Settings aren't just Background

When speaking about novels, most readers focus on the plot and characters and to a lesser extent on the themes. Yet the  settings of novels are important, too. Fantasy novels and science fiction, for example, create entire worlds, while even novels set in contemporary reality have clear settings that influence their impact. The same murder mystery has a different edge when set in Paris than New York. A romance has a different feel if the lovers are ranchers in Wyoming rather than bankers on Wall Street etc. Vivid settings enliven and enrich any book. Yet in the case of historical fiction, settings are more than background: they shape the entire book. Let me explain.

 

 

The settings of historical fiction novels don't just create atmosphere, and they also create 'facts.' In a book set in ancient Rome no one can travel by plane or place a telephone call. In short, the 'setting' determines the options the characters have for movement and communication. The setting establishes parameters for climate, the type of clothing worn, languages spoken, prevailing religious beliefs, social customs, the status of women and so on. While that is true in contemporary fiction too, it is not necessary to explain a setting that is familiar to the reader.

By contrast, in the historical fiction, setting is so important that it is the single most important factor used for classifying books within the genre. Historical fiction books are categorized first and foremost by the time period in which they are set and then the geographic region. We speak of "a novel set in the American civil war" or "a novel of Ancient Rome" or perhaps "a novel set against the tumultuous backdrop of the War of the Roses." In all cases, the setting of the novel defines it before we dig deeper to discover if this is a romance, a war-story, or a mystery. 

The other way in which settings are particularly important to historical fiction is that for most readers the setting will be unfamiliar. In a novel set in contemporary times, an author can say: " He stopped at  MacDonald's for a Big Mac, and then ...." No further explanation is needed. For a novel set in Ancient Egypt, the author is going to have to describe what a quick snack looked like and where it could be obtained -- or maybe do without that little episode altogether in order not to bore the reader.... A novel set in modern times can say: "He worked in a open-space office with tiny cubicles" and the reader already sees the environment. Most readers, however, cannot immediately picture the scene if the novelist says: "He worked in the Scriptorium of the abbey."

Given the importance of settings to the genre, it hardly surprising that historical novelists are particularly influenced by settings before they even set out to write. Settings can inspire, inform and enrich an author -- enabling them to share that experience with the readers. I will be discussing each of these functions in the weeks ahead.

My novels are set in three distinct historical eras: Ancient Sparta, the era of the Crusades and the mid-20th Century, Find out more at: https://helenapschrader.net