Finding a thematic setting
Allow me to explain what I mean by 'thematic setting'. I'm talking about a setting which, simply by having the story located in it, shows the reader something: ideally a message - or theme - that you wish to convey to them. You can test a thematic setting by removing the story or plot. If what remains - solely the setting - still shows the message, then you have a thematic setting.
Some examples of a thematic setting are below.
- Hunger Games. If you assume that the main message of Hunger Games has to do with the oppression of government, then it's easy to see how the setting - namely that oppression - shows that message, regardless of whatever the story ends up being.
- Star Wars. If you assume that the main message of Star Wars is about how power can be used for good or evil (which for the record I don't believe is the message), then you can see how a setting of the Force, and the conflict between Sith and Jedi, could easily show this. As long as the story centers around that conflict, it can be anything.
Note that I'm not saying these are the messages of the above works. Their settings just happen to be good examples (and also note that - as in the case of Star Wars - 'setting' doesn't always mean the location). I'm sure there are others, but I can't think of any. If you know of similar settings, I would appreciate any recommendations.
Question: I am attempting to create a thematic setting for my novel. I like to plan my novels ahead well before I ever start writing them, so 'just write' isn't the answer here. I need some plan, some formula if you will, to follow. Something which will allow me to take a theme - or message - and correctly identify a setting which will show it regardless of what story I put in it. Do you perhaps know of such a way to create a setting?
NOTE: The whole idea of using 'thematic settings' in novels might be controversial. If you believe I should not be attempting to do this, I welcome your comments on why not. But please only provide an answer if you are answering the question.
Further Note: For those of you who do not equate 'theme' with 'message' please note that I use the phrase 'thematic setting' to mean a setting which shows a message simply by what it is.
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I don't think it is reasonable to call a setting thematic in itself. It should also be said that a theme is not a message. A theme is what you deal with in a story or an essay, not what conclusions you reach about it. You can have two different works on the same theme that reach very different conclusions about that theme.
The role of a setting is to create the ground on which the theme can be explored. If your theme is about war, then your setting might be a battlefield. If your theme is about love, your setting might be a wedding. Neither the battle not the wedding are a theme in themselves, they are simply the occasions on which the theme can be introduced and examined.
Reusing a quote from another answer, here is Erich Maria Remarque describing All Quiet on the Western Front:
This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped (its) shells, were destroyed by the war.
That is as clear a statement of theme as you are likely to find anywhere. This theme necessarily requires a certain setting, but the setting is not in itself the theme. The theme is developed by the action of the characters placed in the setting.
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I've always been told there are two ways to deal with setting:
write the story and the setting will follow, or not, several of the best pieces of writing I've ever been privy to are all character and dialogue and could be happening literally anywhere without the setting changing a letter. This is a methodology I understand you'd like to avoid.
write the setting and the story(s) will follow, this appears on the surface to be a useful approach for you to take in this situation. Take the theme or message you wish to write about and build a setting to convey that theme, the story(s) will flow from that process.
Please note that neither of these approaches lends itself particularly well to formulation, in both cases the process is pretty organic. There are some formula based methods for building settings that can help to codify the process, in this case the steps look something like this:
- theme, what you want the world to speak to.
- world, physical geography, where you want to speak from.
- genre, will give you a guide around things like magic, technology etc... that you can use to tell the tale and begin to create;
- society, most of the work on your theme/message is done here, technology and magic are nailed down at this stage as are governments, family structures, gender roles, and a very long list of miscellaneous details that go into fleshing out the people(s) from which you will be drawing;
- Characters, the actors that tell the stories you want to tell.
You should be able to tell by part way through part 4 whether or not you have succeeded in creating your thematic setting as for helping you to write thematic settings I can't really help there, worldbuilding is always a hit and miss process. There is the Worldbuilding Stack if you need help pinning down some specific details.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37688. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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