We Heart YA: setting

Showing posts with label setting. Show all posts

Saturday, May 16, 2015

The Power of Setting

It has been said that the setting of a book is almost like another character. That is certainly true for many of my favorite novels, in which the setting evokes vivid images as well as intimate familiarity. It's like I am living the story along with the characters; I can see, hear and feel everything around me--the trickle of a stream, the soggy heat of a summer day, or the first burst of light as the sun rises. Reading a book by authors skilled at creating rich, organic environments is a treat for the senses and one of my favorite luxuries.

Below are five books that blew me away with their solid use of setting:

1. The Harry Potter Series (JK Rowling)

Well. You knew it had to be on the list. I mean, Hogwarts and Diagon Alley? Platform Nine and Three Quarters and the Room of Requirement? Obviously, JK Rowling is a master at this. While setting is typically a large part of fantasy novels, the Harry Potter books went above and beyond in this category.

"The hundreds of faces staring at them looked like pale lanterns in the flickering candlelight. Dotted here and there among the students, the ghosts shone misty silver...Harry looked upward and saw a velvety black ceiling dotted with stars."

-Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

2. Stolen (Lucy Christopher)

I blogged about this book last July and thinking about it still leaves me with goosebumps. The story takes place in the vast desert of the Australian Outback--a place full of venomous snakes and frantic windstorms, wild camels and open skies. This was her debut novel, yet Christopher nailed the stark beauty of the setting like a pro.

"You said you knew the perfect place to run to. A place that was empty of people, and buildings, and far, far away. A place covered in blood-red earth and sleeping life. A place longing to come alive again. It's a place for disappearing, you'd said, a place for getting lost...and for getting found."

-Stolen: A Letter to my Captor

3. The Raven Boys Series (Maggie Stiefvater)

Small, rural Henrietta, Virginia is no longer just a speck on the map. Now, thanks to Stiefvater, it is alive with caves and farms and forests and magic. It is filled with pretentious prep school boys and psychic families and quirky, lovable characters. But always, it is the pulse of Henrietta that binds them all together.

"It didn't escape Blue that his slightly accented voice was as nice as his looks. It was all Henrietta sunset: hot front-porch swings and cold ice-tea glasses, cicadas louder than your thoughts."

-The Raven Boys

4. Like Mandarin (Kirsten Hubbard)

Rural Washokey, Wyoming shrugs to life in this coming-of-age novel about the allure of 'bad girl' Mandarin and her affect on 14-year-old Grace. Describing the wind-whipped landscape of Wyoming, there is much to appreciate in Hubbard's lyrical, atmospheric writing.

"I'd wandered through the Washokey Badlands Basin so many times I'd memorized the feeling. The forlorn boom of the wind. A sky big enough to scare an atheist into prayer. No wonder cowboys sang about being lonesome."

-Like Mandarin

5. The Twilight Saga (Stephenie Meyer)

The setting of Meyer's popular novels--rain-soaked Forks, Washington--has become so famous that it is now a real-life Twilight tourist destination. That speaks volumes about how Meyer brought this region to fame in her best-selling vampire love story.

"We drove south out of town. The dirt road wove in and out of the forest--sometimes there was nothing but trees, and then there would suddenly be a breathtaking glimpse of the Pacific Ocean, reaching to the horizon, dark gray under the clouds."

-New Moon

Whether done through personification or a smattering of sensory details, creating an alluring setting in any novel is a skill to be treasured. What are some of your favorite settings in books?

Tagged: Posts by Ingrid, quotes, reading, setting | 2 comments

Friday, June 28, 2013

The Devil Is in the Details

Every story is like a bridge between author and reader. Every story is an attempt to make a connection. And though it might seem like being as general as possible would allow a story to reach the most people, that's actually the opposite of the truth.

Readers connect with specifics.

In other words, we like details. We don't want to read about "the girl who went to the beach." We want to read about "the sweet child with hair as golden as the sand, who spent the day digging holes in search of those tiny clams that skitter down into the earth every time the tide rolls away."

Even if the details don't match our personal experiences, they paint a better picture, and it's those pictures that stay in our minds, that remind us of our own picture-memories.

A great example of this is the very-short story "The Scarlet Ibis" by James Hurst, a bittersweet tale about a boy and his sickly younger brother. From the very first paragraph, Hurst pulls us into his world with a detailed description of the setting:

"The flower garden was stained with rotting brown magnolia petals ... the oriole nest in the elm was untenanted and rocked back and forth like an empty cradle."

Not only do they paint an incredible picture, but the words "rotting" and "empty cradle" also set the tone and foreshadow the tragic ending.

Leigh Bardugo (of SHADOW AND BONE fame) is also a master of specifics. In her (free!) story "The Witch of Duva," Bardugo writes:

"Nadya tried to get her mother to eat what little food they had, giving up portions of turnip and potato, bundling her mother’s frail body in shawls and seating her on the porch in the hope that the fresh air might return some appetite to her. The only thing she seemed to crave were little cakes made by the widow Karina Stoyanova, scented with orange blossom and thick with icing."

Doesn't your mouth water just reading that?

And the magic of specificity works on more than just nature or food. You can find it -- you should find it -- in the action, dialogue, and everything in between.

This is from another Bardugo story, "The Too-Clever Fox":

"Koja darted forward and nudged her trembling hand once with his muzzle, then slipped back into the wood."

Dart, nudge, trembling, muzzle, slip. Such delicious details.

Many other YA authors do this well. Off the top of our heads, we'd say Rae Carson, Maggie Stiefvater, and Laini Taylor. Who else can you think of that gets specific in their stories? We'd love some recommendations of other books or writers to connect with!

Tagged: Posts by Kristan, reading, setting, writing | 5 comments

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Places Worth Visiting

When you read this, I will be in the Caribbean on a (hopefully) sunny beach. I absolutely love to travel, and if I could be a professional vacationer, I'd jump at the chance.

Reading a book is a lot like traveling. That's one of the reasons I love to read so much. You get to explore new places, different cultures, and experience things that are impossible in real life.

One of the books I've read recently that had a great setting was CHIME by Franny Billingsley. It's set in a swamp, riddled with fantastic creatures. The world building is this book is perfect. She describes just enough to put a clear picture in your head, but still gives you room to use your imagination. I loved the culture and the mythology.

For me, world building is one of the most important parts of a book. If the setting isn't well done, I can't lose myself in the story, then all the characters start staring at me, and become increasingly aggressive, and if I get killed, I'LL END UP IN LIMBO!!... No, wait. That's Inception.

What is your favorite setting in a book? Do you prefer invented worlds or setting grounded in reality? What part of the world building is most important to you?

And just for fun...