5 Secrets to Writing a Great Setting
Let me start with a confession: It’s easy for me to write about Orange County. I spent the first 18 years of my life, and a lot of summers and weekends, in the place. It left the sort of mark a lover does. The place is in my heart and soul.
(8 Tips for Creating Believable Fictional Towns.)
When I pitched The Neighbor Wager as a gender-swapped Sabrina reboot, I knew I had to set the book in Orange County (in the fictional city Huntington Hills). There’s something about the county that lends itself so well to an upstairs-downstairs story. The new money wealth and opulence of the beach cities can make even a relatively well-off person feel insecure. And the diversity within the conservative-by-California standards county gives the place a unique mix of contradictions.
Because of my history, I had a huge advantage in setting my book in Orange County (never call it the OC), but I bet there’s some place in your bones. You can ace your setting too, with these five simple secrets.
Get Specific
Write what you know is a cliché for a reason. Sure, you could watch The OC and Arrested Development and try to cobble together a vision of Orange County, but you’d miss so much of what makes the cities special. It’s not all white people in McMansions. The county is incredibly ethnically diverse (even Newport Beach).
You don’t need to grow up in a place to know it well, but you do need to spend time there. Learn the little details that make the place feel real. The slang people use—we never say The OC, and we call SNA John Wayne. The things teenagers do for fun—Chain Reaction was THE SPOT for cool high schoolers, but most of us were late to sex and drugs. Are the mornings quiet? What about the nights? When adults meet, is it for coffee or drinks, and do they go to chain shops or local ones? All these little details add to the feeling of a place.
Set the Scene
California is famous for its beaches and they are beautiful (especially in Orange County). But there’s more to mother nature. The place is a desert, which means the surroundings switch between perfectly manicured lawns, succulent gardens, and the dusty taupe and brush of the desert. The weather can drop 40 degrees between afternoon and evening. People from the East Coast don’t always realize that (and they often write it incorrectly). There’s also the back bay—a marsh most people don’t know—and the mountains in view. The mountains here don’t look like the mountains where I live now, in the Pacific Northwest, and they really don’t look like the mountains on the East coast (if you want to call them mountains).
The buildings and neighborhoods look different too. Think about how the houses are collected. Are they perfectly planned or positioned willy-nilly? What are the colors and sizes? How much sidewalk is there. Irvine looks different from Newport Beach, which looks different from Laguna Hills, even though they’re all wealthy new money cities. Don’t be afraid to use Google Maps to help.
Check out Crystal Kaswell’s The Neighbor Wager here:
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Capture the Size
How many people live in your setting? Is it a small town, medium-sized city, or a metropolis? Since I grew up in a city of 200k, I struggled with this one! My fictional creation Huntington Hills is a lot smaller, so I imagined it as one of the neighborhoods where I grew up.
This is a great way to capture the essence of a place (which is all you need when you craft your own fictional town). Translate the knowledge you have and don’t worry about the literal accuracy of the details. Worry more about how they feel.
Appeal to the Senses
We tend to focus on sight in our descriptions of places. Don’t neglect the other senses. How does the weather feel on a character’s skin? How does the place smell? What about the local flavors—Orange County is a unique mix of chain restaurants and fantastic local Asian and Mexican joints.
Include all five senses, especially when you bring your characters to a new location. Don’t just describe the look of the beach. Describe the sounds of the crashing waves and gawking seagulls, the smell of salty air, the pain of walking on hot sand and the relief of the too-cold ocean, and the taste of the Pacific on your main character’s lips.
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Compare and Contrast
In some genres, people read just for the setting—think sci-fi and small town—but in my genre, contemporary romance, people are there for the character’s first. Use this to your advantage. Compare and contrast your characters to your setting.
Why do they still live in the place—besides convenience? My heroine Deanna is a lot like me. She’s a free-thinker who feels a little stifled by the Stepford-like qualities of her county. (True story: The HOA in my dad’s neighborhood fined him for having the wrong shade of green trim.) But she stays because she loves the sun, the beach, the proximity to her sister. My hero River ran to the other side of the country ASAP (also like me). He doesn’t fit in either, but he’s far happier to stay away. That speaks to their personalities and priorities.
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Setting can play a part in all the other elements of your story. Consider this as you draft. How does your setting play with your pacing, plot, theme, and characterization?
Make the most of all the elements of your story to craft a truly compelling narrative.