Getting the setting

Of all the different aspects of writing a novel, I find setting the hardest.

Usually, any scene I write is built around a piece of dialogue that has come to me, something I imagine one of my character’s saying to another. And rom there, I can build out what is happening in the scene.

But often, where the characters are when all this happens is something of a blank space.

I know that they should be home, or in a shop, or at work. And I often know just how this place looks in my mind’s eye. But getting that down onto the page is when the challenge lies.

Seamlessly weaving in what the setting looks like is something that I struggle with, and I tend to leave it until last in the hope that something will have magically changed and I’ll suddenly be able to describe the surroundings without dropping a laundry list of settings details onto the page.

To help me, I have collated a massive Pinterest collection of images that provides me with specific details that I can use to add flavour, and I have even drawn up a floor plan of the cottage where Clara lives with her sister, Letty.

I have also based each setting on a real location – some I know, and others that I’ve been able to visit – so I can feel confident in how they look and sound before trying to draw them on the page.

I am lucky that I am writing in a time period of cameras and amateur photographers, so an internet search often rewards me with just what I need, such as the key settings in this reel:

🏠 The cottage where Clara lives with her sister, Letty, on the outskirts of town
🍺 The pub that holds treasured memories
🫶 Deptford, where Reenie, her best friend, comes from
💰 The “big house” where the pivotal auction in my story is held