This week: Stories Without Setting Edited by: Jayne  
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Hello, I'm Jayne! Welcome to my short story explorations. My goal with these newsletters is to explore the techniques and concepts that make short stories great. Some issues will connect as part of a larger series, while others will stand alone. I aim to keep each newsletter both informative and fun, and I hope to spark your curiosity along the way.
I'm always open to suggestions for newsletter topics, so feel free to send me an email.
Don’t forget to check out this issue’s curated selection of short stories! |
That might sound blasphemous in an era of lush worldbuilding and atmospheric detail but I’m going to say it anyway:
Not every story needs a fully built world.
Sometimes the only setting needed is in passing—just enough to ground the reader to the world. Sometimes, a strong story doesn’t happen in a place at all. It happens in a question, in a metaphor, in a voice.
Here’s where minimal or abstract settings earn their keep:
Fables, Allegories, and Parables
These stories aren’t about immersion. They’re about meaning. The settings are deliberately generic: a village, a kingdom, a mountain. The vagueness is intentional, because it lets the moral shine through.
Orwell’s Animal Farm uses this strategy well. Yes, it’s a farm. Yes, there’s technically a setting.
But for all the book’s quotability, how often do you hear anyone quote something about the farm itself?
It’s the same deal with Aesop’s Fables.
Absurdist and Existential Fiction
In these stories, setting is often stripped away to disorient the reader. You’re not supposed to feel grounded—you’re supposed to feel adrift. The focus is philosophical, not physical.
Think about describing the setting in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot:
“Two men wait by a tree.”
That’s it. That’s the world.
Dialogue-Driven and “Black Box” Stories
Like them or loathe them, some stories take place entirely in conversation. No walls, no weather, no window dressing—just voices. Think of it like black box theater : minimal set, maximum tension.
This is especially common in flash fiction and story-in-dialogue experiments. The where doesn’t matter—the why does.
Dreams and Internal Landscapes
When stories unfold in memory, imagination, or emotion, the setting often becomes symbolic. These tales drift through half-built spaces and are more atmosphere than architecture.
Surrealism, stream-of-consciousness, and stories set “in a dream” or “inside a memory.”
So When Can You Skip the Scenery?
 When your story isn’t about action, but about idea.
When you want to disorient the reader.
When the characters could be placed anywhere and the story isn’t affected.
When setting would only get in the way of the message.
Remember you’re not lazy for skipping the set dressing—as long as the absence of setting does something.
If it sharpens the voice, the tension, or the meaning? Good.
If it leaves the reader lost for no reason? Not so good.
Let the blank space mean something.
As always, happy writing. |
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Short Stories: May 28, 2025 Issue [#13153]
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