5 Ways To Weave Setting Into Short Stories

Learn how to weave setting into short stories with five simple techniques that bring your fictional world to life without wasting words.

We need to convey a sense of setting in our short stories. This is a tall order because of the length of the story. Hehe, see what I did there? We need to make our writing work harder. We need it to do ‘double duty’.

We need to get the following setting details across:

1. Physical space: Where are your characters? In a room, on a bus, or in a spacecraft?
2. When: Is the story set in the past, present, or future?
3. Era: What are they wearing, driving, and eating?
4. Time frame: Is it morning or evening? Is it Christmas?
5. Weather: Is it hot or cold, wet or dry?
6. Culture: What cultural differences or customs shape the story?
7. Geography: Are we in a city, on a mountain, beside a river, or near a volcano? Which continent are the characters on?

Yikes, right? You can find a more detailed post here: 7 Simple Things To Remember About Setting. But how can we convey this much with a limited word count?

5 Ways To Weave Setting Into Short Stories

1. You don’t need it all: Decide what is important. In a single scene or short story, you may not need to convey all these details. Figure out what your story needs.
2. The senses: You can create a sense of space by using the senses. The impression of heat, a smell that reminds us childhood, the hint of a hot curry. By using the senses, you draw on your readers’ own experiences to tell your story and create the scene.
3. Dialogue: How can you use dialogue? By using the phrase: ‘Please pass the salt.’, we can tell that the character is at a table. Now we can start asking questions. Are they at home or in a restaurant? How can we add information to complete the picture?
4. Body language and action: Make you characters do stuff. They must pick up objects, stub their toes, hum a favourite tune, or punch a wall. This tells us more about the setting than we might imagine. Make them climb that mountain.
5. Description: This is the easiest way to convey setting, but it can take a toll on your word count. Make sure you include only what is required. Often, we underestimate our readers and want to overcompensate.

The Last Word

We need to make our writing work harder in short stories. We need to give our readers a sense of place without using too many words. Use the senses, dialogue, body language, action, and description to do ‘double duty’. Choose what matters, leave out what doesn’t, and trust your readers to fill in the gaps. Top Tip: If you want to learn how to write a short story, sign up for our online course.

Image by marcelo coxinha from Pixabay

by Mia Botha

Buy Mia’s workbooks on how to write short stories: Short Story Checklist Workbook and How To Show & Not Tell In Short Stories Workbook

More posts from Mia:

1. How To Turn Your Short Story Into A Novella
2. How To Use Genre As A Source Of Conflict
3. 7 Things Dialogue Can Do In Your Story
4. 4 Super Easy Ways To Create Characters For Short Stories
5. How To Show Character Change Without Telling (With Examples)
6. 7 Supporting Character Types Every Writer Should Know
7. The 3 Surprises Every Story Needs
8. A Quick Start Guide To Writing For Children
9. 15 Inspiring Reasons To Start Writing Poetry
10. Worldbuilding: The Ultimate Setting Checklist For Writers

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