Making Setting Important

In writing, it’s fun to compare and contrast things–people, objects, places, settings, to make them different, more interesting. Here is a case in point: Rhinos can be plain… boring. If they’re just… standing around. Doing nothing. But when I was at the Omaha zoo, the rhinos were bathing and it intrigued me. It was near freezing out at Thanksgiving time in November, so it seemed ironic that they would take a bath, not to cool down!

Before this, I was visiting the Waco zoo, and this is what I found–rhinos sleeping. So??? But it was the turkey vultures perched on top that intrigued me. My friend, who was with me, told me the rhinos were merely statues. I told her no, they’re real. She couldn’t believe it. We watched for a long time, until she saw one’s ear flutter. And then satisfied they were real, we moved on.



And here is further proof that the rhinos are alive and well in Texas. It was feeding time at the zoo.



Finding something interesting in a setting is like writing about something interesting. We want to focus on that–and not on the mundane, or it will make our pictures, and our writing just that–mundane.

Review: A Seal Wolf Christmas by Terry Spear.

A Seal Wolf Christmas by Terry Spear
Series: Heart of the Wolf (# 12)
Release Date:  September 24, 2013
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pages: 384
Source: book provided by NetGalley for review

Have a super great day!
Terry
“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male where fantasy IS reality.”
www.terryspear.com

Beguiled

By Paisley Kirkpatrick

A while back I watched the Civil War movie Beguiled with a very young, very handsome Clint Eastwood as the northern soldier who is taken into a southern girls’ school to be nursed back to health. I remember seeing it years ago and how much I enjoyed it then.

First, I must confess I have this fetish for moss hanging on those gorgeous big trees in the south. I was lucky enough to see the trees draped in moss in person. Yes, it did give my heart a flutter. Anyway, I digress. One really great part of this movie was the way the director used the setting to bring out the mood of the story. The director skillfully added the items in the school and the garden to surround us with what it was like to be in the South during the Civil War. I know it enhanced my watching pleasure.

My time period is set during the California gold rush. I love to explore the old Victorian houses when they are open to the public, but it isn’t the same as living in them during the 1800s. One thing I noticed in the movie was when the women walked through the otherwise dark house at night, holding a candlestick with one candle to light her way, it only lit up the area where they walked. I hadn’t even thought about how dark it would remain in the rest of the room, hallway or staircase. I guess I just took it for granted the single candle would light the entire room, even though we’ve endured living by candle light during blackouts. It got me to thinking about other things that I knew, but didn’t think about when setting my scenes. I have started back into my stories and using my sensory words to enrich my plot.

What this movie brought home for me was to stretch my imagination and put myself into the setting more and pull out all the little things that can bring your story to life. I’ve always been one to notice everything when we are traveling. Now I have to start noticing what goes on around me and try to spiff up my stories by making them more human.