I had the pleasure of reading today’s guest debut before it was released. One of the things that intrigued me the most was the powerful visuals she created in her setting. I could have sworn she’d been there. Setting is crucial in storytelling and Author Jenny Dandy nails it. Please welcome Jenny to HFMFF as she tells about her secret super power :). ~ Donnell
Writing From Afar: How to Capture Setting When You Don’t Live There And Can’t Visit.
By Jenny Dandy
Author Jenny Dandy
You’ve got the idea for your story, maybe you’ve outlined the plot. You know who your characters are. Now where is the best place to set it? I would argue for someplace you love, a place that has captured your imagination, that speaks to your soul. And, if you can visit all the better to immerse yourself in all the lovely details. Wait, didn’t I promise to tell you how to capture setting when you can’t visit? Yup. I’ll get you there, just stay with me.
Since I get totally engaged in where I am, it’s really hard to set something where I live. So many, many authors do it incredibly successfully, but I seem to need the physical distance to gain a perspective on what the place is like. What gives it the unique characteristics that made you want to set your novel there? How does it sound? Smell? Feel? And, most importantly, what was it about that place that made you fall in love with it?
I would argue that the falling in love part makes the difference if you truly want setting to be in your cast of characters. And I would further argue that falling in love is vital to your book: characters, plot, sentences. But that is a topic for another day, because today we’re talking about setting.
So go back through your journals from when you fell in love with it. And read other novels set in the same place. Non-fiction works, too. Travelogues, memoirs, history. And read outside of your genre, see how the literary novel or the poem describes “place.” Take notes, but also read and feel. Close the book and shut your eyes. How did that author give you (or not—the negative can be just as instructive) a definitive sense of setting? And, as part of setting, how do they use it to help guide the reader’s emotions for a particular scene—sunny, stormy, nighttime, sirens or a gentle breeze flattening the meadow of wildflowers.
No wildflowers, I’m afraid, in my setting. New York City does have Central Park and Highline, pocket parks and Union Square, but mostly it has streets and sidewalks, horns honking and delivery trucks backing up. But also, The Brownstone on E. 83rd is not a wildflower kind of book. And that’s what you want to figure out for yours: what atmosphere do you want to evoke?
So, now you have your setting. You loved Paris, you loved the Mojave Desert, you loved the
untroubled suburbs where you were raised. What perfect places for mayhem to ensue. But while you’re writing this, you live hundreds, thousands of miles away, you can’t afford an extended stay to reacquaint yourself with necessary minutia and all those books I made you read don’t capture the nuances you were looking for. Well, she said, flexing fingers on both hands, come with me.
Find subreddits (so many for New York: r/NYC, r/newyorkcity, r/AskNYC, r/FoodNYC to name a few), interrogate maps (use the street view!), follow Instagram accounts (have you seen map_of_europe?) and, my absolute secret weapon (please don’t tell anyone) is to go on YouTube. The things people post will delight you. You can’t capture smells, and maybe they don’t always GoPro down the street you wanted, but for fifteen minutes, or forty-five you can immerse yourself in your setting of choice and go back to your pages and add those needed elements.
One lucky thing about my debut book taking so long to (hopefully) perfect was that I revisited NYC pre-pandemic. I mashed together a personal writing retreat and visited all the places where my scenes were set, or I was thinking about setting them. Even though the revision process meant a lot of that was tossed (but I digress: Killing Your Darlings is for a future post), I did get to keep so much of it. Besides, YouTube is my friend. And speaking of friends, don’t be afraid to ask people. New Yorkers are surprisingly approachable. And wherever you’re doing your research, when you open with “I’m a novelist and my book is set here, could you tell me…” most people respond positively. And may even make it into your book. Or at least show you where the subway entrance is because you’ve gotten all turned around. One surprise for me was the subway cop telling me which stations would work for one of my characters to jump the turnstile. Alas, that scene didn’t make it into the final version.
Do tell all your friends where your WIP is set, and they will regale you with their own experiences there. Take notes. Ask questions. Then put three of those friends together into one character (don’t tell them, though).
And have fun falling in love all over again.
About the Book:
What people are saying . . .
“The Brownstone on E. 83rd grabbed my attention from the first page. Jenny Dandy’s debut has all the hallmarks of a veteran writer: blistering pacing, rapid-fire dialogue, and characters that not only keep you guessing, but caring about what happens to them. Dandy is an author to watch.” —Carter Wilson, USA Today bestselling author of The Father She Went to Find
“The Brownstone on E. 83rd kept me up at night—and then in the morning I couldn’t wait to get back to it. Jenny Dandy’s characters sizzle on the page and will stay with you long after you finish reading.” —Benjamin Whitmer, critically acclaimed author of Pike, Cry Father, Evasion, and Les Dynamiteurs
When FBI Special Agent Frank Jankowski goes undercover at Isabelle Anderson’s Brownstone on E. 83rd, he thinks he’s the one calling the shots. Isabelle knows she is. As Isabelle’s butler, Ronnie Charles is privy to all her schemes—knowledge that will take her in a direction she never anticipated.
About the Author:
Jenny Dandy is a graduate of Smith College and of Lighthouse Writers Workshop Book Project. Though she has lived and worked from Beijing to Baltimore, from Northampton to Atlanta, it was New York that held onto a piece of her heart. She now lives and writes in the Rocky Mountains where she would never lift a wallet or scam her dinner guests.
This blog is chock full of terrific ways to “be there” when you absolutely can’t. Thanks Jenny. I hope your debut sells through the roof. Thanks for joining me today.
Can’t wait to read the book!
Ann, your medical thriller books set in Chicago always give me the sense of being there. I think you’ll be impressed with Jenny’s debut.