Lesson 3 - Setting

ASSIGNMENT: Lesson Three

(1) Sit back and close your eyes. You are the director of this movie and you must set the stage for the opening scene. Now go back to your opening scene. This is the setting of your story and will dictate its overall tone.

Pan in from external view of white wizard's and then after a double jump the black wizard's.

(2) Once you have set your stage, you may want to populate it with one person (no more for now). Select a point of view and remember to show me the images. For purposes of this lesson, don't tell me what they are. I want to be able to picture them in my mind through the narrator or the character's eyes...through telepathy if you will.


I accidentally did number three first thinking that's what you wanted here. So I'm not sure what I should put here having down the 3) first.




(3) Keeping in mind that this setting will establish the mood for the rest of your story; write and submit a 280-310 word scene that either starts at the smallest detail and pans to the overall scene, or starts at the panoramic down to the smallest detail. Rewrite it, and where possible, use all the senses to create the smallest details of color, smells, emotions, touch, and hearing. (Spelling and grammar please)

This is the opening salvo that will begin your novel. Make it so interesting that I will want to read the next line, and the next line, and so on. Have fun with this assignment and continue to do these exercises on your own until you feel comfortable with creating mood through your settings.





The island remained as the white wizard Ramas remembered it. From his vantage point at the top of dormant volcano, it was filled with fissures and crevices. He knew some of the openings were caves populated by human tribes left from the Apocalypse.

He focused his ability to see through matter on a cave containing a band of eight naked men and women. Hair covered their bodies and their skin was the color of red magma. Piles of bones rested in the back of the caverns and small drawings of individuals painted the walls. A young adult male lay on the floor engaged in what Ramas recognized to be a death dance.

Another man sat beside the dying man. Ramas saw a rib bone sharpened along one side in the observer's hand. It told Ramas all he needed to know. The watchman picked the dying person up to a sitting position and sliced his victim's throat from behind. Blood sprayed all over the sides of the cave and the floor as the man flopped on the ground.


The killer waited until the man died. "It's done," he yelled to his fellow cave dwellers. The group of five men and three women joined him. The executioner sliced off pieces of meat from the dead human and handed them out to his partners. He bit into the flesh and chewed, signaling for the others to join him.

Ramas tapped his finger against his staff and sighed.

They ate their fill, and all but one of them lay down and rested their bellies. The lone waking member brought a crusty black stone stored among the boulders to the back of the cave. She sketched a surprisingly lifelike picture of the victim. Ramas estimated the number of humans on the wall to be in their hundreds. This group of humans was all that was left of an original colony.




Tip: Oxymorons enrich our language and are good for comic relief. They make wonderful book and essay titles. Madison Ave. is in love with them as are Newspapers editors, and comedians, but if you aren't careful, you could be guilty of using an oxymoron in an inappropriate manner. Go to www.oxymoronlist.com. Select and discuss how certain everyday oxymoronic phrases can make a writer look foolish, as in tight slacks.