By DiAnn Mills @DiAnnMills

Ah, setting, the frail stepchild of fiction. How often we neglect this vital member of story, insisting character, plot, dialogue, and emotion are much more important. We dress her in rags, have her clean the chimney, then criticize her for lack of beauty.

Setting is the physical environment where story takes place.

A strong setting challenges character, plot, dialogue, and narrative by adding a twist in the character’s journey to reach a goal. True setting makes the character’s goal harder to obtain.

Consider the setting of your novel as an antagonist.

Assign traits that defy the protagonist’s goals and raise the stakes. Stop the character from moving forward by establishing a barrier that ensures temporarily defeat. The adversity of setting can be obvious or hidden, but include it in ways that force your character to acquire new skills, make tough decisions, and accept responsibility for those actions. Without conflict and tension, the reader is cheated and finds it difficult to stay engaged in the story.

An example of an antagonistic setting is a protagonist who has a manicured garden enclosed by a ten foot stone fence. The area is her source of tranquility, and she spends hours there. A villain follows her into the garden and traps her inside. Her peaceful domain now becomes her torture chamber.

The writer seeks ways to ensure the character changes and grows throughout the novel.

This is a process that builds momentum, and using an antagonistic environment challenges the protagonist to think and work harder to survive. To reveal setting, look to characterization, plot, dialogue, narrative, symbolism, and emotion. It’s fresh, alive, and full of spirit. Establish the time, date, season of the year, and the culture of the characters in your story.

Use sensory perception to root the protagonist into her surroundings.

Show just enough points for the reader to envision how the setting looks, smells, sounds, and tastes, and feels. If the writer tells too much, the reader will skip the description and move on to the action, and the reader might miss a detail.

When the character experiences the setting and the adventure contained there, the reader will experience it too. If the protagonist’s journey is easy, the reader will lose value for the story and the writer.

Next week, we’ll continue with Part II of our discussion on setting and how to make yours more powerful.

How do you use setting to make your protagonist’s journey difficult?

DiAnn Mills is a bestselling author who believes her readers should expect an adventure. Her titles have appeared on the CBA and ECPA bestseller lists; won two Christy Awards; and been finalists for the RITA, Daphne Du Maurier, Inspirational Readers’ Choice, and Carol award contests. Library Journal presented her with a Best Books 2014: Genre Fiction award in the Christian Fiction category for Firewall.

DiAnn is a founding board member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, a member of Advanced Writers and Speakers Association, Suspense Sister, and International Thriller Writers. She is co-director of The Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writers Conference and The Author Roadmap with social media specialist Edie Melson. She teaches writing workshops around the country. DiAnn is active online and would love to connect with readers on any of the social media platforms listed at www.diannmills.com.