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Really using the world

Chilari

Staff
Moderator
I'm trying to create a dark, sinister tone in what I'm currently working on. I want my protagonist to be made to appear alone. I decided to use the geography and climate as part of what I'm doing in portraying a gloomy, dank and lonely atmosphere. Thus the setting is desolate, rocky, cold, rainy and occasionally foggy (think the Scottish highlands in October/November, without central heating).

So I was wondering: does anyone else use their worlds to create more than just a setting, a place for things to happen? How do you adapt the world to create the tone you want to portray? And in what other ways do you use the world to add to the story?
 

Helbrecht

Minstrel
I remember playing with this world-building exercise which advocated picking a setting and environment reflecting the general tone of the story you wanted to tell. I appear to have taken the advice to heart: most of my stories are set in cruel and unforgiving landscapes (I'm writing one set primarily in a desert right now) and are themselves fairly cruel and unforgiving. It's a very old technique, particularly in our genre, and a very useful and effective one at that. The Shire, Mordor and the general tone of the scenes set in them are jumping out at me as I type this.

If my current project's outline holds true and I don't veer off elseways, the climate and landscape reflect the story in a couple of ways. One of my more naive characters, and the one who's having the most difficulty with living in a desert, will start showing improvement in coping with the heat and the sand when he starts to lose his old idealism and come to terms with the brutal reality of the war he's fighting. The progress of the narrative vaguely maps out to the progress of seasons in the climate it's set in, as well. I'll be hitting the peak of the story's narrative tension and conflict at the worst part of the dry months (and the dryness, of course, makes things much worse for my characters). As we amble towards the third act and things begin to wrap up, brief, sporadic rains begin to fall in the evening, something one of my characters takes as a fortunate omen. One of the climactic moments takes place in during and in the muddy aftermath of a torrential storm, flash floods and all.
 
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Ravana

Istar
Hmm. Two guidelines immediately spring to mind: (1) you aren't going to get much of a dark, sinister tone with a sense of isolation if you set your story in a wide-open grassy park full of butterflies, friendly puppies and picnickers; (2) in the real world at least, there isn't anyplace where it's always raining. Not even Seattle. Or London.

So, yeah, at the minimum, the setting can't be jarringly inappropriate–not unless you want it that way to create a deliberate dissonance with the character's inner monologue. My tendency, though, is to set most things in "normal" settings (whatever that means for that world), precisely because I want the reader not to think that whatever action I'm portraying could only occur under certain conditions, or in an isolated part of the world, or what have you. Makes it easier when I want the action to move around, too: don't need to come up with another "suitable" environment.

On the other hand, if you really want "gloomy," set it a few degrees farther north than the example you gave… in some part of the world where the sun's just set, and won't be rising again until March.…
 
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Codey Amprim

Staff
Article Team
Wow, that's almost exactly what I'm working on right now!

I'm working with the same idea/technique, and so far I think it's not a bad way to go, especially if it helps ease the introduction or whatever-it-may-be of your character! It helped me, and my advice would be to go with it if it feels right for you!

Hope I helped!
 

Chilari

Staff
Moderator
(2) in the real world at least, there isn't anyplace where it's always raining. Not even Seattle. Or London.
Have you been to Scotland?

Seriously though. I don't want it that far north. I read a book set in Greenland recently, and that really did set the isolated tone very well indeed, but the story also requires a normal day-night cycle, as well as quickly changing weather conditions, from driving rain to drizzle to fog to snow and even just clouds. Much as I love to criticise British weather, we do occasionally get sunlight where I live. Not right now, or at all for the last few days (and I got caught in the rain on Thursday afternoon after a hint of sunlight in the morning convinced me I wouldnt need a jacket or umbrella). So Scottish weather, not to mention the harshness of the Scottish highlands, seemed ideal.
 
I remember a trek through swamps in the two towers...what do I remember about it...it was boring, dull, and took entirely too long. Remember that an environment can drown out the story if it is too much. People need to interact with situations, and normally other people. I don't know if you've ever watch one of those horrid 'reality' tv shows, but finding food is something that takes time, maybe even more so in a barren area.

I guess the main thing to think about is does the background fit the story? If so, then use it, but you don't have to be in a wilderness to be alone. There are many people living in large cities that are more alone than someone out in wilderness.
 

Kaellpae

Inkling
My world will be very varied. Sometimes small distances with no change in geography will have a large change in weather/climate in general. The story itself will reflect it in the ever-changing way. Unexpected turns coming up, or I hope they'll seem unexpected but still plausible.

And I might just do what Ravana said not to and throw a grumpy, old man, ready to finish life, but by no means be killed or kill himself into a pleasant setting. Just so his inner monologue can pick it apart.
 

Ravana

Istar
Have you been to Scotland?

No, but I'm familiar with the setting. And, yes, I know it rains at some point almost every day–or at least seems to: why else do (did) Brits carry umbrellas all the time?–but it doesn't rain constantly. For that matter, my experience of Florida is that it rains almost every day… at some point. Usually just enough to drive the humidity up to unbearable. Good luck coming up with a "dark and gloomy" atmosphere there, though. Even in the swamps.

Have you been to the American industrial Midwest? Not a place people associate with gloom… though where I live, we actually get the same amount of cloudy weather as Seattle is notorious for. And this year in particular, we got our "forty days and forty nights," too… at least. (Or so it seemed. I'd have to check the exact number of consecutive days of precipitation. If we missed, it wasn't by much.)

Mostly, though, I was just cracking on Seattle and London. ;)
 
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