a few scattered people were
met with. Then, came straggling groups of labourers
going to their work; then, men and women with
fish-baskets on their heads; donkey-carts laden with
vegetables; chaise-carts filled with livestock or
whole carcasses of meat; milk-women with pails; an
unbroken concourse of people trudging out with
various supplies to the eastern suburbs of the town.
As they approached the City, the noise and traffic
gradually increased; when they threaded the streets
between Shoreditch and Smithfield, it had swelled
into a roar of sound and bustle.
In just a few lines, Dickens conveys the passage from
city outskirts to inner city and the multitude and variety
of inhabitants you would find in this place, at this time.
3. Make setting actively
contribute to your plot direction –
Tolkien’s Middle Earth
For example, when the band attempts to cross the
Misty Mountains in their travels towards Mordor,
their progress is impeded by heavy snowfall, and
they are attacked by mountain dwelling ‘wargs’. This
forces them to go through an underground pass (the
Mines of Moria), itself fraught with danger and
environmental obstacles.
 Time is a vital component of story
setting.
4. Show • In his novel Brideshead
the effects Revisited (1945), Evelyn Waugh
of time in creates a strong sense of history
setting – through setting. He shows his
Evelyn protagonist Charles Ryder visit his
Waugh’s friend’s family mansion before and
Brideshea after World War II. The once-grand
d building has been damaged and
Revisited acquires a ghostly, nostalgic character
as time and historical events change
it completely
5. Use • When crafting your novel’s setting, think
about what time and place in your story
setting symbolize. In Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings
symbolic cycle, for example, each geographical
area has its own landscape reflecting, in
ally – part, the character of its inhabitants. The
C.S. peace-loving Hobbits’ Shire is all green,
rolling hills, while the villain’s homeland
Lewis’ Mordor is full of sulphur pits and jagged
Narnia mountain ranges.
6. Use the five senses to
deepen setting description –
Charles Dickens’ Hard Times
• It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would
have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed
it; but as matters stood, it was a town of unnatural
red and black … It had a black canal in it, and a river
that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles
of building full of windows where there was a
rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the
piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously
up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state
of melancholy madness.
• In sum, the description conjures a vivid mental image of the town.
Dickens also shows how the industrial activities that take place in his
setting alter it. Setting and action affect each other.
• "The wall towered above us,
slate grey and polished flat"
• "The candle flame danced in
the dark"
• Visual: Appeals to our sense
of sight
• Includes colours, shapes,
sizes and patterns of things.
• "Walking through the woods, there was a calm and
eerie silence"
• "The booming thunderstorm scared the little girl"
• Auditory: Appeals to our sense of sound
• Includes anything you hear - whether that's
people's voices, the sounds of nature or even
complete silence. Words like birdsong, beautiful
voice, gusts of wind and onomatopoeias.
For example:
• "The freshly brewed coffee left a rich aroma in the
room"
• Olfactory: Appeals to our sense of smell
• Olfactory imagery describes that the reader should
smell - good or bad. This could be describing
fragrances such as perfumes, food and drink,
flowers, rotten vegetables or a stinky wet dog.
For example:
• "The cookies were delicious - warm, sickly and
sweet"
• "Jim bit into a lemon and it was incredibly sour"
• Gustatory: Appeals to our sense of taste
• Includes everything we can taste - sweetness,
sourness, saltiness and spiciness. Words like bitter,
tart, mouth-watering, hot and sickly are great to
use.
For example:
• "The little boy touched the prickly cactus"
• Tactile: Appeals to our sense of touch
• Includes everything that we can feel or touch - this
can be temperature, a person's movements and
textures. Writers use words like rough, soft, smooth,
sharp and humid.
The words you choose can convey atmosphere and
mood.
• Example 1: I ran up the steep stairs behind Matt,
ignoring how the gritty non-slip strips on the steps
cut into my feet. Sure, they’d be sore tomorrow, but
today all I cared about was getting in as many runs
as I could on the Gut Buster. Both Matt and I
planned on beating our previous summer’s record
of forty trips down the triple diamond rated water
slide…
Similes and metaphors create strong imagery when
used sparingly.
•Example 1: (Simile) At the top, the green light
flashed. Sean gave me the thumbs up and then threw
himself into the rushing water like a thrill-seeking
body surfing down a waterfall…
In the opening to The Lie
Tree Frances Hardinge creates
an unsettling and frightening
tone:
‘The boat moved with a nauseous,
relentless rhythm, like someone
chewing on a rotten tooth. The
islands just visible through the mist
also looked like teeth, Faith decided.’
In the first sentence, Hardinge has used
a simile to create a disturbing comparison
between the motion of the boat and the action of
biting.

It builds up an image for the reader, moving

beyond the meaning of the actual words. It
seems as if Faith is actually being chewed up
inside a rotten mouth and hints that her
destination might be a dangerous place.

Hardinge has also used words with lots of ‘s’

sounds that reflects the whooshing sound of the
sea around Faith, but also helps to generate a
sinister feeling.
 Setting Description Entry: Water Slide Park

Sight
• chain link fence around the grounds, coloured tubes and slides standing/twisting high in
the air, staircases, water dripping from rides, puddles of water everywhere, lifeguard
stands, flags flying, wet patrons in swimsuits, towels, wave pool packed with people,
inner…
Sounds
• bodies moving swiftly through tubes/down slides, screams, laughter, conversation, parents
yelling, kids crying, water dripping/splattering/splashing, staircases creaking, feet slapping
on the pavement, feet splashing through puddles, piped-in music, wind whipping…
Smells
• chlorine, bleach, water, sunblock, suntan oil, wet bathing suits and towels, food smells
(hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, pizza, nachos), bubble gum, bug repellent, mildew
Tastes
• chlorinated water, sweat, sunblock, oil, hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, pizza, nachos, gum,
bottled water, soda, candy bars, ice cream
Touch
• pavement burning your feet, jumping from puddle to puddle to keep soles of feet from
burning, slap of concrete against running feet, chafe of wet bathing suit, wedgie from big
huge slide, water in your eyes, wet hair sticking to your neck, sunburn, sticky feel of…
• Write down a scene in a water slide park
that conveys the atmosphere using setting
description
Choose some of the sensory details form
the following settings, adding
appropriate figures of speech.
A fearful night
A joyful night
A sunny joyful day
A gloomy day
Sight

• Sentence starters:
• I couldn't help but notice...
• I gazed...
• Looking carefully. I noticed...
• I was surprised to see...
• I peered at...
• She eyed him suspiciously...
• I glanced...
• She peeked...
Sight
-flash of lights in the night sky
-deep blue of the ocean
-the sky was inky dark sending arrows of lightening
-the roads had begun to glisten underneath headlights
-the sun was setting behind low, grey-blue storm clouds
-a heavenly hue to the layers of ice and snow accumulating on rooftops and tree limbs
-her shadow , shaky behind a slight flame, stemming from a candle she carried
-sparks lit up the dusk of day
-a blinking red light from the truck's turn-signal illuminated our darkened home
-the moon's light was desperately trying to peer through the murky night
-the clouds smeared the sky with a dull grey.
Auditory

• Sentence starters:
• Standing quietly, I noticed...
• I heard...
• I could make out the sound of...
• I listened closely to...
• I strained to hear...
• I overheard...
Sound
-The walls shook and vibrated like the tail of a rattle snake
-lce crackled and pinged against the family room window
-Wind swirled around our beach house whistling loudly to a terrible tune
-The television buzzed as it shut off, and the furnace sighed one last time before the house fell silent
-The cracking of wood splitting punctuated each burst of fire like an exclamation point
-The sounds of emergency sirens awakened the still roads
-The howling of wind and branches creaking under the weight of ice
-The hooting of the owl petrified me
-The howling of the wolves was another fearful factor
-Leaves crunched as I walked in the massive woods
 Smell
• Sentence starters:
• Breathing deeply, I noticed…
• I sniffed at…
• The aroma of …
• I inhaled the scent of…
• I could smell...
 Smell
• -Sweet aroma of baking corn bread
-cinnamon-scented candle

-pungent odor of smoke

-salty beach air

-rotting leaves and crispness of air

-aromatic smell of fresh
spring flowers
Touch/feel

Sentence starters:
• I felt...
• When I ran my hand along it, I...
• I enjoyed the feel of...
• When I touched…
• He was fingering…
• She fondled…
• I stroked...
 Touch
• - We sat still, huddled underneath the quilt
• -Car tires gripped the ice with fearful intensity
• -The power lines, heavy from the thickness of ice had snapped
• -soft tufts of fur decorated his jacket
• -stick my toes in the warm and grainy sand
• -the rays of the smiling sun caress our skin gently
• -the gentle breeze was kissing our cheeks tenderly
• -The rough wind was like a whip, cutting chunks off my face
• -The harsh wind was a razor blade cutting my face
• -I felt like a raging volcano
Taste

Sentence starters:
• My mouth watered as...
• I smacked my lips...
• My stomach growled as...
• I tasted...
• I could taste...
 Taste
• ice-cold strawberries
• tall, frosted glass of sweet yet bitter lemonade
• salty chips
• juicy tartness of orange
• rancid butter
• the tantalizing aroma of pancakes made me dash to the kitchen
• the putrid leftovers filled the whole room after the party