Describing Settings: How to Give a Story World Dimension

By Paul Tomlinson

How Can You Make Your Story World Feel Real?

Setting is the arena in which the action of a story takes place. To describe it, you have to create more than just a picturesque image. It must feel like a real, three-dimensional location. The description has to create an 'atmosphere' or mood that both the characters and the reader can feel. And it has to meet the conventions of your chosen genre. You also need to understand how setting can help reveal character, and how it can help you build your plot. Setting description is also where we tend to see the 'poetry' in fiction.

The types of settings covered here include: MountainsEnchanted Forests & Wild WoodsRivers & StreamsOceansFarms & RanchesSecret Gardens & Public ParksThe City & Urban Settings - in daylight and after darkArchitecture & BuildingsInterior SettingsCaves & SewersBorders & Borderlands
For each kind of setting, there are examples from established authors, showing the effects that can be achieved. There is also information on settings for journeys and quests, plus advice on using weather, time, and lighting to evoke mood or atmosphere.

As well as drawing on literature, techniques are borrowed from the fields of theatrical and movie set design, and theories from psychology are used to explore why certain types of setting description are effective.

There are four skills that a fiction writer must develop: plotting a story, creating characters, writing dialogue, and writing description. The last of these is as important as the first three. Relatively little has been written about the art and craft of writing description. This is the third in a series of books designed to meet this need. Other titles include Description Basics, Describing Characters, Describing Action, and Describing Emotion & Body Language.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0HCLJBCKZ
• ISBN13: 9798190194722
• Release Date: August 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 436 Pages
• Weight: 1.28 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"