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When? Where?
Together, these two questions describe the concept of setting. While we've seen what their individual purposes are, it's important to see how they work together. Various places change over time, but at the same time, being in a certain place can skew a person's perception of time. This issue will take a look at the symbiotic relationship between time and place. |
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(From "Drama Newsletter (March 14, 2007)" )
From bazilbob: How about how they [time and place] relate to each other?
...as far as your question goes...that's a whole newsletter in itself! Check back in April for my answer.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is my answer to that question.
I admit I'm a bit of a weirdo when it comes to setting. Yes, I enjoy coming up with different places for my characters to play or duke it out. However, I adore playing with time. Because of numerous inquiries into the workings of time, some authors may feel uncomfortable tinkering with time in developing a setting. To me, time can change a place as much as people and the elements can. After reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende, studying two plays by Tom Stoppard and watching Heroes, I have come to the conclusion that some of the most intriguing writing stems from connecting time with place and how the latter affects the former.
As I've stated in past newsletters, time's role in the development of a setting affects social constructions, the ability to move around and what kinds of priorities characters might have. I realize, though, that I left out one very important role: how time physically changes a setting. Think about it. Have you ever driven by an abandoned building and seen vines crawling up the walls? That's a perfect example of time altering setting. In order to understand how time and place are connected, looking for concrete examples is key. Likewise, describing the place during two different time periods gives readers an opportunity to compare and contrast the two different time periods. Tom Stoppard's play Arcadia does an excellent job of this, even if he specifies in the script not to depict the two different time periods with excessive props. With a play, most of the comparison of the time periods is done through dialogue. In the 1809 version of Sidley Park, Lady Croom touts the value of a classical landscape (gentle slopes of hills, well-manicured bushes). Fast forward to Sidley Park in the mid 1980s, and Bernard almost runs his Mazda into a ditch created sometime after 1809 (although there are no clues to pinpoint a more exact date).
There are other ways to compare and constrast a setting in two different time periods. Such examples include characters taking/viewing pictures, characters making comments about the presence or absence of an object that might be associated with a setting and making subtle physical changes to a setting throughout the course of a story. The last example also works well as a motif and can be used to symbolize changes in society or a character as well. Since many of us encounter the "show, don't tell" mantra, using physical changes to setting to show time's passage helps readers get a grasp on the timeline for a story. It also shows how the location might be the same on the map but has undergone a quiet metamorphosis over time. Simply put, the mood of a given place has changed over time.
One element of time to keep in mind when constrasting settings is the intervention of technology. When I say technology, I'm not strictly referring to iPods and Intel computer processors. Technology means different things during different periods of time. For example, the perfection of the steam engine was hailed as a major development in technology during the 1850s. Likewise, televisions with 13-inch screens were considered a hi-tech luxury nearly a century later. Another thing to consider is that technology does not always lead to positive changes in a setting. After all, unchecked factory emissions spewed a great deal of soot into the air in England during the Industrial Revolution. This led to the most discussed case of natural selection, the survival of dark-colored gypsy moths, but that's another newsletter. One can also consider the developments in surveillance equipment that makes 1984 a creepy time (and novel). Technology is an important factor in depicting changes to a setting brought about by time, and it is flexible enough to be good and bad, sometimes both in the same story.
While I could go for centuries about time as a component of setting (not to mention all the other interesting uses it has), I think now is an appropriate to let your brains digest this information. Yeah. Time can be a little intimidating to work with in a story. However, if you tie it to something physical (i.e. a physical place), seeing how it works makes it not quite so messy. Still, it is an element well worth tackling, as change is the main objective in any story. Readers would be pretty disappointed if everything remained the same from beginning to end. Why not apply that concept to your settings as well? I hope this has answered your question, John4Leader, and I hope everyone begins to give time some more consideration when developing a setting.
Until next time,
(sig courtesy of terryjroo) |
Online reading time is a tad scarce when the semester starts winding down. So, I've picked some pieces that show the passage of time. There are also a few pieces in here that I just plain enjoyed reading. 
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With spring in the air, I've noticed a fair number of people drifting away from their computers.  For me, I've just been busy beyond belief with school! Still, I'll take a few moments to entertain some comments from the last issue on setting.
From StephBee  I liked how you touched on the senses to help establish "place" in our drama writing. Having a good strong sense of your story's setting in the background helps to bring the characters emotions to the forefront. Two thumbs up.
I admit the older I get the more I am concerned about actions than emotions. That could explain my heightened interest in non-fiction.  Still, setting is one of the easiest places to "show" something in writing. Likewise, basic sensory reactions trigger different kinds of actions. I played with this in a story once, and to this day that particular story is one of my better prose works.
From kiyasama: A very detailed and informative letter, Elisa. It's especially hard to get the 'taste' factor into a story, but it can be done and your examples and suggestions were quite helpful. Thanks for the plug of my story as well and keep up the excellent work.
You're welcome and thank you. I've had that piece in my favorites since last year's running of Troublesome Musings (which, by the way, is coming up next month ). As for taste, I really had to think about that one. However, living in western Miami has taught me a few lessons about non-food tastes. If you live in a relatively clean, quiet area, it can be hard to imagine tasting something without eating it. In Miami, though, between the sheer amount of crud in the air and the many different neighborhoods, you can 'taste' the atmosphere more. So I guess living in a ruthless urban area hasn't been a complete waste. It seems to help me explain various concepts!
From ftrinta: Hi Elisa
That's me again. I do live in The Netherlands and I know exactly the taste of the creamy cheese. Your NL helped me a lot. Thanks! I also would like to share a "feeling" experience I had during a writing workshop in Venice. We went to a quiet part of the town and we had to walk in silence to see, hear and smell the place. It was great!
Cheers,
Nanda
Behold the power of cheese! When I speak of cheese, I'm referring to the food and not my sense of humor.  Anyway, your experience in Venice sounds like a great way to help establish setting, not to mention it focuses on the senses. I think we should all give it a try. If nothing else, in a quiet area, it's a great way to unwind.
From BarbL  : Thank you so much for your comments about place. I find the setting of a story almost as important as the theme. It draws a visual picture for the reader. The problem I have in my writing is that I can visualize the setting in my head but I'm always afraid that the description isn't good enough to draw that same picture for the reader.
Thus I re-write and re-write. Until someone reviews and tells me they can see the picture too, I'm never really sure I've done a good enough job. Perhaps if I add more texture like you have suggested, bringing in more of the senses, I can accomplish my goal.
Thank you again...
BarbL
Rewriting is a big part of the writing game, so don't sweat it if you find yourself doing a fair amount of rewrites. After all, Tennessee Williams did enough edits that there are multiple versions of the same basic play. For example, Battle of Angels was originally written around 1940. It was edited and reappeared as Orpheus Descending in 1957. So don't throw those rewrites away! Um, anyhow, a believable setting does need texture (a good word to describe the combined sensory experience), and it goes beyond visual. I find that after visual aspects of setting, sound is the easiest sense to incorporate into the development of a setting. Even adding sound will amplify your settings, not to mention serve other interesting fucntions (foreshadowing, characterization and conflict complications, among others). I'm glad you found the newsletter useful.
The next two or three issues (I haven't decided yet) will focus on point of view. After all, it's more than the simple first person/third person phrases we're used to hearing. What are your thoughts on point of view? Do you prefer writing from one point of view or another? What do you find challenging when it comes to this subject? Any and all comments are welcome and will be posted in the newsletter!
And if you happen to miss or misplace a newsletter, feel free to stop by "The Drama Box" [13+].
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Drama: April 11, 2007 Issue [#1652]
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