How Important is Setting?

[gunhilltrain]

I agree. I just meant that in my own stories, so far setting hasn't been important if the story takes place in the modern world.

Since I started writing these things - more than six years ago now - I get kind of antsy if it isn't taking place somewhere specific.

 

[SimonDoom]

Non Aussies seem to like that, when we write our own sense of place, and give them a feel for an English speaking society that's not English or North American. Most readers manage to cope with the different turns of phrase, and even @SimonDoom can cope with proper English spelling, you know: colour, labour, aluminium. The Labor Party confuses the fuck out of them though .

We cope but shake our heads. We're resigned to the attachment the Old Country and its antipodal and arctic hinterlands have to inconsistency, excess, and obscurantism in spelling and word choice and "turns of phrase," as you put it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

We cope but shake our heads. We're resigned to the attachment the Old Country and its antipodal and arctic hinterlands have to inconsistency, excess, and obscurantism in spelling and word choice and "turns of phrase," as you put it.

It's fucking vernacular, mate, get used to it .

 

[Ssbbw4u1974]

I write stories that are under 1.5k words... Mostly 1k or under. All my stories have a setting. A definite place that each story takes place.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yet another "it depends". Several of my stories are set in Melbourne and draw on real and fictional locations there, and my Arabian Nights pastiche tries to evoke that mythic-Arabia. But I also have one EH story where the location is deliberately obscure, beyond "probably somewhere in North America", because I was aiming for a claustrophobic feel similar to the road shot from Lost Highway.

 

[Bramblethorn]

We cope but shake our heads. We're resigned to the attachment the Old Country and its antipodal and arctic hinterlands have to inconsistency, excess, and obscurantism in spelling and word choice and "turns of phrase," as you put it.

Now that's rich, coming from the country that says "I could care less" ;-)

 

[Bamagan]

Now that's rich, coming from the country that says "I could care less" ;-)

In defense of the phrase, it does imply that the speaker cares enough to respond verbally (or in writing) about whatever is under discussion. If they cared less, they'd perhaps ignore the stimulus/provocation entirely. The equivalent of "couldn't care less" here on the boards is probably the ignore list.

 

[TheLobster]

In defense of the phrase, it does imply that the speaker cares enough to respond verbally (or in writing) about whatever is under discussion. If they cared less, they'd perhaps ignore the stimulus/provocation entirely. The equivalent of "couldn't care less" here on the boards is probably the ignore list.

Oh come on. The way it is used always makes it obvious the speaker tries to say he doesn’t care at all, rather than lamenting the fact he just can’t stop himself from caring so much.

Sure, maybe the sheer act of responding hints that it’s merely performative but the intended message is clear. To write “could care” is thus a typo, laziness, or lack of, well, care; similar to “should of” and the like.

 

[MajorRewrite]

As a reader, I appreciate a story with a distinct and well developed setting because I like to learn about new places.

In my most recent story (The Last Wallace), the town is very unusual and plays a big role in the plot. It is a true supporting character.

 

[Rob_Royale]

In a lot of erotica the setting is a house, a bedroom, the kitchen, the pool deck. Not a lot of fleshing out needed for those. The readers imagination can fill in the blanks. Others, like a noir setting or fantasy world, need more, much more. Without it, the reader doesn't really feel immersed. Horror certainly needs it.