3 Setting and Description Free Online FlashCards

What is a story’s setting?

Setting is the time, place, and surrounding conditions in which a story unfolds.

What can a story’s setting include?

It may include geography, weather, buildings, history, customs, technology, and social rules.

How do characters and their environments influence each other?

Characters affect their environments, while environments influence what characters notice, believe, and do.

What makes a setting consequential?

A consequential setting creates obstacles or opportunities that affect what characters can do.

What is sensory detail?

Sensory detail appeals to sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch.

How does point of view shape description?

A character’s perspective guides which details they notice and why those details matter to them.

What makes descriptive details stronger than adjective piles?

Particular, purposeful details make a place vivid; piling on adjectives can make description less effective.

How can sensory detail propel a scene?

A sensory detail can prompt or change an action, such as smoke leading a character to search for its source.

What is atmosphere in a story?

Atmosphere is the felt quality created by a story’s surroundings and language, such as unease, warmth, or isolation.

What elements can build a story’s atmosphere?

Writers build atmosphere through patterns of light, sound, weather, objects, pace, and character reactions.

Why can the atmosphere of a place change?

Point of view and context can change how readers experience the same place, so its atmosphere is not fixed.

How can setting affect plot?

Terrain, weather, distance, or local rules can complicate or enable a character’s action.