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The
geographical location and moment in historical time where and when the events
of a story unravels is its setting. In
a short work of fiction, this element of story may be disregarded but not in
the longer form of short fiction or the novel.
Exquisite,
fine-tuned settings that take the reader by the hand into the landscape in
glittering details and this woven into a vista of background history of the people might very well be the platform that launches a
story from obscurity to fame.
1. Originality:
This
may not be as apparent in a really short story as it might be in the long form
of the short story or in the plot of a novel. But it might very well be the breather
the writer needs to create a unique universe; a place where his characters can
readily adapt and become living, breathing people. Real people. A well-developed setting can achieve such a feat.
2. Plausibility:
A
setting that shows depth and distance becomes its own peculiar world possessing
its own set of rules, which govern the events, and the citizens of that unique
state. If you create a sleeping
beauty-ish universe then you have to make it palpable how an entire kingdom
can stay in a coma defying every
known medical code and then rouse itself several years later as easily as a child
coming off a midday nap awakens.
Developing
the setting for your story is like pulling weeds in your lawn, trimming the plants
in your garden, repainting the porch to create a sharper contrast of your
entire house. Every curve is placed in proper perspective and every outline is well
defined.
Keep
your pen bleeding.
Akpan
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