Story Nerds: Setting and Intentional Revision
You’ll remember previously I wrote about causal chains in my introduction to the Story Nerds. Continuing the discussion, I’ve enjoyed the ongoing discussions with Story Nerds. Not your typical writing group, we’ve taken a deep dive into the ‘bits’ of story-making – causal chains, theme, language, world-building and setting, points of view, scene types, tropes and tone – to explore how these bits relate and/or connect in order to create a more immersive experience for the reader. Along the way, we’ve explored the possibility of bending traditional story shapes into exciting genre-blends.
In other words, as we explore how these bits need to fit together cohesively, which implies a certain universality to organizing some of these shapes and how they work, we also take a deeper dive into these bits to discover the potential for seeing new ways that they may fit together. Recognizing that there are no rules, just guidelines, a writer blends tropes and archetypes to effectively create new expressions of these old bits. In the same way that one could blend genres, why not bend story shapes in order to fit a character? So it stands to reason that one could blend and bend at once!
As a foundation for our discussion, we’ve been reading
Narrative Transportation: The Science of Writing Immersive Fiction (Holly
Schindler, 2026). Holly lays out the scientific research behind the
collaborative art that is story, explaining the difference between visual and
conceptual readers. For a story nerd like me, this is juicy stuff! But the purpose of Holly’s book is grounded in
troubleshooting one’s manuscript. As
such, much of the book – and our discussions – focus on the notion of
intentional revision.
Many writers dive blindly into a revision. They think of
reworking language or shifting scenes. But too often the story still falls
short. Holly includes sections on how to troubleshoot. Troubleshooting by
definition is a form of problem-solving, which suggests an intentional,
systemic search for a problem. If we understand the bits of storytelling (such
as how setting is connected to plot points ) then we are armed with some
understanding how that bit is supposed to work. As such, the process of
troubleshooting is fixing – revising – the issue.
To help deepen our discussions we often bring additional
texts to further explore these bits. Of late this included Story Engineering:
Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing (Larry Brooks , 2011)
and – for myself – Writing the Intimate Character (Jordan Rosenfeld, 2016).
What we’ve discovered:
Intentional revision empowers our storytelling.
For example, this week we are discovering how setting is both
character and plot.
We all know that setting can be a character onto itself.
Consider Hogwarts in Harry Potter. More than a backdrop, Hogwarts is vibrant
organism that plays an active role throughout Harry’s story. It impacts the
mood of the characters. It creates obstacles, literally in some scenes such as
the moving staircase, and forces the characters to make life-changing decisions, as seen during underground chess game. In short,
Hogwarts is an active participant in Harry’s story, just as important as Hermione
and Ron. It has a personality grounded in hero archetypes, manifested in the
four houses of Hogwarts. Courageous (Gryffindors), intelligence (Ravenclaws),
patience (Hufflepuffs), cunning (Slytherins). How these symbolic houses interact
creates the plot. It could be argued that the setting is as important as the antagonist as the driving force
behind the character arc. Or, to use the
term by Brooks in his Story Engineering, Hogwarts provides the architecture –
literally and figuratively – for Harry’s journey.
Holly uses another one of my favorite examples to illustrate a setting with personality, Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. Stars Hollow is quirky, fiercely tight-knit, eccentric and controlled by a benevolent dictator. And like the relationship between Harry and Hogwarts, Stars Hollow is an active participant in Rory’s arc.
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The hero’s – and the heroine’s-- journey, then, becomes more
than simply a story shape that moves a character through the landscape. By
understanding how the bits fit, the narrative transports the reader into a meaningful
experience. Immersive fiction allows for emotional proximity. As the reader becomes
more intimate with the character, the journey becomes more than an action and
instead a lived experience.
So the question becomes, how can you ‘Gilmore’ or ‘Hogwarts’
a story? How can you add personality to
your setting? What is your character’s relationship with your setting? How does
this relationship change? Does it have to be a positive relationship? And importantly,
how is this personality and this relationship revealed in your story? Just as
we saw with Harry, readers didn’t just meet the other characters via long info
dumps, Harry shared an experience with Ron and Hermione by riding the train. As
Harry is rowed across the lake, he is struck by Hogwarts’ majesty and mystery.
It is a slow unfolding that reveals – not simply describes – the magic.
Some books are magic. They pull readers in so deeply, the
real world ceases to exist at all. The fictional world is no more a backdrop;
it’s a place the reader’s feet have somehow tread. The main character doesn’t
feel like a story vehicle but a friend. The plot becomes a lived experience. –
Holly Schindler
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