The Edge Of The Art Of The Ebook: How The Digital World Is Shaping

Story Setting

Debbie MerionSolstice MFA at Pine Manor College

Graduate Lecture3:30 Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014

In This Class

Learn how the setting techniques used in The Silent History can enliven the fiction and nonfiction I (and you) write.

Practice creating settings that affect the action.

The Subject of My Critical Thesis

The Authors

Editors at McSweeny’s—Dave Eggers

I Interviewed

Buy From iphone/ipad App Store

Experience the Silent History

An Example in Miami

ABOUT SETTING

• “Together, setting and narrative time help define a story’s dimensions” –Janet Burroway

• “Setting refers to climates of emotion (atmosphere). – Seymour Chatman

• But it can also refer to…

“The location must be an essential part of the narrative; the physical world can shape

the action or it can be shaped by the action, but either way the two must be

linked in satisfying, vital ways”

Interview the Handout

How sensory aspects of the setting shape the mood and action

• Inside a structure—hospital and church, mansion and shack

• Outside—city or country, US or outside, winter or summer, on land or on water, cloudy or sunny, polluted or not, pine trees or maple trees

• Example: House of Sand and Fog- Iranian culture in a California home

Examples of Setting Affecting Action• Like the narrowness of a hallway, the size of

the wall, the slantedness of the floor, the loose gravel you are trying to run away on—that is often overlooked in fiction, but right now I’m affected that my house is cold and I have to make a fire –Eli Horowitz

• TRY IT—Think of a place—this room or another and brainstorm your own list of how setting can affect action

My “Magnetic North” Story Setting

• Text goes here– Some more here

• Text goes here again– Some more here again

“Magnetic North” Use of Setting

Try a Story

• Pick a setting• Select some aspects of the setting that are

unique and strongly impact the senses • Describe them briefly in a sentence, then think

about how they might shape action• Write fiction or nonfiction

Integrate setting into the story

• Unify sensory experience—kitchen can involve a counter, smells, appliances, group gatherings with food, sharp knives, spills

• Quickly conjure up an image—conversation in “grocery store” or “particle acceleration lab”

• Use the setting in expected ways (counter to lean against) or unexpected ways (shouting argument in a church)

Your Thoughts

Abbreviated Bibliography

• Burroway, Janet, and Susan Weinberg. Writing Fiction: A Guide to Narrative Craft. New York: Longman, 2003. Print.

• Chatman, Seymour Benjamin, and Brian Attebery. Reading Narrative Fiction. New York: Macmillan, 1993. Print.

• Horowitz, Eli. Guidelines for Prospective Field Reports. San Francisco: Ying, Horowitz and Quinn, n.d. PDF.

The Edge Of The Art Of The Ebook: How The Digital World Is Shaping

Story Setting

Debbie MerionSolstice MFA at Pine Manor College

Graduate Lecture3:30 Sunday, Jan. 5, 2014