STORY STRUCTURE part 2: Setting + Characters

Here we are at part two of my new series over STORY STRUCTURE! You can find part one here.

It's a bit difficult to understand all these things without seeing them played out, so I'll use one of the most famous series ever written, that you likely know the gist of (even if you have not read it, which is highly unlikely): Harry Potter! I will also be using another very well-known story: To Kill a Mockingbird!

I'll just jump right into it!

Setting

Setting is time and place, with more specific aspects in the story's universe. The Harry Potter series is set in 1990s Britain. More specifically, however, Harry Potter is set in a magical world, with places such as Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, Privet Drive, etc.

Whether your setting is fictionalized or realistic, setting is very important. It also sets up the story. Setting often goes hand-in-hand with plot/conflict (at least, I find). Setting can be crucial to the plot.

I will say it again: SETTING IS CRUCIAL TO THE PLOT.

Let me elaborate a bit.

While we already know that the fictionalization of the setting is crucial to the plot, we also must realize that the non-fictional part of the setting is also important--though maybe not as important as the fictional setting.

Allow me to explain my very confusing train of thought.

In Harry Potter, however, the realistic setting (1990s Britain) is not nearly as important as the fictionalized magical world we see. My point is: the realistic part of your setting (if there is a realistic part of your setting) may not be as important as the worldbuilding you do.

However, reality and fiction often intersect! Depending on your kind of story (whether it is fantasy or coming-of-age or science fiction), sometimes the realistic setting and current political setting combine with the fictional conflict.

Here's an example: To Kill a Mockingbird.

The world we see through Scout's eyes has the fictional (albeit realistic) story of her father defending an innocent black man. This fiction, however, takes place in a very real political climate in Alabama in the '30s.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that your settings--both the real and fictional aspects--are important to shape the plot, though not always equally so important. Harry Potter wouldn't have been Harry Potter without the magical world JK Rowling created. While To Kill a Mockingbird could happen today, it would be very different than the story Harper Lee was telling in the '30s.

So, when picking setting, determine whether or not the real world is involved (as in To Kill a Mockingbird) or if the fictional setting is more important (as in Harry Potter).

Make sense? I hope so. Let's move on (since you've stuck with me for this long!)

Characters

Alrighty! Characters. Something I struggle with a lot.

Now, this is where I remind you that I have not yet successfully finished writing a book yet. These are just my thoughts and ramblings of what I know about these things. I'm not really going to try to give advice on these things--I'm more just telling what I know from analyzing literature.

So, characters. I've often heard that you can't carry a story without good characters, which makes plenty of sense when you think about it. Who is going to read a story with bad characters? No matter how good the plot and conflict are, the characters need to be appealing to the reader.

So, let's just look at the characters from my two examples.

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger - all of these characters are lovable in their own ways. Hermione is brave, kind, loyal, and smart, though her flaw in the books is that she is maybe too smart--and it makes it harder for her to connect with people. Ron is also brave, kind, loyal. He is not as smart as Hermione, but he is witty. And Harry is brave and loyal, too, but can be a little clueless about the wizarding world. All three tend to be a bit mischievous. Draco Malfoy is cunning and rude, Hagrid is kind, etc.

Scout is an innocent-yet-smart, not-girly girl. Often, her innocence prevents her from fully grasping what is going on around her. The same goes for Jem and Dill--they're tough children, but they are still young and innocent, not having seen stuff like what is happening around them. Again, all three of these children tend to be mischievous, and often get in trouble.

So, what do we grasp from these characters?

Well, they all have their good characteristics, as well as their flaws. That's something I'm often reminding myself in my writing--that the characters can't be perfect! If they don't have flaws, the reader will not like them. And, frankly, you won't like them either! Flaws make for more lovable characters.

In essence, these characters are very well-rounded! And how to do this? Well, that might be for another time. If I ever find a way to write my characters really well, I'll tell you, hahaha! (We're learning together!)

What I am trying to say with these two things is: before you can really start to flesh out your story, I'd say you need to have a general idea of both your setting and your characters. For me, I just brainstormed a lot and wrote down what I came up with--how it would best serve the plot, how the characters are to interact with each other, etc.

Something to keep in mind is how do you want these characters to affect the plot? How does the plot affect the characters? By this, I mean, how do their individual flaws make the end goal more difficult to get? I'll cover this in more detail later :)

Alright! That about wraps it up for part two. Next, I'll be going over theme and conflict!

Until next time, my readers!