Ok, ok, I admit it, planning before writing is important!
From Sharon Hamilton’s Essential Literary Terms:
“In the most extreme examples of this connection between setting and plot, the setting plays a more pointedly SYMBOLIC role, FIGURATIVELY reflecting the feelings and experiences of the characters” (Hamilton 151).
When I read the section in Hamilton on the importance of setting, I immediately thought of Foster’s chapter in How to Read Literature Like a Professor on geography. Having just made a lesson plan with a section on the importance of location in literature (which I consulted Foster about), it is no wonder that after reading the quote above I thought to myself, “Didn’t I read this somewhere before?” Foster explains the importance of setting not only on the plot, but also on the characters. He wrote:
“What she [Taylor Greer, a character from Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver] discovers in the West are big horizons, clear air, brilliant sunshine, and open possibilities. She goes, in other words, from a closed to an open environment, and she seizes the opportunities for growth and development. Another character in another novel might find the heat oppressive, the sun destructive, and space vacant, but she wouldn’t be Taylor Greer” (Foster 167).
Personally, I think Foster explains it better than Hamilton, but nonetheless, if I didn’t get the message the first time, I certainly do now. Setting (or more specifically geography) is pivotal to a story. The next time I pick a setting for something I write, I am certainly going to think twice about my choice and not pick something randomly (which was pretty much what I was doing before). I never realized how much thinking goes into the planning of a book, or how significant almost every element is to the characters and the plot. Planning before you write really is essential, if you want to write anything decent (an idea I have been trying to deny for most of my life).
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Lauren Miller on Ok, ok, I admit it, planning before writing is important!: Great entry, Greta! I have to
Katie Vann on Ok, ok, I admit it, planning before writing is important!: I really need to work on plann
Katie Vann on Ok, ok, I admit it, planning before writing is important!: I really need to work on plann
Angelica Guzzo on Ok, ok, I admit it, planning before writing is important!: Yes planning is very important
Dennis G. Jerz on Ok, ok, I admit it, planning before writing is important!: Good blog entry, Greta. You're
Good blog entry, Greta. You're right -- much of the time, if you are bright and talented, it seems like planning is a sign of weakness. But college asks for a higher level of critical thinking, and it's really not possible to get to that level without careful planning and revision.
Yes planning is very important. I sometimes get lazy when it comes to planning and just start typing. I too sometimes give random settings. In one of my blogs on Foster, I wrote about how important the setting is to a story.i guess when i'm writing a stroy, I forget what I enjoy from a story. great job
I really need to work on planning with my writing. I sometimes am just like Angelica described: I get lazy, start typing, and just hope for the best. I think if I actually took the time to plan out what I wanted to write I would become a stronger writer and also become less stressed out for writing papers. Ususally if I'm writing a story, I sometimes ignore the importance of the setting and focus mainly on the characters. I forget that settting can be just as important and meaningful as the characters themselves.
I really need to work on planning with my writing. I sometimes am just like Angelica described: I get lazy, start typing, and just hope for the best. I think if I actually took the time to plan out what I wanted to write I would become a stronger writer and also become less stressed out for writing papers. Ususally if I'm writing a story, I sometimes ignore the importance of the setting and focus mainly on the characters. I forget that settting can be just as important and meaningful as the characters themselves.
Great entry, Greta! I have to be honest too; the first time that I ever cared about the setting of one of my short stories was when I wrote my short story for EL 150. The setting was essential to my story (the setting was Spain, the story was about the Spanish Civil War). My story would not have worked anywhere else.
But, sometimes I also think that authors intentionally leave out some details of the setting. Instead of a giving the town in which the story is taking place a name, the author just gives description of it, saying that it is a small town and everybody knows everybody, etc. I think they do that in order to make the readers feel like that town could be their town or a town familiar to them. By not giving it a specific location, it avoids the problem of the reader not being able to relate. This technique is particularly effective in scary stories, where you start to wonder "Hmm...we have a small market at the end of our street...I wonder if the owner turns into a werewolf at night like in that story..."
Okay, so maybe it's not exactly like that, but it's an example, haha. :)
Haha, Lauren, that is a great point! By not picking on specific place they do make in more relatable to the readers. By not picking one real, specific place too, they leave the setting more open for them to be able to mold into a town and time that better meet their and their characters' needs.