Setting Vs. Atmosphere ©
By Leslie King

It was a dark and stormy night...

There is one thing that every story ever told or written has in common. No matter how diverse the characters, plot lines, or genre, every single one of them had to take place somewhere. Every story has a setting, be it Hometown, U.S.A., or Saladon Nine in the Gava Solar System.

Most people, (whether they would admit it or not,) read for the sheer purpose of escapism. They want for us, as writers, to magically transport them out of their dead-end, nine to five jobs, and take them to a place that is better, more exciting, or just plain out-of-the-ordinary. The difference between simply giving your readers a setting and developing an atmosphere can often times be the difference between showing your reader a different place, and actually taking them there.

Building an atmosphere in your work is much more than simply stating the facts - anyone can write out the exact time and place that a story occurs. It is the ability to give the surroundings an actual 'feeling,' a special something to draw on the reader's emotions. Think of your atmosphere almost as a separate character in your story. Is it a moody, glum place, which oppresses the spirit of its inhabitants? Is it a spooky, spine-tingling environment that gives your characters the chills? How about a serene, lovely habitat, that is relaxing to all who enter? In atmosphere, the when and where are not the most important aspects. That is covered in your setting. Let me give you an example.

You are writing a modern-day mystery set in a large, old plantation house in the bayous of Louisiana. You have already established this as the setting in your story. Through your interesting and enveloping plot, you have brought everyone to the point where 'The Body' has just been discovered and all of 'The Usual Suspects' are gathered in the old drawing room to point fingers, shoulder blame, and build up their distrust of each other. All of your readers know the when, where and why, but unless they are drawing on their own imagination, experiences and emotions, that setting alone may not be enough to inspire your reader's senses.

Now, throw in a severe, spring storm, building on the horizon. (Yes, I know, this is getting more trite by the word, but bear with me.) The grasping widow has just verbally lambasted her stepson, the rightful heir, when there is a sky-cracking flash of lightning followed by a window-rattling blast of thunder. The smell of scorched ozone drifts through on an unseen current. The parlor is immediately plunged into a stygian darkness, and just as another streak of lightning illuminates the room, a howling wind claws through the open window. The white gauze curtains billow out into the room like an angry specter demanding notice, an eerie apparition twisting and flailing in the encroaching gust.

By this point, your reader is leaning a bit farther in his chair, his senses are heightened, and if a cat yowled on his porch, it would probably give him a bit of a jolt.

Now, I will be the first to admit, that this is, perhaps, a bit drastic, but you can see how the use of the senses in this short example develop an atmosphere. There is not a one of us that does not gain at least some small mental picture and emotional twinge when those drapes come flying into the room. You can also see, how sheer wordiness has nothing to do with the concept of atmosphere. It is achieved through descriptive phrases, metaphor, and emotion-inspiring adjectives.

It can be as simple as saying: The sun was a blazing ball of rage, pounding down upon her head. Rather than: The hot, fiery sun beat down from the sky to land upon her head. The second sentence is actually longer than the first, but does it convey as much emotion?

Use atmosphere as a compliment to your plot and setting. Characters and storylines are not the only thing able to inspire emotion and feeling in your work. When it is done well, you may find that instead of the hero or heroine, readers will admit that it was their favorite aspect of your story!

*TIP - Sometimes, the most effective use of this writing tool can be when you set the atmosphere up in direct odds with your storyline. If you paint the environment as a benign, peaceful, and happy place, then the reader is that much more shocked and horrified when bad things start to occur!

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