The best story setting ideas contribute to a novel's tone and mood or influence plot direction. Read 6 effective story setting examples.

As much as I love royals, witches, rebels and assassins, there are other jobs out there for your fantasy heroes!

A story's setting comes in layers--place, time, culture, foreground and background, etc. When I work on setting, sometimes I close my eyes and imagine the place in all its minute details. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures. The people, plants and animals. What time of year is it? What's the weather like? Is the sky clear or overcast? How does the air taste? What is in the distance? What is immediately close by. I may take the time to write all this down, but usually I just imagine it in my head, and then I pick key details to weave through the story. This gives the reader a sense of place and it gives them a chance to imagine the setting in their heads, too. As a fantasy writer, I hear a lot about "world building" as if it is unique to speculative fiction. World creation is a huge part of writing regardless of genre. Anyone who writes a work of fiction is creating a world (sometimes non-fiction, too). I don't care if its realistic or romance, fantasy or sci-fi, or whatever. Part of writing is to create a world for the characters to exist in. The book could be set in New York City or Buford, Wyoming, but we can't assume the reader has been there. The writer must build the world. I find creating realistic places difficult. If I make my setting an acual place, I'm confined to the reality of that place. For example, the laws of physics have to apply. More importantly, I think, writing a real place means recreating what already exists. Stephanie Meyer wrote twilight with out ever visiting Forks, Washington. When I first read Twilight, I found her descriptions of the High School to be very odd. Seriously, what school in the north has separate buildings for each classroom? Google street view is fine, up to a point, but if you really want the reader to immerse themselves in a place, the author must immerse herself in a place. Writing fantasy has it's own pitfalls as well. Though the setting is fantastical, it must also be believable. This is a fine line to walk. Building a fantasy world means creating your own universe with your own laws of physics (or laws of magic or whatever). The key to this is consistency. Create rules for the world and live by them. There is one sticky point for me in the Harry Potter series. (Which is hard to find because J.K Rowling does a super job of world building). The thestrals that pull the school carriages appear to those who have seen death. After Cedric's death, Harry get's on the carriages the end of HP4 without seeing the thestrals. However, he can see them at the start of HP5. Fantasy authors can re-imagine the world as they wish, but being consistent to the rules of your own world is crucial. Creating a believable fantasy world involves immersing myself in this one. I pay attention to my surroundings using all my senses. How do things look, taste, feel, smell, sound. Also how does the passage of time feel? If my character is standing on top of a cliff looking down, how can I describe a sense of vertigo to give the imaginary cliff real depth? I wrote most of my novel before traveling to Spain, but the experience of being in a uniquely different place helped me redefine and recreate my setting. I soaked in all my surroundings--the vague impressions, the little details--like I was looking at the world for the first time. I considered how culture shapes a place and the place shapes the culture. And I wove these nuances into my writing. Then I came back home to the same, familiar surroundings. Somehow the world looked different because I was looking at it differently. What shapes the places that I've always took for granted? How can see the familiar for the first time? Sometimes mundane occurrences like walking down the street can have new meaning if I am looking at them though the eyes of a writer.

meanderingwind: Emma, Cartagena, Colombia, 2010 wellareyou: low vision by Alan Horsager A series of images influenced by the impact of vision loss.

Lesbian couple from almost a century ago managed to defy the expectations and raise a son together, leaving behind an impactful legacy.

Lesbian couple from almost a century ago managed to defy the expectations and raise a son together, leaving behind an impactful legacy.

Celestial symbolism in writing refers to the use of celestial bodies such as the sun, moon, and stars as symbols to convey deeper meanings in a literary work. Celestial symbolism has been used in literature for centuries. It can add depth and meaning to your work by conveying abstract ideas and emotions through concrete images. Symbolism helps to create a mood or atmosphere, and to reinforce themes and motifs throughout a text. The same symbol can represent a variety of things in literature depending on the context and the author's intent, which is why some examples may have more than one association.

Each week, I post a different writing prompt at writersdigest.com/prompts. And each week, a collection of lovely writers responds to them. Here were some of our best writing prompts of 2018.

Will your story have ninjas? Will it be set in outer space? Will you secretly be royal? Find out with our plot twist generator!

Are you a writer or creative looking for unique story setting ideas? Click to see a long list of setting ideas, organized into types of settings.

As much as I love royals, witches, rebels and assassins, there are other jobs out there for your fantasy heroes!

How do writers create characters readers love to hate? How can you create your own Dolores Umbridge or Ramsey Bolton?

This is a fun worksheet to practice the Past Simple or the Past Continuous. Students look at the pictures and fill in the gaps with one of the linking words in the box in order to complete the story.

State of Clay - Aurora Eysan Sulejmani starts in ‘State Of Clay,’ L’Official Singapore’s conceptual beauty story. The model poses in a set ...

Thanks so much for all of you who are linking up...this has been so much fun! I apologize that thumbnails are not showing up. I conta...

Want to show what a character's really feeling? A funeral is the perfect setting: it's a time of high emotion with space for reflection and interaction.

Where your story is set is important. In this post, we have included the ultimate setting checklist for worldbuilding to help you with your novel.

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TweetPin2EmailShare Anyone who has ever started writing a story knows that the beginning is the hardest part. Whether it’s the first page, first paragraph, or even just the first line,... Read more »

Common myths about DNA in science fiction, and advice for authors on writing about mutations and natural selection.

Sometimes it’s difficult to decide where to begin telling a story, and “begin at the beginning” isn’t always the best advice. Click here to download this writing worksheet (PDF) The beginning of your story need not take place in your opening scene! The opening scene can be used to… Capture the reader’s attention with an…

This post shows the results of a question box from my Instagram story.

The setting of a story performs the vital task of transporting the reader into the story. Download this worksheet (PDF) Story Settings The questions in this 2-page story setting worksheet can help you hone in on the details of your character’s environment. Does the scene take place indoors or out? Is the space light or…

Norse Cosmology contains ‘nine homeworlds’ (Níu Heimar in Old Norse) in which all beings inhabit. These worlds are centered on the World Tree, Yggdrasil, which lies at the centre of the cosmos. E…

Writing Worksheet: Character Naming (PDF) Character names can be surprisingly useful for characterisation, worldbuilding, and even plotting – if you’re enrolled in How to Be the Heroine of Your Own Story, be sure to read the textbook chapter titled, ‘How to Discover Your (Character’s) True Name’. If you need to set some naming conventions for…

Figuring out how to outline your settings will not only help you write better plots, themes, and characters, but also to research and draft better as well.