Tuesday - Th Writer's Life - Settings #MFRWauthor #settings #writing

Once you have the characters, you might think you're ready to put your story into action. You know what they want and why they want that particular thing. You know the reasons others want to keep or assist them in reaching their dreams. So you start to write. You have dialogue and action between the characters.

You have scenes with beginnings middles and ends but don't make the mistake I did. The very first rejection I received said. Your characters operate in a vacuum. I'd ignored or just put bits of the setting into the story. She walked to the kitchen. But I didn't show much of the kitchen. So I tried again.

This time I had descriptions of each room or each place the characters were in. They were long and had lots of phrases and clauses. So I sent the book off to another publisher. Rejection. The settings are wooden and way too long. You need to consider what the character sees, hears and the rest of the senses. I tried again.

During the third time, I had setting down pat and sent the story off again. Was I accepted. No. This editor found another place where I could improve the story. After many times and revisions, I sent the story off an the book was accepted.

So don't forget the senses and the setting go hand in hand.