the craft. the power of place: setting as character in diverse storytelling.
Recently, in our Something for the Planners course, we were discussing world-building and setting. While these aspects of novel writing can seem trivial, I realized how central they can be to plot and character development in preparing my lesson plan. Every single part of a novel is working together to move the story forward and where we put our characters is no different.
Not only does place have the ability to assist in character development, it also can provide conflict, and create a real sense of authenticity. As readers, we connect to place. Just think about where you grew up or maybe the city you went to college in. What did you learn? What experiences molded and shaped who you were while you were there? Bringing this element into our storytelling immediately helps the reader connect to the people they’re settling in to read about.
What I’ve been particularly interested in, as a writer, is when the setting becomes even more than a backdrop to the story, but also its own character within it. I have to say that this truly came to light for me in watching HBO’s Insecure. It was clear from the start of the series that Los Angeles, and more specifically, Inglewood, had a number on the call sheet. Just as much as we were following Issa, Molly, and Lawrence, we were seeing how involved the setting was in their story. Think Lawrence becoming a trolley N*&g@ or our favorite bousin from Bompton, Thug Yoda.
In my own novel, New York City’s music scene definitely had its own moment to shine. Adding pivotal moments like Tau and Carli in SOBs, which is a small venue that many artists see on their rise, or Tau being invited to Pergola after their photo shoot on the Hudson by some of the city's sports stars. The setting was integral to their story unfolding and how, they even had this moment of escaping to their hometowns and we saw what a change in pace that was from the city. How they showed up there, changed.
Being steeped in place can truly enhance what we’re trying to achieve as storytellers and when done well, is the reason that reading can be such a transformative experience.
Don’t take just my word for it, here are some other writers who do an amazing job with place and grounding their reader in a setting.
Jesmyn Ward - Her Gulf Coast Mississippi settings in works like "Salvage the Bones" and "Sing, Unburied, Sing" are so vivid they become characters themselves, influencing every aspect of her narratives.
“When I wake up, it’s midmorning, and Leonie done pulled off the highway. The atlas says we should take Highway 49 all the way up, deeper north, into the heart of Mississippi, and then get off and drive a ways to get to the jail, which Leonie has marked on the state map with a black star, but we’re not following the map anymore. We pass a grocery store, a butcher. A sagging building with a flat roof and a faded sign: Lumber Wholesale. The buildings thin and the trees thicken until we’re at a stop sign and there’s nothing but trees and when we roll through the intersection, the road turns to dirt and rocks.”
- Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing
Hanif Abdurraqib - His essays about Columbus, Ohio in "They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us" make the city come alive.
Akwaeke Emezi - Their novel "Freshwater" creates a powerful sense of place across Nigeria and America.
I remember my first trip to Kingston, Jamaica and I knew the moment I left, I needed to write about that place. That’s how palpable it felt to me. And so, I took a lot of notes. Thankfully I’ve been able to go back again and did a lot of the same. As writers, it’s important that we don’t lose that curiosity, that ability to record what it is that we see, how we feel in a particular environment because that’s what ends up translating onto the page.
I wanted to question the collision of two places, Los Angeles and Kingston. What challenges that presents, what differences in thinking, what conflicts? And well, I think it’s ripe for the picking according to my work in progress.
For a place to be a character, it has its own personality, it shows up throughout the story, not solely to ground us in the beginning. It pushes, it challenges, it shows up in a big way for the characters who maybe wouldn’t experience these things in any other place. The same way we build out our character profiles for people, you can also build out, maybe a slightly less detailed version of that for place if you want it to play a significant role within your story.
As a writing exercise, take some time to write about a place. What do you see, hear, smell, feel, touch? Bring us into the sensory experience of what it means to be in a particular place and time. Write a scene that is particularly driven by setting. How does it challenge your character? How do they show up in that space? What does it mean to them?
Rockvale Review is accepting submissions. They publish poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. (Closes Mar. 31).
The Ann Petry Award seeks to publish prose literature by Black authors. The Ann Petry Award is for a work of previously unpublished prose (including self-published works), either a novel or a collection of short stories or novellas, with a minimum of 150 pages, by a Black writer. The awarded manuscript is selected through an annual submission process, with primary review by Aliah Wright, who will winnow the submissions to a list of finalists for the final judge. (Closes Apr. 1)
Feminist Spaces accepts submissions each year between the months of January and May during their annual Call for Works. New issues are published each summer. To submit work to Feminist Spaces, please send an email with your submission to feministspacesjournal@gmail.com with "Submission [Year]" in the subject line. They want to explore the effects of censorship and violation on a global scale; and hear how your civil liberties and feminist spaces have been breached. (Closes May).
Reading Women: The 2025 Longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction
Rereading “Sula” After the Fall of Roe
2025 National Book Awards Submissions Open, Judges Announced
In These Literary Streets
Upcoming classes with BlueStoop PHL
3/20: Incantations Against Empire with Miriam Saperstein
3/27: Writing for Young Readers with Eric Bell
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