Over the course of the next few classes, you will be doing a series of setting exercises, after which you will post a very short story that uses setting as a major component. I encourage you, however, to post the all the exercises so you can comment on one another's work.
Settings are used to not only show time and place, but also to create mood and atmosphere and to convey emotion. The words the writer chooses and the images he/she creates all contribute to the picture and the feelings the reader experiences. The following exercise is designed to help you create a setting through sensory images that show time, place, mood, atmosphere, and emotion.
- Take yourself back in time to a room from your childhood. It could be your bedroom, the kitchen, a room in your grandparents’ house, a room at school – any room that holds a vivid sensory and emotional memory for you.
- As you age-regress, remember being in that room. Think of what it looked like. Zoom in on details. Be aware of the temperature, the smell, the sounds. Imagine picking up objects and touching surfaces. Brainstorm and write, without editing, any thoughts and descriptions that come into your mind.
- Now, remember a specific experience or predominant feeling you had in that room. Brainstorm a description of the emotions you experienced.
- Finally, create the setting. Using your brainstorming notes, describe that room with all the sights, sounds, tastes, tactile sensations, odors, and emotions that it contains, so that the reader can experience the same sensory and emotional aspects you experienced.
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