In its most basic form, a novel’s setting provides crucial imagery, and in its best functioning form is the backbone of the whole novel.  It helps set the stakes for the story and keeps the gears turning. The setting allows readers to immerse themselves in books through their imagination. The setting provides conflicts for characters and shapes their rewards, consequences, and motivations. However, before your setting can truly come to life, it needs to be believable.

The first step to a believable setting is, of course, an idea. You’ll want to start to envision a setting (or settings) that fit your plot. Your characters will constantly interact with their setting, so you want to make sure it works in tandem with your story. For example, you might want to place your characters in a peaceful, familiar setting to create a “status quo” and formulate exposition. Conversely, to create conflict or tension for your character, you might want to place them in a setting with elements that juxtapose the “status-quo” setting. These points of tension create conflict and prompt action and plot development.

You also want to make sure the setting’s visual elements reflect the plot and tone of the story. For example, for a light-hearted romance novel, you’ll want the bulk of your settings to reflect the bright, happy tone of the plot. On the other hand, if you’re writing a tragic or horror novel, you’ll want to craft a bleaker, darker setting.

Once you’ve drafted an idea, it’s time to do some research. While the intensity of your research will vary depending on your setting, it’s still a good idea to do some studying. This research can be very thorough, as necessary for a historical novel. Otherwise, some light research on the basic components of your setting will likely suffice. A good way to do light research for a simple setting is to pick a relevant real place and loosely base your setting on it. This way, you have reference points for description and will have a much easier time keeping the setting(s) consistent throughout your novel.  Of course, if you’re world-building for a fantasy or sci-fi novel, the way you research will look slightly different. You can still base the basic physical elements on real places, but the mechanics of your setting will change. If you want to ‘research’ for this, you can consult other acclaimed world-building novels, such as Lord of the Rings or Dune, to grasp ways to subtly, yet clearly, immerse the readers into a new world.

The most important component of a believable setting is consistency. While they are reading, the reader is building a consistent visual map of your setting. If this is suddenly interrupted by an inconsistency, they might disconnect with the story and question your writing’s validity. A good way to combat this is to keep a separate document detailing your setting that you can routinely consult.

Overall, creating a setting is fun! It allows you to “customize” your world and push your readers to visualize the image of your novel.