Why is the setting in your story important?

Your characters need a time and place in which to move. The setting answers the when and the where of your story, giving it a frame of reference. This adds authenticity and credibility to your storytelling.

When you set the scene, you set the mood, the atmosphere.

Spooky scene Creative Commons https://pxhere.com/en/photo/744081

Creepy and spooky

is quite different from

sunny with ocean salt-air and sandy beaches.

A setting in the country

offers vastly different opportunities and possibilities

then one in the city.

Since October is Halloween month, let’s work on a spooky kind of setting.

Creepy crow – Creative Commons  https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1215912

Fatigued and fighting fear, I followed the mostly hidden pathway through the misty forest glades. Perhaps it would take me back to the familiar.

I have no idea how long I had been struggling to find my way. In the early hours of the morning, I came upon a quaint and rather strange little cottage. Relief and then apprehension washed over me. How odd. Something one might find in a Grimm fairy tale, I mused. It had a spooky charm about it. The faded wood and moss-filled roof gave it plenty of character, and it was surprisingly well-kept.

The warm, flickering candlelight cast an eerie glow through several stained glass windows. I stopped for a moment, transfixed by their ethereal beauty.

My skin began to tingle. The cottage was inviting in many ways, but my instincts warned me to enter with caution.

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I really have no choice, I reasoned. The glow from a hanging lantern guided me to the entrance. I’m lost and cold. I’m hungry, I’m tired, not to mention, scared. At that point, I realized I was more scared of being lost than of what I might encounter behind the creepy door.  

Carrie Wachsmann ©