Creative Writing – Week 8: Building the World — Writing Vivid Settings
Objective
Students will learn how to create strong, specific settings that feel real to the reader. By the end of the class, students will be able to describe place with detail and precision — using sight, sound, texture, and movement — and use those choices to give the story depth and shape.
Tell Me Something Good
Warm-Up:
Describe a real place you know so well you could walk through it with your eyes closed.
→ What would your hand brush against? What sounds would you hear?
Encourage physical and sensory description rather than mood words (“I’d smell grass and sunscreen” instead of “It’s relaxing”).
“Creepy Photo Prompts”
Use your black-and-white vintage photos as the spark for this lesson.
Setup:
Spread or project the photos around the room.
Students choose one that intrigues them.
Freewrite, answering:
Where exactly is this place? (Inside or outside? Urban or rural? Time period?)
What does the ground feel like underfoot?
What’s in the distance?
What’s changing in the environment (light, weather, sound)?
What details tell you what kind of people belong here?
Transition:
→ “Writers make places real not by naming them, but by building them from the inside out. Let’s look at how published authors do that.”
Excerpt 1 – The Lottery by Shirley Jackson (1948):
The Lottery (Shirley Jackson): In a small town, residents gather each year for a traditional lottery whose outcome is shockingly brutal. The story examines conformity, tradition, and the dark side of community rituals.
“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day; the flowers were blossoming profusely and the grass was richly green. The people of the village began to gather in the square, between the post office and the bank, around ten o'clock; in some towns there were so many people that the lottery took two days and had to be started on June 26th, but in this village, where there were only about three hundred people, the whole lottery took less than two hours.”
Discuss:
What concrete details help you see the place?
What do you notice about time, weather, or geography?
How does this setting feel both ordinary and specific?
Excerpt 2 – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (2011):
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs): A boy discovers a mysterious orphanage filled with children who possess unusual abilities and live in a time loop. He uncovers secrets about their world while facing dangers from those who want to harm them.
“We crept down the hall, our shoes sinking into the plush, mildew-scented carpet. Water-stained portraits stared at us from the walls, their glass cracked like ice. A chill draft sighed through the house, carrying with it the smell of seaweed and something faintly metallic, like blood.”
Discuss:
What senses are engaged here?
How do these details help you understand the condition and history of the place?
What clues about time and isolation do you get just from description?
Conclude discussion:
→ “Both authors help us inhabit their worlds by layering small, exact details. The power comes from what we can see, smell, touch, and hear.”
Mini-Lesson (10 min) – Four Tools for Building Setting
Anchor the Reader:
Give a clear sense of where and when right away. (Is it morning or night? Modern or historical? Inside or out?)Layer the Senses:
Include at least three sensory impressions — not just what it looks like, but how it feels, sounds, or smells.Use Movement:
Describe how the character or narrator moves through the setting. Readers understand a place best when they travel it with someone.Let the Details Tell the Story:
Instead of saying “the house was old,” show it through images: peeling paint, a loose shutter, a rusted doorknob.
Quick model:
The boardwalk was slick with rain, and each plank creaked underfoot. Somewhere below, the tide thumped against the pilings. A paper cup rolled, stopped, and rolled again when the wind changed.
What do we now know about this place — without being told directly?
Writing Practice
Prompt:
Choose one of the photos again. Imagine it’s the first location in a story. Describe it so vividly that your reader could sketch a map of it afterward.
Your paragraph or scene should:
Give a sense of space, texture, and atmosphere.
Include at least three sensory details.
Use specific nouns and verbs — avoid general words like “nice,” “dark,” or “creepy.”
Show how a person might move through or react to this place.
If time allows, students can add a few sentences about what might happen here — but the focus stays on the place itself.
Share & Reflect
SETTING PLANNER
1. Basic Information
Where does this scene take place?
What time of day is it?
What season or time of year is it? How old or new is this place?
What’s the weather like right now?
2. Physical Details
What do you notice first when you enter this place?
What colors, shapes, or textures stand out?
What objects are here that tell something about the people who belong in this space?
How is the ground, floor, or surface underfoot described?
What do you see when you look up or far away?
3. Sensory Details
What can you hear nearby? In the distance?
What smells are in the air?
What can you feel (temperature, texture, wind, weight, pressure)?
Is there anything to taste? (food, air, dust, metal, etc.)
What kind of light is present — natural, artificial, dim, harsh?
4. Movement and Space
How do people move through this place?
Is it crowded or empty?
What obstacles, paths, or boundaries shape how people behave here?
How big or small does it feel to your character?
5. History and Change
What clues show how old this place is?
What has changed here recently?
What traces of past people or events remain?
6. Emotional and Story Connections
How does your character feel in this setting? What about the place creates that feeling?
What might this setting reveal about your character’s situation or background?
How could this place affect what happens next in the story?