Elements of Fiction: Setting

1. Elements of Fiction: Setting The Author�s Playground

2. What is Setting in fiction? Is it the time in which a story takes place? Is it the place where a story occurs? Is it a complete set of dishes and silverware? ? Take a few minutes either with a partner or on your own to come up with a defintion.

3. Setting: a Workable Definition Setting is the time and place in which a story (fiction or non-fiction) takes place. The setting is not only the background for the story, but it can influence the type of characters that appear in a story as well as what events occur in the plot.

4. Setting includes the following: Geographical location (for example: Wyoming, London, Cairo, Vancouver) Time period (for example: 1865, during WWII, today) Socio-economic Characteristics of the location (for example: wealthy suburbs, depression dustbowl) Specific building, room, etc. (for example: prep school, log cabin, bus, military base)

5. Uses For Setting: Setting can be used to tell readers about the characters: That evening T.J. smelled the air, his nostrils dilating with the odor of the earth under his feet. �It�s spring,� he said, and there was a gladness rising in his voice that filled us all with the same feeling. �It�s mighty late for it, but it�s spring� �We were all sniffing at the air, too, trying to smell it the way that T.J. did, and I can still remember the sweet odor of the earth under our feet. It was the first time in my life that spring and spring earth had meant anything to me. �Antaeus� by Borden Deal

6. Uses For Setting (cont.): Setting can be used to set the atmosphere for the story: �During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of country.� �The Fall of the House of Usher� By Edgar Allan Poe

7. Consider this � On the next slide, you will see a picture of Vincent VanGogh�s painting, �Starry Night.� Examine the setting depicted in the painting and determine what kind of characters and stories might exist in the painting.

9. Discussion Questions: What is the setting of Poe�s �A Tell Tale Heart�? Why is it important to the story? How does this particular setting influence the main character and plot?

10. In Groups� Switch the Setting of �The Tell Tale Heart� with a completely different setting. What changes occur in the plot? What kind of characters would appear instead?