Tag Archives: setting

Changing infrastructure

May 15, 2013 – 8:19 am

Infrastructure is all that everyday stuff we take for granted, from roads and bridges to garbage collection and cell phones. It’s one of the things that allows societies to function smoothly, if they want to. It’s vitally important…and it’s also vastly boring. Consequently, writers tend not to pay a lot of attention to it. If [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in General, Writing | Also tagged | Comments (9)

Landscape vs. setting

May 12, 2013 – 11:13 am

Earlier this week, Minnesota Public Radio replayed  an interview with novelist Richard Ford, and some of his comments (around 23 minutes into the broadcast) got me thinking about landscape. First off, landscape isn’t the same as setting. They overlap, of course, but one can tell an urban tale set in Denver, a rural tale set [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged | Comments (9)

So the house guests just left…

September 2, 2012 – 2:50 pm

I’ve had house guests for the past five days (my cousin stayed with me; my Dad stayed with my sister), and in the process of doing all the show-the-out-of-town-family-around stuff, doing the blog got kind of behind. Which is why I’m late and a bit disconnected with this. Yesterday, we went to the State Fair. [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Family, General, Writing | Also tagged , , , | Comments (11)

Reality Isn’t What It’s Cracked Up To Be

September 7, 2011 – 6:07 am

Writers who set their stories in the real world, whether modern or historical, have a double advantage over those of us who alter reality/history to suit our own ends, or who make up our own versions from whole cloth. The first advantage is that they can look up whatever details they need – architecture, dress, [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged , | Comments (13)

Rewriting the past

June 19, 2011 – 6:30 am

“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there” – L.P. Hartley  One of the tricky aspects of writing books set in any vaguely recognizable version of history is the inevitable clash between now and then, on pretty much every level. There are an enormous number of things that most people know or believe in [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged , | Comments (9)

Big three redux

May 25, 2011 – 6:23 am

I’ve talked more than once about the Big Three – plot, characterization, and setting. They started off as the earliest writing advice I recall getting (and I wish I could remember the name of the writer who told me that, so I could credit him properly), as the three things one can do in a [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged , , , | Comments (6)

Where Are We?

September 26, 2010 – 11:02 am

Every story, short or long, takes place somewhere. Every scene takes place somewhere. And every place has features about it that are unique, whether it is the collection of overly cute fairy-figurines on the mantelpiece in the parlor, the cracked and faded mural across the back wall of the bar, or the odd kink in the third-level [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged , , , | Comments (6)

Fantasy vs. Reality

November 17, 2009 – 11:45 am

Every so often, I get asked what the difference is between writing fantasy and writing realistic fiction. It’s a pretty good question, though since I’ve never written anything that wasn’t science fiction or fantasy, I’m not sure why anyone expects me to know. (Of course, I have opinions on just about everything, but that’s another [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged , | Comments (5)

The Devil’s in the Details

November 5, 2009 – 6:33 am

In the comments on our last exciting episode, accio_aqualung asked: So pretend you’ve spent so much time on something that you’ve got gobs and gobs of backstory and little trivial details, like the MC is  terminally left handed or her brother has to organize his pens in a very specific way or their uncle won [...]

By pcwrede | Posted in Writing | Also tagged , , | Comments (8)