Setting, As Important As Characters?

Once again, I'm going to draw on one of my favourite blogs for inspiration, but with my own twist.

Writers need to constantly be concerned with characters. How they come across, their quirks, their habits, their history and so on. Sometimes a well-written character  can carry a stumbling plot. We readers can spot a flimsy characters three chapters off, can't we?
But how many of us, readers and writers alike, have considered the setting as a character unto itself?

I hadn't even considered it until I read the latest blog post over at Women and Words, in which R.G Emanuelle discusses The Soul of A Character

It got me thinking about the setting of the pieces I've written, and the settings of my favourite novels and short stories. I love reading about places I know, but it's getting harder to find fiction set in Ontario, let alone set in Canada in general. Before I get too lost in wondering why that is, let me take this one step further.

I think readers enjoy reading about places they know because these places are familiar, they already have a presence and a reality in the reader's mind. I've only stumbled across a few pieces set in Northern Ontario, but the few I have, set the tone perfectly. In particular, Crow Lake

The setting was bleak, sparse, full of memory but promise as well.

The setting worked for this novel because the overall theme of the book was memory, tragedy and struggle. The setting became, really, the only logical backdrop for this story. It just made sense to me, as both a reader and a writer.
As a reader, the book never left me, and I read it back in 2011. As a writer, it never left me because of that setting, because it was set in a familiar part of my home province and because the story was that good that I've been haunted by it ever since.

So as a writer, I am conscious of how to make a setting so vivid that it becomes nearly a character itself. As a reader, I want a backdrop that will be both real and yet not take away from the story.
It's a fine dance, and when done well can leave a lasting impact.

What settings in novels or short fiction has left an impact on you?

Wrinkles, Warts And All

Characters are only make believe people in a book, right?
Wrong.
They can be as real, or as flat, as the author makes them.
Sometimes, they can be mirrors for readers, or the author. If the author has written a compelling character, readers sometimes ask "is that you?"
Not every character is the author on paper. Sometimes the writer will take an aspect of themselves and flesh out their character with that part. Sometimes, the character can be all that we are not. That works for both good and bad.
I have written characters that I wanted to be, and some that were the worst parts of me.
But no matter how that character is written, they can indeed make or break a story.

Nothing turns me off faster than an abusive, whining, needy character; so you'll likely never find one in any of my works.
There's nothing redeeming about them.
I'd much rather write about a flawed character who genuinely wants to be better. Braver, more honorable, kinder....whatever, but they must be striving to be a better person somehow.

I want to read about, and write about characters that are as close to realistic as possible. Bad habits, foibles, wrinkles, warts and all.

What do you want to see in a character?

Lessons From A Writing Life

My local library isn't the world's best, but it feeds my brain. I guess that's all I can ask. At least this last trip in, I actually had to tear myself away from the shelves so that I didn't overload myself. One book among the large pile I brought home was Terry Brooks "Sometimes The Magic Works".
Yes, Terry Brooks of The Sword of Shannara" fame.
This is one of those books that reads like you got to have coffee, or a few beer, with one of the most accomplished, lucky writers still alive.

My poor partner has been subjected to my mumblings at random moments for some time now, so I think she's used to me. But tonight, I just had to read her a little ... well, two passages really. These words express writing for me better than anything I could have stuttered out.
Here, read this, and if you're a writer, published or not, you'll understand and agree. I'll bet you even nod your head.
If you're a reader, you'll see a little of what makes writers tick.
And mumble...

"Writing is habit-forming. It is addictive. You get caught up in the challenge of the storytelling process. You become enchanted with the worlds and characters you create. The worlds are your home and the characters your friends. You come to know both as well as you know yourself. Born of you, they become a part of you...If I don't write, I become restless and ill-tempered. I become dissatisfied. My reaction to not writing is both physical and emotional. I am incomplete without my work. I am so closely bound to it, so much identified by it, that without it I think I would crumble into dust and drift away."

I couldn't have said it better myself, Mr. Brooks.
Thank you.